Syria leads world in number of mine victims for the first time in 2020

DARAMSUQ —Syria ranked first in the world in 2020 with the most mine victims of any country, according to an annual report by Landmine & Cluster Munition Monitor, a program which provides research and monitoring for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC).

Syria, which has never signed the Mine Ban Treaty since its adoption in 1997, documented its largest number of mine victims ever last year: 2,729 people in Syria were either wounded or killed by mines in 2020. 

This is the first time Syria has topped the list of mine casualties since the Monitor began issuing reports in 1999. Afghanistan and Colombia, which are both signatories to the treaty, have traditionally been at the top of the list in past years. The report showed that 80% of the victims of landmines in Syria were civilians, with children constituting half of all civilian casualties.

The report also indicated that 2020 was the sixth year in a row that the world recorded large numbers of casualties due to mines, cluster bomb remnants, and other explosive remnants of war, as more than 7,000 people around the world either died or were wounded as a result of these munitions.