Sixty 60 people killed or maimed by landmines in Afghanistan every month: OCHA

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that Afghanistan is one of the most contaminated countries with mines and explosive materials in the world, and every month more than 60 people, mostly children, are killed or maimed in the country.

According to OCHA, three million people live within a kilometer radius of mines, improvised bombs and remnants of explosives left over from the war.

OCHA added that the contamination of Afghanistan’s lands with landmines is a legacy before 2001 and after and that the provinces of Uruzgan, Kunduz, Helmand, Kandahar, Kunar, Badghis, Faryab, Nangarhar, Ghazni, Farah, Maidan Wardak and Samangan are the most affected.

According to OCHA, even a large number of infrastructures, including schools, are contaminated with explosives, while families dependent on agriculture-based livelihoods, including farmers and herdsmen are most at risk from explosives.

Also, returning populations are vulnerable, because they do not know the areas they are returning to, OCHA said.

As the poverty level in Afghanistan deepens, more children and adults are driven to scavenge spent artillery shells and mortars to collect metal for a living, with tragic consequences, the OCHA report said.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says it does not have the resources to prevent mine hazards and the fight against mine hazards is currently severely underfunded.