Over One Million Landmines Destroyed – in One Decade

According to the latest report issued by a Norwegian organization regarding the progress made worldwide on the global cluster munition remnant clearance, a record amount of land was cleared of landmines in 2020, a relieving update for millions of people.

“National authorities and their implementing partners must identify and overcome challenges, and work together to free contaminated land as fast, efficiently, and safely as possible so that communities can live free from the fear and threat of unexploded submunitions,” says Lucy Pinches, the Mine Action Review’s Project Manager.

The Clearing Cluster Munition Remnants 2021 article, produced by Mine Action Review, stated that a total of 135.1 square kilometers were cleared of 110,000 unexploded submunitions in 2020. Since the inception of the Convention on Cluster Munition (CCM) Remnants in 2010, a cluster munition-contaminated area of 900 km2 has been cleared, with the removal of more than 1 million unexploded submunitions. Croatia and Montenegro have managed to complete their respective cluster munition remnant clearance. That leaves 10 States Parties – out of the 110 States Parties to the CCM – to still have munition contaminated areas, and the vast majority has a medium or light extent of the contamination. They should be able to fulfill their clearance obligations by 2026.