Human Rights Watch states that “in 2022, 25 years since the international Mine Ban Treaty was adopted, only two countries actively use antipersonnel landmines: Russia and Myanmar. Myanmar’s forces have used landmines since 1999, but new use by the junta has surged since the February 2021 coup, according to the Landmine Monitor Report 2022, released last week.
UNICEF recorded from the military coup on 1 February 2021 to September 2022, 157 civilians were killed and 395 injured by landmines and explosive remnants of war in Myanmar, of which it states about one-third of the casualties were children.
Human Rights Watch stated that the military has placed landmines in homes, village pathways, church compounds, and farms. Military units have continued to force civilians to act as “human shields,” walking ahead of troops to detonate any mines.