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Full-Text Articles in Defense and Security Studies
India, Country Profile
India, Country Profile
The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction
An estimated 30 to 50 million people in India suffer from a disability. This number translates to about 3 to 5 percent of the 1.13 billion inhabitants. The country is plagued by a variety of issues, including overpopulation, poverty, internal conflict,and contamination by landmines as well as other explosive remnants of war.
Lao Pdr, Country Profile
Lao Pdr, Country Profile
The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction
The Lao People’s Democratic Republic is the world’s most heavily unexploded ordnance-contaminated nation, deeply affecting the country’s people. During the Second Indochina War (also known as the Vietnam–American War), the United States carried out more than half a million bombing missions over Lao PDR, during which over two million tons (1.8 million metric tonnes) of ordnance were dropped. Up to 30 percent of this ordnance failed to explode,leaving behind a serious UXO contamination that still kills and maims innocent men, women and children in one of the poorest nations in the world.
Pakistan, Country Profile
Pakistan, Country Profile
The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction
Pakistan is not a signatory of the Ottawa Convention but is a member of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. Funding for mine action is difficult in Pakistan because the Mine Ban Convention was not ratified; consequently, prospective donors are less likely to invest in Pakistan’s landmine removal and victim-assistance endeavors. The lack of financial support as well as support from the government has made mine action—and specifically victim assistance—very difficult. The government’s stance is that landmines are important for the country’s security, especially along the borders of Afghanistan and India where disputes over land continue.
Somalia, Country Profile
Somalia, Country Profile
The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction
In 1960, Britain and Italy ended their colonial rule in Somaliland. British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland combined, creating the new state of Somalia. In 1969, however, the young nation was overthrown by Mohamed Siad Barre, who set up the authoritarian and socialist state of Somalia, bringing much-needed stability to the nation, despite his known corruption. 1991 marked the ousting of this authoritarian rule and began 15 years of anarchy and chaos as a variety of groups struggled for control of the nation or claimed regions of it as their own. At this point Somaliland broke away from Somalia as a …
Lebanon, Country Profile
Lebanon, Country Profile
The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction
Years of conflict and foreign occupation have left Lebanon riddled with landmines and unexploded ordnance. Contamination from explosive remnants of war increased dramatically as a result of the introduction and use of cluster munitions in the July–August 2006 conflict with Israel. According to the Landmine Monitor’s 2007 report on Lebanon, the use of cluster munitions resulted in the contamination of approximately 500,000 undetonated, unexploded munitions and 15,300 other varieties of UXO. In addition to the increased cluster-bomb contamination, Lebanon remains contaminated with anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines from the Lebanese War (1975–1990).
Vietnam, Country Profile
Vietnam, Country Profile
The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction
Vietnam, a country of more than 85 million people, has one of the world’s highest rates of disabled citizens—greater than 6 percent of the entire population. That figure is partially attributable to contamination by landmines and unexploded ordnance, which encroaches on more than 60,000 square kilometers (23,166 square miles) and up to one-fifth of the country’s land surface. As a result, the Landmine Monitor Report has estimated that there are currently some 66,380 survivors of mines and explosive remnants of war in Vietnam—4,000 of whom received survivor services in 2006.
Occupied Palestinian Territories, Country Profile
Occupied Palestinian Territories, Country Profile
The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction
A half-century of conflict has contributed to the current unstable situation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, split between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the Fatah-controlled West Bank. Both explosive ordnance and unexploded ordnance remain from the civil struggle between Hamas and Fatah political factions, as well as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Earlier this year, Israeli forces imposed dominion over the Gaza Strip, plunging the region into a humanitarian crisis. On 23 January 2008, a series of Hamas-detonated landmine explosions along the border wall in Rafah, Gaza Strip, opened passage for tens of thousands of Palestinians to escape into Egypt. No signs …
Islamic Republic Of Iran, Country Profile
Islamic Republic Of Iran, Country Profile
The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction
The area of the world once home to the Persian Empire has seen its fair share of social and political turbulence. In 1979, the western-supported ruler Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown during the Iranian Revolution, and a conservative Islamic cleric named Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini came to power and formed an Islamic republic. This system of government still remains even after Khomeini's passing in 1989, with Ali Khamenei succeeding him as supreme leader of the country.
Tajikistan, Country Profile
Tajikistan, Country Profile
The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction
Nearly a decade after a civil war ravaged the Republic of Tajikistan, the country is still suffering the effects of contamination from landmines and explosive remnants of war. Although the country has never produced or exported anti-personnel mines, Soviet and Uzbek forces emplaced them along most of its borders. Tajikistan is also the only State Party to the Ottawa Convention to declare APMs stockpiled in its territory by a non-State Party; Russian Ministry of Defense units deployed in Tajikistan control approximately 18,200 mines. All of these issues contribute to a crippling mine problem for one of the poorest countries in …
Iraq, Country Profile
Iraq, Country Profile
The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction
Since 2003, the government of Iraq has taken action against mines and unexploded ordnance. On 15 August 2007, Iraq acceded to the Ottawa Convention becoming the 155th State Party. The rising levels of violence in the region, however, have made focusing on mine action difficult for the Iraqi government—or anyone, for that matter. The decrease in security has taken focus, time and energy from ridding the country of its extensive problems with landmines and other explosive remnants of war.
Pakistan, Country Profile
Pakistan, Country Profile
The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction
In addition to suffering from continual suicide bombings and other violent terrorist acts, residents of Pakistan must also face the threat of landmines and unexploded ordnance. The country has had problems with mines, UXO and other terrorism since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Pakistan also has been involved in several disputes with India since 1947.
Sudan, Country Profile
Sudan, Country Profile
The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction
Sudan currently consists of two major political groups under a single government. The signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005 created the Government of National Unity and the Government of South Sudan. The GNU is recognized as the government of Sudan but the term is also used to politically differentiate northern Sudan from the southern region which is represented by the GoSS.
Jordan, Country Profile
Jordan, Country Profile
The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction
Landmines, unexploded ordnance, and explosive remnants of war have plagued the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan as a result of several periods of conflict, dating back to the partition of Palestine and establishment of the Israeli state in 1948.
Lebanon, Country Profile
Lebanon, Country Profile
The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction
The overwhelming presence of landmines and explosive remnants of war in Lebanon has created a diverse and complex problem that continues to affect the socioeconomic development of the country. A number of mine/ERW accidents have occurred while individuals engage in farming activities. According to Landmine Monitor, about 62 percent of contaminated areas is agricultural land, and casualties tend to increase in planting and harvesting months. With contamination of agricultural land, landmines have delayed the implementation of a major drinking and irrigation water pipeline project.3 Also, there has been a noticeable decrease in agricultural production, the major source of income for …
Yemen, Country Profile
Yemen, Country Profile
The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction
Located on the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, the Republic of Yemen is home to a people with a rich history dating back to some of the earliest human civilizations. Yemen is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, Oman to the east, the Red Sea to the west, and the Arabian Sea to the south, giving it a strategic location as a trading port that made the region wealthy throughout much of its history. In recent years the country has been plagued by violence and political corruption, making it difficult to focus on two major humanitarian crises of …
Morocco And Western Sahara, Country Profile
Morocco And Western Sahara, Country Profile
The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction
By the time Spain abandoned its Western Saharan claims in 1976, three warring factions had emerged, taking up arms over custody of the territory: Morocco seeking southern annexation, Mauritania seeking northern annexation, and Saharan natives seeking to establish their own nation, the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic.