Yemeni rights monitor reveals new statistics on landmine victims and calls on Houthis to hand over maps
Yemen Monitor/ News Section
A Yemeni rights monitor announced on Thursday that 41 people have been killed and 64 injured by landmines and unexploded ordnance explosions in eight Yemeni provinces since the beginning of this year, calling on the Houthis to immediately stop laying mines and hand over maps of their locations.
The Yemeni Mine Monitor (YMM) said in a press statement on the occasion of the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, which falls today, that “landmines and unexploded ordnance continue to claim the lives of civilians. Every day, this contamination causes tragedies and human and material losses in a number of provinces.”
It added that its field team “was able to monitor and document 105 civilian casualties, including 41 killed and 64 injured, most of them women and children” between January 1, 2024 and today.
The coastal province of Hodeidah in western Yemen topped the list of victims of landmine and ordnance explosions, which also included the provinces of Lahj (south), Taiz (southwest), Al-Bayda (central), Marib, Al-Jawf, Saada (north), and Hajjah (west), according to the statement.
The YMM stressed that “the urgent need is to start the process of landmine clearance as a fundamental pillar in protecting civilians and restoring normal life, and a first condition for achieving security and peace in the country,” calling for the issue of landmines to be included as a priority in any efforts to resolve the situation in Yemen.
The YMM renewed its call on the Houthi group to immediately stop laying more landmines and hand over their maps, and to start immediately removing landmines from the homes of displaced people, public roads, water sources, agricultural land, and livestock grazing areas.
It also called on the government to provide the necessary assistance to civilian landmine victims, and to pay full attention to the teams working in the field of clearance and removal and to respond to their demands to establish a branch of the Executive Center for Mine Action in Hodeidah.
The YMM said that the humanitarian support provided by the Saudi Mine Action Project “Masam” is highly appreciated by Yemenis, as the project’s efforts on the ground have been a real source of protection and salvation for thousands of innocent civilians.
It pointed out that peace efforts in Yemen start from basic determinants, the most important of which is removing the daily dangers facing the population, and therefore we call on all international and regional efforts to include the issue of landmines as a priority in any efforts to resolve the situation in Yemen.
The Executive Director of the Yemeni Mine Monitor, Fares Alhemyary, said: “The landmines that the Houthis have planted randomly and densely have contaminated populated areas and vast areas of agricultural land, and are claiming more Yemeni lives every day.”
He stressed that “civilians in contaminated areas live in a state of daily fear and anxiety in the absence of awareness of how to protect themselves, and displaced people returning to their homes and travelers on the roads, including alternative roads, face the risk of certain death.”
For his part, the head of the United Nations Mission in Hodeidah Governorate, Major General Michael Perry, said in a press statement on the occasion of the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action that “every month there are between six and seven incidents that cause various injuries, life-changing injuries and very unfortunate for the most vulnerable groups of women and children.”
He stressed that the mission is doing what it can to assist the local authorities and coordinate with them to raise awareness about this issue.
Perry added “We are here to provide what assistance we can and to do what is necessary to improve the situation, hoping for a positive outcome and to dedicate our modest contribution to clearing the world of the scourge of landmines.”
