The presence, or perceived presence, of a few anti-personnel mines has the power to disrupt an entire community. Subsistence farmers, fleeing refugees, internally displaced persons and particularly women and children are among the most vulnerable. This broadens significantly the scope and nature of the problem, framing it in a humanitarian context. Most national and local programmes have generally focused their resources on the activity of clearance, with a number of governments effectively containing the situation within their own borders. Yet ongoing regional and internal conflicts offset real gains made in the area of removal.
Farmlands continue to go unused, roads remain closed and villages eventually abandoned.
The problem is complex, with clearance representing only part of the solution. United Nations mine action was developed as a multi-dimensional response embodying the most basic of humanitarian principles. It is defined by a distinct set of activities conceived to abate the effects inflicted upon civil societies as a result of extensive landmine contamination. These activities form the core elements of UN Mine Action. Mine action is not just about weapons, but about people.