In Bosnia alone more than 3 million landmines are believed to remain in the ground although the fighting has stopped. That's about one landmine for every 50 people on the planet. Often women are the first victims of landmines as they attempt to plant gardens to feed their families. Anti-tank mines line the top row. The 'bounding Betties' first leap up 3 to 4 feet before killing or wounding everyone in a 50 - 75 foot radius.
Plastic mines are on the bottom row.
Children often find these first. Each month 1,200 people are maimed and 800 killed by landmines worldwide. We have no landmines on U.S territory, but one of 22,000 citizens is a landmine amputee as a result of foreign assignments. Economics also explains why so many remain in the ground after the truce is called and the treaty is signed. Fifty nations, gathered in that city last October, agreed to work for such a ban.