Support lacking for landmine victims in Arakan State

By Admin 11 May 2024

DMG Newsroom
11 May 2024, Sittwe

Local people in Arakan State who have lost limbs due to landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERWs) are struggling to make ends meet due to lack of assistance.

The family of U Tun Naing from Ohntaw Village in Kyaukphyu Township, who lost his left leg in a landmine blast, said they are facing livelihood hardships. U Tun Naing, 43, was going to a hill south of the village to cut down bamboo on May 7 when he stepped on the landmine. 

“We made a living as odd-job workers in the past and we must repay some debts. I don’t know how to earn a living,” Daw Khaing Khaing Swe, the wife of U Tun Naing, told DMG.

Daw Khin Than Hlaing, a 48-year-old vegetable vendor from Kanpaing Ward in Taungup, was foraging for vegetables near Thinchaing Hill in front of the donors’ association office on May 6 when she stepped on a landmine. She too lost her left leg in the blast.

“I make a living as a vegetable vendor and I have lost one of my legs. Now I can do nothing and want financial assistance from others,” she said.

International organisations including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and local civil society organisations provided cash assistance and other necessities to landmine victims and their families during previous rounds of fighting in Arakan State. At this time, no organisation has provided assistance to landmine victims in the ongoing period of hostilities, which began in November.

“Job opportunities are scarce amid skyrocketing commodity prices,” said an official from a CSO in Arakan State. “Families of landmine victims are odd-job workers. They are struggling to make ends meet. The international community and other organisations should help the landmine victims as much as they can. The landmine victims find it difficult to receive assistance due to the regime’s travel restrictions.”

Customary international humanitarian law’s rule 53 states that the use of starvation of a civilian population as a method of warfare is prohibited. Rule 54 says attacking, destroying, removing or rendering useless objects indispensable to the survival of a civilian population is prohibited.

Civilian casualties caused by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERWs), meanwhile, have been on the rise in Arakan State.

The number of civilian casualties inflicted by landmines and unexploded ordnance has been on the rise in Myanmar. The number increased from 390 casualties in 2022 to 1,025 casualties (188 were killed and 864 were injured) last year, reported UNICEF Myanmar.

According to a DMG tally, nearly 60 civilians have been killed or injured by landmines and unexploded ordnance in Arakan State since renewed fighting broke out in November.