DISEC

Directors

Moderators

TOPIC PREVIEW: ANTI-PERSONNEL MINES - Anti-personnel mines are a type of weapon designed to specifically injure humans. This is a key point, as other mines are generally anti-tank in design and supposed to kill. The objective of the use of anti-personnel mines is to increase the logistical (medical) support necessary by the opposing force and crippling their movements. Clearly, a major issue with these mines is that they can often injure and permanently disable people years after any conflict is over. Increasingly, land mines are also being used to terrify or subdue civilian populations by blocking their access to land and sometimes to essential supplies. Several groups are attempting to outlaw these types of weapons, such as the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Some agreements have been reached, such as the Ottawa Treaty of 1997. However, major nations such as the United States, Russia, China, and India are conspicuously absent from the agreement. Many of these nations are invested in keeping landmines in a particular area for security, as, for instance, the US is committed to keeping anti-personnel mines in the Korean demilitarized zone (DMZ). It is also extremely expensive and time consuming to remove land-mines; the estimated cost of removing all active landmines is approximately $33 billion dollars, and the projected time for such a project is over 1000 years. While nations lament the havoc anti-personnel mines wreak on civilian populations, many see them as a necessary part of keeping peace on borders and in areas of conflict. DISEC will have to keep these political and economic concerns in mind when attempting to reach a solution on the issue.