Colombia is unable to meet the 2021 Ottawa Treaty deadline to eliminate landmines said a Colombian anti-landmine campaigner Tuesday.
Alvaro Jimenez of Colombia Contra las Minas, said that due to the extent of the conflict the mine problem is continuing to escalate making it “impossible that Colombia is free of mines by 2021.”
The 2001 Ottawa Treaty committed Colombia to total elimination of landmines by 2011, however at that stage a 10-year extension had to be granted giving Colombia until 2021 to remove all the mines, a goal which according to Millan is now impossible.
Colombia had the second highest rate of landmine victims in the world in 2010, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), with 512 victims either maimed or killed putting the country second after Afghanistan with 1,211.
“This war must end,” said Millan, adding that the issue of landmines will continue indefinitely as long as the conflict is not resolved.
