UN / MINE ACTION REPORT

United Nations agencies, national authorities and nongovernmental organizations need $391 million in 2006 to remove landmines, assist victims and teach people in mine-affected areas how to avoid danger.

At a press conference at the United Nations launching the report, Demot Carty, UNICEF's Coordinator for Landmines and Small Arms told reporters the number of new victims has been steadily decreasing since the anti-personnel mine ban treaty went into effect six years ago.

Landmines and other explosive remnants of war kill or injure between 15,000 and 20,000 people annually. In heavily affected countries such as Afghanistan, landmines and explosive remnants of war claim an estimated 100 casualties every month.

But sustaining the progress will require sufficient funds for a wide range of actors to carry out projects in all five aspects of "mine action": clearing, marking or fencing off mined areas; assisting victims and their families; providing mine risk education; destroying countries' stockpiles of landmines; and advocating for universal participation in treaties related to landmines and explosive remnants of war.

Landmines hamper economic and social development by blocking access to roads and other infrastructure and services such as schools and clinics. They also prevent the safe movement of refugees and the deployment of peacekeepers.