Mines have frequently been used indiscriminately, particularly in internal conflicts, in direct violation of international humanitarian law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In some instances, warring parties have specifically targeted children. Rwandan children returning to Kigali after the end of the recent conflict found that many of their homes and schools had been mined by the departing armed forces.

Even when used in accordance with the rules of international humanitarian laws, mines still pose a significant risk to children. This risk arises from the fact that mines remain active for decades. An anti-personnel mine deployed today may still be lethal in the middle of the next century. In the mid-1980s, civilians in Poland were still being killed and injured by land mines laid during the Second World War.

In addition to killing and maiming children in appalling numbers, mines also attack a child's physical and social environment. In Angola, for example, the mining of huge areas of agricultural land has led to widespread malnutrition and even famine or starvation. In Cambodia, where there are twice as many land mines as children, repatriation of refugees from camps in Thailand was severely impeded by mines along the major return routes. Mines obstruct the free circulation of goods and labour, further impoverishing countries struggling to rebuild after conflicts end.

EXTREME VULNERABILITY

Children are particularly at risk of mine injury because of their innate curiosity and love of play. The various shapes, colors and sizes of land mines can attract a child's attention there is even a "butterfly" mine shaped like a toy. Physically, children are ill-equipped to withstand the horrific injuries or the major loss of blood that accompanies a land mine explosion. Those who do survive face the prospect of an amputation of a leg or an arm and are often blinded. Maimed for life, only a few of these children receive adequate rehabilitation.

The UN, through UNICEF and its national committee, has concentrated its efforts on developing partnerships with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in forwarding the international campaign for a total ban on land mines. UNICEF, in cooperation with the UN Centre for Human Rights, is also strongly supporting the work of Graca Machel, the Expert appointed by the Secretary General to undertake a comprehensive study of the situation of children affected by armed conflict. The study, whose conclusions will be presented to the General Assembly in 1996, will look particularly at ways and means of protecting children from anti-personnel mines.

AWARENESS AS PROTECTION

In addition to its advocacy activities, the UN is working extensively in the field to prevent injury to children in mine-affected countries. The UN system has already undertaken mine awareness programmes in Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Croatia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Rwanda. In the former Yugoslavia, UNICEF worked with the Croatian Ministry of Education to prepare a manual for teachers and a video cassette for use in schools and for broadcast on the national television networks. The programme has already reached 400,000 children in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia. Prior to this initiative, many children were collecting and swapping land mines, sometimes with tragic results.

Collaboration among UN agencies has resulted in the preparation of a mine awareness programme for Rwanda which comprises radio spots and mine awareness materials included in a specially-prepared "School in a Box". This programme has already informed 720,000 Rwandans between the ages of seven and fourteen of the dangers of land mines.

In El Salvador, the UN system has also produced multimedia materials. Educators involved in UN-sponsored mine awareness programmes have trained members from the religious, educational, medical and NGO communities especially to reach out and educate rural mothers and children on the dangers of land mines.

It is clear, however, that the needs of children affected by land-mines far outstrip the services that can be provided to them.