Extra individuals are being killed or maimed by antipersonnel landmines in Myanmar than in some other nation on the planet. There have been as many as 2,029 casualties within the nation in 2025, nearly double the quantity reported the earlier 12 months.
Myanmar’s navy has been utilizing antipersonnel landmines for a number of a long time. A brand new pattern because the navy coup of February 2021 is that such mines are being utilized by non-state armed teams of the resistance as properly, Landmine Monitor has famous.
The affect of antipersonnel landmines and unexploded ordnance has been significantly extreme on Myanmar’s youngsters. Based on UNICEF, over 20 % of the 1,052 verified civilian casualties from such incidents in 2023 have been youngsters. This was a major rise from 2022, when simply 390 incidents have been recorded.
Between January 29 and March 4, The Diplomat interviewed 16 survivors of landmines in Myanmar’s Chin State and Rakhine State, who shared the circumstances below which they stepped on antipersonnel landmines, how they survived and the way their accidents have modified their lives endlessly.
The landmines that claimed lives or inflicted accidents have been often planted by the Myanmar navy round their bases and outposts to discourage advancing resistance teams. However the regime troops additionally mined jungles, paddy fields, and villages as they withdrew from areas to keep away from being captured or killed.
In 2025, Rakhine State reported the second-highest variety of landmine casualties (117) amongst all states and areas in Myanmar.
