Politicizing Indiscriminate Terror: Imagining an Inclusive Framework for the Anti-Landmines Movement

Abstract

Landmines are indiscriminate weapons of mass terror that detrimentally affect human beings, the ecological system they live in, the regional economy, and political stability. Despite the extensive nature of the impacts, the landmine crisis is almost exclusively advocated on the basis of human rights principles. A comprehensive framework that considers environmental degradation as a principal aftermath of the global landmine crisis is critically missing from the broader matrix of variables around which the anti-landmine movement converges. This article discusses the current humanitarian framework of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines; its shortcomings to address the interconnected impacts of landmines on the environment; and attempts to describe what an inclusive, environmentally sensitive framework would have to incorporate to address the overall landmine impacts effectively.