Landmine Monitor 2025: Civilian Landmine Casualties Escalate, While Five Countries Take Dangerous Step Away from Humanitarian Mine Ban

(Geneva, 1 December 2025) – The Landmine Monitor 2025 report, released today by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), reveals a stark reality: civilians are bearing the consequences, as efforts to clear mined areas face waning global donor support for essential humanitarian activities. Unprecedented challenges to the long-standing international ban on landmines have also emerged. However, the report also documents the treaty’s continued growth and underscores that its framework remains the world’s most effective tool to end the suffering caused by landmines. 

 
Landmine Monitor 2025 reports a sharp rise in casualties, with 6,279 people killed or injured by landmines and explosive remnants of war in 2024, the highest annual total since 2020. The increase was largely due to mines in conflict-affected countries, particularly those outside the treaty ban—especially Myanmar, where massive use continues, and Syria, where civilians are increasingly at risk as they return home, either to or through contaminated lands, following the end of the Assad regime. Civilians made up 90% of global casualties in 2024, almost half of them children. Myanmar again recorded the highest number of casualties worldwide for the second consecutive year. 

“This year’s findings make clear both the scale of new challenges and the need to stay united in upholding commitments and maintaining vital compliance efforts.” said Mark Hiznay, Landmine Monitor editor for ban policy. “Five states renounced their treaty obligations in a matter of months, when evidence shows if they use mines, it can take decades and enormous resources to clear contaminated land and assist the new victims, who will feel the impact of mine use long after the conflict has ceased.” 

The 163-page report paints a complex picture. More than half of the affected States Parties succeeded in decreasing their known mine contamination in 2024. A total of 31 States Parties have completed clearance of all antipersonnel mines from their territory since the treaty entered into force on 1 March 1999, with Oman declaring completion in 2025. While the aspirational goal of a mine-free world by 2025 set by States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty at the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014 has not been met, the treaty itself is stronger than ever in numbers. The recent accession of the Marshall Islands and Tonga brings the number of States Parties to 166, meaning 85% of the world’s countries are bound by the ban. 

At the same time progress towards a mine-free world is being tested in several significant ways. The report notes that the total area cleared declined compared with previous years, reflecting reduced donor funding and growing insecurity in affected regions. Even countries with small amounts of remaining contamination are struggling to complete their clearance obligations due to a lack of financial support. The report also highlights that donor contributions for victim assistance, representing just 5% of all mine action funding, fell by almost a quarter in 2024. Many mine survivors still lack access to essential medical care, rehabilitation, and psychosocial support, despite ongoing attempts by states and the international community to build sustainable services for the victims. 

These challenges were further compounded in early 2025, when the largest donor to mine action, the United States, implemented a freeze on foreign assistance in the first quarter of the year. This was followed by the termination of several humanitarian mine action programs and ongoing uncertainty surrounding the future of others, deepening the funding crisis in many affected countries. 

“Behind each statistic is a family and a community still living with the consequences of landmines,” said Ruth Bottomley, Landmine Monitor editor for mine action funding. “The decline in funding for victim assistance is alarming and must be urgently reversed.” 

The report documents continued and possible new use and production of antipersonnel mines. States not party Russia and Myanmar remain responsible for widespread use of antipersonnel mines. There are also indications of new use by States Party Ukraine and allegations of use by Cambodian armed forces. States not party India, Myanmar, Russia, and South Korea appear to be maintaining active production capacity. Additionally, the United States transferred antipersonnel mines to Ukraine in 2024, breaking its own 32-year moratorium on exports and undermining the global stigma against these weapons. 

Despite the growing number of countries demonstrating their commitment to the humanitarian objectives of the Mine Ban Treaty, with the addition of two new States Parties in 2025, the norms of the Mine Ban Treaty are under direct threat as Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland are in the process of withdrawing under the treaty’s Article 20. Ukraine has attempted to “suspend the operation” of the Mine Ban Treaty while engaged in an international armed conflict, an action which is not permitted under the treaty. These developments, together with continued use and production, mark a dangerous erosion of the global norm that has saved countless lives since 1999. 

“The Mine Ban Treaty remains a powerful instrument, and its obligations and principles must be actively defended,” said Tamar Gabelnick, Director of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. “Governments must speak out to uphold the treaty, prevent further departures, reinforce its provisions globally, and ensure no more countries use, produce, or acquire antipersonnel mines. Turning back is not an option; we have come too far, and the human cost is simply too high.” She added. 

The Mine Ban Treaty entered into force on 1 March 1999. It prohibits the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of antipersonnel landmines and requires States Parties to provide victim assistance, to clear mined areas, and to destroy stockpiles. As of 1 December 2025, 166 countries are bound by the treaty, following the ratification by the Marshall Islands in March 2025 and Tonga’s accession in June 2025. Thirty-one states have yet to join. 

This year’s Landmine Monitor report is being released on the first day of the Twenty-Second Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, which opens in Geneva on 1 December 2025. 

For more information, contact: 

• Charles Bechara, ICBL-CMC Communications and Media Manager (English, French, Arabic), Tel. +41 (0) 78 323 51 44, media@icblcmc.org 

• Eléa Boureux, Monitor Project Manager (English, French), Tel. +41 (0) 78 225 60 11, monitor@icblcmc.org 

Useful links: 

• Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor, www.the-monitor.org 

• International Campaign to Ban Landmines, www.icblcmc.org/about-icbl 

• Follow The Monitor on Bluesky: minemonitor.bsky.social 

• Follow the ICBL on Bluesky: @minefreeworld.bsky.social 

• Follow the ICBL-CMC on Instagram: @icbl_cmc 

• Follow the ICBL-CMC on LinkedIn 

About the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor (The Monitor) 

Landmine Monitor 2025 is the 27^th annual Monitor report by International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), 1997 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate together with Jody Williams. Released on the opening day of the Mine Ban Treaty’s Twenty-Second Meeting of States Parties, this report provides a global overview of efforts to universalize and fully implement the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, ensure clearance of mine contaminated areas, provide risk education to affected communities, and assist victims of these weapons. More generally, the report assesses the international community’s response to the global landmine situation, focusing on calendar year 2024 with information included up to October 2025 where possible.  

Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor is the civil society initiative providing research and monitoring for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC).