The Tragedy and Challenges of Demining in Burma – Lots of Danger and No Money

Antonio Graceffo

Myanmar recorded more than 1,000 landmine and unexploded ordnance casualties in 2023, the highest in the world, according to UNICEF and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Independent human rights experts said this figure represents only part of a wider crisis as the junta escalates attacks on civilians, including people with disabilities. They reported that soldiers have forced civilians to walk through minefields and have blocked medical care and prosthetics for victims, actions that violate the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and UN Security Council Resolution 2475.

Children are among the most affected. UNICEF confirmed that more than 27 percent of the casualties in 2024 were minors, out of 1,052 verified civilian casualties in 2023. This is a sharp increase from 2022, when 390 incidents were recorded. Children are especially vulnerable because they often cannot recognize explosive devices, and mines are placed in homes, schools, playgrounds, and farming areas.

Victims face further hardship as amputees are being criminalized by the junta, which associates missing limbs with resistance activity. Many amputees are now hiding to avoid harassment and arrest. Experts highlighted the case of a young woman who lost her leg and was later denied a prosthesis because junta forces blocked access to the materials needed to make one.

In resistance-controlled areas, there are very limited resources for prosthetics.

Most funding comes from private donations routed through ethnic civil action groups and churches. In Karenni State, for example, there is only one rehabilitation clinic for amputees. Across all resistance-controlled areas, waiting lists for prosthetics can be long while donors struggle to raise money for each artificial limb.

Jon Moss is one of the few volunteers who has come to Burma to help with the landmine issue.

Moss is a U.S. military veteran with a law degree who served as a Navy Special Operations officer specializing in Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD). He said he had always wanted to join the military, but the deciding moment came when he saw the Syrian government use chemical weapons on civilians. “That was it for me. I was like, I need to do something.” He joined the military because he wanted to help people and prevent that kind of atrocity. When he learned that EOD technicians disarm everything from grenades to nuclear and chemical weapons, he said, “I felt like I want to do that.” He completed EOD school, dive school, and jump school.