Victims of Landmines in Yemen

September 2014 – June 2018

Yemen is classified as a country contaminated by mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), and suffers mainly from unexploded ordnance (UXO) as a result of the numerous conflicts that have occurred since 1962 to 2010, as reported by many international and local reports addressing mines.

Over the last four years, such a problem – which Yemen already suffers from - has been compounded by the fact that, since its coup on September 21, 2014, the Houthi-Saleh militia has used landmines intensively as one of the most important means and methods of warfare in its armed confrontation with the forces of the legitimate government in order to curb and hinder their progress in the areas the militia used to control and was later defeated or in the areas it still controls and expects to witness military confrontations with the government forces.

The monitoring process documented in this report included: the registration of (906) people killed by landmine explosions from September 2014 to June 2018. These deaths occurred in 19 out of the total of 22 Yemeni governorates. The highest death toll occurred in Taiz governorate, totaling (289), followed by other governorates such as Lahj, al-Dhale', Marib and Aden. The number of men killed by landmines was (713), and (60) for women. A large number of children were killed, totaling (133). Civilians represent the largest number, totaling (665), of the total landmine casualties in Yemen during the reporting period. Most of the victims were killed by antipersonnel mines, totaling (654) and accounted for 72% of the total casualties.

(1034) injured victims of landmine explosions and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted by Houthi-Saleh militia were distributed to 17 governorates. Taiz governorate ranked highest in the number of injured, totaling (417), followed by some governorates such as Marib (136), Lahj (85), al-Bayda (70), Aden (61), Jawf (58), Shabwah (51), al-Dhale' (36), Sana'a (36) and Abyan (26), as well as other governorates.

The number of men casualties reached (795), women (56) and children (183). The largest number of casualties were caused by antipersonnel mines (542), followed by anti-vehicle mines (AVM) reaching (477) and (15) who were wounded by (IEDs).

The majority of landmine victims, whether killed, injured, disabled or maimed, were civilians.

The Houthi militia bears direct responsibility for such casualties, whether killed or injured, because they are responsible for the planting of thousands of landmines of various kinds in most of the areas from which they have withdrawn or are still under their control.

This report provides a number of recommendations on landmine action addressed to the international community, the Houthi group, the Yemeni government and the Arab Coalition forces to do their utmost to eliminate landmines of various kinds and reduce their effects.