Land mines in Croatia - Facts or fiction

One of the most heavy burdens left by the plague of war, anywhere in the world, are the land mines. Croatia is no exception. Although the war finished fourteen years ago, it left a terrifying reminders all over the country. Amazing beauty of it’s landscape and inherited benign of it’s nature seems spoiled by those ravening little devices from bushes and clumps of soil.
Nobody knows the real number of mines in the world. There are some evaluations that there are 250 millions of left mines in approximately 80 countries. It is not a fiction that Croatia is one of them. The facts from the year 2009. are telling us the sad story about twelve of twenty one counties with mine suspicious areas. It counts 111 towns and districts. All of those towns and districts affected were occupied during the war and they are mainly rural inland of East Slavonian, Lika and Dalmatian region. 954 square kilometers is the size of mine suspicious area which is about 1,7% of Croatian state territory. It doesn’t seem to be a great number, but the one life wasted is one life too much.

Since the mine suspected areas are settled on the former occupied Croatian inland, the fact is that land mines are not the menace to Croatian famous tourist destinations. But the problem considers adventurous tourism, so maximal effort is undertaken that tourists are informed about every detail of land mine areas and insignia.
There are 15.000 signs placed in Croatia pointing to the land mine danger. The number considering human victims is even more scarier. From the year 1991., when the war started, there was 1.314 mine incidents and 1.902 persons were injured. 69 children were involved in such incidents and 496 person died. The good thing is that the number of victim is constantly decreasing from the year 1998., when there were 92 victims, to 2008. with seven victims.
Eleven years ago Croatian mine action center is founded and it’s purpose is not only demining, but also reducing mine risk and trying to provide safe living. Croatia is one of the signatories of Otawa convention and was obligated to clean the land from the mines until the year 2009. The facts are, Croatia is a small country with insufficient means to perform such a quick and intensive action. So, the deadline is prolonged until the year 2019., although activities never stopped or even slowed down. Croatian mine action, along with the Red cross and numerous human benefit associations, are trying to bypass world economic crisis, and continuing to gather money necessary for demining process. The government and associations are trying to help that mine contamination don’t represent an obstacle for development of economy and society of affected area. They are taking care of nature protection, but the needs of mine victims is community priority.

Craotia is financing demining almost alone. Since the war in Croatia finished, awareness of land mine danger is raised in the whole country, not only the affected regions. The demining fund raising campaigns are common events people attend in Croatia. There are few world organizations such as Adopt-A-Minefield from UK which raises awareness about landmines and their associated problems and raises funds to clear minefields and help survivors of landmine accidents. So why not adopt a minefield and help someone to have secure step in his backyard in Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam or even in Croatia.

If You attend to visit Croatia, You have already did it or even if You won’t, please consider that next time You see a wishing star, imagine Croatia without mines so the children can run free!