The UN chief and pope call for nations to end the use of antipersonnel land mines

Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — The U.N. chief, Pope Francis and others are calling for nations to end the production and use of land mines, even as their deployment grows. They made the appeal Monday at a conference on the 25-year-old Mine Ban Treaty that opened in Cambodia. A land mine monitoring group said at least 5,757 people were killed and wounded by land mines and unexploded ordnance last year. The victims were primarily civilians, a third of whom were children. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said some nations had renewed the use of antipersonnel mines. Landmine Monitor said Russia had been using them extensively in Ukraine, and just a week ago, the U.S. announced it would start providing Kyiv with antipersonnel mines.