Colombia

Colombia, a country overwhelmed by four decades of war, has the highest concentration of contamination from landmines and other explosive remnants of war in the Americas. The conflict, which was and continues to be waged between the Colombian government and various nonstate actors, reached its peak during the early 1990s.The use of improvised explosive devices, anti-personnel landmines and other forms of explosive ordnance has rapidly increased in Colombia since then, due to heavy usage by NSAs such as the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia. In the past, the Colombian government laid landmines around 34 military bases to protect key infrastructure, but it renounced their use since 1997. Landmines are primarily used by the NSAs to protect their home bases and illegal drug crops, which fund the conflict. The Landmine Monitor Report observes that landmine usage may not be limited to use by NSAs against the Colombian government, but may also be employed by different nonstate actors against one another. The use of landmines has become increasingly common; during 2005 and 2006, over 1,100 landmine victims were reported each year, about three victims a day. Since then, the number of new casualties has decreased, yet the rate remains at an alarming level, with 769 victims for 2008