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"The United States government doesn't want to destroy its land mines just yet, and the reason comes down to this: Mines can be useful.\nOn Friday, during a conference in Maputo, Mozambique, U.S. officials announced that the country's military will no longer acquire anti-personnel mines. It will also take steps to join a 1997 international treaty banning the devices. \nSee also: More Than 50 Million Refugees Worldwide, Half of Them Children\nHistorically, the U.S. has at times appeared reluctant to become one of the treaty's 161 adherents. Other countries that have not ratified the document include North Korea, Iran and Russia. \n\nImage: International Campaign to Ban Landmines International Campaign to Ban LandminesWarring military factions often lay land mines across fields to deter their enemies. Those mines sometimes remain in place long after conflicts are over, often exploding when an unsuspecting civilian steps on one. They've killed at least 88,200 people since 1999. However, the number of deaths per year has dropped from around 26,000 to 4,000 since the treaty was introduced, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. \n\u201CMines have proven in the past to be an extremely effective defense mechanism,\" Anthony Cordesman, an expert on U.S. defense plans at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Mashable. That's one of the reasons the U.S. wants to keep its stockpile.\nThe American government still has mines laid out as deterrents along the border between North and South Korea, and experts say the Pentagon isn't inclined to give up its cache of around 10 million devices, even if it hasn't produced them since 1997 or used them since 1991. \n\u201CThey also don\u2019t like the notion of joining a [treaty] that constrains its hands in any way,\" Stephen Goose, co-founder of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, told Mashable. \nThe treaty also doesn't consider the fact that some of the more modern land mines can automatically deactivate after a certain length of time, according to Cordesman. Some U.S. officials don't see the problem with the devices, as long as mine fields are registered and cleaned up after they're no longer useful.\nAlthough the American government's announcement didn't do enough for some proponents of the Mine Ban Treaty, some felt that it represented a good first step, harkening back to when President Bill Clinton became the first world leader to call for a ban on anti-personnel mines in 1994. \nClinton's goal for the U.S. was to join the treaty by 2006. But that goal was formally abandoned by the administration of President George W. Bush in 2004, even though the U.S. hasn't so much as tried to acquire land mines since 1997. \nCurrently, there is no set date for joining the treaty, but President Obama has made it clear that he is thinking more along the lines of Clinton than Bush.\nDespite America's slow progress with regards to the treaty, it donates more money to clearing land mine fields and assisting victims of these devices than any other country on Earth, having spent $2 billion on such programs since 1993. \nBelow is a chart showing the distribution of that money to countries around the globe.\n\nImage:  United States GovernmentAt present, the United States is \"pursuing solutions\" that would put it in line with the terms of the treaty, and it's still working out other parts of the nation's land mine policy, Edward Price, assistant press secretary and director for strategic communications at the National Security Council, told Mashable. \nStill, the lack of a timeline for the U.S. to join the treaty has made advocates of the international agreement skeptical about the U.S. government's long-term plans. \n\u201CFor many of us, it\u2019s been two decades of trying,\" Mary Wareham, director of the arms division at Human Rights Watch, told Mashable. \"We\u2019re still not there yet.\u201D\nBelow, we've pulled together five important facts about land mines: \n1. Land mines kill people every day\nLand mines killed an average of 10 people per day in 2012, compared with 25 per day in 1999. \n2. Land mine contamination is heaviest in the Middle East and North Africa\n\nImage: International Campaign to Ban Landmines International Campaign to Ban Landmines3. Afghanistan had the most mine deaths in 2012\n\nImage: International Campaign to Ban Land Mines International Campaign to Ban Landmines4. Nearly half of land mine victims are children\nMines killed 1,066 people and injured 2,552 more in 2012, 47% of whom were children. \n5. Mine victims are mostly male\n\nImage: International Campaign to Ban Landmines International Campaign to Ban LandminesHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/06/28/us-america-land-mines-treaty/>