Mined.

Today I had a meeting with a former Buddhist monk, who has for the past twenty years dedicated his life to landmine risk education. He works with the Karen Department of Health and Welfare, heading the Mine Risk Education Unit. Previously, he worked in the former conflict areas of Cambodia, de-mining, and educating returning villagers how to stay safe from mines. For the last nine years, he has been working in Karen State, in eastern Burma, often thought to currently be the most heavily mined land on the planet.

His work focuses around teaching villagers how to recognize mines (and UXO) and the signs that an area might be mined (such as discarded safety pins, visible electrical wiring, or tripwires), supporting landmine victims, and mapping mined areas. He used to distribute warning signs to denote mined areas, and paths of safe passage, but the sad reality of Karen State is that mines have become protection as much as threat, and many villagers are unwilling to visibly mark minefields. When he tried to insist on marking minefields, villagers stopped coming to his education sessions. A harsh reality to face and accept.

Karen State is mined because of the ongoing conflict between the KNU, the Karen separatist group which for 60 years has denied the authority of the military junta claiming authority in Burma, and the Burma Army, controlled by that junta. Also in play is a Karen group which broke off from the KNU 15 years ago, and is now allied with the Burma Army. All three armies use the mines. The Karen use them to protect their land, their villages and farms from BA invasion and attack. The BA uses them to prevent villagers from returning to an area after they have been forcibly displaced from it.

But although the mines are intentionally set, they are often unintentionally triggered. Decades of repeated displacements, and ever shifting conflict, has led to the loss of some institutional memory regarding the placement of mines, by both those who set them and those trying to avoid them. KDHW alone treats about 40 landmine victims each year, and few of the wounded are combatants. Most of them are women and children, gathering firewood, going to draw water, working in the fields. Even more mine victims make their way to Thailand for care, don't receive care at all, or are killed instantly.

As horrible as these unnecessary injuries and deaths are, the worst it yet to come, by far. My friend's biggest concern is not war time, but peace, if ever it comes. If this conflict is ever resolved, within days of its conclusion thousands of migrants and refugees in Thailand will stream back across the border. They will have been gone too long to have up do date knowledge on safe paths to travel. They will be looking for new land to carve out areas for farming. They will expand the borders of current villages into potentially unsafe areas. Untold mine casualties in a territory without a single hospital. Within days of peace, Karen State will potentially face its greatest disaster.

The MRE unit is trying to prepare. In each village, someone has been nomintated, to stockpile currently banned landmine danger area signage, and upon hearing the earliest news of ceasefire, erect them at minefields in the surrounding areas. They are counting on the news spreading fast enough to incite everyone to action before the first returnees appear. It will be a race, but they are trying to prepare.

There are days when it seems unreal, to have conversations about ordinance, and mines, wars, and ceasefires, and remember that none of it is in the hypothetical, but is very, deadly, real, just across the river. That as safe as I am here in Thailand, with my American passport, the mountains I can see from my soi, just across the river, are the setting for a very different reality. Where safety is not a guarantee, and daily activities pose risk of loss of limb or life.

Landmines are one of the most disgusting weapons every invented. They are indiscriminate killers that stay active for decades, remaining dangerous long after conflicts end, and injuring countless civilians. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines has gained commitments from 156 countries around the world to stop producing and using mines (and won the Nobel Peace Prize for doing so; www.icbl.org). Unsurprisingly, Burma has not. Notably, the United States has not either.

Sadly, mines will remain a reality in Karen State for a long time to come. I was meeting with my friend because he is trying to open a new branch of the MRE unit in southern Karen State. He will need 20,000 USD to do so. If you have any rich friends looking for a good cause, let them know. This is an investment that will impact safety in Karen State for decades.