The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Ethiopia has warned that the lives of children and farmers are at risk from unexploded weapons.
Development Diaries reports that the lives and livelihoods of people living in weapon-contaminated areas in Tigray, Amhara, and Afar are being threatened despite the recent improvement in humanitarian situations.
According to the ICRC and the Ethiopian Red Cross Society (ERCS), children and farmers returning to their lands located on former battlefields are among the most affected and at risk.
‘It’s an absolute tragedy for someone to be killed or to lose a limb due to the detonation of unexploded weapons, even more so after the end of a conflict’, ICRC’s weapon contamination specialist in Ethiopia, Vasanth Kanags, said in a statement.
‘It’s urgent that we inform communities of this danger, especially children who naturally want to play with new, interesting-looking objects’.
According to international humanitarian law, civilians exposed to unexploded ordnance must be protected and assisted.
It is understood that some victims of weapon contamination accidents with exceptional difficulties have received emergency financial assistance from the ICRC to cover their urgent needs.
Development Diaries calls on the government of Ethiopia to sign, ratify and implement the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its fifth protocol on explosive remnants of war.
Photo source: Jude Fuhnwi/ICRC
