Since the February 2021 coup, the number of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Mon State has greatly increased, posing a serious threat to people’s lives and livelihoods.
Landmine and UXO threats had been declining in Myanmar but have surged since the coup, according to Mon State residents who spoke to Than Lwin Times.
According to data compiled by Than Lwin Times, three civilians were killed and 13 were injured by landmines in Mon State alone, during the six months from January to June 2025. This represented a threefold increase in civilian casualties compared to the same period in 2020, before the coup.
An owner of orchards in Mon State’s Ye Township said: “I’ve been afraid of landmines, so I haven’t dared to go to my orchards for the past two years. My fear isn’t just in my head, we keep hearing news about people hitting landmines one after another. The locals have asked for demining, but no one has responded.”
Since the coup, the Mon State townships most at risk of landmine and UXO contamination have been Kyaikto, Bilin, Thaton, Kyaikmaraw, Mudon, Thanbyuzayat, and Ye townships, with the townships of Kyaikto and Ye being particularly badly affected.
In particular, landmines and UXO present a danger of death or serious injury to children, orchard workers, rubber plantation labourers, and day labourers, all of whom have been victims of landmines and UXO.
The junta and resistance forces blame each other for planting landmines that have killed civilians with neither side being prepared to take responsibility for the casualties caused by landmines. As a result, when civilians are injured by landmines the truth of who planted them rarely comes out.
An official from a Mon State civil society organisation (CSO) who wants to remain anonymous said: “We want to ask all relevant organisations, if possible, to stop laying mines in resident areas and non-combat zones, to clear any that are already there, and to educate the public about landmines and UXO.”
A report by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), an organisation advocating for a world free of anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions, highlighted that since the coup, Myanmar has become the global leader in civilian deaths caused by landmines.
The report also said that landmines are widely used in Myanmar, both by the junta and the resistance, including incidents of mines planted on roads and even major highways used by civilians.
According to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), during 2020, the last full year before the coup, there were 252 civilian casualties from landmines, whereas after the coup UNICEF recorded 1,052 civilian casualties from landmines and UXO in 2023 and 1,082 in 2024.
