Between Autumn 2021 and Spring 2022, humanitarian landmine clearance project Masam’s deminers witnessed a rise in the targeting of demining activities.
In short, Yemen’s Houthi militia — who are designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation by the internationally-recognised Yemeni government-in-exile and the United Nations — were reportedly fitting landmines with something called anti-handling mechanisms that means that if a deminer were to attempt to render a landmine safe, it would explode in his face.
While the Houthis have allegedly committed war crimes for their indiscriminate use of banned anti-personnel landmines, their apparent targeting of deminers may also constitute a war crime.
To find out why, read Masam’s report, titled Humanitarian demining is not a crime: The ‘deliberate’ targeting of demining personnel, published on Medium.
