An Artistic Correlation Between Landmine Statistics Worldwideand Portland, OR.

22XPDX

FALL 2010

orn out of the need to raise aware-ness about landminesthroughout the world, 22XPDX is a live art

installation of vinyl graphics, typography and photography in the Dehen Building at 404 NW 10th Avenue in Portland’s Pearl District. 22XPDX is meant to hit people where they are most comfort-able, right here in their own home city, in an attempt to create greater awareness about the land mine problems facing those in the forgotten parts of the world.

For your own version of 22XPDX, we have supplied 8 landmine explosion stickers. Place these stickers on your car or in your home or office as a pledge to stand behind landmine proliferation worldwide. Or better yet, install them in a public place and let the world know what is happening beyond our borders.

Antipersonnel landmines are ex-plosive devices designed to injure or kill people. They lie dormant for years or even decades under, on or near the ground until a person or animal triggers their detonation. Antipersonnel mines cannot be aimed: they indiscriminately kill or injure civilians, soldiers, peace-keepers and aid workers alike.

22XPDX Made of plastic, metal or other materials, they contain explosives and some contain pieces of shrapnel. They can be activated by direct pressure from above, by pres-sure put on a wire or filament attached to a pull switch, by a radio signal or other remote firing method, or even simply by the proximity of a person within a prede-termined distance.

When triggered, a landmine unleash-es unspeakable destruction. The blast causes injuries like blindness, burns, destroyed limbs and shrapnel wounds. Sometimes the victim dies from the blast, due to loss of blood or because they don’t get to medical care in time. Those who survive and receive medical treatment often require amputations, long hospital stays and extensive rehabilitation.

Stepping on a blast antipersonnel mine will invariably cause foot and leg injuries, and secondary infections usually resulting in amputation. Fragmentation mines project hundreds of metal frag-ments, showering the victim with deep wounds. Bounding fragmentation mines are more powerful versions: they spring up about 1 meter and then explode, firing metal fragments to a large radius.

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22XPDX Landmine Viewing Window.Dehen Building Portland, OR

It is estimated that over 110 million mines are scattered in 70 countries throughout the world. Every day hundreds people are killed or maimed by mine explosions. Most of the casualties are civilians who are killed or injured long after hostilities have ended.

HOW MANY MINES ARE PLANTED IN THE GROUND?

in the ground is not the best measure when trying to deter-mine the impact of mines on

people. To get a better indication of the impact of mines, it is bet-ter to measure the amount of land area and the type of land that is contaminated – such as land that is needed for people to live on, farm, or travel through to reach services.

LOOKING AT THE TOTAL QUANTITY OF MINES

The most commonly used mines cost between

$3-$30 each to produce, whereas removing them

can cost as much as $2000.

LOOKING AT THE TOTAL QUANTITY OF MINES

One deminer is killed and two are injured for every

5,000 mines cleared.

HOW MUCH LAND IS CONTAMINATED

BY LANDMINES?

AS OF 2008, OVER 3200 SQUARE MILES OF LAND WAS CONTAMINATED BY LANDMINES.

22XPDX: Landmine Guerilla Art Insertion.Woodstock ParkPortland, OR

THAT’S AN AREA 22 TIMES THE SIZE OF PORTLAND.

here are an estimated 110 million active mines

scattered in over 70 coun-tries – in terms of people this translates as one for every 17 children or 52 adults in the world. A further 110 million have been stockpiled.

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HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE AFFECTED BY LANDMINES?

Between 1999 and the end of 2008, 73,576 casualties were recorded 119 countries and areas, of which 17,867 were killed, 51,711 injured, and 3,998 of unknown status.

and almost 3,500 injuries recorded in countries and regions throughout the world. While tragically high, this number of casualties is incomplete because it in-

DURING 2008, THERE WERE OVER 2,000 LANDMINE DEATHS

Miss Landmine is a beauty pageant that raises

awareness of the impact of landmines in countries

affected by civil war.

cludes only recorded casualties. There was certainly under-reporting due to the lack of adequate data collection systems and un-der-reporting of certain groups of casualties, such as refugees, internally displaced persons, foreign nationals, non-state armed groups or ethnic minorities.

WHO IS ATMOST RISK OF INJURY?

85% of child victims die before reaching a hospital. In one instance, when refugees returned to northern Somalia in 1991, 75% of mine victims were children, whose natural playfulness and wood-gathering and herding occupations put them at greater risk.

3,030ADULTS1,184

CHILDREN

983UNKNOWN

CASUALTIES BY AGE:

1,082UNKNOWN

CASUALTIESBY GENDER:

1,082UNKNOWN

3,754MALE

361FEMALE

CASUALTIESBY GENDER:

2,821CIVILIAN

1,694SECURITY

586UNKNOWN

96DEMINER

CASUALTIES BYMILITARY/CIVILIAN STATUS:

61% OF VICTIMS ARE CIVILIANS.

WHY SUPPORT A LANDMINE BAN?

The Mine Ban Treaty, adopted on September 18 1997, prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of antipersonnel mines. It is the most com-prehensive international instrument for eradicating landmines and deals with ev-erything from mine use, production and trade, to victim assistance, mine clear-ance and stockpile destruction. There are currently 156 State Parties to the treaty 38 states not party.

anning landmines makes a differ-ence. The global stigma attached to these weapons has led to a halt in

the global trade of mines, a sharp drop in the number of producers and a startling reduction in the number of governments laying mines, even among states who still refuse to officially join the treaty. Vast tracts of land have been cleared and put back into productive use; there has been widespread and extensive destruction of stockpiled mines; and most importantly, there are now fewer new mine victims each year.

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ARMENIAAZERBAIJANBAHRAINBURMACHINACUBAEGYPTFINLANDGEORGIAINDIAIRANISRAELKAZAKHSTAN

KYRGYZSTANLAO PDRLEBANONLIBYAMICRONESIAMONGOLIAMOROCCONEPALNORTH KOREAOMANPAKISTANPOLANDRUSSIA

SAUDI ARABIASINGAPORESOMALIASOUTH KOREASRI LANKASYRIATONGATUVALUUAEUNITED STATESUZBEKISTANVIETNAMCountries in RED on this list may produce or maintain the ability to produce mines.

STATES NOT CURRENTLY SUPPORTIVE OF A BAN:

22XPDX: Landmine Casualty Installation.Dehen Building Portland, OR

22XPDXlthough recorded casualties have decreased significantly over the past five years, the number remains unacceptably high — there

were still more than 5,000 recorded casualties in 2008. This is a far cry from the common estimate of 26,000 per year in the 1990s — even if it is not possible to guage the accuracy of that estimate. For we will never know exactly how many people were killed or injured by mines returning to Afghanistan, gathering food in Angola, or growing rice in Cambo-dia. What is certain is that casualty data collection still remains inadequate in most countries. It is a fundamental responsibility of states to assist those most directly affected by mines and the major pre-cursor to such assistance is an accurate and uniform system of determining the number of survivors as well as the dependants of those who did not survive. For more info visit ICBL.org.

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22XPDX:Art Direction and Design by Ben Parsons

Photos and Content by Ben Parsons or Provided by ICBL.org