A/HRC/42/CRP.5 or conscripted into the AA,1014 women and the elderly are left behind to fend for themselves. F. Landmines 439. The Mission has learnt of a number of deaths and injuries of civilians 1015 due to landmines, including both Chin1016 and ethnic Rakhine.1017 The Mission was unable to verify which party was responsible for laying the mines. The number of mine-related deaths and injuries as a result of the armed conflict between the Tatmadaw and the AA is also difficult to estimate.1018 Whatever the number may be, the fear of landmines is significant. Internally displaced persons and refugees have stated that landmines were one of the factors preventing them from returning to their villages. 1019 440. Many of the cases the Mission investigated related to people killed or injured by mines when cultivating and farming.1020 One Chin woman described how her aunt’s daughter was killed in 2018 as a result of a mine explosion: “She was just on her way back from the farm. She was carrying the paddy and stepped on a mine and died. She was approximately 30 years old.”1021 441. The presence of landmines causes severe fear1022 and has a significantly adverse impact on villagers’ livelihoods. Chin farmers, in particular, many of whom rely on rotational crop farming for their subsistence needs, told the Mission how the risk of landmines has impacted their farming activities.1023 As one woman stated: “Now is the season for rice planting. But as there are mines planted nearby the forest area, people are afraid to go over there and so we cannot do our farming.”1024 442. Credible information indicates that both the Tatmadaw and the AA use landmines.1025 The Tatmadaw and the AA are therefore subject to the rules of international human rights law and international humanitarian law that regulate the use, recording and removal of mines. These rules are aimed at ensuring the protection of civilians and the civilian population which, in Myanmar, have suffered extensively in terms of physical injury, displacement, and lack of access to farmlands and economic activities. International law prohibits the Tatmadaw and the AA from using landmines to direct attacks against 1014 1015 1016 1017 1018 1019 1020 1021 1022 1023 1024 1025 124 LI-144. It should be noted that while the Mission did not receive first-hand information about deaths of Rohingya as a result of landmines or IEDs, credible reports indicate that some Rohingya have also been victim. See: Amnesty International, No one Can Protect Us: War Crimes and Abuses in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, (May 2019), Fortify Rights, “Myanmar: Protect Civilians Trapped in Armed Conflict in Rakhine State, Ensure Humanitarian Access” (News Release, 4 June 2019), The Irrawaddy, “Rohingya Man, 8-Year-Old Son Killed in Blast in Northern Rakhine” (22 May 2019), Arkan Times “A Rohingya killed in landmine explosion in Buthidaung” (4 April 2019), Khin Maung Naing, “Rohingya Father and Son Killed in IED Explosion in Kyauktaw” (Rohingya Today, 23 May 2019). CI-247, CI-250, CI-256, CI-257, CI-319, CI-320, LI-140, LI-146, LI-150, LI-151, LI-153, LI-158, LM-030, LM-043, Chin Human Rights Organization, Stable and Secure: An Assessment on the Current Context of Human Rights for Chin People in Burma/Myanmar (October 2018), p.17. CI-280, CI-281, LI-137, LI-216, LM-039. It should be noted that this section does not include injuries and deaths by landmines that were planted as part of the 2017 “Clearance Operations”. See A/HRC/39/CRP.2, paras. 912 – 914, and 1205 – 1214. CI-255, CI-320. CI-256, CI-259, LI-146, LI-158. LI-158. LI-137, LI-150. CI-246, CI-255. CI-320. CI-247, CI-250, CI-256, CI-257, CI-319, CI-320, LI-146, LI-150, LI-151, LI-153, LI-158, See also: Chin Human Rights Organization, Stable and Secure: An Assessment on the Current Context of Human Rights for Chin People in Burma/Myanmar (October 2018), Radio Free Asia, “Mine Explosion Kills Two Police Officers in Myanmar’s Rakhine State” (28 February 2019).