Deadly threat of unexploded bombs in the Pacific persists 80 years on

Eighty years after the Second World War, Solomon is faced with the threat of death and injury ongoing from the secret, exploded bombs, Catherine Wilson.

This year 80. anniversary From the end of World War II, only in some countries, death and destruction continues. Approximately a century of bombs are still exploding, killing people and crippling and polluting.

Four years ago, a group of young housing gathered for a barbecue in the backyard. They were cooking food on an open fire on the floor. Suddenly, the world exploded without any warning. Maeverlyn pitanoeA youth mentor and two young men were close to where the aging bomb was buried in the garden. The hope of selling cooked food to collect money for the youth group was torn apart. However, even worse, young people who lost their legs in the tragedy died in a week, and Pitanoe was severed with fingers and wide burns and injuries on her body.

Paceanoe said in an interview:

“What happened to me was very, very destructive and changed my life and my family’s life.”

Exploded ammunitionOr UXO is bombs and ammunitions such as grenades and artillery shells that do not detonate the effect, or may include a remaining weapon stock after the war ends. They are usually buried on the ground or placed in a place where they will not be detected for years.

UXO’s destructive effects on civilians in Ukraine, Syria and Gaza are regularly reported in the media. But Pitanoe and his friends were in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands. And the bomb was one of the major amounts of allied and Japanese forces on the Guadalcanal Island. Solomon Islands Campaign II. World war.

Emily DavisProgram Manager in Solomon Islands Halo trustGlobal UXO Off -reversal organization, said:

“This is an 80 -year -old problem, but still causes death and injury.”

II. World War II spread to the Pacific when the Japanese forces attacked Pearl portHawaii progressed rapidly in 1941 and throughout the Pacific, soon Papua reached the New Guinea (PNG), Bougainville and Solomon Islands. Later bombing In 1942, the Allies, including Darwin, England, USA (USA) and Australia and New Zealand, quickly used troops to the Solomon Islands in the northeast of Australia.

Critical wars It was carried out nationwide and in 1943, the Japanese forces were withdrawn. Later, before the Allied Victory was declared in August 1945, they were defeated in PNG and Guam, Marshall Islands and the North Mariana Islands in the North Pacific.

Today, tourists are united on the Solomon Islands to explore epic wars and ruins such as abandoned warplanes and ship debris. However, for the islanders, these places are minefields in a country where UXO is discovered almost every day.

PITANOE told:

“I lived in the village of Balıkçı when I was a child [in Honiara] And we would take the remains of the bombs exploding along the beach and play with it. “

At the end of the village, there was a former Second World War shelter, a childhood play point, and in May, a bomb that had not exploded was discovered. Like other explosive items discovered last year, Solomon Islands were safely eliminated by the police force. school And Central Food Market In Honiara.

Alone last year 5,400 Ordnance elements of the police and efforts on the Solomon Islands Operation Render SafeAustralia is a multi -country task to clean the UXO every two years in the Pacific. In total, the police have eliminated the estimated 30,000 UXO article so far.

However, if they are discovered and exploded too late, the effects on people’s lives may last for life and include disability, loss of employment, increasing poverty and trauma. Contaminated land is unusable for the construction of farming, economic projects and roads and hospitals. Davis also warns that climate change and population growth, which directs migration from coastal regions to the inner regions, will worse. May be aging explosives Toxic substances leak It creates threats to land and water, plants, sea and human health.

The Solomon Islands are one of the worst affected by UXO in the region, but there are others, including others. PNGVanuatu, Tuvalala, Guam, Marshall Islands and Micronesia Federation states. In August, in 1944, the old land mines left by US forces and a large deposit of weapons emerged SaipanNorth Mariana Islands, then Tropical storm cross The beach eroded.

In order to start addressing the problem, some countries are conducting UXO questionnaires and in 2023, this was launched by Halo Trust on the Solomon Islands. Trust will also start a similar study Oro province and autonomous region Bougainville inside PNGSince 1945, II. It is a country where more than 25,000 people were killed or injured during World War II.

However, the application of cleaning programs requires great financial and technical resources; An important burden in the development of Pacific Island nations. In particular, the Solomon Islands, in which poverty is about one -quarter of the population and rural communities struggle against lack of state services and economic development.

Considering that the problem is applied to their countries, many Pacific Islands called for the sharing of the leader.

Johnson ToribongThen the president of Palau announced in 2012:

He continued: “We appeal to the conscience of the world, especially those who are responsible, to remove this danger from our middle.”

However, there is no legal responsibility.

Professor Rain LiivojaDeputy Dean of the Research Queensland University Faculty of Lawsaid IA:

‘UXOS is not prohibited in this way to be banned in this way in the armed weapon conflict left behind the UXOS … The problem has been handled in two ways with preventive and touched.’

. 1997 Mineral ban Treaty And Congress on certain traditional weaponsFor example, regulate and prohibit the use of land mines and other explosive weapons.

However, they do not apply to retrospective conflicts, in this case:

‘… From a legal point of view, a lot depends on the capacity and goodwill of other states that will help.’

International response, Operation Render Safe The Australian government since 2013’s capacity development support of the Solomon Islands of the Australian government police And the Australian army education Of these, the explosive weapons are disposed of. Since 2009, the US has contributed financially to the Ordnance disposal efforts in the Pacific, including Halo Trust’s work.

But much more needed. According to Davis, the violent contamination scale on the Solomon Islands means that it is not possible to get rid of the UXO country completely. However, international financing and technical support will have to continue in the region for years in order to reduce the large threat of circulating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R6xr0olr-c

Catherine Wilson is a free journalist and reporter who reports on existing jobs, global issues, humanitarian crises, politics and international development.

Support independent journalism subscribe to IA.