An Actress, a Princess, and Belgium’s Iron Harvest

Actress Angelina Jolie was so profoundly moved by what she witnessed in Cambodia, that it would change the course of her life. While filming the 2001  movie Tomb Raider, Angelina was greatly impacted by the calamitous effects of  thousands of  landmines laid by the Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian government. She would go on to kickstart  the non-profit Maddox -Jolie-Pit Foundation—an organization dedicated to the elimination of land mines. Since its founding her group has been responsible for the removal of over four-million land mines.  Today Angelina serves in service as a goodwill ambassador to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

     Similarly, Princess Diana brought her own brand of passion and determination to the cause of land mine elimination.  On a 1997 visit to Angola, Diana joined the Hazardous Area Life-Support Organization (HALO TRUST) which had been working to clear mines from that country’s 25-year civil war. Diana met with land mine survivors, learned from removal experts but most famously, navigated her way through a mine-field. That image of the Princess wearing protective equipment, was quickly circulated by the media and provided a powerful message to the world about land mines.

   Land mines are not a new phenomenon. The Romans are known to have planted  sharpe,5-pointed hooks (called lilias) underground around their fortifications. They were designed to impale when “victim operated.” The Jin Dynasty (circa 300 A.D) used something similar to slow down the armies of Genghis Khan. Joan of Arc was wounded by a lilia-type munition in the siege of Orleans.  Land mines did not take the modern form however until the introduction of gunpowder teamed with  a detonation system.

      Even in the aftermath of World War I and II, the battlefields of northeastern France and Belgium remain the sites of vast amounts of unexploded artillery shells, bombs , grenades, and especially land mines. The governments of France and Belgium have formed specialised departments to clear out (known as dèminage)  explosive materials from the countryside. The dèminage process is known as the Iron Harvest. Near Metz, France for example, Iron Harvest units have removed approximately 40 tonnes of unexploded ordinance every year since World War II. In 2013, 160 tonnes of unexploded munitions were unearthed near Ypres, Belgium. Munitions left over from the wars are found weekly in Belgium and France.  Of the 300 million projectiles that were fired between the Allied and German forces, one-third were duds, and most of them have not been recovered. Even more shocking, is the fact that in World War II alone, one tonne of explosives was fired for every square metre of territory between Metz and Ypres. As the years go by, unexploded land mines have been buried by time, the weather, or swallowed by mud. Post- war activities such as plowing and planting the fields for agricultural work, construction, and natural processes have brough much of the rusting munitions to the surface. The dèminage  work of the Iron Harvest units is extremely dangerous work. Since 1945, 630 French and 20 Belgian deminers have died handling the unexploded munitions. Civilian deaths are also common. There have been close to 800 casualties in West Flanders, Belgium alone. Additionally, the problem goes beyond the sheer number of casualties. Many of the munitions contain toxic poisons that continue to pollute the biodiversity of the land and water around them.

    The French and Belgian experience with land mines and unexploded ordinance has provided a cautionary tale to the international community. In 1997 the Ottawa Treaty was signed by 162 countries that agreed to: “not use, produce, stockpile or trade in