An estimated 500 people a week are killed or maimed by anti-personnel land mines. There are between 80 to 110 million mines scattered around the World. Yet, new mines are implanted even faster than the old ones are cleared. A moratorium on the export of these mines will help a great deal towards the sought after elimination of anti-personnel mines.
In 1995, after the USA imposed her own moratorium on the export of anti-personnel mines and helped pass a UN resolution calling on other nations to do so, 20 nations joined the USA in declaring a temporary moratorium on the export of anti-personnel mines. The U.K.'s moratorium extends only to anti-personnel mines that do not self-destruct, whilst ten nations still continue to export anti-personnel mines. These include among others: Brazil, Chile, Egypt, Pakistan, and Portugal.