US announces landmine policy and commitment to Ottawa Convention News
US announces landmine policy and commitment to Ottawa Convention

[JURIST] The US Department of State [official website] on Tuesday announced [press release] it will not use anti-personnel landmines outside of the Korean Peninsula, underscoring its commitment to the aims of the Ottawa Convention [text], the treaty that prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel landmines. The Korean Peninsula is an exception to the treaty where US actions are governed by the unique situation there. The announcement also means the US will not assist, encourage or induce others to use anti-personnel landmines and will undertake to destroy those landmines that are not for the defense of the Republic of Korea. The announcement builds on prior commitments, including an announcement in June which stated the US will no longer produce or acquire these landmines. The Department of State notes that the US remains deeply concerned about the humanitarian effects of antipersonnel landmines and will continue to align itself with the international humanitarian movement embodied by the Ottawa Convention.

The use and removal of landmines [JURIST news archive] continues to be a contentious issue worldwide. In April Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] urged [JURIST report] the US to endorse the Ottawa Convention, noting that while the US contributed to mine clearance and victim assistance more than any other nation, it should also formally ban the right to use mines. In April 2007 UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged [JURIST report] all countries to sign and abide by international treaties banning land mines for International Mine Awareness Day. Those treaties included the Ottawa Treaty, which bans all anti-personnel landmines, and the Protocol Five to the Certain Conventional Weapons Convention [text, PDF], was assembled to consider how to eradicate land mines left behind in former war zones. In April 2006 then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on states [JURIST report] to ratify the 1997 anti-personnel mine ban treaty, arguing the removal of all land mines would take ten years to complete, not 100 years as previously estimated.