UN report warns about persistent use of anti-personnel mines, urges adherence to mine ban treaty

GENEVA – A UN Human Rights report published Tuesday warns about the persistent use of anti-personnel land mines and their dire impacts on civilians, urging States to uphold international law limiting their use and to protect the rights of survivors and communities through Read More …

‘Reaffirming Commitment to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention for the Protection of Civilians’ during the 2026 Protection of Civilians Week

On 21 May 2026, the Permanent Mission of Norway to the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) co-organized a side event on the margins of the 2026 Protection of Civilians Week on “Reaffirming commitment to Read More …

Cambodia backs Lebanon in landmine clearing

Senior Minister Ly Thuch renewed Cambodia’s commitment to global mine action, offering to share the country’s demining experience with Lebanon following Beirut’s entry into the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention. Ly Thuch, who is first vice-president of the Cambodian Mine Action Read More …

Croatia declared free of landmines after 31 years

Interior Minister Davor Božinović announced Friday that Croatia is officially free of landmines. Thirty-one years after the end of the Homeland War, all known minefields have been cleared — a major milestone for the country. The decades-long effort came at Read More …

Cambodia Reaffirms Ottawa Convention Commitments Amid Reports of Anti-Personnel Mines Along Border

The Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) has called for careful, objective, and responsible handling of reports concerning the discovery of anti-personnel mines along the Cambodia-Thailand border. In a statement issued on Thursday, the CMAA reaffirmed Cambodia’s full Read More …

Poland prepares to lay mines to defend eastern borders from Russian threat

Poland on Friday formally withdrew from the Ottawa Treaty, an international convention that bans anti-personnel landmines, paving the way for their deployment along its eastern borders. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the country aimed to be able to mine Read More …

Finland’s withdrawal from Ottawa Convention to take effect

Finland’s withdrawal from the Ottawa Anti-Personnel Landmines Convention will take effect on 10 January. Finland remains committed to the humanitarian objectives of the Ottawa Convention. Finland’s decision to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention was based on an assessment of Finland’s Read More …

Southeast Asia Concerns Grow as European Nations Withdraw from Landmine Treaty

The decision by several European countries to withdraw from the international treaty banning anti-personnel landmines has sparked significant apprehension in Southeast Asia, a region still grappling with the legacy of landmines from past conflicts. The treaty, formally known as the Read More …

Landmines: Action Needed to Reinforce Ban

The global ban on antipersonnel landmines saves civilian lives but faces serious threats from countries leaving the treaty and new landmine use, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing the “Landmine Monitor 2025” report. Member countries should take immediate and Read More …

Landmine casualties hit four-year high as treaty setbacks deepen

Civilian deaths and injuries from landmines and explosive remnants of war have risen to their highest level in four years, according to the Landmine Monitor 2025 report launched in Geneva on Monday. It documents 6,279 casualties in 2024. Children remain Read More …

Do anti-personnel mines still have military utility in modern warfare?

Five States Parties to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention have recently submitted instruments of withdrawal, citing national security and military necessity, while at least one other has taken steps to “suspend” the Convention. These developments raise important questions about whether Read More …

First Committee side event: “Secretary-General’s Campaign on Humanitarian Disarmament and Mine Action”

On 22 October, the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and the Department of Peace Operations (DPO)/UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) co-hosted a side event on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly’s First Committee and Fourth Committee to Read More …

Clearing the Mines 2025 – Report Reveals Worst-Ever Violations of the Mine Ban Convention and Urges Action by States Parties

Mine Action Review today published Clearing the Mines 2025, its annual global assessment of anti-personnel (AP) mine contamination, survey, and clearance, ahead of the TwentySecond Meeting of States Parties to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC), taking place in Geneva Read More …

Switzerland submits objection to Ukraine’s suspension of the Ottawa Convention

Switzerland will object to Ukraine’s decision to suspend the Ottawa Convention, which prohibits the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of anti-personnel mines. At its meeting on 15 October, the Federal Council considered that such a suspension would be incompatible with Read More …

European countries are now turning to landmines to create new deadly defensive barriers from Russia

Five Nato countries neighbouring Russia or its ally, Belarus, have announced that they are to opt out of the Ottawa treaty of 1997. This treaty bans the use by signatories of anti-personnel (AP) landmines. These states – Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Read More …

The Lasting Promise of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, also known as the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC), is a landmark achievement in humanitarian disarmament. Negotiated in 1997 through the Read More …

Ukraine’s exit from Mine Ban Treaty complicates Canadian training mission

  Ukraine’s decision this summer to withdraw from a major arms control treaty has made Canada’s task of training Ukrainian soldiers a lot more complicated. On June 29, Ukraine announced it would be withdrawing from the Ottawa Treaty, a multinational Read More …

UNIDIR: New Directions for the AntiPersonnel Mine Ban Convention

For many years, researchers and practitioners in the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and disarmament fields have made the case for further synergies between mine action and the WPS agenda. Thus far, the focus has been primarily on women’s participation Read More …

Ethiopia requests UN to extend landmine clearance deadline for third time

Ethiopia has requested the UN to again extend a deadline to clear landmines left strewn by wars old and new, placing people at risk on more than 125 million hectares of land. Ethiopia acceded to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention Read More …

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