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 …

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 …

Anti-personnel mines are back in Europe

To mark Poland’s official withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention or the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty, Julia Głębocka, Human rights researcher for Amnesty International Poland, reflects on what the return of these indiscriminate weapons means for human rights in Europe. Not 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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Russia says it has evidence Ukraine has repeatedly used anti-personnel landmines

Russia’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that it has evidence that Ukraine has repeatedly used anti-personnel mines which have injured civilians and so Kyiv’s exit from the Ottawa Convention would have no impact on the battlefield. Ukraine last month announced Read More …

Finland and Lithuania set to produce anti-personnel mines

Lithuania and Finland look set to start domestic production of anti-personnel landmines next year to supply themselves and Ukraine because of what they see as the military threat from Russia, officials from the two NATO member states told Reuters. The Read More …

Ukraine preparing to produce anti-personnel landmines after leaving Ottawa Convention

Ukraine has decided to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel landmines. Ukrainian manufacturers are already preparing to launch domestic production, Media Center Ukraine reports, citing Fedir Venislavskyi, Representative of the President of Ukraine to the Verkhovna Rada, Member of Read More …

Ukraine on track to withdraw from Ottawa anti-personnel mines treaty

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday he had signed a decree to pull Ukraine out of the Ottawa Convention banning the production and use of anti-personnel mines as a necessary step in view of Russian tactics in their 40-month-old war. Read More …

Finland exits landmine ban treaty amid defence shift

The Finnish Parliament has approved the government’s proposal to withdraw from the Ottawa Treaty, reversing the country’s long-standing commitment to banning anti-personnel landmines. The decision passed with 157 votes in favour and 18 against, with no abstentions and 24 members Read More …

UN: Guterres to launch life-saving campaign strengthening mine action worldwide

The UN Secretary-General is set to launch a global campaign to boost support for disarmament and mine action. António Guterres announced the move in a statement issued on Monday, in response to plans by several UN Member States to withdraw from Read More …

Landmines imperil the EU’s moral compass

The European Union has long stood at the forefront of the fight against anti-personnel landmines. Its early and active support for the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty reflected a shared European belief: that these weapons are inherently inhumane, fundamentally indiscriminate, and Read More …