 Advocacy and International Agreements
Advocacy for an international ban on landmines comes primarily from the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), a network of NGOs. There are two international legal agreements that restrict or ban the use of landmines. These are the International Mine Ban Treaty, also known as the Ottawa Convention, and the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). The first of these, the Mine Ban Treaty, was the direct result of pressure on governments from individuals through the ICBL.
Adopt-A-Minefield serves on the steering committee of the U S Campaign to Ban Landmines, one of the many national campaigns of the ICBL. We encourage all of our friends and supporters to join the USCBL in our collective advocacy efforts.
As both the world’s largest funder of mine action and a non-signatory to the Mine Ban Treaty, the U.S. government is a crucial force in the field of mine action which also maintains the right to use some types of mines within the confines of the CCW. To give more insight into this seemingly contradictory situation, we have included information about the U.S. policy on landmines in this section. For information on the policies of other governments, visit the ICBL website.
International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL)
In 1991, several NGOs and individuals called for a ban on anti-personnel landmines. In October 1992, these groups came together with others to form the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. The ICBL is a network of organizations with the common objective to support a ban on the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of anti-personnel mines and an increase in international resources for humanitarian mine clearance and mine victim assistance.
Today the network represents over 1,000 groups in over 60 countries, which work together on a local, national, regional and international basis to ban anti-personnel landmines. One of the major achievements of the ICBL is the Landmine Monitor. Established in June 1998, the Landmine Monitor complements existing mechanisms established by the Mine Ban Treaty by monitoring and documenting signatories' compliance. The Landmine Monitor system consists of a Global Reporting Network and an Annual Report, as well as periodic Fact Sheets and independently published Country Reports. Five annual reports since 1999 have been released.
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for its groundbreaking work.
The International Mine Ban Treaty
During an ICBL conference in December 1997, held specifically to sign an international anti-personnel landmine ban treaty, over 120 participating countries signed. However, the United States, China, Russia and India, the main producers of landmines, have not yet signed.
Despite this setback, the Mine Ban Treaty gained the 40 signatures needed for ratification and entered into force on March 1, 1999. As of July 2, 2004, 143 countries have unequivocally agreed to stop the use, development, production, stockpile and transfer of anti-personnel mines, and to stop assisting or encouraging individuals, private companies, the military, or non-state parties in violating the treaty.
[click for the full text of the Mine Ban Treaty]
Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons
The 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, also known as that United Nations Convention on Inhuman Weapons, requires that remotely delivered landmines have effective self-destructing and self-deactivating mechanisms. Protocol II of the convention prohibits the indiscriminate use of mines and intentional use against civilians. It bars the use of anti-personnel mines that do not contain enough iron to be detected with standard demining equipment and also limits the transfer of landmines. An amendment to Protocol II, which entered into force on December 3, 1998, gave the protocol jurisdiction over internal as well as international conflicts.
Many countries that are not party to the International Mine Ban Treaty have consented to be bound by CCW Protocol II. These include the United States, China, India, Israel, Pakistan, Russia and Turkey. As of September 2003, 70 countries have consented to be bound by it.
On November 28, 2003, 92 States Parties to the CCW, including Russia, China, and the United States, agreed to establish CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war (ERW). This protocol on ERW is the first multilateral agreement to deal with the unexploded and abandoned ordnance that regularly threaten civilians, peacekeepers and humanitarian workers in post-conflict areas. Importantly, the negotiations and adoption of the final text included all the major military powers.
[click here for information on the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons]
U.S. Government Policy on Landmines
On February 27, 2004, the U.S. Department of State announced the new United States policy on landmines. This replaced the previous policy, put in place by the Clinton administration in 1998. Under the new policy, the U.S. government announced its plans to:
- Eliminate all persistent landmines from its arsenal by 2010.
- Increase funding for the State Department’s Humanitarian Mine Action Program by 50%, to $70 million a year.
- Not sign the Mine Ban Treaty “because its terms would have required us to give up a needed military capability.”
While the international community applauded the increase in funds for mine clearance, many NGOs criticized this new policy because it:
- Allows for indefinite use of landmines in Iraq and other conflict areas.
- Emphasizes American exceptionalism under international law rather than American leadership.
- Establishes international acceptability for "smart" landmines, which most other countries cannot afford to develop.
- The U.S. refusal to sign the treaty could legitimize mine use by other countries that have not yet joined the Mine Ban Treaty, such as India, Pakistan, and Russia.
To learn more about the U.S. policy, visit the U.S. State Department Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement. U.S. State Department Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement
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