The Ottawa Treaty bans Landmines

Canadians led the way in the ban of landmines. Lloyd Axworthy was a prominent driver toward the treaty.
The Ottawa Treaty or the Mine Ban Treaty, formally the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, completely bans all anti-personnel landmines (AP-mines). As of April 2010, there were 156 States Parties to the treaty. Two states have signed but not yet ratified while thirty-seven states are non-signatories to the Convention, making a total of 39 states not party.

Paul Vermeulen of Handicap International believes that publicly exposing states that violate treaties is an effective means of pressure and control. The Ottawa Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions stipulate that an annual report is compiled by independent investigators and supervised by non-governmental organisation coalitions that were formed around each of these two conventions. In the Ottawa Treaty’s latest report, researchers found that none of the signatory states had used anti-personnel mines since 1999. Nearly 60 armed rebel groups around the world have also pledged to stop using anti-personnel mines in recent years. Vermeulen says this shows the market for anti-personnel mines is drying up and that such a treaty, backed by a strong coalition of NGOs, has proven to be effective.

The United States is one of 37 countries that did not sign the treaty that took root in Ottawa during a 1997 conference. It was the first time in diplomatic history that governments and NGOs worked together openly to craft an international treaty.There are millions of landmines buried in the earth. Although most are from conflicts long past, they remain lethal and kill or maim thousands of people — mostly children — each year.When it comes to clearing landmines or helping victims, the U.S. is the world's most generous donor. However, it has refused to sign the Ottawa Treaty because of opposition from its military.


A bipartisan group of 68 U.S. senators has written to urge U.S. President Barack Obama to join the 156 other countries — including Canada — that have ratified the treaty. The Pentagon's case is weaker now because the U.S. hasn't used, produced or exported landmines since 1991. The replacement weapon of choice, the cluster bomb, has all but rendered the U.S. landmine stockpile redundant.

"I'm guardedly optimistic," a senior official who favours the treaty told the New York Times this week. "Why stick with the status quo when we would get so much credit for even a modest move?"Mines Action Canada executive director Paul Hannon says the move would be a major achievement for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) to which the Canadian group belongs. ICBL won the Nobel Peace Prize for its work in bringing about the treaty.

"Like many Canadians, I have family and friends in the States," said Hannon. "Many of them believe the U.S. is already part of the treaty." It would bring a new level of gravitas to their efforts, he says. "If Washington joins this treaty, it will stop other countries such as China, Pakistan, Russia and India from hiding behind the United States."

Those four major holdouts have pointed to the U.S. to justify their positions.
If the Obama administration does ratify the Ottawa Treaty, it is unlikely to change the U.S. line against the 2008 Cluster Munitions Convention, which was modelled after the Ottawa Treaty and has just been enacted.