On June 21, 2022, the Biden Administration announced a new policy on anti-personnel landmines (APL). The announcement comes after a comprehensive review that began in April 2021 and essentially reverses the Trump administrations January 2020 APL policy and reverts back to the policy established by the Obama administration in 2014. In its announcement, the Biden administration stated that it was “committing to limit the use of anti-personnel landmines (APL)” reflecting “the President’s belief that these weapons have disproportionate impact on civilians, including children, long after fighting has stopped, and that we need to curtail the use of APL worldwide.” While the policy is a welcome announcement, it is only the first step in aligning the United States with its partners, allies, and the vast majority of governments in the world on the use of these weapons.
The Biden APL policy undoes the damage caused by the Trump administration, which announced its own policy January 2020 that allowed the production and use of antipersonnel landmines for future conflicts. The approach represented a dangerous roll back decades of US practice and approach, isolated the United States and put American servicemembers and civilians around the globe at risk.
The Biden administration has re-adopted the key elements of the Obama administration’s 2014 policy, in which the United States announced that it would no longer produce, acquire, or replace antipersonnel mines and that the United States would no longer use antipersonnel landmines anywhere in the world except for the Korean Peninsula. It also pledged — outside of Korea — not to assist or otherwise encourage other countries to engage in activities prohibited by the Mine Ban Treaty and to destroy any landmine stocks not required for the defense of South Korea. The Obama administration also said it would work toward U.S. accession to the international Mine Ban Treaty. This was later codified in Presidential Policy Directive 37 (2016).
The January 2020 Trump policy, on the other hand, allowed the United States to develop, produce, and use “non-persistent” landmines (those that have self-destruct or self-deactivation mechanisms) in any area, not limited to the Korean peninsula, wherever combatant commanders deemed necessary.
The Trump administration’s landmine policy was completely out of step with international norms and previous U.S. policy of the prior 20 years, shocking and frustrating close U.S. allies and partners while putting civilians at risk. Moreover, the growing stigma around their use has meant that the U.S. military has largely abstained from using landmines in military operations around the globe for nearly thirty years. The United States last deployed anti-personnel mines in Iraq and Kuwait in 1991. and since then, has not used landmines, with an exception made for the use of a single antipersonnel mine in Afghanistan in 2002.
While the Biden administration’s return to the 2014 policy is a welcome development, the United States still has a long way to go to be in step with the majority of the world’s governments. One hundred and sixty-four nations have ratified the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which prohibits the stockpiling, production, transfer and use of landmines in all circumstances as well as assistance with these prohibited acts.
It’s laudable that the United States is adopting a more appropriate and responsible landmine policy. The United States lost a lot of credibility during the Trump administration on this significant humanitarian issue and though there is still a lot of work to do, we are better placed today to get back to the serious work necessitated by these indiscriminate weapons.
And much work remains to be done. The Biden administration must provide a timeline for the destruction of the 3 million APL in the U.S. stockpile that it mentions in the policy. Further, the Biden administration must announce steps to bring the United States into alignment on cluster munitions with the goal of joining the Cluster Munition Convention and demonstrate the timeline and necessary steps to reach the ultimate goal of the joining the Mine Ban Treaty and removing the Korea exception.
Biden Administration Announces New APL Landmines Policy
By Rachel Stohl
In Conventional Arms
On June 21, 2022, the Biden Administration announced a new policy on anti-personnel landmines (APL). The announcement comes after a comprehensive review that began in April 2021 and essentially reverses the Trump administrations January 2020 APL policy and reverts back to the policy established by the Obama administration in 2014. In its announcement, the Biden administration stated that it was “committing to limit the use of anti-personnel landmines (APL)” reflecting “the President’s belief that these weapons have disproportionate impact on civilians, including children, long after fighting has stopped, and that we need to curtail the use of APL worldwide.” While the policy is a welcome announcement, it is only the first step in aligning the United States with its partners, allies, and the vast majority of governments in the world on the use of these weapons.
The Biden APL policy undoes the damage caused by the Trump administration, which announced its own policy January 2020 that allowed the production and use of antipersonnel landmines for future conflicts. The approach represented a dangerous roll back decades of US practice and approach, isolated the United States and put American servicemembers and civilians around the globe at risk.
The Biden administration has re-adopted the key elements of the Obama administration’s 2014 policy, in which the United States announced that it would no longer produce, acquire, or replace antipersonnel mines and that the United States would no longer use antipersonnel landmines anywhere in the world except for the Korean Peninsula. It also pledged — outside of Korea — not to assist or otherwise encourage other countries to engage in activities prohibited by the Mine Ban Treaty and to destroy any landmine stocks not required for the defense of South Korea. The Obama administration also said it would work toward U.S. accession to the international Mine Ban Treaty. This was later codified in Presidential Policy Directive 37 (2016).
The January 2020 Trump policy, on the other hand, allowed the United States to develop, produce, and use “non-persistent” landmines (those that have self-destruct or self-deactivation mechanisms) in any area, not limited to the Korean peninsula, wherever combatant commanders deemed necessary.
The Trump administration’s landmine policy was completely out of step with international norms and previous U.S. policy of the prior 20 years, shocking and frustrating close U.S. allies and partners while putting civilians at risk. Moreover, the growing stigma around their use has meant that the U.S. military has largely abstained from using landmines in military operations around the globe for nearly thirty years. The United States last deployed anti-personnel mines in Iraq and Kuwait in 1991. and since then, has not used landmines, with an exception made for the use of a single antipersonnel mine in Afghanistan in 2002.
While the Biden administration’s return to the 2014 policy is a welcome development, the United States still has a long way to go to be in step with the majority of the world’s governments. One hundred and sixty-four nations have ratified the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which prohibits the stockpiling, production, transfer and use of landmines in all circumstances as well as assistance with these prohibited acts.
It’s laudable that the United States is adopting a more appropriate and responsible landmine policy. The United States lost a lot of credibility during the Trump administration on this significant humanitarian issue and though there is still a lot of work to do, we are better placed today to get back to the serious work necessitated by these indiscriminate weapons.
And much work remains to be done. The Biden administration must provide a timeline for the destruction of the 3 million APL in the U.S. stockpile that it mentions in the policy. Further, the Biden administration must announce steps to bring the United States into alignment on cluster munitions with the goal of joining the Cluster Munition Convention and demonstrate the timeline and necessary steps to reach the ultimate goal of the joining the Mine Ban Treaty and removing the Korea exception.
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