Twenty-five Years of Ridding the World of Landmines

A quarter century on, reflecting on the Mine Ban Treaty and where the U.S. goes from here

Twenty-five years ago this week, the landmark Mine Ban Treaty, prohibiting the use, stockpiling, or production of anti-personnel landmines, (also known as the Ottawa Treaty) opened for signature. Today, the treaty has 164 States Parties, representing over 80% of the world’s governments and making it one of the world’s most widely accepted international agreements.  And while notable countries remain outside the treaty, including the United States, Russia, China, and India, the majority of the thirty-two States that have yet to become States parties do not use or produce landmines.

In the last 25 years, great strides have been made to rid the world of these deadly and indiscriminate weapons. According to the Landmine Monitor 2022, Mine Ban Treaty States Parties have destroyed more than 55 million stockpiled antipersonnel mines and, in 2021 alone, cleared at least 132.5 square kilometers of contaminated land. Moreover, only 11 States continue to produce antipersonnel mines (China, Cuba, India, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam). 

Unfortunately, despite the normalization of the landmine taboo, these weapons continue to have deadly consequences. At least 60 states and other areas remain contaminated by antipersonnel mines and in calendar year 2021, global financial support for mine action actually decreased by 7%, according to the Landmine Monitor 2022. Worse still, despite a decade of declining landmine casualties, the past seven years have seen a tragic rise in fatalities and injuries from landmines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW).  In 2021 alone, at least 2,182 people were killed and 3,355 injured from landmines and ERW in 50 states and other areas, 36 of which are Mine Ban Treaty States Parties.

Indeed, despite the wide consensus against landmine usage, since 2021, landmines have been employed by at least two countries – Russia and Myanmar, neither of which is a Mine Ban Treaty State Party – as well as by non-state armed groups in at least five countries. The Landmine Monitor 2022 reported that Russian forces have used at least seven types of antipersonnel mines in Ukraine and in July 2022, Amnesty International reported that the Myanmar military laid landmines in and around villages in conflict-affected parts of the country. States are not the only users of landmines. In 2022, non-state armed groups in the Central African Republic (CAR), Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), India, and Myanmar, also used landmines. 

Additionally, more than a quarter century after President Bill Clinton called for the elimination of anti-personnel landmines in a speech before the UN general assembly, the U.S. record of supporting and moving towards treaty adoption remains mixed. While President George W. Bush reversed the policy of the Clinton administration, the Obama administration adopted a new landmines policy that said the United States would no longer produce, acquire, or replace antipersonnel mines. In September 2014 the Obama White House also announced that the United States would no longer use landmines anywhere in the world except for the Korean Peninsula and  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. Further, in 2014, the United States announced it would work toward US accession to the international Mine Ban Treaty. 

But much of that momentum was lost when the Trump administration rescinded Presidential Policy Directive 37 (2016) which codified the Obama administration’s 2014 landmines policy and rolled back decades of U.S. practice and approach by allowing the use of “non-persistent” landmines (those that have self-destruct or self-deactivation mechanisms) in any area, not limited by geographic location. 

Most recently, on June 21, 2022, the Biden Administration announced a new landmines policy that essentially reverses the Trump administration’s January 2020 APL policy and reverts back to that of the Obama administration. 

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. Its hesitance is frustrating, as the United States has not deployed anti-personnel mines since the 1991 Gulf War in Iraq and Kuwait 1991 with the exception of a single antipersonnel mine in Afghanistan in 2002. The larger hold-up is the use of landmines in the Korean demilitarized zone, for which the United States claims it needs an exception. However, those mines are no longer under U.S. responsibility as they were turned over to South Korean forces and do not prevent the United States from joining the Mine Ban Treaty.

Though the adoption of a more appropriate and responsible landmine policy is laudable, the United States’ credibility on landmine issues took a hit during the Trump administration, leaving much work to be done and lost ground to recover. Indeed, as we look back on tremendous progress in the last 25 years, the Biden administration must do more to bring the United States into alignment with its partners and allies on landmines. Some welcome first steps should include commitments from the Administration to a timeline for the destruction of the remaining 3 million APL in the U.S. stockpile and the announcement of a timetable and concrete actions the it will take to reach the ultimate goal of joining the Mine Ban Treaty.

Recent & Related

Commentary
Elias Yousif • Rachel Stohl

Subscription Options

* indicates required

Research Areas

Pivotal Places

Publications & Project Lists

38 North: News and Analysis on North Korea