Are you looking for specific and up to date information about landmines and cluster munitions? 

Do you need to which countries have landmine or cluster munition contamination or how many casualties there were last year?

You should be reading the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor at www.the-monitor.org. The Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor assesses the global landmine, cluster munition, and explosive remnants of war (ERW) situation, and monitors adherence to the treaties banning landmines and cluster munitions.

• The Monitor conducts its research and monitoring for two global coalitions, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and the Cluster Munition Coalition, and is the de facto monitoring regime for the treaties banning landmines and cluster bombs.
• Before the Monitor there was no systematic monitoring of the international community’s response to the humanitarian problem caused by landmines, cluster bombs, and other ERW.
• Landmine Monitor was created in 1998, and became Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor in 2010. From 1999-2009 the Monitor produced two publications, the Landmine Monitor Annual Report and its Executive Summary. Starting in 2010 the Monitor began producing three publications: Country Profiles, Landmine Monitor, and Cluster Munition Monitor.
• The Monitor consists of an eight-member Monitoring and Research Committee, an Editorial team and a network of over 70 researchers.
• Mines Action Canada has been heavily involved in the Monitor since its beginning and our staff are currently on the Monitoring and Review Committee and the Editorial team.

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MAC works with its coalition members, international partners and you – our active supporters - to achieve a mine-free world and to eliminate the disastrous consequences of indiscriminate weapons on civilian communities.

We seek to prevent further civilian casualties due to indiscriminate weapons and to ensure existing victims receive the help they need. We believe the human-made disaster caused by these weapons is solvable in our lifetime.

Our vision is to bring humanity one step closer to peace and social justice by eliminating the impacts of victim-activated weapons and restoring the rights and dignity of affected individuals and communities. Your support helps us implement programs domestically and internationally to bring us closer to this vision through further our advocacy work in Canada, internationally and with civil society groups around the world! We do this by:

• Actively serving on the governance bodies of three international movements – the Nobel Prize laureate International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) and the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots. MAC was a founder of the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) in 2003 and a founder of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots in 2012. MAC has served actively on the ICBL–CMC Governance Board since 2000.
• Participating actively and providing leadership in all relevant international meetings and conferences on landmines, cluster munitions, their respective treaties and humanitarian disarmament issues.
• Developing and disseminating accessible education materials on indiscriminate weapons; organizing forums where the public and decision makers can dialogue with experts speaking on topics such as implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions and stopping investments of Canadian funds in companies that produce cluster bombs or their components.
• Engaging and educating decision-makers in Canada and around the world on this issue through one-on-one meetings; providing regular updates the progress and obstacles in treaty implementation; and generating media attention on the issue via press conferences, press releases and media opportunities. Planning and implementing in collaboration with ICBL-CMC or Campaign to Stop Killer Robots partners, annual strategies to engage countries that are not part of the treaties in addition to engaging member countries with pending implementation mine action deadlines through media events, educational campaigns, one on one advocacy meetings and research publications.

Across all the humanitarian disarmament sector, youth campaigners have been making change at the grassroots and at the international level for decades. MAC recognizes though that a lot of humanitarian disarmament work was not designed to give youth, especially young women, a seat at the table.

We work with young people around the world to ensure that their expertise and their viewpoints are taken into account when disarmament decisions are made.

• MAC’s Mine Action Fellows Program contributes to reducing the humanitarian and development impact of landmines and cluster bombs by providing resources and training to mine action and development organizations and youth from around the world. The Mine Action Fellows program focuses especially on young women due to the longstanding under representation of women in disarmament.
• The resources and training are meant to build the capacity of young people to be effective delivery agents of mine action, including advocacy, victim assistance and mine risk education and build the capacity of the organizations to utilize young people in their work.
• Mine Action Fellows forums and workshops are opportunities for mutual information sharing between sectors, and capacity building for both on how to more effectively utilize a prime resource: youth. The youth participants will be cross-pollinators between sectors, integrating mine action objectives into development programs and vice-versa.
• The Mine Action Fellows Program includes international youth forums organized alongside major international meetings on cluster bombs and landmines; monthly capacity building materials; and a small grants program.
• MAC also has online resources for youth campaigners looking to develop their leadership and campaigning skills.
• MAC has produced a manual on the best practices of working with youth for a mine-free world, which is available in English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Russian
• MAC also has online resources for youth campaigners looking to develop their leadership and campaigning skills. 

In 2008 governments negotiated the Convention on Cluster Munitions that bans the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster bombs. It also prohibits all countries that have joined the Convention to assist anyone in any activity banned under the Convention, such as the production of cluster bombs. To date, 118 countries have ratified the Convention.

The Ottawa Treaty banning landmines and the Convention on Cluster Munitions both state that “each State Party undertakes never under any circumstance to assist, encourage or induce, in any way anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Convention.” We believe that financing the production of antipersonnel mines or cluster bombs or their components should clearly constitute “assistance” or encouragement.

Cluster bombs continue to be produced in some countries that have not yet outlawed these weapons. Although countries that have joined the Convention must stop producing cluster bombs, some banks and other financial institutions in or from these countries continue to fund their production by investing in corporations that manufacture them elsewhere. This undermines the commitment these countries have made to ban these weapons and runs counter to their obligations under international law.

MAC is working hard to see all Canadian financial institutions articulate a clear position and policy against these types of investments and Canada's legislation is changed to prohibit investment in producers of cluster munitions.

Help ensure your investments don't bomb:

• Learn more about the Stop Explosive Investments Campaign including which financial institutions are investing in cluster munition producers.

• Write a letter to your bank

  • Ask them to clarify their policies on investing in producers of cluster bombs.

  • Let them know you do not want your money financing weapons that pose unacceptable risks to civilians and are banned by the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

  • Let MAC know of any responses you receive so we can ensure we are working with the most accurate information.

• Write a letter to your Member of Parliament

  • Ask them to support pending legislation (Bill C-281 and Bill S-225)  to clearly prohibit investments in companies that produce cluster munitions or their components in Canada now that we are state party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

  • Find your MP here and remember it's free to mail letters to the House of Commons.

  • Let MAC know if you receive a response we should follow up on!

• Invest in a world free of cluster bombs and landmines by supporting MAC

  • Organize a Monopoly, Payday or Life tournament. Charge an entrance fee or ask players to donate a portion of their game winnings in real funds!

  • Gather a group of friends or classmates and auction off your goods and services (e.g. one hour of snow shoveling, babysitting for an evening, music lessons). Donate the proceeds to MAC.

  • Become a monthly or one-time donor and make a gift to support this work! 

With your support, Mines Action Canada and our international partners are taking steps today, so that civilian populations may walk freely tomorrow.  Our international partners, a network of non-governmental organizations, are dedicated to the safety and security of civilian populations affected by indiscriminate weapons. Together, this issue is solvable in our lifetime.

International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL)

In 1991, several non-governmental organizations and individuals began simultaneously to discuss the necessity of coordinating initiatives and calls for a ban on antipersonnel landmines.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines’ (ICBL's) founding organizations: Handicap International, Human Rights Watch, medico international, Mines Advisory Group, Physicians for Human Rights, and Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation came together in October 1992 to formalize the ICBL.

“The landmine is eternally prepared to take victims. It is the perfect soldier.”  Jody Williams, 1997 Nobel Peace Prize winner, founding coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines

The Campaign calls for an international ban on the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of antipersonnel landmines, and for increased international resources for humanitarian mine clearance and mine victim assistance program. The network represents over 1,100 human rights, demining, humanitarian, children's, veterans', medical, development, arms control, religious, environmental, and women's groups in over 60 countries, who work locally, nationally, regionally, and internationally to support the ban on antipersonnel landmines.

Mines Action Canada sits on the Governance Board of the ICBL-CMC. Learn more about the ICBL at: www.icbl.org.

Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC)

The Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) is a global network of over 250 civil society organizations working in 70 countries to end the harm caused by cluster bombs. In 2003, MAC helped to found the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) along with 80 non-governmental organizations from around the world. It was a response to growing concerns about ERW and cluster munitions' use in civilian areas and their impact. Other founding members include Human Rights Watch, Handicap International and other leaders from the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Ban Landmines which secured the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.

The CMC has successfully campaigned for a strong international treaty prohibiting cluster munitions with calls to:

1. Stop clusters' use, production and trade until the associated humanitarian problems have been resolved;
2. Increase resources to assist affected communities and individuals; and
3. Users of clusters and other weapons that become ERW accept responsibility for clearance, risk education, warnings, information and victim assistance.

Mines Action Canada sits on the Governance Board of the ICBL-CMC. Learn more about the CMC at: www.stopclustermunitions.org.

Campaign to Stop Killer Robots

Formed by 10 non-governmental organizations at a meeting in New York on 19 October 2012 and launched in London in April 2013, the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots is an international coalition working to preemptively ban fully autonomous weapons. These robotic weapons would be able to choose and fire on targets on their own, without any human intervention. See the Chronology charting the Campaign's major actions and achievements to date.

The Campaign has gown to be a global coalition of 61 international, regional, and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in 26 countries that calls for a preemptive ban on fully autonomous weapons. 

Learn more about the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots at: www.stopkillerrobots.org.

We believe that ending war brings peace, but our collective actions bring peace of mind to the many civilians affected by these weapons. The Mines Action Canada team is dedicated to working together with Canadians and our partners to achieve a mine-free world and to eliminate the suffering caused by indiscriminate weapons.

Our team

VISION: To bring humanity one step closer to peace and social justice by eliminating the impacts of indiscriminate weapons and restoring the rights and dignity of affected individuals and communities.

Mines Action Canada (MAC) is an international leader working to eliminate the serious humanitarian, environmental and development consequences of indiscriminate weapons. 

We are committed global advocates working to alleviate the impact that these weapons have on the rights, dignity and well being of civilian populations. We do this by engaging the public; supporting domestic and international partners; researching and monitoring the performance and compliance levels of disarmament and humanitarian laws; and by developing and disseminating resources.

When you support Mines Action Canada, you are supporting initiatives that are an imperative component to making positive global change for hundreds of thousands of women, men and children. MAC is successfully achieving these goals by implementing our core values of peace, social justice, partnership, solidarity, cooperation, and innovation.

The human-made disaster caused by these weapons is solvable in our lifetime. Please, take the next steps today:    

LEARN.   ACT.   GIVE.

For more information on MAC, please click below:

• Our International Partners
• Our Staff
• Our Strategic Plan
• Our Board
• Our Policies 
• Opportunities
• Our Biennial Report April 2015-March 2017
• Our Biennial Report April 2017-March 2019
• Our Biennial Report April 2019-March 2021
• History of MAC (coming soon)

Mines Action Canada is located in Canada which is on the unceded territory of a number of Indigenous communities. They have cared for this land for generations and when Europeans first arrived, they offered assistance, sharing knowledge and skills, to help the newcomers live on new and unfamiliar land.

Mines Action Canada strives to take those ideas of stewardship of the land and of offering assistance to help all live well into our work on a daily basis. We are mindful of broken covenants and we seek to live in respect, peace and right relations with the indigenous peoples of Turtle Island as we reside and work upon unsurrendered Indigenous territory.