Mines Action Canada Concerned about Reports of US Landmine Transfers

(Siem Reap, 20 November 2024) – Mines Action Canada, a member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, is appalled by the United States’ plans to transfer banned antipersonnel landmines to Ukraine, as reported today in the Washington Post and the BBC. The transfer of the weapon, prohibited by 164 countries under the 1997 Ottawa Treaty, is unprecedented and a violation of President Biden’s own policy on anti-personnel landmines.

This news comes just days before the 164 countries that are members of the Ottawa Treaty banning landmines meet in Cambodia for the Siem Reap-Angkor Summit on a Mine Free World.

Since the beginning of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has used landmines extensively, causing civilian harm, damaging civilian infrastructure, and contaminating agricultural land. The Landmine Monitor reported at least 580 landmine casualties in Ukraine in 2023 alone. Russia, and the United States remain outside of the Ottawa Treaty while Ukraine is a State Party to the treaty which bans the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of anti-personnel landmines.

Speaking from Siem Reap, Cambodia, on the eve of the 5^th Review Conference of the Ottawa Treaty, Mines Action Canada’s Executive Director, Erin Hunt said: “The reports that the Biden administration has decided to violate its own policies and transfer landmines to Ukraine are shocking. This decision weakens international humanitarian law and will contribute to the terrible casualties being suffered by Ukrainian civilians both immediately and for years to come.”

Canada and all other States Parties to the Ottawa Treaty should oppose any transfer or use of the weapon and urge Russia and Ukraine to not use landmines due to the foreseeable harm to civilians. The upcoming Summit on a Mine Free World was supposed to be a celebration of the Ottawa Treaty’s success; now States Parties must reassert their condemnation of the transfer of these weapons.

Since the Russian invasion in February 2022, Mines Action Canada has consistently and successfully advocated for Canadian support to Ukrainian efforts to clear landmines from their territory. In 2023, Canada reported providing more than $35 million in support to landmine clearance efforts in Ukraine. Adding more landmines to the deadly contamination in Ukraine will make the process of making farmland and communities safe much more difficult.

“Here in Cambodia, the humanitarian impact of anti-personnel landmines is everywhere you look. Children are still being killed and injured by landmines left behind by a conflict which ended thirty years ago,” said Erin Hunt. “Is that the legacy that President Biden wants to leave behind? A weapon that is proven to kill civilians and prevent displaced persons from coming home will not help win the peace.”

Mines Action Canada and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines call for an immediate reversal of this decision by the Biden administration and renewed commitment to ending the suffering caused by anti-personnel landmines.

- End -

For Interviews

To arrange interviews, please contact: Erin Hunt, Executive Director, Mines Action Canada, +1 236 638-8188, erin [at]minesactioncanada [dot] org (Siem Reap, Cambodia, UTC +7)

About Mines Action Canada

Mines Action Canada is Canada’s campaign against landmines and other indiscriminate weapons. MAC envisions a world in which individual and communal rights and dignities are no longer ravaged by the devastating impact of armed conflict.