Mine Ban Treaty – an international treaty developed to protect civilians in conflict
April 4 is International Mine Awareness Day, a day set aside by the United Nations to raise awareness about landmines and support mine clearance. Nearly 30 years since its adoption, the Mine Ban Treaty* is making a positive difference, but faces several daunting challenges from countries threatening to withdraw from the treaty, to a surge in casualties from new mine use, to the suspension by the United States of its mine clearance funding.
All eyes are on Japan to take the lead in addressing these concerns in its important role as 2025 president of the Mine Ban Treaty.
*Mine Ban Treaty (Ottawa Treaty): Entered into force on March 1, 1999. Bans the use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of antipersonnel landmines. 165 countries have ratified or acceded to the treaty.
When the international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines opened for signature on December 3, 1997—the international day for people with disabilities—it was celebrated around the world as a major advance for the protection of civilians. It was then-Foreign Minister Keizo Obuchi who changed the stance of the Japanese government, which had been reluctant to negotiate the treaty throughout the Ottawa Process. In 1997, Foreign Minister Obuchi signed the treaty at the signing ceremony in Ottawa, Canada. He expressed hope that everyone would implement and adhere to the treaty “so that the generations who follow us in the 21st century are able to live in a world free from the threats of landmines.”
Antipersonnel mines kill and wound people indiscriminately, while mined land drives displacement, hinders the delivery of humanitarian aid, prevents agricultural activities, and impedes socio-economic recovery from conflict. For these reasons, governments rallied to adopt the Mine Ban Treaty in 1997, and it took effect on March 1, 1999.
The treaty combines strict prohibitions on antipersonnel landmines with measures requiring member countries to clear and destroy them as well as to provide assistance to victims. The treaty sets a strong standard and provides the best framework to meet the goal of putting an end to the suffering and casualties caused by antipersonnel mines.
Human Rights Watch is a co-founder of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which received the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, together with its coordinator, Jody Williams, and other groups.
A total of 165 countries have joined the Mine Ban Treaty, including all of the African Union, European Union, and all NATO members except the United States. Since 1999, the Mine Ban Treaty has made significant progress, as shown by the big drop in the production of antipersonnel mines from more than 55 countries to a dozen today. The treaty’s positive impact can be seen in the destruction of more than 55 million antipersonnel mines from the stockpiles of countries that ratified it.
Japan is a former producer and importer of antipersonnel mines. It completed the destruction of nearly one million stockpiled antipersonnel mines in February 2003.
Under the Mine Ban Treaty, 33 states have completed clearing all antipersonnel mines from their territory since 1999. In 2023, global funding for mine action including mine clearance and victim assistance surpassed US$1 billion for the first time, driven by an influx of donations to Ukraine, which received $308 million.
Japan's expected role as Mine Ban Treaty president
Nearly 30 years later, the Mine Ban Treaty is making a positive difference, but faces several daunting challenges from countries threatening to withdraw from the treaty, to a surge in casualties from new mine use, to the suspension by the United States of its mine clearance funding.
All eyes are on Japan to take the lead in addressing these concerns in its important role as 2025 president of the Mine Ban Treaty. The goal should be to resolve these concerns or to find ways to tackle them by the crucial meeting of treaty members at the United Nations in Geneva in December. Japan’s disarmament representative, Ambassador Tomiko Ichikawa, will preside over this meeting.
Yet while the treaty stands strong, it faces several serious challenges, as detailed by the International Campaign’s annual Landmine Monitor report. One top concern is convincing countries that have not prohibited antipersonnel mines to accede to the treaty. The last country to ratify the Mine Ban Treaty was the Marshall Islands on March 12, 2025. Notable non-parties besides the United States include China, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, and South Korea.
Another major challenge is new use by countries that have not banned antipersonnel mines. Russia has used antipersonnel mines extensively in Ukraine since its full-scale invasion of the country on February 24, 2022, resulting in thousands of civilian casualties and contaminating vast tracts of land.
War in Ukraine increases moves to withdraw from treaty and violations by member states
Russia’s use of antipersonnel mines in Ukraine threatens the security of neighboring countries and has led to moves to withdraw from the treaty.
On March 18, the defense ministers of Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania issued a joint statement recommending that their countries withdraw from the Mine Ban Treaty due to increasing military threats. Finland joined the Mine Ban Treaty in 2012 and is also currently debating whether to leave it. These moves follow Lithuania’s withdrawal from the Convention on Cluster Munitions on March 6, 2025.
Ukraine is a party to the Mine Ban Treaty and there is credible evidence that its forces used antipersonnel mines in 2022 and more recently. Since November 2024, Ukraine accepted at least two transfers of antipersonnel landmines from the United States, putting it in further violation of the Mine Ban Treaty.
Such actions put civilian lives at risk and undermine the laws of war, which prohibits the use of indiscriminate weapons.
Under Myanmar’s military junta, villagers are scared, children play in fields with landmines
Myanmar’s armed forces have frequently used antipersonnel mines since 1999, as have several ethnic armed groups.
In October, Human Rights Watch interviewed a surgeon who has treated 15 civilian landmine survivors from Myanmar–including three children–-and over 50 opposition fighters since 2022. He said that landmines are placed in villages, farms, and around military camps: “Villagers are scared, but when it’s time to harvest the rice and corn, they have to go back. Kids will go with them, playing in the fields.”
One landmine survivor told Human Rights Watch that he stepped on an antipersonnel mine on August 9, 2024, while fleeing his village of Auk in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. He said, “a landmine exploded beneath me and another villager as we walked along the main road.” He lost consciousness, but villagers got him to the river where he crossed the border into Bangladesh, where his lower left leg was amputated at a local hospital.
Any use of antipersonnel mines by any actor under any circumstances should be condemned. Although it is sometimes claimed that improvised explosive devices are “legal because they are handmade,” it is important to note that victim-activated explosive devices are prohibited by the treaty regardless of whether they were improvised from locally available materials or manufactured in a factory.
While any weapon can provide military utility, some are so indiscriminate that they have been deemed unacceptable due to the harm caused to civilians and the humanitarian impact. That includes antipersonnel mines. Civilians made up 84 percent of all recorded casualties in 2023, while children were 37 percent of casualties when the age was recorded.
Humanitarian aid shrinking under the Trump Administration
A final challenge to the Mine Ban Treaty can be seen in the need for governments to ensure that adequate resources are available to all countries needing assistance so that the treaty’s humanitarian goals are achieved.
Despite not signing the treaty, the United States has been the world's largest contributor to humanitarian demining and rehabilitation programs for landmine survivors over the past 30 years. Yet that funding halted within days of President Donald Trump taking office on January 20 and it’s unclear if this crucial support will continue. The withdrawal of US aid funding is straining international institutions and civil society groups around the world, including mine clearance operators and rehabilitation providers.
The potential end of US funding makes contributions by other donors such as Japan even more essential to help fill the gap left by the US. As Mine Ban Treaty president, Japan needs to do its utmost to protect and promote humanitarian disarmament norms aimed at ending human suffering.
Mary Wareham is deputy crisis, conflict and arms director, and Kanae Doi is Japan director, both at Human Rights Watch.