The White House announced, this Tuesday, June 21, that the United States would renounce the use of antipersonnel land mines, and undertake to no longer develop, produce or export them, in order to eventually be able to join the treaty of Ottawa. Clarification: “the exception” will remain in the Korean peninsula.
” Today, the Biden-Harris administration announces a major step to limit the use of antipersonnel landmines by the United States “, can we read in the communicated made public by Washington on Tuesday, contrary to the directions taken during the years of the Trump presidency.
Statement by Adrienne Watson, spokesperson for the National Security Council.
The United States will align its policy regarding the use of these weapons outside the Korean Peninsula with key provisions of the Ottawa Convention, the international treaty banning the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of landmines. antipersonnel. In addition, the President will prohibit the development, production and acquisition of anti-personnel landmines banned under the Ottawa Convention, and direct the Ministry of Defense to undertake diligent efforts to seek alternatives to anti-personnel landmines. that would comply and ultimately allow the United States to join the Ottawa Convention, while ensuring our continued ability to respond to global contingencies.
Take back a place of leadership
” Term “, the objective is to join the ottawa convention, the international treaty that has banned anti-personnel mines since the late 1990s, and which the United States has never signed. The latter intend to align themselves with a large part of the commitments of this text and then ratify it.
This was the American position before Donald Trump. In 2020, the ex-president had lifted restrictions on the production and use of these weapons, which caused an average of 19 deaths per day in 2020, with “explosive remnants of war” and “improvised mines”. , according to the Landmine Observatory.
According to this international organization, the number of victims that year, 2020, had jumped by 20%, due to the slowdown in mine clearance efforts. Since 1993, the United States invested more than $4.2 billion for the destruction of conventional weapons, reminds Washington.
We will continue this important work as we take another step towards reclaiming American leadership on the world stage.
The Korean peninsula not concerned
The White House bases its decision on the ongoing war in Ukraine. ” The world has once again witnessed the devastating impact that anti-personnel landmines can have in the context of Russia’s brutal and unjustified war “, justifies the American presidency.
Moscow’s use of this ammunition, among other things, ” caused considerable damage to civilians and civilian objects “, denounce the United States, which considers to play a leading role in “ mitigating the negative consequences of anti-personnel landmines around the world “.
Important point: the United States will continue to exclude from the scope of its decision concerning these weapons, already prohibited by many countries, including within NATO, American antipersonnel mines scattered on the Korean peninsulawhere the United States is engaged.
USCBL-USCMC welcomes @POTUS new anti-personnel landmine policy, as an important first step toward the ultimate goal of the US joining the #MineBanTreaty and banning the use, production, and transfer of anti-personnel landmines worldwide. https://t.co/DXQ7E1F0yj
— Ban Landmines USA (@banminesusa) June 21, 2022