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Finland’s withdrawal from the Ottawa Anti-Personnel Landmines Convention will take effect on 10 January. Finland remains committed to the humanitarian objectives of the Ottawa Convention. Finland’s decision to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention was based on an assessment of Finland’s Read More …
Civilian deaths and injuries from landmines and explosive remnants of war have risen to their highest level in four years, according to the Landmine Monitor 2025 report launched in Geneva on Monday. It documents 6,279 casualties in 2024. Children remain Read More …
The Twenty-Second Meeting of States Parties to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention is being held from 1 to 5 December 2025 at the Palais des Nations, Geneva. The Meeting opened at 10 a.m. on Monday, 1 December, under the Presidency Read More …
Five States Parties to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention have recently submitted instruments of withdrawal, citing national security and military necessity, while at least one other has taken steps to “suspend” the Convention. These developments raise important questions about whether Read More …
Mine Action Review today published Clearing the Mines 2025, its annual global assessment of anti-personnel (AP) mine contamination, survey, and clearance, ahead of the TwentySecond Meeting of States Parties to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC), taking place in Geneva Read More …
Switzerland will object to Ukraine’s decision to suspend the Ottawa Convention, which prohibits the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of anti-personnel mines. At its meeting on 15 October, the Federal Council considered that such a suspension would be incompatible with Read More …
Five Nato countries neighbouring Russia or its ally, Belarus, have announced that they are to opt out of the Ottawa treaty of 1997. This treaty bans the use by signatories of anti-personnel (AP) landmines. These states – Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Read More …
Ethiopia has requested the UN to again extend a deadline to clear landmines left strewn by wars old and new, placing people at risk on more than 125 million hectares of land. Ethiopia acceded to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention Read More …
Russia’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that it has evidence that Ukraine has repeatedly used anti-personnel mines which have injured civilians and so Kyiv’s exit from the Ottawa Convention would have no impact on the battlefield. Ukraine last month announced Read More …
Lithuania and Finland look set to start domestic production of anti-personnel landmines next year to supply themselves and Ukraine because of what they see as the military threat from Russia, officials from the two NATO member states told Reuters. The Read More …
Ukraine has decided to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel landmines. Ukrainian manufacturers are already preparing to launch domestic production, Media Center Ukraine reports, citing Fedir Venislavskyi, Representative of the President of Ukraine to the Verkhovna Rada, Member of Read More …
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday he had signed a decree to pull Ukraine out of the Ottawa Convention banning the production and use of anti-personnel mines as a necessary step in view of Russian tactics in their 40-month-old war. Read More …
The Finnish Parliament has approved the government’s proposal to withdraw from the Ottawa Treaty, reversing the country’s long-standing commitment to banning anti-personnel landmines. The decision passed with 157 votes in favour and 18 against, with no abstentions and 24 members Read More …
The UN Secretary-General is set to launch a global campaign to boost support for disarmament and mine action. António Guterres announced the move in a statement issued on Monday, in response to plans by several UN Member States to withdraw from Read More …
The European Union has long stood at the forefront of the fight against anti-personnel landmines. Its early and active support for the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty reflected a shared European belief: that these weapons are inherently inhumane, fundamentally indiscriminate, and Read More …
Rights groups have expressed alarm and warned of a slippery slope of again embracing one of the world’s most treacherous weapons, after five European countries said they intend to withdraw from the international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines. In announcing their Read More …
The Finnish government’s decision to prepare for withdrawal from the Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel landmines risks weakening international law and damaging Finland’s global reputation, Amnesty Finland said on Monday. The treaty, which prohibits the use, production, storage and transfer of Read More …
As the world marks International Day of Mine Awareness, charities have issued a renewed call for more global action as demining efforts backslide. With many Baltic nations stating preparations to withdraw from the international convention against anti-personnel landmines, the International Read More …
NATO members Poland, Finland and all three Baltic states have queued up over the past few weeks to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel landmines, in the face of what they say are growing military threats from Russia. The Read More …
Reacting to news that the Finnish government has initiated the process of withdrawing from the Ottawa convention, a landmark treaty prohibiting the use of anti-personnel mines, Esther Major, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Research in Europe, said: “The Finnish government’s Read More …