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 the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention.
The 1997 treaty, also known as the Ottawa Convention, prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of these weapons. Since then, it “has led to a virtual halt in global production of anti-personnel mines, and a drastic reduction in their deployment,” and “more than 40 million stockpiled mines have been destroyed,” according to the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA).
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Source: United Nations News
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