Transfer of U.S. antipersonnel landmines to Ukraine puts civilians at risk

On November 19, the Washington Post reported that the Biden administration intends to provide antipersonnel landmines to Ukraine.

This news comes more than two years after the Biden administration barred the Department of Defense from developing, using, or transferring antipersonnel landmines, with the exception of on the Korean Peninsula. With that June 2022 policy, Biden reversed a Trump-era decision that allowed landmines to be used around the world. Landmines are motion-activated devices that cannot distinguish between the footstep of a child or that of a soldier. 

“Humanity & Inclusion strongly condemns this reported decision to transfer antipersonnel landmines to Ukraine, breaking not only with the Biden administration’s own policies, but also with universal standards prohibiting these indiscriminate weapons,” says Hannah Guedenet, U.S. Executive Director for Humanity & Inclusion. “Data has shown again and again that when antipersonnel landmines are used, civilians are disproportionately injured or killed.” 

Just today, the Landmine Monitor 2024 was published, citing more than 5,000 landmine casualties in 2023. Among reported incidents, civilians made up 84% of casualties. More than one-third of those injured or killed were children.  

This latest development, like the Trump administration’s 2020 decision (which itself reversed President Obama’s 2014 landmine policy), is shocking to advocates both in the U.S. and internationally. The U.S. landmine policy has always been a great paradox. While the U.S. was part of the Ottawa Process, which resulted in the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, no President has ever moved to join the Treaty. Administrations have claimed landmines are necessary for U.S. forces to successfully wage land-based wars. However, the U.S. has not used antipersonnel mines since 1991, has not exported them since 1992, has not produced them since 1997, and in the meantime has destroyed millions of stockpiled mines. The U.S. government heavily funds actions by organizations—including Humanity & Inclusion—to remove these weapons from areas once plagued by conflict, so that civilians can safely live, work and play without fear. 

“The latest decision has moved the U.S. even further from compliance with the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty,” Guedenet adds. “The U.S. is walking back on 30 years of precedent. Despite being one of the global community’s most generous funders of landmine clearance, this contradictive move puts thousands of lives at risk.” 

The U.S. is one of the few countries that has yet to join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, joining with countries such as China, Egypt, India, Israel, Pakistan, and Russia. There are 164 States parties to the treaty, making the ban on landmines a near-universal norm of international humanitarian law. 

“This decision directly contradicts U.S. policy on landmines, reaffirmed under President Biden's leadership, which prohibits the export or transfer of antipersonnel landmines except in specific cases,” says Alma Taslidzan, Humanity & Inclusion’s Disarmament and Protection of Civilians Advocacy Manager. “The decision undermines the credibility of U.S. commitments and sets a dangerous precedent that could weaken global efforts to eliminate the use of landmines.” 
 
“The use of landmines in Ukraine has already left a devastating legacy of human suffering, hindered post-conflict recovery, and endangered future generations, Taslidzan continues. “We urge Ukraine to consider the profound human and moral costs associated with landmines and to uphold principles that prioritize the protection of civilians during armed conflict.” 

As the 5th Review Conference on the Mine Ban Treaty convenes on November 25 in Siem Reap, Cambodia, HI calls on the 164 state parties to the Mine Ban Treaty to strongly condemn the Biden administration’s decision, which risks eroding the treaty’s integrity. 

“Failure to act not only undermines the treaty’s authority but also emboldens other states to disregard or violate its provisions,” Taslidzan explains. “We must urgently rally all state parties to take a firm stand, defend this vital norm, and refuse to remain silent in the face of this alarming development." 

Humanity & Inclusion runs projects to protect civilians from landmines and other explosive conflict debris in dozens of countries. Teams work to: 

• return land to communities through demining; 

• teach people to spot, avoid and report explosive remnants of war through risk education; 

• provide support, physical and psychosocial care to victims of landmines; 

• raise the visibility of landmine survivors and their communities, so that the world is reminded of the scourge of landmines. 

“Every day, communities are exposed to landmines that continue to injure, maim, and terrorize civilians long after fighting is over,” Guedenet adds. “Our mine action experts see first-hand that landmines do not help win wars, and do not save lives.”