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Which countries are quitting a key landmine treaty and why?

The moves threaten to reverse decades of campaigning by activists who say there should be a global ban on a weapon that blights huge swathes of territory and maims and kills civilians long after conflicts have abated.

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A Ukrainian soldier removing a mine in Hoholiv in 2022. (The NYT)

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 moves threaten to reverse decades of campaigning by activists who say there should be a global ban on a weapon that blights huge swathes of territory and maims and kills civilians long after conflicts have abated.

Countries that quit the 1997 treaty — one of a series of international agreements concluded after the end of the Cold War to encourage global disarmament — will be able to start producing, using, stockpiling, and transferring landmines once again.

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Exiting countries

All European countries bordering Russia have announced plans to quit the global treaty. Norway, which said this week that for all the increased threats it was important to maintain the stigma around the weapons, is the sole exception.

Many have said they fear that, as United States President Donald Trump steps up pressure to end the war in Ukraine, Russia could use any pause to re-arm and target them instead.

Officials have suggested a withdrawal could also put them on more of an equal footing with Russia which — along with the likes of the US, China, India and Israel — has not signed or ratified the treaty.

Funding cuts

As countries quit the convention, global demining efforts are also backsliding amid “crippling” US funding cuts, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. The US government, which has halted some of its programmes under Trump’s foreign aid review, had been the single largest funder of mine action, providing more than $300 million a year or 40% of the total international support, according to the Landmine Monitor report in 2024.

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A State Department official said in March it had restarted some global humanitarian demining programs and activities, without giving details. It has previously run major programmes in Iraq, Afghanistan and Laos.

Civilian victims

Anti-personnel landmines are generally hidden in the ground and designed to detonate automatically when someone steps on them or passes nearby.

More than 80% of mine victims are civilians, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The convention includes provisions to assist victims, many of whom have lost limbs and suffer from other permanent disabilities. In October 2024, the United Nations reported that Ukraine had become the most mined country in the world. As of August 2024, it said there had been around 1,286 civilian victims of mines and explosive remnants.

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Stockpiles

Under the terms of the 1997 convention, countries were supposed to destroy all landmine stockpiles within four years, although not all have complied, according to the ICRC.

Poland now says it is seeking to resume production.

Some of the countries pulling out of the landmines treaty, including Lithuania, are also considering leaving the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions. These are explosive weapons that release smaller submunitions over a vast area.

The US, which had also not signed that convention, in 2023 transferred cluster munitions to Ukraine to help it defend itself against Russia.