Mine ban policy overview

Policy

The United States of America (US) has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. A review of US landmine ban policy, announced in November 2009, was apparently concluded in 2011 but the outcome still had not been announced as of September 2013.

In December 2012, a Department of State official informed States Parties, “We have not made a decision on United States accession” to the Mine Ban Treaty and said: “Our review has identified operational issues relating to accession that require careful consideration. This consideration is ongoing, and we expect to be able to announce a decision soon.”[1]

At a Mine Ban Treaty side event convened by the US Campaign to Ban Landmines (USCBL), the US representative said that “soon” should be taken as meaning by the time of the Mine Ban Treaty’s next meeting of States Parties to be held in Geneva in December 2013. In response to questions about the “operational issues” cited in the statement the official stated, “We’ve made real progress. We’ve identified the issues. Our homework is done. Now it’s about looking at the options and going forward.”[2]

At the outset of the policy review in 2009, the US cautioned that it would take “some time” to complete the review “given that we must ensure that all factors are considered, including possible alternatives to meet our national defense needs and security commitments to our friends and allies….”[3] According to then-National Security Advisor General James L. Jones, the purpose of the review was “to specifically examine the costs and benefits that would be involved in a decision to accede to the Ottawa Treaty.”[4]

The US was the first nation to call for the “eventual elimination” of antipersonnel mines in September 1994 and it participated in the Ottawa Process that led to the creation of the treaty, but did not sign in 1997. The Clinton administration set the goal of joining in 2006. However, in 2004 the Bush administration announced a new policy that rejected both the treaty and the goal of the US ever joining.[5] As mentioned above, in November 2009 the administration of President Barack Obama publicly acknowledged that a comprehensive review of US mine policy was underway.[6]

Until the Obama administration’s policy review is completed, the 2004 Bush policy remains in place, permitting the indefinite use of self-destructing, self-deactivating antipersonnel mines anywhere in the world. In accordance with the Bush policy, as of 31 December 2010 the US prohibits the use of antipersonnel mines that do not self-destruct and self-deactivate (sometimes called “persistent” or “dumb” mines) anywhere in the world, including in Korea. Since the US participated in the Second Review Conference in November 2009, it has continued to attend Mine Ban Treaty meetings as an observer.[7] The US attended the Twelfth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva in December 2012 where it made a brief statement on universalization.[8] The US attended intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in June 2011 but not those held in May 2012 or May 2013.[9]

On 3 December 2012, the US abstained from voting on UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 67/32 calling for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty, as it had in previous years. It was one of only 19 nations to abstain.

Over the course of the policy review, there have been numerous expressions of support for the US joining the Mine Ban Treaty. In May 2010, more than two-thirds of the US Senate wrote to President Obama to state strong support for the ban on antipersonnel mines and expressed confidence that “through a thorough, deliberative review the Administration can identify any obstacles to joining the Convention and develop a plan to overcome them as soon as possible.”[10] On 30 November 2010, 16 Nobel Peace Prize laureates sent a letter to President Obama urging a US decision to join the Mine Ban Treaty.[11] On 18 April 2012, the USCBL sent a letter signed by the leaders of 76 NGOs to President Obama to encourage him to “make a decision on future U.S. landmine policy as soon as possible” and “announce that the United States will accede to the Mine Ban Treaty.”[12] In January 2013, Foreign Policy magazine included a call for the US to ban landmines to a list of ten foreign policy objectives for the second term of the Obama Administration.[13] On 1 March 2013, the 13^th anniversary of the entry into force of the Mine Ban Treaty, the USCBL called on the United States to “embrace the Mine Ban Treaty and announce concrete plans for a comprehensive ban on antipersonnel mines.”[14]

During an August 2013 visit to Colombia, US Secretary of State John Kerry rolled up his pant leg in solidarity with landmine victims.[15]

The US is a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. It submitted its annual national report for Amended Protocol II on 4 April 2013, as required under Article 13, and a national annual report for Protocol V on 5 April 2013, as required by Article 10.

Use, transfer, production, and stockpiling

The last known US use of antipersonnel mines was in 1991.[16] There were reports in 2009 and 2010 of US forces in Afghanistan using Claymore directional fragmentation mines.[17] However, these munitions are not prohibited under the Mine Ban Treaty if used in command-detonated mode.[18]

In February 2012, US officials confirmed implementation of the 2004 policy directive to end the use of so-called persistent (non-self-destructing) mines by the end of 2010.[19] In its CCW Amended Protocol II Article 13 report, delivered in March 2012, the US provided the following statement:

“Beginning January 1, 2011, the United States no longer uses any persistent landmines anywhere. All persistent landmines, both anti-personnel and anti-vehicle, have been transferred to inactive inventory and will be destroyed in accordance with U.S. DoD [Department of Defense] policies and procedures.”

According to the statement, the United States’ entire stockpile of landmines now has the features of self-destruct and self-deactivation specifications provided in Amended Protocol II landmines.[20]

The US is retaining a small quantity of “persistent mines” for demining and counter-mine testing and training.[21]

On 26 December 2007, the comprehensive US moratorium on the export of antipersonnel mines was extended for six years until 2014.[22] US law has prohibited all antipersonnel mine exports since 23 October 1992, through a series of multi-year extensions of the moratorium.

The US has not produced antipersonnel mines since 1997. It is one of just 12 countries in the world that either still actively produces the weapon or reserves the right to do so.[23] However, the US currently has no plans to produce antipersonnel mines in the future. There are no victim-activated munitions being funded in the procurement or the research and development budgets of the US Armed Services or Department of Defense.

Two programs are being funded, the XM-7 Spider Networked Munition and the IMS Scorpion, that once had the potential for victim-activated features (thereby making them antipersonnel mines as defined by the Mine Ban Treaty) but that are now solely “man-in-the-loop” (command-detonated, and therefore permissible under the treaty).[24]

In light of the termination in 2008 of the War Reserve Stocks for Allies, Korea (WRSA-K) program, and the US policy of prohibiting use of non-self-destructing antipersonnel mines in Korea after 2010, it appears that the approximately half a million mines stored in South Korea will be removed and destroyed.[25]

The Monitor has been reporting, based on official 2002 data, that the US has a stockpile of approximately 10.4 million antipersonnel mines.[26] However, knowledgeable sources have indicated to the Monitor that the current active stockpile is far smaller, and that millions of stockpiled mines have been removed from service and have been or will be destroyed.