![]() ![]() At the Mine Ban Treaty’s Third Review Conference in 2014, the United States announced that it had prohibited production of antipersonnel mines and disclosed that it possessed a stockpile of three million mines, a significant reduction from the more than 10 million previously reported by the United States government. But over time, major non-signatories have made notable announcements and disclosures concerning their landmine stocks as a gesture of goodwill and transparency. Nearly all of the 33 states not party to the Mine Ban Treaty are still believed to stockpile landmines, despite limited information. When it was presented to states attending the treaty’s First Meeting of States Parties held in May 1999 in Maputo, Mozambique, the ICBL called for a major effort to eradicate landmine stockpiles as a form of “preventive mine action.” The first annual Landmine Monitor report estimated that more than 250 million antipersonnel mines were stored in the arsenals of 108 countries. Some stockpiled landmines were abandoned or looted, other stocks were used, but many remained in their storage crates, untouched as the stigma against landmines grew. Hundreds of millions of antipersonnel landmines had been transferred around the world for decades, creating massive stockpiles. But by that point, the damage had already been done. ![]() More than 50 states produced antipersonnel mines at some time, of which 41 stopped before or upon joining the Mine Ban Treaty. That report showed how weak and convoluted rules governing the use of landmines had been widely ignored, creating a complex humanitarian tragedy over the long-term. In their seminal 1993 report Landmines: A Deadly Legacy, ICBL co-founders Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights described landmines as “weapons of mass destruction in slow motion” due to their widespread proliferation, longevity, and the devastating harm caused by decades of unrestrained use. Human Rights Watch provides research and editing for this civil society-based verification initiative to systematically monitor a major multilateral disarmament and international humanitarian law agreement. Unless noted, all facts and figures contained in this chapter come from the Landmine Monitor reporting initiative by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), which has closely tracked and reported on stockpiling and destruction of antipersonnel mines since 1999. Finally, the chapter provides some lessons learned. The chapter considers how the treaty’s unique set of compliance provisions and mechanisms as well as its community of practice have helped states avoid and resolve stockpile destruction issues. It reviews the largely successful implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty’s stockpile destruction obligations over the past two decades despite some serious challenges. This chapter looks at how landmines were once manufactured and transferred around the world, creating massive stockpiles that were used to the detriment of human lives and limbs. The treaty’s requirement that States Parties destroy their stockpiled antipersonnel mines within four years is one of the most visible examples of how the treaty is helping to eradicate these weapons. The treaty contains firm deadlines requiring clearance of mined areas within 10 years, while states “in a position to do so” are obliged to provide assistance to landmine victims. The comprehensive prohibitions on antipersonnel landmines stigmatize these explosive weapons, which are detonated by the presence, proximity, or contact of a person. The Mine Ban Treaty comprises an unprecedented combination of disarmament provisions and humanitarian goals. Two states remain remain in serious violation of the treaty’s stockpile destruction obligation. However, the impressive compliance record by most States Parties was unfortunately not met by all as a handful of missed deadlines, some significantly, in completing their stockpile destruction obligations. This was facilitated by the treaty’s unique cooperative compliance provisions and mechanisms, as well as by its community of supporters. The vast majority of those stockpiled antipersonnel mines were destroyed within the treaty’s four-year deadline. In the 20 years since, there has been steady progress to destroy remaining stocks, resulting in the destruction of more than 55 million antipersonnel landmines by 92 States Parties. Most antipersonnel landmines possessed by states that joined the Mine Ban Treaty were swiftly destroyed by the time the treaty entered into force on 1 March 1999.
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