• Landmines

    Antipersonnel landmines are indiscriminate weapons that have killed and maimed primarily civilians. The weapon cannot distinguish between a soldier during conflict and a civilian stumbling upon one even decades later. The 1997 Mine Ban Treaty comprehensively bans the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of antipersonnel mines, and requires states to destroy their stockpiles within four years and to clear all mined areas within 10 years. The treaty also contains provisions to assist landmine survivors and to support mine risk education programs. A total of 162 states have joined the Mine Ban Treaty and are making progress in achieving a mine-free world. Through its research and advocacy, Human Rights Watch is working to ensure that all states join the treaty and that its life-saving provisions are fully implemented.

    Take Action: Tell the United States that it's time to ban antipersonnel landmines and join the Mine Ban Treaty.

    Read more about which states have taken action to eliminate landmines in Landmine Monitor.

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Reports

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Landmines

  • Yemen: Investigate, Respond to Landmine Use Reports
    May 27, 2013

    The government of Yemen should investigate and respond to allegations that the Republican Guards laid banned antipersonnel landmines at a location north of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, in 2011.

  • Compliance with the Mine Ban Treaty
    May 27, 2013

    Steve Goose, arms division director, delivered a statement on compliance at the Mine Ban Treaty Intersessional Standing Committee Meetings in Geneva.

  • Yemen: Letter to Defense Minister Calls on Government to Investigate, Respond to Landmine Use Reports
    May 21, 2013

    On May 21, 2013, Human Rights Watch sent a letter to the Minister of Defense of Yemen to request information regarding allegations indicating that Republican Guard forces emplaced antipersonnel landmines in 2011 around military camps they maintain in the Bani Jarmooz area near Sana’a and have since resisted the removal of these prohibited munitions although they have caused civilian casualties, including children. 

  • Time for US to embrace ban on landmines
    Mar 4, 2013

    The US is already acting like it has given up antipersonnel landmines – so why doesn't Nobel peace laureate Barack Obama turn it into formally declared policy by ratifying the Mine Ban Treaty?

     

  • United States: The Time has Come to Ban Landmines
    Mar 1, 2013

    The Obama administration, which is poised to make a decision on future US policy on landmines, should at long last embrace the ban on antipersonnel landmines.

  • Israel/Gaza: Unlawful Israeli Attacks on Palestinian Media
    Dec 20, 2012
    Four Israeli attacks on journalists and media facilities in Gaza during the November 2012 fighting violated the laws of war by targeting civilians and civilian objects that were making no apparent contribution to Palestinian military operations
  • Landmine Ban: Poland Final EU Member to Join
    Dec 7, 2012

    Poland’s announcement on December 5, 2012, that it is about to ratify the international treaty prohibiting landmines means that all 27 European Union countries have banned these unlawful weapons.

  • Compliance with the Mine Ban Treaty
    Dec 7, 2012

    Steve Goose, arms division director, delivered a statement on compliance at the 12th Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva.

  • Stockpile Destruction and Retention under the Mine Ban Treaty
    Dec 6, 2012

    Steve Goose, arms division director, delivered a statement on stockpile destruction and retention at the 12th Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva.

  • Advancing Humanitarian Disarmament
    Oct 26, 2012
    The success of the mine ban and cluster munitions treaties show that civil society support is essential to any effort aimed at tackling disarmament challenges from a humanitarian perspective.
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