The United States Must Ban the Use, Production, and Transfer of Landmines

Amnesty International USA today joined a cohort of organizations as part of the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines – U.S. Cluster Munition Coalition to write to President Biden urging him to adopt a policy that sets the United States on course not just to “curtail the use of landmines,” but to ban their use, production, acquisition, and transfer and to swiftly accede to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.

Paul O’Brien, the executive director of Amnesty International USA said:

“Antipersonnel landmines are inherently indiscriminate weapons that can’t distinguish between fighters and ordinary people and maim and kill long after conflicts end. They should not have a place in the arsenal of any country. The landmine policy of the United States starkly sets it apart from its allies on a shortlist of countries that include Myanmar, North Korea, and Syria. For the United States to serve as a human rights leader on the global stage, the Biden administration must immediately join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.”

Background and context:

Amnesty International, as a member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, urges all governments to ban the use, production, stockpiling, or transfer of anti-personnel landmines and to join and implement the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.

Read the full letter to President Biden here.