• Ukraine has joined other countries bordering Russia in signalling that it will withdraw from the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel landmines.

• The 1997 treaty prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of these weapons.

• Five European countries — Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland — have recently announced that they intend to leave, or taken steps in this direction, reportedly due to security concerns related to Russia.

• In June, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres raised grave concerns about recent withdrawal announcements, and urged all states to adhere to existing treaties and immediately halt any steps towards their withdrawal.

• He also appealed to 32 States that have yet to join the treaty to do so without delay.

• These countries include China, Iran, Israel, Russia, and the United States.

• India has not signed the Treaty.

Ottawa Convention

• Landmines come predominantly in two varieties: anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines. Both have caused great suffering in the past decades and continue to kill and injure civilians and by-standers long after conflicts have ended. 

• The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction is the international agreement that bans anti-personnel landmines. 

• It is usually referred to as the Ottawa Convention or the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty.

• The Convention was concluded by the Diplomatic Conference on an International Total Ban on Anti-Personnel Landmines at Oslo on September 18, 1997.

• The Convention was opened for signature in Ottawa, Canada in December 1997.

• The Ottawa Process was a result of the advocacy work of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and the International Committee of the Red Cross working in partnership with a core group of States that were equally committed to a ban on anti-personnel mines.

• The treaty has been ratified by more than 160 countries.

• Under the treaty, countries are prohibited to use or develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer anti-personnel mines.

• The Convention has led to a virtual halt in global production of anti-personnel mines, and a drastic reduction in their deployment. 

• More than 40 million stockpiled mines have been destroyed, and assistance has been provided to survivors and populations living in the affected areas. 

• Vast numbers of mined and suspected hazardous areas have been declared free of landmines and released for productive use. 

• As a result of these efforts, the number of casualties has sharply declined. 

• After the signing of The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, the UN General Assembly established an entity exclusively for mine action. 

• The establishment of the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in 1997 marked the beginning of a new institutional and organizational  framework for operations in mine action.

United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) 

• The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) was established in 1997.

• It works to eliminate the threat posed by mines, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices by coordinating United Nations mine action, leading operational responses at the country level, and in support of peace operations, as well as through the development of standards, policies and norms.

• For over 25 years, the work of UNMAS has been driven by the needs of affected people and tailored to the threat of explosive hazards faced by civilians, peacekeepers and humanitarians.

• UNMAS works to save lives, to facilitate deployment of UN missions and the delivery of humanitarian assistance, to protect civilians, to support the voluntary return of the internally displaced and refugees, to enable humanitarian and recovery activities and to advocate for international humanitarian and human rights law.

• As a specialised service of the United Nations located within the Department of Peace Operations, UNMAS operates under UN legislative mandates of both the General Assembly and the Security Council. 

• UNMAS also responds to specific requests for support from the UN Secretary-General or designated official.

• It collaborates with 11 other UN departments, agencies, programmes and funds to ensure an effective, proactive and coordinated response to the problems of landmines and explosive remnants of war.

• UNMAS is mandated to coordinate the mine action work of the United Nations system as Chair of the Inter-Agency Coordination Group on Mine Action (IACG-MA) and its subsidiary groups. 

• It is also the global lead for the Mine Action Area of Responsibility within the Global Protection Cluster, the Chair of the International Mine Action Standards (IMAS) Review Board and its Steering Committee and leads the United Nations Coordinating Task Force on a Whole-of-System Approach to IEDs, consistent with the Disarmament Agenda of the Secretary-General.

International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action

• The International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action is commemorated on April 4 every year. 

• On that day, the UN reaffirms its commitment to a world free from the threat of mines, explosive remnants of war (ERW), including cluster munitions, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). 

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)