Response to the news that the Finnish government has initiated the process of withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention, a landmark treaty that prohibits the use of anti-artificial mines, Esther Major, Deputy Director of European Studies at Amnesty International, said:
“The Finnish government’s move to leave the Anti-Some Mining Ban Convention is a disturbing backward step further undermining the global consensus aimed at minimizing civilian harm during armed conflict.
“Anti-person mines are essentially unselected weapons. They have devastating effects on civilians, sometimes decades after deployment, and unexploded anti-person mines can kill the entire area. According to customary international artificial law, the use of weapons is a weapon that is killed in its nature.
“This move comes after the recent withdrawal of the Cluster Ammunition Convention from Lithuania, which is contrary to decades of progress in eliminating production, transfer and use of inherently indistinguishable weapons. As the world prepares to mark the international day of awareness of international mines and the mine action taken this week, we call on the Finnish government to reverse this decision, which will put citizens’ lives against this action, which will put citizens’ lives at an adverse risk.”
background
The 1997 Anti-Artificial Mining Ban Convention (Ottawa Treaty) prohibits the use, storage, production and transfer of anti-human mines, and currently there are parties in 164 states.
The defense ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland recently proposed to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention.
The mines take action on the International Awareness and Assistance Day is April 4.
