US Should Think Again About Reversing Landmine Policy

The Trump administration announced Friday that the United States will re-start using and producing antipersonnel landmines. The decision rolls back a 2014 policy by the Obama administration to ban U.S. production of antipersonnel mines and their use outside of the Korean Peninsula. It reverses years of incremental U.S. steps to align with the “Ottawa” treaty banning antipersonnel landmines, which entered into force on March 1, 1999. The widespread outcry over the move reflects how deeply these indiscriminate weapons have been stigmatized since 1997, when the Mine Ban Treaty was adopted. The number…

© Human Rights Watch - vendredi 7 février 2020