The Ottawa Convention

“The landmine is eternally prepared to take victims. It is the perfect soldier.” 
Jody Williams, Nobel Peaceprize 1997

Purpose
Antipersonnel mines were first developed in order to protect antitank mines, to prevent them from being stolen by the enemy. In that sense the personnel mines played a defensive role in the beginning, among other things to protect strategic areas, such as borders, bridges and camps so the enemy had limited freedom of movement.
After a while the personnel mine was used to target civilians, especially in internal conflicts. They were used for terrorizing communities by denying the civil population access to their lands and the opportunity of mobility. The marking and the mapping of minefields was no longer standard procedure, and that made it impossible for anyone to see, where the minefield was. 

The purpose of personnel mines is to maim in stead of killing, because more resources are used to carry a wounded soldier, than to leave him in the battlefield.

Read: The Ottawa Convention here http://www.un.org/Depts/mine/UNDocs/ban_trty.htm

Production
Personnel mines are easy and cheap to construct. The scale between production and removal a landmine is 1:1000 dollars.

Member status
See he map which shows which countries have signed the Ottawa convention as of April 1st. 2004. http://www.icbl.org/resources/photo/Illustrations/Maps/Landmine_Monitor_2004/Mine_Ban_Treaty_-Large.gif