The Ottawa Treaty
“The landmine is eternally prepared to take victims. It is the perfect soldier.”
Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, 1997.

The Ottawa Treaty (officially the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction) was adopted at the Oslo Diplomatic Conference on a Total Global Ban on Anti-Personnel Mines on September 18, 1997 in Oslo, Norway. As of November 2011, the treaty has a total of 158 states parties and has been signed by 133 of these. The goal is a total ban on, and destruction of, anti-personnel mines worldwide.

General obligations of the Ottawa Treaty:

1. Each State Party undertakes never under any circumstances:

a) To use anti-personnel mines;
b) To develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer to anyone, directly or indirectly, anti-personnel mines;
c) To assist, encourage or induce, in any way, anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Convention.

2. Each State Party undertakes to destroy or ensure the destruction of all anti-personnel mines in accordance with the provisions of this Convention.

Although the symbolic significance of the Ottawa Treaty should not be underestimated, a wide range of obstacles still prevent it from having the desired effect. There has been hardly any reduction in actual use of landmines and major mine-producing countries such as United States, China and Russia have not yet ratified the treaty. Furthermore other explosive devices such as cluster bombs are not covered in the treaty, despite causing many of the same problems of contamination of land.

Download the Ottawa Treaty and a list of countries that have signed the Ottawa Treaty as of October 12, 2011 on the right.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions
To address the lack of obligations on cluster bombs in the Ottawa Treaty, a separate treaty, the Convention on Cluster Munitions, was adopted on May 30, 2008 in Dublin, Ireland. The general obligations are similar to the ones listed in the Ottawa Treaty but with cluster munitions replacing anti-personnel mines. As of October 12, 2011, 111 states have joined the convention, as states parties or signatories.