The Ottawa Convention: Signatories and Ratifiers

On March 1, six months after its ratification by the 40th state, the Ottawa Convention banning the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel landmines (APLs) will enter into force. Sixty-seven states out of 135 signatories have now ratified or acceded to the treaty. European countries account for nearly one-third of the ratifications, while 16 African and 15 Latin American and Caribbean states have ratified the treaty.

By September 1999 and annually thereafter, the first 40 states to have ratified the treaty (shown below in bold) must report to the UN Secretary-General their total APL stockpiles, the technical characteristics of their APLs, the location of all mined areas and the status of APL destruction programs. For all other states that ratify, the treaty will become legally binding six months after ratification or accession. State-parties will have four years to destroy all stockpiled APLs and ten years to eliminate all APLs, including those currently planted. Countries, however, may request a renewable ten-year extension to complete the task.

The treaty will enter into force without signature by some major producers and users of landmines, including the United States, China and Russia. Washington pledged to sign in 2006 if it can identify and field "suitable alternatives" to replace its APLs and mixed systems (combination of anti-tank and anti-personnel landmines). At the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, the United States and other nations are seeking to negotiate a transfer ban on the import and export of APLs, but the 61 members have thus far failed to reach consensus on starting the negotiations.

The U.S. State Department, in its 1998 report, Hidden Killers, estimates that more than 70 countries are plagued with a total of 60 million to 70 million landmines, while some mine clearance groups contend that the number is significantly lower. The International Committee of the Red Cross estimates that 26,000 people are killed or injured by APLs every year. —For more information, contact Wade Boese.