Five humanitarian groups and 77 international civil society organizations on Saturday condemned Ukraine’s suspension of the 1997 Mine Ban Convention, also known as the Ottawa Convention.
The organizations stated that the Ottawa Convention does not allow for the obligations of state parties to be suspended, including during wartime. According to Article 20(3) of the Ottawa Convention, withdrawal is activated six months after issuance of a withdrawal instrument. However, if “in the expiry of that six-month period, the withdrawing State Party is engaged in an armed conflict, the withdrawal shall not take effect before the end of the armed conflict.” The organizations further argued that “allowing this unilateral suspension sets a dangerous precedent that could weaken respect for any instrument of international humanitarian law during armed conflict in any part of the world.”
Article 1 of the Ottawa Convention prohibits the use of anti-personnel mines as well as the direct or indirect development, production, otherwise acquirement, stockpile, retainment or transfer of such mines. The preamble of the Ottawa Convention states that states parties are “determined to put an end to the suffering and casualties caused by anti-personnel mines, that kill or maim hundreds of people every week, mostly innocent and defenceless civilians and especially children.”
Furthermore, the civil societies highlighted that there is a threat to the progress made in providing protection for civilians during times of conflict. The UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) declared that since the launch of the Convention, there has been “a virtual halt in global production of anti-personnel mines, and a drastic reduction in their deployment,” reducing the number of casualties. The civil societies claim that Ukraine’s withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention “jeopardizes nearly three decades of hard-won multilateral progress to protect civilians in conflict, achieved through the collective work of states, civil society, the United Nations, and the International Committee of the Red Cross.”
Mary Wareham, deputy director for conflict and arms at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said in July that Ukraine’s withdrawal would be a “symbolic move to gain political cover while disregarding the core prohibitions on developing, producing, and using anti-personnel mines.”
In the new statement, the civil society and humanitarian organizations said they “condemn in the strongest terms the Russian Federation’s widescale and egregious disregard for the rules of international humanitarian law in its war against Ukraine.” However, they underscored that withdrawing states undermine the international system that aims to protect civilians.
In June, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Poland all withdrew from the Ottawa Convention. UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed grave concern regarding these withdrawals, and emphasized that “at a time when civilians face heightened risks from widening conflicts, it is imperative that we strengthen the frameworks that protect human life and dignity.”
