U.S.: Bush Administration Abandons Landmine Ban

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U.S.: Bush Administration Abandons Landmine BanReversal Means U.S. Can Use Mines

Indefinitely, Anywhere

(Washington, February 27, 2004) – The Bush Administration’s reversal of a

ten-year policy to eliminate all antipersonnel landmines puts the United States

in near total isolation in the global effort to ban mines, Human Rights Watch

said today. Today the Pentagon announces the outcome of its two and one-half

year review of U.S. policy on all landmines.

“This new landmine policy is not just a gigantic step backward for the United

States, it is a complete about-face,” said Stephen Goose, executive director of

the Arms Division of Human Rights Watch. “While the rest of the world is rushing

to embrace an immediate and comprehensive ban on antipersonnel mines, the Bush

administration has decided to cling to the weapon in perpetuity.”

 

In 1994, the United States was the first nation to call for the “eventual

elimination” of all antipersonnel landmines. Since 1998, it has been official

U.S. policy to give up the use of all antipersonnel mines and join the Mine Ban

Treaty by 2006 if landmine alternatives are in place.

 

Human Rights Watch said the most important, and objectionable, aspect of the new

policy is the decision not to give up “smart " mines that have self-destruct

mechanisms designed to blow the mines up after a period of time. Goose said that

the policy change means that now U.S. forces are free to use smart mines

anywhere in the world, indefinitely.

 

“So-called smart mines are not safe mines— they still pose real dangers for

civilians,” said Goose. “The United States stands alone in this position that

there can be a technological solution to the global landmine problem.”

 

Human Rights Watch said that most immediately, the new policy negates the

requirement contained in Presidential Decision Directive 64 of 1998 to end the

use of about 8.4 million of the 10.4 million antipersonnel mines in the United

States arsenal as

of 2003 (all ADAM artillery-delivered antipersonnel mines and PDM special forces

antipersonnel mines).

 

 

In another disturbing aspect of the new policy, the Bush administration said it

will stop using “persistent,” or “dumb,” landmines after 2010—four years later

than the previous target date.

 

“This new policy is especially surprising and disappointing in that the United

States has largely been in compliance with a comprehensive ban for years,” said

Goose.

 

The United States has apparently not used antipersonnel mines since the 1991

Gulf War, has not exported since 1992, has not produced since 1997, has

destroyed more than 3 million stockpiled antipersonnel mines, and has provided

more funding for mine clearance, mine risk education and mine victim assistance

than any other single nation.

 

“The United States apparently found no military requirement to use antipersonnel

mines in the recent conflicts in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan or Iraq. This is a

clear indication of the lack of utility of antipersonnel mines in modern

warfare, and in post-9/11 warfare,” said Goose. “The new policy shows the

inability of the Pentagon to give up an outmoded weapon, and the lack of

political leadership by the White House.”

 

The new U.S. policy stands in stark contrast to the emerging international norm

against antipersonnel mines. A total of 141 countries are now party to the 1997

Mine Ban Treaty, which prohibits all use, production, trade and stockpiling of

antipersonnel mines. Another nine countries have signed but not yet ratified.

Momentum for the treaty and the comprehensive ban has been growing in recent

months as Greece, Turkey, Serbia and Montenegro, Belarus, Burundi and Sudan have

come on board. The United States is now the only member of NATO not party to the

treaty.

 

Virtually all of the other forty-four non-signatories to the Mine Ban Treaty

have endorsed the notion of a complete ban on all antipersonnel mines at some

point in the future—often at the urging of the United States in years past. Many

countries that are not party to the treaty have been taking steps toward it,

such as cessation of production and export.

 

 

 

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