U.S. Attends Mine Ban Treaty Meeting

    Civil Society Questioning Prolonged Landmine Policy Review

    The United States sent an official delegation to the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty from November 28-December 2 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The conference was attended by close to 100 governments, including most of the 158 Mine Ban Treaty States Parties and 15 Non-States Parties such as the United States. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) delegation of more than 270 campaigners from 61 countries, including dozens of landmine survivors, also participated in the meeting. This group was also comprised of several members of the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines.

    U.S. Needs to Accelerate Efforts Towards Joining Mine Ban Treaty

    Although the United States has not used landmines since 1991 and has not produced any new landmines since 1997, the U.S. still has not joined the treaty and retains 10.4 millions of stockpiled antipersonnel mines for potential future use. The U.S. is one of only 38 countries in the world that have not joined the Mine Ban Treaty—and is the only member of NATO that is not a signatory, and the only country in the Western Hemisphere, aside from Cuba, that has not joined. The Obama administration launched a review of U.S. landmine policy in December 2009; this review – which the international community hopes will culminate in U.S. accession to the Mine Ban Treaty, has not yet concluded. At the conference, campaigners urged the U.S. to accelerate their efforts toward conclusion of the process and submission of the treaty to the Senate for ratification. Click here to read more about the conference and the U.S. landmine policy review!

    Tell the U.S. that You Want the U.S. to Join the Mine Ban Treaty!

    President Barack Obama's administration has initiated a comprehensive review of U.S. landmine policy to determine whether the U.S. will join the Mine Ban Treaty. The USCBL needs your help to ensure that this process is timely, transparent, inclusive, and aimed at swift accession to the treaty. It is time for the U.S. to finally accede to this convention and join the rest of the world in ending the barbaric use of landmines once and for all. Make your voice heard and tell the administration to submit the Mine Ban Treaty to the Senate now. Join the call to action now!

    U.S. Led Attempt to Allow Cluster Bomb Use is Rejected at UN CCW Negotiations

    An attempt by the United States and other remaining producers and stockpilers of cluster munitions to push through a weak new law which would have allowed these indiscriminate weapons to be used, has failed. Over fifty states at the United Nations negotiations rejected outright the cynical attempt to give legal cover to use these weapons in the future.  This ends four years of negotiations on this issue. The failure to set up a weaker alternative to the existing ban strengthens the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions which like the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty prohibits the use, production and transfer of an entire category of weapons and promotes the rights of victims and survivors. The Cluster Munition Coalition calls on all remaining countries to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Click here to to read more!