The Treaty banning anti-personnel landmines, also called the Ottawa Treaty, bans the use, possession, production, and transfer of mines, and provides for the destruction of stocks and assistance to victims. Adopted in 1997 and entered into force in 1999, it has 164 States Parties, including 34 out of the 50 States that produced mines before 1997, and 33 Signatories. The Members of the Convention, however, do not include six significant countries: China, India, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation and United States. The universalization of the Treaty, therefore, remains one of the primary objectives in the framework of its effective implementation. At present, great concern is caused by the frequent use of these weapons by non-state actors, which are also able to produce them, also as improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Ongoing work in the framework of the Convention relates to stockpile destruction, clearance of contaminated areas, transparency measures and, most importantly, victim assistance.
Stockpile destruction: the Convention commits States Parties to destroy all anti-personnel landmines in their possession or control, “as soon as possible” but, in any case, no later than four years after entry-into-force of the Treaty for the concerned State. The only exception to this rule concerns mines that can be kept for training purposes relating to detection, clearance and destruction. These, in any case, must be kept in very low numbers. To date, 157 States Parties have completed the destruction of stockpiles; overall, these amounted to over 47 million mines.
Mine clearance: the Treaty provides for the identification of contaminated areas, their marking and delimitation in such a way as to protect civilians until the completion of the clearance operations. Total clearance must be finalized within 10 years from entry-into-force of the Treaty for the concerned country, save for extension requests that cannot, in any case, go beyond a further 10 years.
Victim assistance: obligations on victims assistance are central in the Ottawa Convention, the first to include similar obligations in the field of disarmament and arms control. At their core, these oblige States Parties “in a position to do so” to provide assistance for the care, rehabilitation and social-economic reintegration of mine victims. Such assistance can be provided through bilateral and multilateral channels. Unfortunately, despite significant investments in this area, available resources are well below what is needed for hundreds, if not thousands, of mine survivors in a fairly high number of countries.
Transparency: in order to ensure a continuing and productive exchange of information, the Convention provides for the presentation of annual national reports on the implementation of many of its obligations, including those relating to national measures (e.g. administrative or legislative), existing stocks, contaminated areas identification and clearance.
Implementation of the Convention is assessed by annual Meetings of the States Parties, intersessional meetings of thematic Committees, and five-yearly Review Conferences. An Implementation Support Unit (ISU), housed by the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), was also established in order to provide implementation support.
From November 20 to 24, 2023, the twenty-first Meeting of the States Parties (MSP) of the Convention took place under the Presidency of German Ambassador Thomas Goebel (Italy held one of the eight Vice Presidencies). The discussions focused on technical aspects and the main challenges related to demining and clearance processes, affecting a total of 33 States Parties: the lack of mapping of contaminated areas, the complex topography of certain territories, the ongoing conflicts, and the resulting security risks for operators, along with adverse weather conditions, are among the challenges discussed. These factors are challenged by the shortage of human and financial resources, particularly over the past year and a half, which have been almost entirely absorbed by the conflict in Ukraine, currently affecting an extensive 160,000 km2 of contaminated territory.
The meeting, as usual, provided an opportunity for discussions on the implementation of Convention provisions concerning cooperation, assistance to victims, land clearance, and the destruction of anti-personnel mine stockpiles. This is particularly significant in light of the Fifth Review Conference scheduled to take place in Siem Reap, Cambodia, from November 25 to 29, 2024. Following Norway, which hosted the previous review conference in 2019, it is now the turn of a country significantly affected by anti-personnel mines.
It is worth noting that Japan and Zambia have been elected to preside over the Meeting of the States Parties for the years 2025 and 2026, respectively.
The Italian participation in the Treaty
Italy, which had adopted a national law banning landmines well before the conclusion of the Ottawa process, is strongly commited to the implementation of this Treaty. At present, it is also the country that destroyed the highest number of landmines, most of which came from industrial stocks.
Every year, Italy celebrates the anniversary of April 4, the International Day dedicated to the action against mines and assistance to victims (established by the United Nations in 2005), and recognizes the ever lasting reminder that day conveys for the humanitarian consequences of the use of anti-personnel mines, cluster munitions, and other unexploded ordnance.
Italy participates actively in the Ottawa follow-up process, both from a diplomatic point of view – participating in all the Convention’s meetings, regular and intersessional – and operational. In particular, it has devoted significant funds to humanitarian demining programmes and promotes an integrated approach to the clearance of explosive remnants that are disciplined by distinct Treaties but whose goals are highly complementary. With Law n. 58 (7 March 2001), Italy established the Trust Fund for Humanitarian Demining dedicated to financing clearance and destruction programmes, as well as victim assistance and risk education projects. Some of the most recent demining activities supported by Italy were implemented in Libya, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan.
Main Statements
Amb. Leonardo Bencini
Eight “Pledging Conference” of the Mine Ban Convention 24 March 2023
Documents and Resources
Third Review Conference of the Anti-Personnel Landmines Convention, Maputo, 23-27 June 2014
Landmines and Cluster Munitions Monitor
Anti-personnel Landmines Convention (ALPC) website
ALPC Implementation Support Unit (ISU)
UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (Geneva and New York)
United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS)
International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL)
Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD)
International Committee of the Red Cross: Anti-personnel Landmines