The International Campaign to Ban Antipersonnel Mines (ICBL) network, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, is calling on Ukraine to renounce the antipersonnel mines proposed by the United States, its director said on Friday.
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“We very much hope that the mines offered by the United States will be firmly rejected by Ukraine,” declared Tamar Gabelnick, from Siem Reap, Cambodia, where an international conference has been held since Monday on the progress of the convention of ‘Ottawa on the ban on anti-personnel mines worldwide.
Kyiv has ratified the treaty, which includes 164 countries and territories, but not Washington or Moscow, whose army is accused by Ukraine of disseminating these explosive devices on a large scale on its territory. About 25% of the country is affected, according to the United Nations.
The United States announced last week that it would supply mines to Kyiv to slow the advance of Russian troops in the east of the country. These weapons are “very important”, welcomed the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, to the great dismay of the NGO.
The American offer triggered a “crisis”, alerted Mme Gabelnick, which could lead to a “clear and significant violation of the anti-mine treaty” if Ukraine were to accept it and use the mines.
A Ukrainian Defense Ministry official present at the discussions said he took note of “some concerns expressed by the community.”
“They will be transmitted to the government of Ukraine,” Yevhenii Kivshyk assured Friday.
The American transfer of mines to Ukraine poses a “challenge” never seen since the entry into force of the Convention in 1999, the member parties warned on Wednesday.
The text is the subject of a conference every five years aimed at evaluating progress towards its objective towards a world without antipersonnel mines. The Siem Reap edition ends on Friday.
Finland, another member state, announced on Thursday that it was considering reintroducing stocks of anti-personnel mines. Helsinki abandoned decades of military non-alignment and joined NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
