UNRIC Library Backgrounder: Landmines

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Landmines come in two varieties: anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines. Both have caused great suffering in the past decades. Anti-personnel landmines are prohibited under the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (or Mine Ban Convention), adopted in 1997. More than 150 countries have joined this treaty. Its positive impact includes a marked reduction of casualties, an increased number of mine-free States, destroyed stockpiles and improved assistance to victims.

https://disarmament.unoda.org/landmines-2/

UN Treaties 

• Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their destruction. Oslo, 18 September 1997
  https://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/UNTS/Volume%202056/v2056.pdf
  https://treaties.unoda.org/t/mine_ban

• • Status of Ratification: https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?
    src=IND&mtdsg_no=XXVI-5&chapter=26&clang=_en
  • Background Information on the Convention in the “Audiovisual Library of International Law”: https://legal.un.org/avl/ha/cpusptam/cpusptam.html

UN and related bodies

• UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) : https://www.unmas.org/
  • E-MINE – UN Mine Action : http://www.mineaction.org/
  • The deadly legacy of landmines (UN News, 2 April 2023): https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/04/1135252
• UN Peacekeeping – Mine Action: https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/mine-action
• UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) – Landmines: https://disarmament.unoda.org/landmines-2/
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)Development and mine action:  https://www.undp.org/tag/development-and-mine-action
  • Commemorating three decades of UNDP work against the brutality of landmines (22 November 2022): https://stories.undp.org/commemorating-three-decades-of-undp-work-against-the-brutality-of-landmines
• UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) – Landmines: https://www.unicef.org/topics/landmines

UN Observances

• 4 April – International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action
  https://www.un.org/en/observances/mine-awareness-day

Selected UN documents and publications

• UN documents on “Landmines” – click here

Research & Documentation

• Dag Hammarskjöld Library Research Guides – Disarmament: http://research.un.org/en/docs/disarmament
• UNOG Library Research Guide – Disarmament: http://libraryresources.unog.ch/disarmament/global
• Disarmament Yearbooks Online 1945 – 2023: https://disarmament.unoda.org/publications/yearbook/
• UNRIC Library Backgrounder – Disarmament: https://unric.org/en/unric-library-backgrounder-disarmament/
• UNRIC Library Backgrounder – Arms Trade: https://unric.org/en/unric-library-backgrounder-arms-trade/
• Ask Dag! How many types of landmines are there? https://ask.un.org/faq/14489

Non-UN Sources

• International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL)
  http://www.icbl.org
• International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) – Anti-personal landmines
  http://www.icrc.org/en/war-and-law/weapons/anti-personnel-landmines

March 2025
not an official document – for information only
https://unric.org/en/unric-library-backgrounder-landmines/