Anti-personnel mines: Statement by the Spokesperson on the United States’ decision to re-introduce their use
The decision by the United States Government to re-authorise the use of anti-personnel mines by US military forces outside of the Korean Peninsula undermines the global norm against anti-personnel mines. A norm that has saved tens of thousands of people in the past twenty years.
The majority of mine victims are children. The conviction that these weapons are incompatible with International Humanitarian Law has led 164 States to join the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, including all Member States of the European Union.
Their use anywhere, anytime, and by any actor remains completely unacceptable to the European Union.
The EU and the US are both major donors for mine action assistance worldwide, supporting mine clearance, mine risk education, victim assistance and stockpile destruction. The re-authorisation of the use of anti-personnel mines is not only a direct contradiction to these actions but also negatively affects the international rules-based order.
The EU counts on the US to remain a partner and a top provider of anti-mine action assistance.