On June 27, the U.S. announced that it intends to join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty in the future, and committed to ban production and acqusition of antipersonnel landmines. U.S. representative to Mozambique Ambassador Douglas M. Griffiths made the announcement at the Mine Ban Treaty’s 3rd Review Conference in Maputo, which the U.S. attended as an observer.
The U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines views the policy announcement as a positive step, but expressed disappointment that the policy stops short of a ban to ensure the weapons are never used again. The policy announcement reinforces that the 1997 treaty provides the best possible framework for achieving a world free of antipersonnel mines and that antipersonnel mines are not legitimate weapons.
Ambassador Griffiths stated that the U.S. is “diligently pursuing … solutions that would be compliant” with the Mine Ban Treaty and “that would ultimately allow us to accede.”
