Ottawa – Canadian activists urge Ottawa to protect a 1997 treaty, negotiated by Canada and aimed at putting an end to the use of anti -personnel mines, while six countries on the eastern flank of Europe are moving towards the use of these explosive weapons.
“I am deeply concerned about this situation,” said senator Marilou Mcphedran. Thousands of lives have been saved thanks to this treaty. ”
Global Affairs Canada indicates that they are in talks with countries with the convention on the ban on anti -personnel mines, often called Ottawa Treaty, which has prohibited the use, production, storage and transfer of anti -personnel mines since 1999.
Since then, Canada has spent millions of dollars to help rid the world of anti -personnel mines that have massively injured and mutilate civilians and children, especially in Ukraine.
In a statement published on Wednesday, World Affairs Spokesperson Canada, Louis-Carl Brissette Lesage, said Canada was aware that the countries made “difficult and complex decisions” concerning the treaty and that he had a “continuous dialogue” with them in order to highlight Canada’s farm at the Ottawa Treaty.
“Support for the Ottawa Convention and its universal adhesion remains an absolute priority for Canada. We consider the Convention as one of the most successful humanitarian disarmament treaties, given its ban on anti-personnel terrestrial mines, which cause disproportionate damage to civilians, “he wrote.
The situation is crumbling
On June 29, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree withdrawn Ukraine from the Convention, although the Treaty technically prohibited in the States to get out of it when engaged in an armed conflict.
On June 27, the three Baltic countries – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – published official opinions from the United Nations aimed at withdrawing from the treaty in six months. In either case, it would be the first time that a signatory would withdraw from the treaty.
Poland and Finland have taken parliamentary approaches to reach such a stage.
The six countries have both mentioned the growing threat posed by Russia for front line states, including the fact that Moscow uses land mines and is not a member of the treaty.
Limits to war
Mines Actions Canada condemned the “precipitated processes” aimed at withdrawing the three Baltic countries from the Convention and urged Ottawa, in a press release, to “express themselves and to dialogue with our allies to defend the Ottawa Treaty”.
In an interview, the president of the group, Erin Hunt, stressed that European countries are generally the most fervent defenders of international law and that they would be two weights, if they decided to withdraw under pressure.
“The Ottawa Treaty is an example of a global decision that there are limits to war. And to withdraw from it while there is a threat of conflict does not fully reflect our convictions, which are to make war safer for those who do not fight, “she argued.
Land mines can kill or mutilate even decades after the end of a conflict and can disproportionately affect civilians.
Research by the International Committee of the Red Cross shows that terrestrial mines are of no use to prevent war or in real conflicts, which, according to Ms. Hunt, explains why the United States has ceased to produce these weapons.
It argues that the recent intensification of the war by drones makes terrestrial mines even less useful.
Senator Mcphedran contributed to the organization of an awareness event with Humanity and Inclusion Canada last month, in which Lloyd Axworthy, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, contributed to the negotiation of the Ottawa Treaty.
Ms. Mcpmedran stresses that the treaty had “an extremely positive humanitarian impact”.
She stressed that the Carney government has placed the protection of civilians at the heart of its foreign policy and asked the government to organize an event to mark the three decades of the treaty in 2027.
The spokesman Louis-Carl Brisette Lesage wrote, on behalf of World Business Canada, that Ottawa will continue to underline the impact of anti-personnel land mines on civilians and to collaborate with the defenders of the rights of affected persons “to assess the implications of this development and to explore the means of enforcing and strengthening the essential standards registered in the Treaty”.
A disintegration of the world order
Former Minister Axworthy said the exit from the treaty could accelerate the disintegration of the world order and the suspension of other armaments control measures, at a time when countries hastened to increase their military spending.
He added that Eastern European countries have legitimate security concerns, but that they have no tangible evidence that the use of terrestrial mines will really end the Russian aggression.
“Ukraine is already one of the most corrupt countries in the world, with its terrestrial mines. And not only the Russian mines, but also the Ukrainian mines, “he explained.
“The level of destruction – deaths, mutilation and injury – for the next 100 years is being integrated into these fields now. And this is not necessary. “
The Mines Observatory, an international surveillance organization, said in a report published last year that terrestrial mines were still actively used in 2023 and 2024 by Russia, Myanmar, Iran and North Korea.
Nearly thirty countries have not adopted the Ottawa Convention, including some current and past producers and users of land mines, such as the United States, China, India, Pakistan and South Korea.
