MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd February, 2020) The International Campaign to Ban Landmines - Cluster Munition Coalition (ICBL-CMC), a coalition of NGOs, based in Geneva, on Monday condemned US President Donald Trump's decision to lift restrictions on the use of landmines, calling it "a step backwards in the steady progress towards achieving a mine-free world."
On Friday, Washington said that the US military commanders would be allowed to use anti-personnel landmines in exceptional circumstances under a policy reversal ordered by Trump. Previously, under the 2014 directive by then-US President Barack Obama, the use of landmines was outlawed except for on the Korean Peninsula.
"This announcement flies in the face of 20 plus years of progress towards eliminating the human suffering caused by landmines and comes just weeks after most of the countries in the world recommitted to achieving a mine-free world by 2025, at the Fourth Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty ... Regardless of the US position, the international community will continue its work to eliminate these terrible weapons," ICBL-CMC Director Hector Guerra said in a statement.
An international campaign to ban landmines led to a 1997 treaty that was signed by more than 160 nations. The United States refused to sign the treaty, but the Obama directive from 2014 largely aligned the country with the treaty's requirements.
