Source: United States Senator for Vermont Patrick Leahy
Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of the Ottawa Treaty banning the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of anti-personnel landmines.
That historic achievement was thanks to the leadership, vision, and persistence of Lloyd Axworthy, Canada’s Foreign Minister, and countless civil society advocates around the world.
The Ottawa Treaty has dramatically reduced the number of landmine casualties. By almost every measure, it has been a resounding success. But we also know that landmines continue to cause death and terrible injuries to people in dozens of countries – often where medical care is non-existent or in short supply.
Landmines are being used in Ukraine today, and they will remain a deadly hazard long after the fighting ends, whenever that time comes.
The United States continues to provide the largest share of demining assistance, and we spend many millions of dollars each year helping the survivors with artificial limbs and wheelchairs. We need to continue these efforts.
I commend the Biden Administration for restoring the policy on anti-personnel mines that was put in place during the Obama Administration. That was an important step.
I have seen with my own eyes the horrifying effects of landmines, and I have spent decades urging successive U.S. administrations to join the Ottawa Treaty. It should have happened a long time ago, and we have to keep working until it does. I want the United States to be the country that joins Canada in leading the world to put an end to these indiscriminate weapons that no civilized nation should ever use.
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