US Anti-Personnel Landmine Policy vis-a-vis the Ottawa Anti-Personnel Landmine Treaty

Abstract

Anti-personnel landmines (APL) left in the aftermath of various conflicts around the world claim a multitude of civilian victims each year. Dismay with this annual human toll spawned a worldwide movement to ban the manufacture, use or sale of APL, culminating in Ottawa, Canada on 3 December 1997 when 122 nations, but not the United States, signed a treaty implementing such a ban. While the United States supports the general goals of the treaty, our current APL policy is not in accord with an absolute ban. Instead, US policy preserves our ability to use non-self-destructing APL along the Korean DMZ and self-destructing APL worldwide. This paper will show that US APL policy is sound and that we should not sign the Ottawa Treaty.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 06, 1998
Accession Number
ADA344861

Entities

People

  • Frederick L. Clapp Jr

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Counter IED
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Anti-Personnel Mines
  • Anti-Tank Mines
  • Civil War
  • Department Of Defense
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Employment
  • Fire Control Systems
  • Governments
  • Land Mines
  • Minefields
  • National Security
  • Security
  • Treaties
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP).
  • Munitions and Ordnance Engineering
  • Strategic Security Studies