Why landmines are back in force despite international bans
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Ottawa Treaty, signed by 120+ countries in 1997 and legally binding since 1999, has been ratified by 166 states but never by China, India, Russia, or the United States.
- Six countries — Poland, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Ukraine — have withdrawn from the Ottawa Treaty since Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with Ukrainian withdrawal justified by citing Russia's unrestricted mine use.
- Poland's state-owned defense company Belma has been contracted to produce anti-personnel mines in large quantities, and Lithuania has announced it will resume manufacturing and purchasing landmines, per the article.
- UNMAS reports approximately 25% of Ukraine is affected by landmines and explosive ordnance as of mid-2025, with over 1,150 civilians killed or injured since February 2022 and full demining estimated at roughly $35 billion over 10 years.
- Simone Wisotzki of the Leibniz Peace Research Institute (PRIF) called the European withdrawals "a dangerous precedent," warning other treaty parties could follow and "undermine the legitimacy of the entire treaty."
- In 2025, more than 5,000 people — mainly civilians — were killed or injured by landmines or unexploded ordnance globally, and in South Sudan 90% of victims last year were children, according to the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor.
- Three major US-Russia arms agreements — the INF Treaty, New Start, and Open Skies — have expired or been terminated, and Russia's 2023 withdrawal ended the CFE treaty, leaving the Ottawa Treaty as the sole surviving humanitarian arms control regime.
Why it matters: Wisotzki of PRIF states the Ottawa Treaty was effectively the only arms control regime still functioning; its unraveling means the world has lost its last humanitarian disarmament framework, with Ukraine's 25% mine contamination and a $35 billion, 10-year demining price tag demonstrating the multi-generational civilian cost of abandoning the ban.
Ask SkimNews
