Friday, November 22, 2024

Things That Make You Go: "Hmmm"

11/20/24 New York Times:

The Biden administration has approved supplying Ukraine with American anti-personnel mines to bolster defenses against Russian attacks as Ukrainian front lines in the country’s east have buckled, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday.

To my surprise, there is a treaty abouyt this.  From the U.N.:

The 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction is the international agreement that bans antipersonnel landmines. It is usually referred to as the Ottawa Convention or the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty.

The Convention was concluded by the Diplomatic Conference on an International Total Ban on Anti-Personnel Land Mines at Oslo on 18 September 1997.

In accordance with its article 15, the Convention was opened for signature at Ottawa, Canada, by all States from 3 December 1997 until 4 December 1997, and remained open thereafter at the United Nations Headquarters in New York until its entry into force on 1 March 1999.

Landmines come predominantly in two varieties: anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines. Both have caused great suffering in the past decades and continue to kill and injure civilians and by-standers long after conflicts have ended. Anti-personnel mines are prohibited under the Ottawa Convention. 

 The U.S. is not a signatory but Biden does not look good on this.

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