Use of Anti-Personnel Landmines

The use of a victim activated explosive device designed to be triggered by the presence, proximity or contact of a person, prohibited for a state party to the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, commonly known as the Ottawa Treaty or Mine Ban Treaty, which as of the mid 2020s has been ratified or acceded to by more than 160 countries. The treaty was adopted in significant part because of the documented long-term humanitarian toll of anti-personnel landmines, which can remain live and lethal for decades after a conflict ends and overwhelmingly kill or maim civilians, including a large number of children, rather than combatants, and a number of states, including the United States, Russia and China, have not joined the treaty and continue to reserve the right to use or stockpile anti-personnel mines.