Ukraine and five other countries leaving Canada-led treaty that banned landmines

In this file photo, children play near a landmine warning and a Buddhist shrine in New Village Border, Cambodia, March 10, 2005, along the Thai border. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)

Ukraine and five other European countries are leaving an international treaty that bans the production and use of landmines. Nearly 30 years ago, Canada played an integral part in the creation of what’s known as the Ottawa Treaty, which is starting to unravel in the face of Russian aggression.

“Right now, Ukraine is becoming, without a doubt, the most corrupted part of the world in terms of the number of landmines being planted, certainly by Russia and by Ukraine itself,” former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy said in an interview with CTVNews.ca.

“And I think if these other Baltic countries continue on their borders, you’re going to have what will clearly be an area of huge risk to civilians for the next half-century.”

Axworthy took a leading role in creating the treaty while serving as Canada’s top diplomat under former prime minister Jean Chretien between 1996 and 2000. The treaty was signed in Ottawa in 1997, a year after Axworthy publicly challenged the world to ban the weapons, which can remain dormant and deadly for decades and have been shown to disproportionately maim and kill civilians.

“The thing about landmines is it’s not just a risk in the immediate term – a landmine’s sitting around for 75, 80, 100 years,” Axworthy, now 85, said from Ottawa.

This year, Ukraine, Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania all announced plans to withdraw from the Ottawa Treaty, becoming the first signatories to do so. All six nations share borders with Russian territory. While Russian use of landmines in Ukraine has been widespread, Ukraine has responded by planting landmines of its own – despite ratifying the treaty in 2005.

Axworthy fears the recent withdrawals could put the Ottawa Treaty and other international arms control measures at risk.

“I think Zelenskyy’s decision to actually withdraw from the treaty is a serious one,” Axworthy said. “I’m afraid that could be a catalyst for further resignations.”

Although more than 160 countries have adopted the Ottawa Treaty, about three dozen never signed it, including the United States, Russia, China, Israel, Iran and both North and South Korea.

“At the time, we came very close to having Bill Clinton sign the treaty, but he got pushback by the Pentagon,” Axworthy recalled. “But in so doing, they made a very clear commitment that the United States would continue to honour 90 per cent of the standards in the treaty, and also continue to be a major supporter of demining and aid to victims.”

The U.S. stance shifted in 2024, when the Biden administration authorized the transfer of landmines to Ukraine in response to Russian use. Since then, the dismantling of USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) under the Trump administration has hobbled demining efforts overseas.

Recent landmine use has also been documented in Myanmar, Iran and North Korea. Germany, Japan, Norway, Canada and others have spent millions on efforts to clear landmines from affected countries, but in heavily contaminated places like Iraq, Afghanistan and Cambodia, civilians are still losing their lives and limbs, years after wars have ended.

Advocacy group Mines Action Canada describes landmines as “indiscriminate weapons from the 1900s.”

“In this century, landmines are a weapon of choice for those like Russia and ISIS who want to terrorize civilians or a weapon of desperation for non-state actors with no other options,” executive director Erin Hunt said in a written statement. “The moves by Ukraine, Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, will put the citizens at increased risk of death or injury for decades to come because it is impossible to use an indiscriminate weapon responsibly.”

Mines Action Canada is a member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997.

Widely considered a major diplomatic achievement for Canada, the Ottawa Treaty is officially known as the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction.

While Axworthy would like to see renewed leadership from Ottawa, he says government support for landmine work has waned over the past decade.

“I’ve been told in the meetings I’ve been holding … that right now there’s no particular interest,” Axworthy said. “One senior diplomat told me that to be effective, it has to have a political champion, and I don’t think there’s anybody, right now.”