Trump Administration to End U.S Military Ban over using Landmines in Battle Zones

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A source in the U.S State Department suggests that President Donald Trump will roll back President Barack Obama’s 2014 policy that ended the production of anti-personnel landmines. Trump is expected to allow the U.S military to once again use landmines in battle zones across the world. The source said, “The United States will not sacrifice American service members’ safety, particularly when technologically advanced safeguards are available that can allow landmines to be employed responsibly to ensure our military’s war-fighting capabilities. It is also limiting the risk of unintended harm to civilians”. The Obama-era policy attached to the Mine Ban Treaty 1997 Ottawa Convention. It was an international agreement banning the use, production, and stockpiling or transferring the anti-personnel mines.

The United States has only been authorized to use anti-personnel mines in defense of South Korea, since the implementation of Obama’s policy. The changed policy is expected to implement within the next few days. It was generated by a Pentagon review launched in 2017 by then-Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis. The review mentioned that landmine prohibitions have increased risk to mission success and increased the number of U.S casualties. It says any landmine used moving forward must also include a 30-day self-destruct or self-deactivation mechanism. Most landmine deaths happen when non-combatants stumble upon long-abandoned munitions buried in former warzones.

 The international community largely opposes the use of landmines, in spite of the safety measures. A timed self-deactivation would help avoid those deaths. The Mine Ban Treaty was signed by 164 nations, though the U.S declined to sign. The ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) characterizes landmine injuries as horrific and considered among the worst injuries by war surgeons. The ICRC wrote in 2019 FAQ and said, “The victim who survives an anti-personnel mine blast typically requires amputation, multiple operations, and prolonged physical rehabilitation. Mine survivors commonly suffer permanent disability with serious social, psychological, and economic implications”.