#Anti-personnel Mine Ban Convention

[mineaction]

Statement from the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action 2023; April 4th.

For the millions living amidst the chaos of armed conflicts — especially women and children — every step can put them in danger’s path.

Even after the fighting stops, conflicts often leave behind a terrifying legacy:  landmines and explosive ordnance that litter communities.  Peace brings no assurance of safety when roads and fields are mined, when unexploded ordnance threatens the return of displaced populations, and when children find and play with shiny objects that explode.

The United Nations Mine Action Service gathers partners together to remove these deadly weapons, support national authorities, and ensure safe access to homes, schools, hospitals and farmers’ fields.  The Service also supported the design of the Black Sea Grain Initiative and the safe export of grain and fertilizer from Ukrainian ports.

Yet, broader global efforts are essential to safeguard people from mines.   I urge Member States to ratify and fully implement the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, the Convention on Cluster Munitions and the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.

On this International Day, let’s take action to end the threat of these devices of death, support communities as they heal, and help people return and re-build their lives in safety and security.

U.N. Secretary-General.

[darkmaga-returns]

US military aid to Ukraine under President Joe Biden has exceeded $62 billion, the Department of Defense said on December 2. This amount was reached after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on the same day a new arms package for Kiev totaling $725 million from its stockpiles.

“The United States has committed more than $62 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden Administration,” the department said in a statement.

Blinken also announced the allocation of another $725 million military aid package to Ukraine, which included a new batch of anti-personnel landmines, even though Ukraine ratified the Ottawa Convention in 2005, which bans the use, stockpiling, and production of anti-personnel mines.

“Today, I am announcing the delivery of $725 million in additional weapons and equipment for Ukraine’s defense. The United States and more than 50 nations stand united with Ukraine,” Blinken posted on social media on December 2.

The arms package is the largest since April, when Washington sent a shipment worth $1 billion. In addition to mines, Ukraine will also be supplied with anti-tank, anti-drone and other types of ammunition, according to two US officials cited by Bloomberg. The outlet described Biden’s authorization for Ukraine to use American anti-personnel mines, just weeks before the end of the Biden administration, as representing a sudden change from a long-standing policy.

[beardedmrbean]

The Left Alliance and the Greens are now the only political parties in parliament which clearly oppose Finland withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel landmines, the news group Uutissuomalainen reports.

A survey of parliamentary party group leaders found that the National Coalition Party, the Finns Party, the Christian Democrats and Movement Now are in favour of withdrawing, while the Social Democrats and Swedish People's Party are willing to discuss the issue.

The Centre Party did not respond to the question.

However, Ilta-Sanomat points out that the Centre Party's chair, Antti Kaikkonen, told the party newspaper Suomenmaa at the weekend that anti-personnel mines must be re-evaluated if the Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) demand it.

The debate on anti-personnel landmines was reopened at the weekend by the FDF's commander, General Janne Jaakkola. He told Finnish news outlet MTV the changed security environment is now different from when Finland joined the Ottawa Treaty in 2011.

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) told Iltalehti on Sunday that the nation's foreign policy leadership is discussing the land mine issue. Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen (NCP) said on Monday that he launched a study on the need for anti-personnel mines already this past summer.

The government is currently finalising its latest defence policy report. The report is due to be submitted to Parliament during before the end of the year.

More resources for police

This past autumn, the government decided to increase the budget for the Interior Ministry by 19 million euros, of which around 11 million will be allocated to the police, in particular to fight street gangs, juvenile crime and the grey economy.

The additional resources are expected to be allocated to police departments in the capital region and in Central Finland.

Hämeen Sanomat is among the papers reporting that the number of police officers is expected to increase by just under 60 members next year.

Additional personnel have already been recruited for operational police tasks, in particular for criminal investigations, and operations targeting gang crime and cybercrime.

According to preliminary estimates, 310 new police officers will graduate from Finland's Police University College this year and 250 next year. The number of openings for police training was increased to 500 this year, up by 100 over previous years.

Over 100,000 foreign students

The news agency STT takes up figures published by the Finnish Education Employers organization (FEE) showing that there were more than 114,000 foreign students studying in the country last year.

The number of foreign students in vocational and other higher education and has doubled since 2014 and tripled since 2009. The number of foreign children and pupils has also increased in both early childhood education and other forms of primary and secondary education.

"The fastest growth has been in vocational education and training, where there were over 40,000 foreign students last year. The internationalisation trend is positive and necessary, as Finland needs immigration for work and education," FEE Managing Director Susanna Niinistö-Sivuranta said in a release.

The number of international teaching staff also increased at all levels of education during the past year, according to the FEE report.

Home purchase discounts

The new housing market remains stagnant, new houses and flats are selling poorly and builders are now more willing to negotiate discounts on list prices, reports Helsingin Sanomat.

According to the paper, there are more than 3,000 new homes for sale in the capital region.

Among the sellers interviewed by HS was Markus Heino, CEO of JM Finland, who said that right now it is difficult to sell new homes without negotiating over price.

According to Heino, how much can be cut from list prices is a case-by-case matter, depending on factors such as overall supply in the area.

"Some discounts are very small, others can be more than 10 percent," he told HS.

JM Finland has also adjusted its list prices, but Heino added that it is unlikely that the market will see big price reductions.

There are already small signs of an upturn in the market for older homes, and Heino said he believes this will soon be reflected in the new housing market, as well.

Cold and colder up north

A new record low temperature for this early winter season is possible in Lapland on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.

The coldest temperature so far this season was -22.5 Celsius on 21 November in Utsjoki in the far north of Finnish Lapland.

A forecast carried by Iltalehti looks to chilling daytime temperatures in Lapland this week of 10-20 degrees below zero.

According to Foreca weather service meteorologist Joonas Koskela, if skies remain clear, part of Lapland may see the thermometer dip down as low as -25 Celsius overnight.

[eretzyisrael]

Embedded explosives in the ground are pretty much the definition of landmines. The Jenin terrorists are burying landmines in their own town, where their own people could be killed.

If the mines can be triggered by a person, they are considered illegal under the 1997 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention.

It sure looks like many of these IEDs can indeed be triggered by someone stepping on them. Here is a relatively small one being detonated by the IDF.

I have yet to see a condemnation by any NGO or state about Palestinians putting their own people at risk of being blown up by these IEDs. 

Israel's clearing of the mines is considered a bigger crime than the mines themselves. 

Which tells you a lot.

UPDATE: The "State of Palestine" acceded to the 1997 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, which proves yet again that the only reason they signed these conventions was to be accepted as a state, but had no intention to actually do anything to adhere to the various conventions' rules. (h/t Ian)

[gook54-blog]

Proof Biden administration cares nothing of international treaties and laws ..Anti personnel mines banned by Ottawa Convention sent to Ucraine.

Beech of international law proven

[myzacoza]

SA takes part in Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention in Cambodia

South Africa, currently serving as Vice-President, is participating in the Fifth Review Conference of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production, and Transfer of Antipersonnel Mines, also known as the Mine Ban Treaty, in Siem Reap, Cambodia.  According to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, the Mine Ban Treaty is a multilateral agreement aimed at…

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 9.18 (after 1920)

1922 – The Kingdom of Hungary is admitted to the League of Nations. 1927 – The Columbia Broadcasting System goes on the air. 1928 – Juan de la Cierva makes the first Autogyro crossing of the English Channel. 1931 – Imperial Japan instigates the Mukden Incident as a pretext to invade and occupy Manchuria. 1934 – The Soviet Union is admitted to the League of Nations. 1939 – World War II: The Polish government of Ignacy Mościcki flees to Romania. 1939 – World War II: The radio show Germany Calling begins transmitting Nazi propaganda. 1943 – World War II: Adolf Hitler orders the deportation of Danish Jews. 1944 – World War II: The British submarine HMS Tradewind torpedoes Jun'yō Maru, killing 5,600, mostly slave labourers and POWs. 1944 – World War II: Operation Market Garden results in the liberation of Eindhoven. 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Arracourt begins. 1945 – General Douglas MacArthur moves his general headquarters from Manila to Tokyo. 1947 – The National Security Act reorganizes the United States government's military and intelligence services. 1948 – Operation Polo is terminated after the Indian Army accepts the surrender of the army of Hyderabad. 1948 – Margaret Chase Smith of Maine becomes the first woman elected to the United States Senate without completing another senator's term. 1954 – Finnish president J. K. Paasikivi becomes the first Western head of state to be awarded the highest honor of the Soviet Union, the Order of Lenin. 1960 – Fidel Castro arrives in New York City as the head of the Cuban delegation to the United Nations. 1961 – U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld dies in an air crash while attempting to negotiate peace in the Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 1962 – Burundi, Jamaica, Rwanda and Trinidad and Tobago are admitted to the United Nations. 1962 – Aeroflot Flight 213 crashes into a mountain near Chersky Airport, killing 32 people. 1964 – The wedding of Constantine II of Greece and Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark takes place in Athens. 1973 – The Bahamas, East Germany and West Germany are admitted to the United Nations. 1974 – Hurricane Fifi strikes Honduras with 110 mph winds, killing 5,000 people. 1977 – Voyager I takes the first distant photograph of the Earth and the Moon together. 1980 – Soyuz 38 carries two cosmonauts (including one Cuban) to the Salyut 6 space station. 1981 – The Assemblée Nationale votes to abolish capital punishment in France. 1982 – The Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon comes to an end. 1984 – Joe Kittinger completes the first solo balloon crossing of the Atlantic. 1988 – The 8888 Uprising in Myanmar comes to an end. 1988 – General Henri Namphy, president of Haiti, is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by General Prosper Avril. 1990 – Liechtenstein becomes a member of the United Nations. 1992 – An explosion rocks Giant Mine at the height of a labor dispute, killing nine replacement workers in Yellowknife, Canada. 1997 – United States media magnate Ted Turner donates US$1 billion to the United Nations. 1997 – The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention is adopted. 2001 – First mailing of anthrax letters from Trenton, New Jersey in the 2001 anthrax attacks. 2007 – Buddhist monks join anti-government protesters in Myanmar, starting what some call the Saffron Revolution. 2011 – The 2011 Sikkim earthquake is felt across northeastern India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and southern Tibet. 2012 – Greater Manchester Police officers PC Nicola Hughes and PC Fiona Bone are murdered in a gun and grenade ambush attack in Greater Manchester, England. 2014 – Scotland votes against independence from the United Kingdom, by 55% to 45%. 2015 – Two security personnel, 17 worshippers in a mosque, and 13 militants are killed during a Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan attack on a Pakistan Air Force base on the outskirts of Peshawar. 2016 – The 2016 Uri attack in Jammu and Kashmir, India by terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed results in the deaths of nineteen Indian Army soldiers and all four attackers.

[hamzaaslam]

Prince Foundation Underscores Vital Role of Public-Private Partnership in Mine Action at Geneva Convention

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – Media OutReach Newswire – 1 July 2024 – In a notable demonstration of effective collaboration, the Cambodian public and private sectors have set a gold standard for working together on mine clearance. At the recent Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention in Geneva, Switzerland, Prince Holding Group, represented by its philanthropic arm Prince Foundation, highlighted its…

[tomsquitieri]

Pentagon again sends land mines to Ukraine with a wink and a nod

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is upping its flow of land mine capability to Ukraine, looking the other way to the questionable use of land mines by both Ukraine and Russia in the current conflict.

Cold War style anti-tank ladies are included in the latest military assistance package, $325 million,  announced last week for Ukraine.

The Pentagon would not say how many M21 mines were included in the assistance package.

Earlier in the conflict, the Pentagon sent anti-personnel mines, known as Claymores, to Ukraine. U.S. officials say the landmines are provided with no guidance or, at least publicly, with no strings attached — a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy which gives the Pentagon the ability have it both ways if U.S.-supplied weapons are used outside the bounds of international treaties.

The Claymore anti-personnel mine, under some circumstances and tactical use, is prohibited by the Ottawa land mines treaty.

Under the treaty, Claymores can be used if detonated only with a remote control device, meaning an individual has to do it with purpose and not be accident. If they are rigged to detonate with a tripwire or other trick method they are prohibited.

“We provide equipment to the Ukrainians, and they determine how they're going to use it,” Brig Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon spokesperson, said at a previous Pentagon briefing when asked about concerns surrounding the Claymore mine.

He also said that “to clarify, too, I think sometimes the -- the term, you know, as I looked into this, admittedly, as an Air Force guy. This is an antipersonnel device above ground, so mines in that sense is a little bit of a misnomer, but yeah.”

The 1997 Mine Ban Treaty comprehensively prohibits all types of victim-activated explosive devices, regardless of the technical features and regardless of the mine’s predicted longevity, delivery method, or type of manufacture (improvised or factory-made).

The M21 is not banned by the Ottawa treaty. It does not have self-destruct features; that means when fighting concludes, they would have to be removed manually. It is metal, and thus can be detected easier thank plastic version.

It is is a high explosive antitank landmine which uses the Misznay-Schardin effect (high explosive wave that propels a concave steel plate at extremely high velocity) against the underside, tracks, or wheels of armored vehicles. It is activated by an M607 fuze which functions upon application of either horizontal or vertical pressure.

About 200,000 M21 mines were produced in the U.S. and licensed copies, the K441 and K442, were produced in South Korea. The Pentagon has an estimated 175,000 M21 mines stockpiled.

Ukraine signed the Mine Ban Treaty on February 24, 1999 and became a state party on June 1, 2006.

Russia has not joined the treaty, but is bound by the prohibitions and restrictions on mines, booby-traps, and other devices found in Amended Protocol II of the UN Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), as well as Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions and customary international humanitarian law. which was signed by Ukraine.

The United States is not a party to the treaty.

Russian forces have used at least seven types of antipersonnel mines in at least four regions of Ukraine: Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Sumy. This marks an unusual situation in which a country that is not party to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty uses the weapon on the territory of a party to the treaty.

Both Russian and Ukrainian forces have extensively used anti-vehicle mines (also called anti-tank mines) in at least six regions: Donetsk, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odesa, Sumy, and Zaporizhzhia. Hand-emplaced TM-62 series anti-vehicle mines appear to be the type most frequently used.

According to the Ottawa treaty, Claymores are mines covered by the treaty protocols, regardless if they are above or below the ground. Ryder then said, “The capabilities that we're providing are in compliance with the Ottawa Treaty.”

Requests to the Press and Information Department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the Department of Public Relations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for comments, clarifications and perspective did not generate responses.

Last June, the Biden administration announced that it would restrict the use of anti-personnel land mines by the U.S. military, aligning the country’s policy more closely with the international treaty.

“The president believes strongly that we need to curtail their use worldwide,” John Kirby, a national security spokesman, said at a White House briefing then.

[xtruss]

US Record of Cluster Bombs Rings Alarm Bells for Ukrainians

A cluster Bomb — Sputnik International. © AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers has renewed calls to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, as Kiev struggles to push its much-discussed counteroffensive. What are cluster bombs and what risks is their use fraught with?

US Representatives Joe Wilson (R-SC), Steve Cohen (D-TN), and Victoria Spartz (R-IN) urged President Joe Biden to dispatch dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICM), commonly known as "cluster" shells, to Ukraine on June 25.

"Transferring DPICMs to Ukraine presents an opportunity to provide the Ukrainian Armed Forces with a powerful capability to use against the Russian army and mercenary forces," the lawmakers' letter said.

It's not the first time that US politicians have been discussing equipping the Ukrainian military with cluster munitions.

Last Thursday, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia Laura Cooper told lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee that DPICMs "would be useful, especially against dug-in Russian positions on the battlefield."

US Should Provide Cluster Bombs to Ukraine – Joe Wilson, US Congressman! April 26, 2023. "I hope every effort will be made to look into providing the cluster bombs that we have two million available," Wilson said during a House Committee on Armed Services hearing.

On March 21, four top Republican lawmakers on the House and Senate Foreign Affairs and Armed Cervices committees – James Risch, Roger Wicker, Michael McCaul and Mike Rogers – sent a letter to the US president insisting that while not without risks, this could solve the problem of Kiev's artillery ammunition shortage.

"[DPICMs] are highly effective against personnel — both enemy troops in the open and entrenched infantry — and mechanized vehicles," wrote the GOP congressmen. "The United States relied on similar cluster munitions during the Cold War as a means of offsetting Soviet military advantages in manpower, artillery, and armored vehicles."

In December 2022, Kiev itself made a request for cluster munitions to Washington. As per the US press, Kiev planned to launch the weapons from High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 155 mm Howitzers. However, at that time, Joe Biden refused to provide the weapons banned by over 120 countries to the Ukrainian military.

Tail section of a cluster bomb purportedly found in Misrata, Libya. (File) © AP Photo/Human Rights Watch

What are Cluster Munitions?

The DPICM is an artillery or surface-to-surface missile warhead that releases dozens to hundreds of smaller submunitions that can use shaped charges for the anti-armor role and fragmentation for the antipersonnel role. The air-to-surface variety of the shells is known as a "cluster bomb." One munition can destroy multiple targets at once, meaning that fewer missiles are needed.

Some US experts consider that most relevant for Ukraine would be the M483A1 and M864 artillery which could be fired from Ukraine's Western-made 155mm Artillery Systems.

The 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) bans the use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of cluster munitions and requires destruction of stockpiles of the weapons, as well as clearance of areas contaminated by remnants and bomblets and victim assistance.

The weapons were prohibited for a good reason: inaccurate cluster munitions pose an immediate threat to civilians by randomly scattering submunitions over a wide area. In addition, myriads of unexploded remnants continue to endanger civilians long after the conflict.

The US, however, stores plenty of cluster munitions.

Cluster Bombs, ‘Butterfly’ Mines, Phosphorus Munitions: Prohibited Weapons Used by Ukraine August 30, 2022! A man walks past an unexploded tail section of a 300mm rocket which appear to contained cluster bombs launched from a BM-30 Smerch multiple rocket launcher embedded in the ground after shelling in Lisichansk, LPR on April 11, 2022 - Sputnik International, © AFP 2023/Anatolii Stepanov

US Record of Using Cluster Munitions

Cluster bombs were first used during the Second World War. For its part, the US started to extensively use them in the 1960s and the 1970s in Southeast Asia. Citing the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) a March 2022 congressional report says that "in Laos alone, 9 to 27 Million Unexploded Submunitions remained after the conflict, resulting in over 10,000 civilian casualties to date."

During the Gulf War of 1991, the US and its allies dropped around 61,000 Cluster Bombs containing some 20 Million Submunitions. In addition, the coalition also used surface-to-surface DPICMs delivered by artillery and rocket systems. It is believed that 30 million or more DPICM submunitions were used during the conflict.

In 1999, NATO forces dropped 1,765 cluster bombs containing around 295,000 submunitions on Yugoslavia. Despite common belief that these bombs would be used against military installations, it was reported in June 1999 that a NATO airstrike involving cluster bombs on an airfield in Nis on May 7, 1999, went off target and hit a Hospital and Adjoining Civilian Areas. Another report said about five boys were killed and two injured by a cluster bomb submunition that exploded near the village of Doganovic in southern Kosovo.

Nonetheless, the US and NATO allies continued to use the inaccurate munitions. Between 2001 and 2002, the US Air Force bombed Afghanistan with 1,228 Cluster Munitions containing 248,056 submunitions.

The US and British military fired around 13,000 Cluster Munitions containing up to Two Million Submunitions during the first three weeks of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

US Cluster Bombs. © Sputnik/Mikitenko

As per Human Rights Watch, American and British ground forces widely used cluster munitions in major cities of Iraq which led to hundreds of civilian casualties, including children. Lots of unexploded submunitions were later discovered in residential areas near schools and playgrounds resulting in further injuries and deaths.

"13-year-old Falah Hassan lost his right hand, his left index finger, and soft tissue in his lower limbs when an unexploded submunition, left by a cluster munition attack, detonated in al-Hilla," recalled HRW researcher Bonnie Docherty in her May 2023 report. "His mother, who lay in the next bed when we visited him in hospital in mid-May, suffered injuries to her abdomen, uterus, and large and small intestines from the same explosion."

US Tests ‘Next Generation’ Fragmentation Bomb as ‘Viable Substitute’ for Cluster Munitions! A B1-B bomber drops live bombs at the Nevada Test and Training Range — Sputnik International. © AP Photo/Joe Cavaretta/ March 9, 2020

US Cluster Munition Stockpiles

Despite an indiscriminate use of cluster bombs and shells by the US military that led to extensive casualties and destruction, Washington did not join the international convention prohibiting the deadly weapons. Neither did it destroy its vast stockpiles of cluster munitions. The US original provisions drafted in 2008 and seeking to remove large portions of the weapons from the US stockpiles were later reversed.

Thus, a Department of Defense memo inked on November 30, 2017 indefinitely delayed implementation of a ban on using "unreliable types of cluster munitions" which was expected to take effect on January 1, 2019, in the US. Furthermore, the new policy envisaged the US acquisition of cluster munitions from foreign sources.

The US maintains restrictions on exports of cluster munitions, allowing selling DPICMs that do not result in more than 1% unexploded ordnance. Under US law, the recipient should make a commitment not to use the weapons in civilian areas.

Previously, Kiev failed to meet its commitments not to use Western lethal arms against civilians, civil objects and the Russian territory which makes one wonder whether the Ukrainian military would observe the US obligations if provided by cluster shells.

Moreover, some US scholars suggest that Washington's move could alienate some of its allies given that 23 NATO members are party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

— Ekaterina Blinova, Sputnik International, June 28, 2023

[christinamac1]

In Just Under Three Weeks, Ukrainian-Fired Prohibited “Petal” Mines Maim At Least 44 Civilians, Kill 2, in Donetsk Region

Covert Action Magazine, By Eva Bartlett, August 23, 2022 Excellent photographs Ukraine continues to fire internationally-banned anti-personnel mines on civilian areas of Donetsk and other cities in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), in violation of international law and of the mine ban convention Ukraine signed in 1999 and ratified in 2005. Since July 27, Ukraine has been firing rockets…

[mineaction]

Beyond Oslo - Taking stock of Gender and Diversity mainstreaming in the Anti-personnel mine ban convention.

Considering improvements in gender & diversity mainstreaming within mine action?

Our "Beyond Oslo" report analyzes the effectiveness of current strategies & explores potential paths forward.

The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC) is a reference in gender and diversity mainstreaming. In its latest Action Plan, known as the Oslo Action Plan (OAP), APMBC States Parties committed to take a number of practical steps to integrate gender perspectives and the diverse needs and experiences of people in affected communities into all aspects of mine action and programming.

As the OAP enters its final year of implementation, this report provides an overview of the implementation of action points covering gender, diversity, and inclusion, with the intention to assess its impact and reflect on the way forward. Drawing on official reporting and statements made by States Parties, as well as on a survey conducted with key actors in mine action, this report outlines instances of progress achieved regarding gender and diversity mainstreaming, as well as challenges and areas for improvement that could be addressed in the next Action Plan.

Citation: Renata H. Dalaqua, Paula Jou Fuster and Hana Salama (2023) "Beyond Oslo: Taking Stock of Gender and Diversity Mainstreaming in the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention", UNIDIR, Geneva.

[darkmaga-returns]

Biden administration is escalating a war with Russia they know the incoming president-elect has vowed to end and that Americans want no part of. That's evil and borderline treasonous.

Leo Hohmann

Nov 20, 2024

First the Biden regime lifts the restrictions on Ukraine using U.S. ATACMS missiles to strike targets inside Russia, making America a direct party to the nasty border war between Ukraine and Russia, and now Sky News reports that the U.S. is sending anti-personnel landmines to blow up Russian soldiers.

These landmines are banned in 150 countries, including the UK.

The U.S. and Russia have not signed on to this ban, but Ukraine has.

Susan Duclos of All News Pipeline writes, “this is yet another escalation by the U.S. in directly interfering in a war that holds no national security benefits to America. Interestingly, Ukraine is a signatory of the ban on the use of these anti-personnel lands, but is considering withdrawing from the Ottawa Treaty, also known as the 1997 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention.”

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, "Anti-personnel mines continue to maim and kill even after conflicts end, and it is mainly civilians who suffer the horrific consequences.”

Duclos correctly notes that the lifting of the bans on these two measures, U.S./U.K. missiles being used to strike within Russia, and the land mines, is guaranteed to make peace talks between Ukraine and Russia after Donald Trump takes office nearly impossible.

Even after Trump rescinds these latest permissions by whoever is controlling the decision-making at the White House (I believe it is most likely National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken who are running the show) Trump’s job of negotiating a peace deal becomes much more complex.

[r6shippingdelivery]

I have complied a list of war criminals in RAINBOW mostly because I figured smoke was getting lonely at the war crimes table.

Tachanka (uses an inhumane weapon that causes unnecessary suffering)

Capatao (same as tachanka)

Fuze (cluster weapons are banned.)

Lesion (uses a poison weapon)

Thorn (anti personnel mines are banned)

Kapkan ( same as thorn)

Caveira (comples a hostile opponent to act against thier own faction while they are unable to defend themselves before murdering ((and i mean that literally)) them)

Frost (gadget causes great bodily harm and needless suffering)

Clash (gadget wilfully cases unnecessary bodily harm and suffering)

Goyo (gadget causes unnecessary suffering)

Now smoke has more company :D

Notable mentions that Marsteo, Twitch, Bandit, Kaid, Aruni , ela, Zofia, Flores, echo and Gridlocks gadgets are tip toeing on the line and while thier gadgets might be in a grey area they are all on thin ice. Some more than others.

Hmm, that's a long list.

Taking into account that Siege takes place in a similar timeline as ours, but clearly it's a different universe (no recent events are ever mentioned/referenced, the level of technology is more advanced, alien parasite, etc), it's time to ask ourselves: does the Geneva conention even exist in the Siege universe?

Maybe, just like Extraction is a different timeline from Siege that diverged from the point of the Chimera Outbreak, maybe the Siege timeline diverged from our timeline at some point and now the Geneva convention was taken down/never created in there 😂

[cisrjmu]

The Trump administration is expected to loosen restrictions on the US military's ability to use landmines in the coming days, weapons that have been banned by more than 160 countries due to their history of killing and wounding civilians, multiple Defense Department officials tell CNN.

The move represents a major reversal from the approach of the Obama administration which in 2014 committed the US to largely adhering to the 1997 Ottawa Convention, the international agreement which banned the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel landmines. The Obama policy committed to replacing landmines in the US stockpile after they expire and directed the destruction of stockpiles not required for the defense of South Korea.

In an exception to the Ottawa convention, the Obama policy allowed the US military to continue to use landmines on the Korean Peninsula where some 28,000 US troops are stationed across the de-militarized zone from North Korea's military of one million troops. That exception was criticized by some non-government organizations.

Keep reading ...

[mapsontheweb]

Countries that have signed the Treaty of Ottawa.

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, known informally as the Ottawa Treaty, the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, or often simply the Mine Ban Treaty, aims at eliminating anti-personnel landmines (AP-mines) around the world.