![handle is hein.crs/govecyq0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
C o n g r e s i n a e s a c S e r i c
0
Updated April 8, 2021
U.S. Antipersonnel Landmine Use Policy
2020 Trump Administration
Landmine Policy
On January 31, 2020, the Department of Defense (DOD)
announced a new policy on the use of antipersonnel
landmines (APLs). According to a January 31, 2020, DOD
memorandum, President Trump decided to cancel
Presidential Policy Directive-37 (PPD-37), which was
issued by the Obama Administration in January 2016. The
Administration adopted the new policy following an
internal DOD review ordered by former Secretary of
Defense James Mattis that was completed in 2018.
The January 2020 memorandum permits Combatant
Commanders to authorize the use of nonpersistent APLs
regardless of geographic location when necessary for
mission success in major contingencies or other exceptional
circumstances. Nonpersistent landmines, according to the
memorandum, must possess self-destruction mechanisms
and self-deactivation features. Persistent landmines, which
the new policy forbids, lack these features. PPD-37 forbade
the use of APLs outside the Korean Peninsula, as well as
assisting, encouraging, or inducing anyone outside the
Korean Peninsula to engage in activity prohibited by the
Ottawa Convention. The Ottawa Convention, to which the
United States is not a party, requires states parties to stop
the production, use, and transfer of APLs, as well as to
destroy all stockpiled APLs, except for the minimum
number absolutely necessary for training purposes. The
Obama Administration's policy stated the United States
would undertake to destroy APL stockpiles not required
for the defense of South Korea.
Background
With the end of the Cold War in 1991, during the mid- to
late 1990s, the international community began to question
the utility of APLs in light of the growing number of
civilian and U.N. peacekeeper casualties resulting from
abandoned unmarked or unregistered minefields. In 1996,
President Clinton announced a policy that immediately
discontinued U.S. use of persistent APLs except in the
demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating North and South
Korea and supported negotiation of a worldwide ban on
APLs in the U.N. In November 1996, the United States
introduced a resolution to the U.N. General Assembly to
pursue an international agreement that would ban the use,
stockpiling, production, and transfer of APLs. While many
nations supported such a ban, others were concerned that
verifying such a ban would be difficult and that APLs still
played a useful role in military operations. The UN General
Assembly, however, could not agree on a way forward.
In 1997 the government of Canada and a number of
nongovernmental organizations sponsored The Convention
on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and
Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction,
(also known as the Ottawa Convention), which entered into
force for those signatory countries in 1999. The Clinton
Administration declined to sign the Ottawa Convention
because it would preclude U.S. use of APLs in the DMZ. In
February 2004, the Bush Administration announced the
United States would use persistent APLs only in the DMZ
until 2010, after which the United States would not use
such APLs anywhere. The Bush Administration also
indicated that the United States would develop alternatives
to persistent landmines. The Obama Administration
conducted a review of U.S. policy regarding landmines. A
National Security Council spokesperson stated in June 2014
that the United States would not produce or otherwise
acquire any anti-personnel landmines in the future,
including for the purpose of replacing expiring stockpiles.
In 2014, the Obama Administration announced the APL
policy described in PPD-37 (discussed earlier). The
Department of State noted in December 2014 that the
United States was pursuing solutions that would be
compliant with the [Ottawa Convention] and that would
ultimately allow us to accede to the convention while
ensuring that we are still able to meet our alliance
commitments to South Korea.
Details
As noted, the new policy will not have any expressed
geographic limitations. DOD's January 31, 2020,
memorandum adds
[A]ppropriate geographic limitations will be
formulated based on specific operational contexts
and will be reflected in relevant rules of
engagement, consistent with existing DOD policy
and practice.
The policy described in the memorandum permits the use of
nonpersistent APLs in major contingencies or other
exceptional circumstances. Responding to a question
during a January 31, 2020, press briefing, the acting
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans and
Capabilities did not provide any specific scenarios that
might constitute exceptional circumstances. With respect
to the U.S. stockpile of persistent APLs, the Military
Departments will continue to demilitarize any such
landmines remaining in existing inactive stockpiles,
according to the January 31, 2020, memo which mandates
that DOD
may acquire, retain, and transfer a limited number
of persistent landmines for the purposes of training
personnel engaged in demining and countermining
nttps://crsreport](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/govecyq0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most