On November 20, 2024, the administration of United States President Joe Biden announced the transfer of antipersonnel landmines to Ukraine, reversing a longstanding US prohibition. An additional transfer of antipersonnel mines was announced on December 2. The announcements did not disclose the types and quantities of antipersonnel mines.
These transfers contravene Biden’s 2022 policy on antipersonnel mines and break years of incremental steps by the US government to align its policy and practice with the 1997 treaty banning antipersonnel mines.
Human Rights Watch is a co-founder of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, 1997 Nobel Peace co-laureate together with Jody Williams. This Questions & Answers document explores the transfers decision and its humanitarian, policy, and legal implications.
1. How was the decision to transfer antipersonnel mines announced and why is it controversial?
A US Department of State notification published on November 20 announced that the United States is providing “non-persistent anti-personnel landmines” in a military assistance package to Ukraine. The Department of State spokesperson, Matthew Miller, confirmed the transfer at a news briefing, stating, “We have been providing [Ukraine] with anti-tank landmines for some time, but this is the first time we are providing them with anti-personnel landmines.”
The US Department of Defense notification of the military assistance package announced on November 20 did not specify antipersonnel landmines. But Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed the transfer in remarks to the media.
The US decision is controversial because antipersonnel mines have been widely stigmatized as inherently indiscriminate weapons since they were prohibited under the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which entered into force on March 1, 1999. Often referred to by US officials as the Ottawa Convention, the treaty bans use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of antipersonnel mines and requires destruction of stocks, clearance of mined areas, and assistance to victims.
In September 1994, the United States became the first country to call for the “eventual elimination” of antipersonnel landmines, and it participated in the 1996–1997 Ottawa Process that created the treaty, but it did not adopt or sign the treaty. Nevertheless, the United States has not used antipersonnel mines since 1991, has not exported them since 1992, has not produced them since 1997, and had indicated no plans for future procurement.
Ukraine ratified the Mine Ban Treaty on December 27, 2005. A total of 164 countries are party to the treaty, including all NATO member states, except the United States; all European Union member states; and major US allies such as Australia and Japan. Russia has not joined the treaty.
Despite Ukraine’s membership in the Mine Ban Treaty, on November 20 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the US transfers decision and called the antipersonnel mines “essential” for the defense of Ukraine. In his remarks, Austin said that Ukraine had “asked for these” and the United States had “talked to them about … how they would potentially employ these weapons.” Austin also said that the Ukrainians were “fabricating their own anti-personnel landmines right now.”
2. What types of antipersonnel mines are being transferred to Ukraine?
US government officials familiar with the US decision have told Human Rights Watch and other nongovernmental organizations that three types of antipersonnel mines were sent to Ukraine in the first transfer announcement, as detailed below.
ADAM (Artillery Delivered Antipersonnel Mine)
ADAM was first fielded with the US Army in Europe in 1983. They are delivered by two types of 155mm artillery projectiles, each of which contains 36 antipersonnel mines. When the projectile is fired, the mines are expelled from the canister, releasing a “tripwire-fired, pop-up fragmenting warhead.” Each mine ejects seven tripwires that, when disturbed, trigger the mine to jump 1.2 to 2.4 meters (4 to 8 feet) in the air and spray fragments across more than 12 meters (40 feet). Mines in the M731 projectile are supposed to self-destruct in 4 hours, while those in the M692 projectile are to self-destruct in 48 hours.
MOPMS (Modular Pack Mine System)
The M131 MOPMS is a system that deploys landmines by means of a handheld remote control radio unit. The mines can be fired out of a large box by soldiers who have already left the scene. The dispenser box contains 17 anti-vehicle mines and four antipersonnel mines. A remote control unit allows personnel to signal the dispenser from a distance of 300 meters to one kilometer (approximately 328 yards to 1,093 yards) away. Once ejected, the mines arm and discharge four 12-meter-long (40 feet) tripwires in four directions. The system is programmed to detonate the mine when at least 0.45 kilograms (one pound) of pressure is applied.
Volcano (Multiple Delivery Mine System)
The Volcano is called a multiple delivery mine system because it can be deployed from various vehicles as well as Blackhawk helicopters using the M139 launcher rack. The M139 Volcano launcher rack holds up to 40 M87 Volcano canisters, each containing six anti-vehicle mines and one antipersonnel mine. Ground vehicles carrying the Volcano travel 8 to 80 kilometers (5 to 50 miles) per hour. From the air, mines are scattered 1.5 to 45 meters (5 to 150 feet) above ground. The average minefield length is 960 meters (1,050 yards).
3. Do humanitarian concerns raised by antipersonnel mines apply to “non-persistent” mines?
Antipersonnel mines are designed to explode in response to a person’s presence, proximity, or contact. Mines that are designed to self-destruct or deactivate are no better able to distinguish civilian from combatant than other landmines. US mines are typically placed by hand but can be scattered or remotely delivered by aircraft, artillery, or ground dispensers at a rate of thousands in a matter of minutes, over a wide area with little accuracy. They still pose unacceptable risks for civilians who face the danger of triggering mines that have failed to self-destruct and the danger of those mines randomly self-destructing at unpredictable times.
Antipersonnel mines cannot distinguish between soldiers and civilians, making their use unlawfully indiscriminate under international humanitarian law. Uncleared landmines pose a long-term danger until cleared and destroyed, causing suffering for generations. Mined land can drive displacement of the civilian population, hinder the delivery of humanitarian aid, and prevent agricultural activities. Civilians made up 84 percent of all recorded landmine casualties in 2023, and children accounted for 37 percent of casualties when the age was recorded.
During the 1996-1997 Ottawa Process to negotiate the Mine Ban Treaty, the United States tried but failed to secure a loophole in the treaty text that would have allowed for so-called smart or non-persistent antipersonnel mines equipped with self-destructing and/or self-deactivating features. The US proposals failed to gain support, and the resulting Mine Ban Treaty comprehensively prohibits all types of victim-activated explosive devices, regardless of their self-destruct and self-deactivate features, delivery method, detectability, or method of manufacture (improvised or factory-made).
In theory, a mine that blows itself up in a relatively short period of time should pose less danger to civilians than a mine that lasts for years or decades. A Department of State spokesperson claimed the US mines are “easy to detect and easy to remove.” Yet, “non-persistent” mines are not safe mines. They still pose unacceptable risks for civilians, cause new mine victims, and the clearance task is just as dangerous, costly, and time-consuming.
Self-destruct mechanisms have a failure rate, which only increases depending on the age of the mine. Many fail to self-destruct as designed resulting in unexploded mines that remain on the ground. Mines that have failed to self-destruct, but that may be self-deactivated, must also be treated by deminers as hazardous duds or objects that may still explode as there is no external indication that it has functioned as designed. The mines’ specific construction may also make them susceptible to unexpected detonation by other forces. Such mines remain “no touch” items and would have to be destroyed in place. They remain dangerous because they contain explosive content and intact fuzing systems with highly sensitive primary explosives. Thus, clearance would still be required and there would be additional risk from cutting vegetation and preparing the ground.
4. What has been the reaction to the US transfers decision?
Officials from at least 29 countries and the European Union have expressed concern at the US decision to transfer antipersonnel landmines to Ukraine.[1]
The US decision came five days before the opening of the Mine Ban Treaty’s Fifth Review Conference, in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on November 25-29, 2024. During the conference, more than two dozen states made a joint statement expressing “deep concern” over “recent announcements regarding the transfer of anti-personnel mines.”[2]
Nevertheless, some political leaders in the Netherlands and Sweden have said they have no objections to the US transfers. Parliament members in Estonia and Finland have proposed beginning the process of leaving the Mine Ban Treaty in light of the US decision.
US transfers of cluster munitions since July 2023 set the stage for the Lithuanian parliament’s approval in July 2024 of a proposal to leave the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[3] If Lithuania’s withdrawal goes ahead, it will be the first state to leave any of the five multilateral treaties that comprehensively prohibit an entire class of weapons and that were driven by humanitarian concerns.[4]
Several members of the US Congress have objected to the US landmine transfers, including Senator Peter Welch and Representatives Jim McGovern, Jason Crow, Sara Jacobs, and Mike Walz. Rep. McGovern called it, “a tragedy for the world and the 164 nations that are party to the Mine Ban Treaty. We will all come to regret this shameful decision in the days and years to come.”
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) has condemned the US decision to transfer antipersonnel mines as has its US affiliate and more than a dozen member organizations, including mine clearance operators Danish Refugee Council, Mines Advisory Group, Humanity and Inclusion, and Norwegian People’s Aid. The ICBL held a “silent protest” demonstration on November 26 at the Mine Ban Treaty’s Fifth Review Conference.
5. What policy governs the US transfers of antipersonnel mines?
On October 23, 1992, the United States prohibited the export of antipersonnel landmines through a comprehensive moratorium, a policy that has since been extended multiple times.[5]
President Biden’s landmine policy, announced in June 2022, continued this long-standing practice by stating that the United States will not export or transfer antipersonnel mines “except when necessary for activities related to mine detection or removal, and for the purpose of destruction.” The US landmine transfers contravene the 2022 policy, which committed the United States to “not assist, encourage, or induce anyone, outside of the context of the Korean Peninsula, to engage in any activity that would be prohibited by the Ottawa Convention.”
The 2022 policy remains in place, despite the US transfers. On December 3, the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, issued a statement that said, “the President has authorized the provision of non-persistent anti-personnel land mines to Ukraine as a limited exception to the Administration’s continuing landmine policy.”
The new US landmine transfers have more in common with a January 2020 policy announced during the first administration of President Donald Trump that allowed the US to develop, produce, and use antipersonnel mines as long as they are “non-persistent,” that is, “designed and constructed to self-destruct in 30 days or less after emplacement and will possess a back-up self-deactivation feature.” In February 2020, then-presidential candidate Biden criticized the “reversal of years of considered decisions by Democratic and Republican presidents” to curtail the use of antipersonnel mines and said Trump’s 2020 policy “will put more civilians at risk of being injured by unexploded mines, and is unnecessary from a military perspective.”
Over the past three decades, successive US presidents have both advanced and reneged on US policy toward banning antipersonnel mines. In 1998, the Bill Clinton administration set the goal of joining the Mine Ban Treaty in 2006. Yet, in 2004 the George W. Bush administration announced a new policy that rejected both the treaty and the goal of the United States ever joining it. In 2014, the Barack Obama administration issued new policy banning the production and acquisition of antipersonnel mines, as well as halting their use by US forces anywhere except on the Korean Peninsula. The Obama administration said it was “diligently pursuing other solutions that would be compliant” with the Mine Ban Treaty and “that would ultimately allow us to accede” to it.
The Trump administration firmly rejected the notion of US accession to the treaty in January 2020. In June 2022, President Biden realigned US landmine policy with many provisions of the treaty and again set the goal of ultimately joining it.
With the exception of the first Trump administration, the United States had accepted that self-destructing and self-neutralizing antipersonnel mines should be eliminated. It has spent more than $2 billion to find alternatives to these weapons.
6. What are the legal ramifications of Ukraine receiving and using antipersonnel mines?
Requesting, receiving, and using US antipersonnel mines or manufacturing them puts Ukraine in willful violation of the Mine Ban Treaty. These are by far the most serious compliance challenges that the international treaty has ever faced.
Russia has used antipersonnel landmines widely in Ukraine since its full-scale invasion of the country on February 24, 2022, causing hundreds of casualties and contaminating vast tracts of agricultural land. Russia has created an unprecedented situation in which a country that is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty is using the weapon on the territory of a treaty party.
Human Rights Watch has also documented Ukrainian use of antipersonnel mines in violation of the Mine Ban Treaty in and around the populated city of Izium in Kharkivska province in 2022, when the city was under Russian control. The use of those mines injured Ukrainian civilians. Ukrainian authorities said in 2023 and 2024 that they were investigating reports that its forces used rocket-delivered antipersonnel mines.
By using, manufacturing, or acquiring antipersonnel mines, Ukraine risks further violating the Mine Ban Treaty. Unnamed US officials claim that Ukraine has promised not to use the mines in densely populated areas, but Ukraine has not issued a statement elaborating how it intends to use them.
On November 29, 2024, Ukraine told the Fifth Review Conference that it is “committed” to the Mine Ban Treaty and to complying with it.[6] Ukraine’s delegation said it “heard” the concerns raised by Mine Ban Treaty community over the US transfers and use of antipersonnel mines and said it would share them with the government.
Under article 20 of the Mine Ban Treaty, a state party engaging in armed conflict, such as Ukraine, is not allowed to withdraw from the treaty before the end of the armed conflict. The treaty is also not subject to reservations.
7. When did the United States last transfer or use antipersonnel mines?
The United States last transferred antipersonnel mines more than 30 years ago. Between 1969 and 1992, the United States exported more than 5.6 million antipersonnel landmines to 38 countries. Deminers in at least 28 countries have reported clearing US-manufactured antipersonnel mines, including non-self-destructing and self-destructing/self-deactivating types.
The 1991 Persian Gulf War was the last time that the United States used antipersonnel mines. US forces scattered 117,634 self-destructing/self-deactivating landmines, mostly from aircrafts, over Kuwait and Iraq. A Government Accounting Office investigation found that US commanders were reluctant to use the mines because of their impact on the mobility of their own forces, their potential for causing casualties to US or friendly forces, and other safety concerns.
Upon making the 2022 policy announcement, US officials confirmed that the last United States use of antipersonnel mines was in Iraq and Kuwait during the 1991 Gulf War, with the exception of the use of a single antipersonnel mine in Afghanistan in 2002.[7]
8. How many antipersonnel mines does the United States stockpile?
In June 2022, US officials said that the United States has approximately three million stockpiled antipersonnel landmines. That total quantity has not changed since 2014, when the Department of Defense disclosed that the United States had an “active stockpile of just over 3 million anti-personnel mines.” This was a significant reduction from the previous stockpile of approximately 10.4 million antipersonnel mines reported in 2002.
The current US landmine stocks consist of six types of mostly scatterable or remotely delivered (as opposed to hand emplaced) mines equipped with a self-destruct feature designed to detonate the mine after a preset period of time, as well as with self-deactivating features.
The existing US stockpile of antipersonnel mines was expected to expire and become unusable by the early 2030s. The shelf life of existing antipersonnel mines stockpiled by the United States has decreased over time through the chemical deterioration of battery components embedded inside mines. The 2014 policy precluded the United States from extending or modifying the life of the batteries inside the existing stockpile. A US official said in 2014 that the United States would not extend the shelf life of existing systems, for example, by replacing their batteries, which have a shelf life of 36 years. A Department of Defense official said, “We anticipate that they will start to decline in their ability to be used … starting in about 10 years. And in 10 years after that, they’ll be completely unusable.”
Once US stocks of antipersonnel mines are depleted, it would take several years, millions of dollars, and significant effort to restart US production of these internationally prohibited weapons.
The following “Landmine Monitor 2024” report table details the latest publicly available data on the types and quantities possessed, dating from 2010.
US stockpiles of antipersonnel mines in 2010
System (quantity of antipersonnel mines in each) | Quantity | Antipersonnel mines |
| Stockpiled inside the US | ||
| M692 Artillery Delivered Antipersonnel Mine | 41,785 | 1,504,260 |
| GATOR | 9,541 | 200,795 |
| Volcano, in M87 dispenser only | 64,800 | 64,800 |
| M86 Pursuit Deterrent Munition | 2,586 | 2,586 |
| M131 Modular Pack Mine System | 1,757 | 7,028 |
| Sub-totals | 120,469 | 1,779,469 |
| Stockpiled outside the US | ||
| M692 Artillery Delivered Antipersonnel Mine | 40,017 | 1,440,612 |
| M74 Ground Emplaced Mine Scattering System | 120 | 600 |
| GATOR | 1,310 | 26,398 |
| Volcano, in M87 dispenser only | 16,492 | 16,492 |
| M86 Pursuit Deterrent Munition | 1,191 | 1,191 |
| M131 Modular Pack Mine System | 102 | 408 |
| Sub-totals | 59,232 | 1,485,701 |
| Total (antipersonnel mines stockpiled) | - | 3,265,170 |
[1] Algeria, Angola, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Gambia, Germany, France, Holy See, Ireland, Jordan, Lesotho, Mexico, Mozambique, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Palestine, Peru, Philippines, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, and Switzerland.
[2] Statement delivered by New Zealand on behalf of Algeria, Angola, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Gambia, Holy See, Ireland, Jordan, Lesotho, Mexico, Mozambique, New Zealand. Nigeria, Norway, Palestine, Peru, Philippines, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, and Switzerland, Mine Ban Treaty Fifth Review Conference, Siem Reap, November 29, 2024.
[3] The US decision to transfer antipersonnel mines to Ukraine comes after the US transferred thousands of cluster munitions—another internationally banned weapon—to Ukraine in eight announcements between July 2023 and October 2024. A total of 124 countries have signed or ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits these weapons, but not Russia, Ukraine or the US.
[4] The Convention on Cluster Munitions, the Mine Ban Treaty, the Biological Weapons Convention, the Chemical Weapons Convention, and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
[5] On December 26, 2007, the comprehensive US moratorium on the export of antipersonnel mines was extended for six years until 2014. Public Law 110-161, Fiscal Year 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act, Section 634(j), 26 December 2007, p. 487.
[6] Statement of Ukraine, Mine Ban Treaty Fifth Review Conference, Siem Reap, November 29, 2024. Notes by the ICBL.
[7] The use of an antipersonnel mine in Afghanistan was disclosed as part of the June 2014 policy announcement. “And since the Ottawa Convention came into force in 1999, we are—or since 1991, excuse me—we are aware of only one confirmed operational employment by U.S. military forces, a single munition in Afghanistan in 2002.” US Department of State, “Daily Press Briefing,” 27 June 2014. In 1991, in Iraq and Kuwait, the US used 117,634 antipersonnel mines, mostly air-delivered. US General Accounting Office, “GAO-02-1003: MILITARY OPERATIONS: Information on US use of Land Mines in the Persian Gulf War,” September 2002, Appendix I, pp. 8–9.
