Contact: Daryl Kimball, Executive Director, (202) 463-8270 x107
Updated: January 2018
The Ottawa Convention, also referred to as the "Mine Ban Treaty," prohibits the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of anti-personnel landmines (APLs). It requires states-parties to destroy their stockpiled APLs within four years and eliminate all APL holdings, including mines currently planted in the soil, within 10 years. Countries may request a renewable extension, which can be up to 10 years long, to fulfill their destruction obligations. States-parties are also required annually to report to the UN secretary-general their total APL stockpiles, the technical characteristics of their APLs, the location of all mined areas, and the status of APL destruction programs.
The convention, which is of unlimited duration and open to all nations, entered into force March 1, 1999. As of January 2018, 164 countries (including Palestine) had ratified or acceded to the treaty, and one country, the Marshall Islands, has signed the accord but not ratified it. States-parties overwhelmingly come from Europe, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean. About half of the countries in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the Asia-Pacific regions have signed the treaty. For more information about the treaty, see “The Ottawa Convention at a Glance.”
Some key current and past producers and users of landmines, including the United States, China, India, Pakistan, and Russia, have not signed the treaty. The George W. Bush administration announced Feb. 27, 2004 that the United States would not join the Ottawa Convention. The Barack Obama administration changed that policy in 2014, expressing an intention to eventually join, and banning the production and acquisition of APLs and reserving their use for only on the Korean peninsula. The United States is party to the 1996 amended mines protocol of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which restricts but does not ban APL use.
A precise accounting of the number of landmines planted globally is not possible. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines, a coalition of non-government organizations active in some 100 countries, has estimated that 61 states and areas have landmines on their territories as of November 2017.
The following is a complete list of all Ottawa Convention signatories and states-parties:
Country | Signature | Deposit |
Afghanistan | 9/11/02 | |
Albania | 9/8/98 | 2/29/00 |
Algeria | 12/3/97 | 10/9/01 |
Andorra | 12/3/97 | 6/29/98 |
Angola | 12/4/97 | 7/5/02 |
Antigua & Barbuda | 12/3/97 | 5/3/99 |
Argentina | 12/4/97 | 9/14/99 |
Australia | 12/3/97 | 1/14/99 |
Austria | 12/3/97 | 6/29/98 |
Bahamas | 12/3/97 | 7/31/98 |
Bangladesh | 5/7/98 | 9/6/00 |
Barbados | 12/3/97 | 1/26/99 |
Belarus | 9/03/03 | |
Belgium | 12/3/97 | 9/4/98 |
Belize | 2/27/98 | 4/23/98 |
Benin | 12/3/97 | 9/25/98 |
Bhutan | 8/18/05 | |
Bolivia | 12/3/97 | 6/9/98 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 12/3/97 | 9/8/98 |
Botswana | 12/3/97 | 3/1/00 |
Brazil | 12/3/97 | 4/30/99 |
Brunei Darussalam | 12/4/97 | 4/24/06 |
Bulgaria | 12/3/97 | 9/4/98 |
Burkina Faso | 12/3/97 | 9/16/98 |
Burundi | 12/3/97 | 10/22/03 |
Cambodia | 12/3/97 | 7/28/99 |
Cameroon | 12/3/97 | 9/19/02 |
Canada | 12/3/97 | 12/3/97 |
Cape Verde | 12/4/97 | 5/14/01 |
Central African Republic | 11/8/02 | |
Chad | 7/6/98 | 5/6/99 |
Chile | 12/3/97 | 9/10/01 |
Colombia | 12/3/97 | 9/6/00 |
Comoros | 9/19/02 | |
Congo | 5/4/01 | |
Cook Islands | 12/3/97 | 3/15/06 |
Costa Rica | 12/3/97 | 3/17/99 |
Cote d'Ivoire | 12/3/97 | 6/30/00 |
Croatia | 12/4/97 | 5/20/98 |
Cyprus | 12/4/97 | 1/17/03 |
Czech Republic | 12/3/97 | 10/26/99 |
Democratic Republic of Congo | 5/2/02 | |
Denmark | 12/4/97 | 6/8/98 |
Djibouti | 12/3/97 | 5/18/98 |
Dominica | 12/3/97 | 3/26/99 |
Dominican Republic | 12/3/97 | 6/30/00 |
Ecuador | 12/4/97 | 4/29/99 |
El Salvador | 12/4/97 | 1/27/99 |
Equatorial Guinea | 9/16/98 | |
Eriitrea | 8/27/01 | |
Estonia | 5/12/04 | |
Ethiopia | 12/3/97 | 12/17/04 |
Fiji | 12/3/97 | 6/10/98 |
Finland | 1/09/12 | |
France | 12/3/97 | 7/23/98 |
Gabon | 12/3/97 | 9/8/00 |
Gambia | 12/4/97 | 9/23/02 |
Germany | 12/3/97 | 7/23/98 |
Ghana | 12/4/97 | 6/30/00 |
Greece | 12/3/97 | 9/25/03 |
Grenada | 12/3/97 | 8/19/98 |
Guatemala | 12/3/97 | 3/26/99 |
Guinea | 12/4/97 | 10/8/98 |
Guinea-Bissau | 12/3/97 | 5/22/01 |
Guyana | 12/4/97 | 8/5/03 |
Haiti | 12/3/97 | 2/15/06 |
Holy See | 12/4/97 | 2/17/98 |
Honduras | 12/3/97 | 9/24/98 |
Hungary | 12/3/97 | 4/6/98 |
Iceland | 12/4/97 | 5/5/99 |
Indonesia | 12/4/97 | 2/20/07 |
Iraq | 8/15/07 | |
Ireland | 12/3/97 | 12/3/97 |
Italy | 12/3/97 | 4/23/99 |
Jamaica | 12/3/97 | 7/17/98 |
Japan | 12/3/97 | 9/30/98 |
Jordan | 8/11/98 | 11/13/98 |
Kenya | 12/5/97 | 1/23/01 |
Kiribati | 9/7/00 | |
Kuwait | 7/31/07 | |
Latvia | 7/1/05 | |
Lesotho | 12/4/97 | 12/2/98 |
Liberia | 12/23/99 | |
Liechtenstein | 12/3/97 | 10/5/99 |
Lithuania | 2/26/99 | 5/12/03 |
Luxembourg | 12/4/97 | 6/14/99 |
Macedonia, FYR | 9/9/98 | |
Madagascar | 12/4/97 | 9/16/99 |
Malawi | 12/4/97 | 8/13/98 |
Malaysia | 12/3/97 | 4/22/99 |
Maldives | 10/1/98 | 9/7/00 |
Mali | 12/3/97 | 6/2/98 |
Malta | 12/4/97 | 5/7/01 |
Marshall Islands | 12/4/97 | |
Mauritania | 12/3/97 | 7/21/00 |
Mauritius | 12/3/97 | 12/3/97 |
Mexico | 12/3/97 | 6/9/98 |
Moldova | 12/3/97 | 9/8/00 |
Monaco | 12/4/97 | 11/17/98 |
Montenegro | 10/23/06 | |
Mozambique | 12/3/97 | 8/25/98 |
Namibia | 12/3/97 | 9/21/98 |
Nauru | 8/7/00 | |
Netherlands | 12/3/97 | 4/12/99 |
New Zealand | 12/3/97 | 1/27/99 |
Nicaragua | 12/4/97 | 11/30/98 |
Niger | 12/4/97 | 3/23/99 |
Nigeria | 9/27/01 | |
Niue | 12/3/97 | 4/15/98 |
Norway | 12/3/97 | 7/9/98 |
Oman | 8/20/14 | |
Palau | 11/19/07 | |
Palestine | 12/29/17 | |
Panama | 12/4/97 | 10/7/98 |
Papua New Guinea | 6/28/04 | |
Paraguay | 12/3/97 | 11/13/98 |
Peru | 12/3/97 | 6/17/98 |
Philippines | 12/3/97 | 2/15/00 |
Poland | 12/4/97 | 12/27/12 |
Portugal | 12/3/97 | 2/19/99 |
Qatar | 12/4/97 | 10/13/98 |
Romania | 12/3/97 | 11/30/00 |
Rwanda | 12/3/97 | 6/8/00 |
St. Kitts & Nevis | 12/3/97 | 12/2/98 |
St. Lucia | 12/3/97 | 4/13/99 |
St. Vincent & the Grenadines | 12/3/97 | 8/1/01 |
Samoa | 12/3/97 | 7/23/98 |
San Marino | 12/3/97 | 3/18/98 |
Sao Tome & Principe | 4/30/98 | 3/31/03 |
Senegal | 12/3/97 | 9/24/98 |
Serbia & Montenegro | 9/18/03 | |
Seychelles | 12/4/97 | 6/2/00 |
Sierra Leone | 7/29/98 | 4/25/01 |
Slovakia | 12/3/97 | 2/25/99 |
Slovenia | 12/3/97 | 10/27/98 |
Solomon Islands | 12/4/97 | 1/26/99 |
Somalia | 4/16/12 | |
South Africa | 12/3/97 | 6/26/98 |
South Sudan | 11/11/11 | |
Spain | 12/3/97 | 1/19/99 |
Sri Lanka | 12/13/17 | |
Sudan | 12/4/97 | 10/13/03 |
Suriname | 12/4/97 | 5/23/02 |
Swaziland | 12/4/97 | 12/22/98 |
Sweden | 12/4/97 | 11/30/98 |
Switzerland | 12/3/97 | 3/24/98 |
Tajikistan | 10/12/99 | |
Tanzania | 12/3/97 | 11/13/00 |
Thailand | 12/3/97 | 11/27/98 |
Timor Leste | 5/7/03 | |
Togo | 12/4/97 | 3/9/00 |
Trinidad & Tobago | 12/4/97 | 4/27/98 |
Tunisia | 12/4/97 | 7/9/99 |
Turkey | 9/25/03 | |
Turkmenistan | 12/3/97 | 1/19/98 |
Tuvalu | 9/13/11 | |
Uganda | 12/3/97 | 2/25/99 |
Ukraine | 2/24/99 | 12/27/05 |
United Kingdom | 12/3/97 | 7/31/98 |
Uruguay | 12/3/97 | 6/7/01 |
Vanuatu | 12/4/97 | 9/16/05 |
Venezuela | 12/3/97 | 4/14/99 |
Yemen | 12/4/97 | 9/1/98 |
Zambia | 12/12/97 | 2/23/01 |
Zimbabwe | 12/3/97 | 6/18/98 |
Updated by Sara Schmitt