Cordula Droege & Maya Brehm
In this post, ICRC Chief Legal Officer Cordula Droege and ICRC Legal Adviser Maya Brehm caution that recent challenges to the APMBC mirror broader threats to the life-saving protections of international humanitarian law (IHL). They argue that justifications for using anti-personnel mines (APM) tend to be divorced from battlefield realities and overlook the appalling impacts of these treacherous weapons. The authors also show how efforts to circumvent or abandon the APMBC challenge fundamental precepts of IHL and undermine the international rule of law. The post concludes with a call to reinforce humanitarian norms as essential safeguards for upholding humanity in war.
Against the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine international armed conflict, debate has intensified in some states over potential withdrawal from landmark humanitarian treaties, including the APMBC. These discussions follow Lithuania’s unprecedented withdrawal from the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) last September, which took effect this month. Equally unprecedented was the United States’ announcement last fall of plans to transfer APM to Ukraine, reigniting controversy over the utility, acceptability, and legality of these weapons thought to have been relegated to the past.
To protect civilians and other victims of war – in Europe and beyond – it is critical to reinforce the humanitarian motivations behind treaties such as the APMBC and reject the notion that respect for IHL can be subordinated to security or defence considerations, however exceptional the circumstances.
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