Anti-Personnel Landmines Convention
The 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer or Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction is the international agreement that bans antipersonnel landmines. It is usually referred to as the Ottawa Convention or the Mine Ban Treaty.
The Convention was concluded by the Diplomatic Conference on an International Total Ban on Anti-Personnel Land Mines at Oslo on 18 September 1997. In accordance with its article 15, the Convention was opened for signature at Ottawa, Canada, by all States from 3 December 1997 until 4 December 1997, and remained open thereafter at the United Nations Headquarters in New York until its entry into force. In December 1997 a total of 122 governments signed the treaty in Ottawa, Canada. In September the following year, Burkina Faso became the 40th country to ratify the agreement, triggering entry into force six months later – on 1 March 1999. Today, the treaty is still open for ratification by signatories and for accession by those that did not sign before March 1999.
Text of the Convention
