Poland withdraws from Anti-Personnel Landmines Convention

Before the vote, Minister of National Defense Władysław Marcin Kosiniak-Kamysz emphasized that this step was extremely important for the security of the region. He noted that the initiative to withdraw from the convention was supported not only by Poland but also by the Baltic states and Finland.

"Poland cannot be limited by rules that prevent us from defending our country," the minister emphasized.

The Ottawa Convention, signed in 1997 and ratified by Poland in 2012, prohibits the use and proliferation of anti-personnel mines and requires their destruction. However, given the deteriorating security situation in the region, the defense ministers of Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania called in March for the convention to be suspended.

Ottawa Convention

The Convention was adopted on September 18, 1997, in Oslo and entered into force in 1999. To date, more than 160 countries have joined it, including most Western countries. Among the countries that have not acceded to the treaty are China, Russia, the United States, India, and Pakistan.

Ukraine signed the convention in February 1999 in New York, and the Verkhovna Rada ratified it on May 18, 2005. At the time of signing, Ukraine possessed the fifth largest stockpile of anti-personnel mines in the world, behind only China, Russia, the United States, and Pakistan, countries that, like India, have not joined the treaty.

The parties to the convention undertake never to use anti-personnel mines, nor to develop, manufacture, purchase, store, or transfer them either directly or through intermediaries.

In early May 2025, the Lithuanian parliament supported the withdrawal from the anti-personnel mine treaty.

In mid-June, the Finnish parliament voted to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention.