A group of 100 Nobel Prize laureates has called on Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Finland to reverse their decision to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention, an international treaty banning anti-personnel landmines.
In a joint statement released last week, the laureates warned that exiting the treaty would endanger civilians and erode long-standing legal and humanitarian norms.
“These deadly weapons have effects that are far more harmful than any war benefit,” the statement read.
The Ottawa Convention, adopted in 1997, has significantly reduced the number of casualties caused by anti-personnel mines, the laureates said. However, they warned that ongoing use by countries outside the treaty – particularly Russia and the United States – is already weakening international norms and increasing risks to civilians.
The statement, coordinated by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and the Cluster Munition Coalition, was signed by 19 Nobel Peace Prize laureates, 26 laureates in medicine, 24 in physics, 21 in chemistry, and five each in economics and literature.
Notable signatories include the Dalai Lama, anti-landmine activist Jody Williams, Liberian peace advocate Leymah Gbowee, and writers John M. Coetzee, Patrick Modiano and Orhan Pamuk. Former Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muratov and former Polish president Lech Wałęsa also endorsed the statement. Williams, who shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize with the ICBL, drafted the text.
In March, the defence ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland announced plans to leave the Ottawa Convention, later joined by Finland. Withdrawing from the treaty would allow these countries to produce, stockpile, use and transfer anti-personnel mines. All five have begun formal exit procedures, and Lithuania’s parliament approved the move in May.
Earlier this year, Lithuania also withdrew from the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The Nobel laureates said they “deeply regret” that decision.
A country’s withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention becomes effective six months after it submits official notification to the United Nations secretary-general.
In a June 16 statement, UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed grave concern over the developments.
“These announcements are particularly troubling, as [they risk] weakening civilian protection and undermining two decades of a normative framework that has saved countless lives,” Guterres said.
He added that he intends to launch a global campaign to reinforce humanitarian disarmament norms, accelerate mine clearance efforts, and work toward a mine-free world.
While all European Union member states had signed the Ottawa Convention, several major powers – including the United States, Russia, China, India and Pakistan – have not joined the treaty.
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