EU disappointed U.S. has backtracked on landmine policy

The European Union expressed regret on Tuesday that the United States has decided to use anti-personnel landmines more widely and once again considers them to be an important weapon of war.

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump cancelled a prohibition on the use of landmines outside of the Korean peninsula. With potential future conflict with China or Russia in mind, the new policy specified no geographic limits on use of the weapons, which can kill civilians long after wars end.

The office of EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said in a statement that the U.S. move "undermines the global norm against anti-personnel mines. A norm that has saved tens of thousands of people in the past 20 years."

"The majority of mine victims are children," the statement said, adding that the use of the weapons "anywhere, anytime, and by any actor remains completely unacceptable to the European Union."

It said that both the EU and U.S. are helping to clear minefields and destroy the explosive devices around the world, and that "the re-authorization of the use of anti-personnel mines is not only a direct contradiction to these actions but also negatively affects the international rules-based order."

The new U.S. policy authorizes military commanders to use landmines that are "non-persistent," meaning they have built-in mechanisms to destroy or deactivate the mine after a certain period. President Barack Obama had prohibited the military from using any landmines anywhere in the world except in defence of South Korea.

White House vague on potential uses

The policy change last week drew swift condemnation domestically from groups that have advocated for a global ban on landmines, which have been widely condemned for their history of killing and maiming children and other civilians long after wars are over.

"There are acts in war that are simply out of bounds," said Jeff Meer, U.S. executive director of Humanity & Inclusion, an international aid organization. "Nations, even superpowers, must never use certain weapons because of the superfluous injury and unnecessary suffering they cause. Landmines fall directly into this category."

Human Rights Watch urged all U.S. presidential candidates to endorse the goal of banning landmines.

"Most of the world's countries have embraced the ban on anti-personnel landmines for more than two decades, while the Trump administration has done a complete about-face in deciding to cling to these weapons in perpetuity," said Steve Goose, director of the arms division at Human Rights Watch.

The Obama administration sought to move the United States toward eventually becoming a party to the 1997 Ottawa Convention, an international agreement that banned the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel landmines.

The exact scenario in which U.S. forces might use landmines, beyond the Korean peninsula, was left vague. The White House statement said commanders could use them "in exceptional circumstances," but did not say what that means.

Vic Mercado, the Pentagon's interim assistant secretary for strategy, plans and capabilities, told reporters that the new policy was developed with "great power competition" in mind, meaning the possibility of conflict with China and Russia. Asked whether he could foresee landmines being used by U.S. forces in war zones like Afghanistan or Syria, he said, "I don't see that right now."

United States will "continue to lead in international humanitarian de-mining efforts that locate and remove landmines and explosive remnants of war that pose persistent threats to civilians living in current and former conflict areas around the world," Mercado said.

He said the decision to use landmines could not be made by an officer below four-star rank.