The spokesman for the European External Action Service denounced, on Tuesday 4 February, US President Donald Trump's decision of 31 January to re-authorise the use of anti-personnel mines by US military forces outside the Korean peninsula.
The decision “undermines the global norm against anti-personnel mines”, the spokesperson said in a statement, warning that their use “anywhere, anytime and by any actor” remained completely unacceptable to the EU.
Recalling that the US, like the EU, was a major donor for mine action assistance worldwide, supporting mine clearance, mine risk education, victim assistance and stockpile destruction, the spokesman said that the re-authorisation of the use of anti-personnel mines was “a direct contradiction to these actions”. “It also negatively affects the international rules-based order”, he added. He said the EU counts on the US to remain a partner and top provider of anti-mine action assistance.
One hundred and sixty-four countries have joined the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, including all EU Member States, but not the United States. However, they have only used these mines once since 1991: in 2002 in Afghanistan. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)