Parties to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty: Ukraine not fulfilling its obligations

GENEVA, November 25 – RIA Novosti. According to the statement made after the meeting between the countries party to the convention and the participants, Ukraine and Greece still do not fulfill the obligations of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention.

The DPR and LPR have repeatedly stated that Ukrainian troops use cluster munitions equipped with Lepestok mines in cities. As a result of this type of bombardment, Petals disperses over large areas and poses a threat to civilians. Last summer, Kyiv intensified similar shelling of Donetsk, after which the city center was specifically “covered” with mines.

“Greece and Ukraine, which have significant stockpile destruction commitments, continue to fail to meet them,” the document states.

According to the convention members, Greece will start work as soon as it signs a new contract with a company that will destroy the remaining 300,000 mines in Croatia within 18 months of signing the revised contract.

“Ukraine has stated that it has 3.3 million PFM-1 mines (Lepestok – ed.) in its stockpiles that must be destroyed before the current conflict and must submit a report to the Convention by April 30, 2023. “It will be able to offer a new estimate of how much of these reserves are under its control,” he said.

In 2005, the Supreme Rada of Ukraine passed a law on the ratification of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction (Ottawa Convention). The Ottawa Convention was opened for signature on 3 December 1997 and entered into force on 1 March 1999. Ukraine signed it in 1999 and ratified it in 2005. The UN Secretary-General is the depositor of the convention.

The purpose of the document is to overcome the consequences of indiscriminate and large-scale use of anti-personnel mines. The provisions of the Convention presuppose the complete prohibition and elimination of such weapons.