As global civil society coalitions working to reduce the catastrophic impact of war through humanitarian disarmament, we express grave concern that the ministers of defense from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland have called on their countries to withdraw from the Mine Ban Treaty. Withdrawal would increase the risk of civilian death and injury from an indiscriminate weapon of limited military utility. It would also threaten decades of progress on disarmament and international humanitarian law more broadly.

The Mine Ban Treaty laid the foundation for “humanitarian disarmament,” which seeks to reduce arms-inflicted human suffering and environmental harm. Since its adoption in 1997, the treaty has saved many thousands of lives, prevented tens of thousands of life-changing injuries, and remediated the harm experienced by survivors through prohibitions on antipersonnel landmines and obligations to destroy stockpiles, clear minefields, and assist victims. The Mine Ban Treaty has further inspired cooperative efforts to establish norms governing other weapons. States, civil society, and international organizations have collaborated to address the humanitarian impacts of autonomous weapons systems, cluster munitions, and nuclear weapons, as well as the arms trade and the use of explosive weapons in populated areas.

While the states considering withdrawal from the Mine Ban Treaty have legitimate security concerns, abandoning a cornerstone of international law that underpins the protection of civilians during and after conflict is not the answer. At a time of heightened global conflict and challenges to multilateralism, states should recommit to humanitarian disarmament’s people-centered and cooperative approach. They should join forces to defend unequivocally the international law they collectively created and the humanitarian principles it embodies.

Signed by the following humanitarian disarmament campaigns:

International Campaign to Ban Landmines-Cluster Munition Coalition (ICBL-CMC)

Control Arms

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)

International Network on Explosive Weapons (INEW)

Stop Killer Robots