Nobel laureates urge Lithuania, others to reconsider exit from mine ban treaty

VILNIUS – A hundred Nobel Prize laureates have urged Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania and Finland to reconsider their decision to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention, which bans anti-personnel landmines.

In a joint statement released last week, the laureates warned that pulling out of the treaty could endanger civilians and weaken long-established legal and humanitarian norms.

"These deadly weapons have effects that are far more harmful than any war benefit," they said.  

The laureates noted that the 1997 Ottawa Convention "has made a significant and positive difference in reducing the casualties and suffering caused by anti-personnel mines."

"Yet the actions of two countries that have not prohibited these weapons—Russia and the United States – are undermining these norms and putting civilians at risk," they said.   

The joint statement, shared by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), was signed by 19 Nobel Peace Prize winners, 26 laureates in medicine, 24 in physics, 21 in chemistry, and five each in economics and literature.

These include the Dalai Lama, American landmine campaigner Jody Williams, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee, and writers John M. Coetzee, Patrick Modiano and Orhan Pamuk, as well as former Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muratov and former Polish president Lech Walesa.

The statement was drafted by Williams, who was awarded the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize alongside the ICBL for her work to ban and eliminate anti-personnel mines.

In March, the defense ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland issued a joint statement calling on their countries to exit the Ottawa Convention. They were later joined by Finland.

Leaving the treaty would allow them to acquire, produce, stockpile, use and transfer anti-personnel mines.

All five countries have already launched the necessary procedures to leave the convention. The Lithuanian parliament gave its final approval in May.

Earlier this year, Lithuania formally exited the international convention banning the acquisition, use and production of cluster munitions.

"We deeply regret Lithuania's withdrawal from the Convention on Cluster Munitions in March," the Nobel laureates said in their statement.

A country's withdrawal from the convention takes effect six months after it submits its formal notice to the United Nations secretary-general.

In a statement released on June 16, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "gravely concerned by recent announcements and steps taken by several member states to withdraw from the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention." 

"These announcements are particularly troubling, as it risks weakening civilian protection and undermining two decades of a normative framework that has saved countless lives," he said. 

The UN chief added that he intends to launch "a global campaign to uphold the norms of humanitarian disarmament, accelerate mine action as an enabler of human rights and sustainable development, and drive forward the vision of a mine-free world."  

All European Union member states had signed the convention, while India, the United States, China, Pakistan and Russia have not joined it.