Pax Christi International Endorses Statement Opposing Proposed Mine Ban Treaty Withdraw

Pax Christi International has joined humanitarian disarmament campaigns in endorsing a statement expressing deep concern over the call by the defence ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland for their countries to withdraw from the Mine Ban Treaty. Such a withdrawal would pose a serious threat to civilian lives, undermine decades of progress in disarmament, and weaken international humanitarian law.

Issued on March 19, 2025, and available in multiple languages (Deutsch, español, and français), the statement highlights the devastating consequences of antipersonnel landmines and underscores the vital role the Mine Ban Treaty has played since its adoption in 1997.

We urge policymakers to reject any actions that would weaken the Mine Ban Treaty and instead work collectively to ensure the protection of civilians and the preservation of humanitarian principles.

Proposed Mine Ban Treaty Withdrawal: Response from Humanitarian Disarmament Campaigns

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.
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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:
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  • 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

Additional endorsing organizations:

International and regional organizations

  • Anglican Pacifist Fellowship 
  • International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW)
  • Nukewatch
  • Pacific Network on Globalisation
  • Pax Christi International
  • SEHLAC (Red de Seguridad Humana para América Latina y el Caribe)
  • United Against Inhumanity
  • Virtual Planet Africa
  • Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)

National organizations

Australia

  • Hunter Peace Group
  • Medical Association for Prevention of War (Australia)

Belgium

  • Pax Christi Flanders

Brazil

  • Grupo de Práticas em Direitos Humanos e Direito Internacional

Canada

  • Mines Action Canada 

Colombia

  • Colombian Campaign to Ban Landmines 

France

  • ICAN France

Germany

  • Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft – Vereinigte KriegsdienstgegnerInnen (DFG-VK)
  • Frauennetzwerk für Frieden e. V. / Women’s Network for Peace, Germany

Italy

  • Rete Italiana Pace Disarmo

Japan

  • ANT-Hiroshima

Netherlands

  • PAX

New Zealand

  • Aotearoa New Zealand Campaign on Military Spending
  • ICAN Aotearoa
  • Peace Movement Aotearoa

Norway

  • Norwegian People’s Aid

Peru

  • Perú por el Desarme

Singapore

  • beHuman

Spain

  • Centre Delàs d’Estudis per la Pau
  • Comisión General Justicia y Paz

Sweden

  • The Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society (Svenska Freds- och Skiljedomsföreningen)
  • Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Sweden (IKFF)

Togo

  • WILPF Togo

United Kingdom

  • Action on Armed Violence (AOAV)
  • Anethum Global
  • Article 36
  • Campaign Against Arms Trade
  • Conflict and Environment Observatory

United States

  • DAWN
  • Hampton Roads Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
  • RootsAction
  • The United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society