Biden moves to restrict military’s use of land mines

The Biden administration on Tuesday moved to limit the U.S. military’s use of landmines, reversing a Trump-era policy that loosened restrictions on anti-personnel landmines.

Under the new policy, the Biden administration said the U.S. will not develop, produce, acquire, export or transfer anti-personnel landmines and will not use them with the exception of along South Korea’s border with North Korea.  

The White House cited the disproportionate impact of landmines on civilians and children in announcing the new policy, which came after an extensive review.

“The world has once again witnessed the devastating impact that anti-personnel landmines can have in the context of Russia’s brutal and unprovoked war in Ukraine, where Russian forces’ use of these and other munitions have caused extensive harm to civilians and civilian objects,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.

“President Biden is committed to continuing the United States’ role as the world’s leader in mitigating the harmful consequences of anti-personnel landmines worldwide,” she said.

The White House said Biden had directed the U.S. to align its policy on landmine use with provisions of the Ottawa Treaty, a 1997 treaty with the goal of eliminating the use of anti-personnel landmines around the world, with the exception of around the Korean Peninsula.  

A White House fact sheet cited the “unique circumstances” on the Korean Peninsula in explaining the exemption for the new policy. 

Additionally, the White House said Biden would order the Pentagon to work to find “alternatives” to such landmines that would allow the U.S. to join the Ottawa Convention, which the U.S. cannot join because of its current policies.

The Trump administration relaxed a ban on the use of landmines in early 2020, saying that the Obama-era prohibition put U.S. troops at a disadvantage. The Trump-era policy allowed U.S. military commanders to order the deployment of land mines in “exceptional circumstances” around the globe. That policy had been under review by the Biden administration since at least last spring.  

Biden as a Democratic presidential candidate vowed to roll back the Trump-era policy, calling it reckless and saying it put civilians at unnecessary risk.  

Tuesday’s announcement means that the U.S. landmine policy will return to the shape it took under former President Obama.

—Updated at 10:56 a.m.