The Ottawa convention on landmines: A landmark humanitarian treaty in arms control?

Global Governance

Volumn 5, Issue 3, 1999, Pages 273-302

  Thakur, Ramesh ^a   Maley, William ^b  

^a UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSITY   (Japan)

^b NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0033241586     PISSN: 10752846     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/19426720-00503002     Document Type: Article

References (79)

1. Hence their characterization as disarmament before the fact; Ramesh Thakur, "Disarmament Before the Fact: The South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone," New Zealand International Review 17 (March-April 1992): 18-23.
2. Thomas C. Schelling and Morton Halperin, Strategy and Arms Control (New York: Twentieth Century Fund, 1961), p. 2.
3. See Ramesh Thakur, ed., Nuclear Weapons-Free Zones (London: Macmillan; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998).
4. See Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations (New York: Basic Books, 1992); Geoffrey Best, Humanity in Warfare: The Modern History of the International Law of Armed Conflicts (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1983).
5. See Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations (New York: Basic Books, 1992); Geoffrey Best, Humanity in Warfare: The Modern History of the International Law of Armed Conflicts (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1983).
6. Jean-Henry Dunant, A Memory of Solferino (Geneva: ICRC, 1986).
7. Frits Kalshoven, Constraints on the Waging of War (Geneva: ICRC, 1991), pp. 8-18. There is, of course, significant overlap between these streams: see Geoffrey Best, War and Law Since 1945 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994), pp. 183-184.
8. Frits Kalshoven, Constraints on the Waging of War (Geneva: ICRC, 1991), pp. 8-18. There is, of course, significant overlap between these streams: see Geoffrey Best, War and Law Since 1945 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994), pp. 183-184.
9. For a compilation of relevant instruments, see Adam Roberts and Richard Guelff, eds., Documents on the Laws of War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989).
10. The classic statement of the apparent paradox remains Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics (London: Macmillan, 1977).
11. See the views of the majority of the International Court of Justice in Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons (Advisory Opinion), 1996, 35 ILM 814.
12. Richard A. Falk, The Status of Law in International Society (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1970), p. 177.
13. Paul C. Szasz, "General Law-Making Processes," in Christopher C. Joyner, ed., The United Nations and International Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 32-33.
14. Donald W. Greig, "Sources of International Law," in Sam Blay, Ryszard Piotrowicz, and B. Martin Tsamenyi, eds., Public International Law: An Australian Perspective (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 86.
15. Jan Linehan, "The Law of Treaties," in Blay, Piotrowicz, and Tsamenyi, Public International Law, p. 107.
16. See Philip A. G. Sabin, The Third World War Scare in Britain: A Critical Analysis (London: Macmillan, 1986); Clive Rose, Campaigns Against Western Defence: NATO's Adversaries and Critics (London: Macmillan, 1986).
17. See Philip A. G. Sabin, The Third World War Scare in Britain: A Critical Analysis (London: Macmillan, 1986); Clive Rose, Campaigns Against Western Defence: NATO's Adversaries and Critics (London: Macmillan, 1986).
18. The higher figure is cited in Zdzislaw Lachowski, "Conventional Arms Control," SIPRI Yearbook 1997: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security (Oxford: Oxford University Press for the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 1997), p. 495. The lower figure comes from a new U.S. State Department study, Hidden Killers: The Global Landmine Crisis, cited in the Japan Times, 5 September 1998. The reason for the fall in numbers is attributed to more APLs now being lifted than planted. On this basis, the APL problem can be substantially solved by 2010. Some analysts, for example the HALO Trust, claim that the figures used by the antimine lobby groups are wild exaggerations and that a figure of two or three million is closer to the total number of landmines sown around the world than the additional numbers sown each year. The total figure for Afghanistan reduces from ten million to six hundred thousand: Paul Jefferson, "The landmine ban is worse than useless," Guardian, 19 September 1997. However, it is not clear that these very low figures have any more credibility on methodological grounds than the substantially higher figures. For more detailed discussion of the situation in Afghanistan, see William Maley, "Mine Action in Afghanistan," Refuge 17, no. 4 (October 1998): 12-16.
19. The higher figure is cited in Zdzislaw Lachowski, "Conventional Arms Control," SIPRI Yearbook 1997: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security (Oxford: Oxford University Press for the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 1997), p. 495. The lower figure comes from a new U.S. State Department study, Hidden Killers: The Global Landmine Crisis, cited in the Japan Times, 5 September 1998. The reason for the fall in numbers is attributed to more APLs now being lifted than planted. On this basis, the APL problem can be substantially solved by 2010. Some analysts, for example the HALO Trust, claim that the figures used by the antimine lobby groups are wild exaggerations and that a figure of two or three million is closer to the total number of landmines sown around the world than the additional numbers sown each year. The total figure for Afghanistan reduces from ten million to six hundred thousand: Paul Jefferson, "The landmine ban is worse than useless," Guardian, 19 September 1997. However, it is not clear that these very low figures have any more credibility on methodological grounds than the substantially higher figures. For more detailed discussion of the situation in Afghanistan, see William Maley, "Mine Action in Afghanistan," Refuge 17, no. 4 (October 1998): 12-16.
20. The higher figure is cited in Zdzislaw Lachowski, "Conventional Arms Control," SIPRI Yearbook 1997: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security (Oxford: Oxford University Press for the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 1997), p. 495. The lower figure comes from a new U.S. State Department study, Hidden Killers: The Global Landmine Crisis, cited in the Japan Times, 5 September 1998. The reason for the fall in numbers is attributed to more APLs now being lifted than planted. On this basis, the APL problem can be substantially solved by 2010. Some analysts, for example the HALO Trust, claim that the figures used by the antimine lobby groups are wild exaggerations and that a figure of two or three million is closer to the total number of landmines sown around the world than the additional numbers sown each year. The total figure for Afghanistan reduces from ten million to six hundred thousand: Paul Jefferson, "The landmine ban is worse than useless," Guardian, 19 September 1997. However, it is not clear that these very low figures have any more credibility on methodological grounds than the substantially higher figures. For more detailed discussion of the situation in Afghanistan, see William Maley, "Mine Action in Afghanistan," Refuge 17, no. 4 (October 1998): 12-16.
21. The higher figure is cited in Zdzislaw Lachowski, "Conventional Arms Control," SIPRI Yearbook 1997: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security (Oxford: Oxford University Press for the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 1997), p. 495. The lower figure comes from a new U.S. State Department study, Hidden Killers: The Global Landmine Crisis, cited in the Japan Times, 5 September 1998. The reason for the fall in numbers is attributed to more APLs now being lifted than planted. On this basis, the APL problem can be substantially solved by 2010. Some analysts, for example the HALO Trust, claim that the figures used by the antimine lobby groups are wild exaggerations and that a figure of two or three million is closer to the total number of landmines sown around the world than the additional numbers sown each year. The total figure for Afghanistan reduces from ten million to six hundred thousand: Paul Jefferson, "The landmine ban is worse than useless," Guardian, 19 September 1997. However, it is not clear that these very low figures have any more credibility on methodological grounds than the substantially higher figures. For more detailed discussion of the situation in Afghanistan, see William Maley, "Mine Action in Afghanistan," Refuge 17, no. 4 (October 1998): 12-16.
22. Judy Aita, "U.N. Session Spotlights Need to Ban Landmines Worldwide," U.S.I.S. Washington File EPF406, 15 August 1996, p. 10.
23. Thomas C. Schelling, "Thinking About Nuclear Terrorism," International Security 6 (spring 1982): 76.
24. Anti-personnel Landmines: Friend or Foe? A Study of the Military Use and Effectiveness of Anti-personnel Mines (Geneva: ICRC, 1996).
25. For details and evaluation of the U.S. position, see Ramesh Thakur, "Anti-Personnel Landmines," Pacifica Review 10 (February 1998): 65-67.
26. According to Assistant Secretary of State Rick Inderfurth, Washington has trained sixteen hundred people in mine awareness and clearance skills and contributed $263 million to mine removal programs since 1993. Japan Times, 5 September 1998.
27. For a complementary discussion of the role of civil society in promoting the Ottawa process, see Richard Prince, "Reversing the Gun Sights: Transnational Civil Society Targets Land Mines," International Organization 52 (summer 1998): 613-644. See also Stephen Biddle, Julia Klare, Johnathan Wallis, and Ivan Oelrich, "Controlling Anti-personnel Landmines," Contemporary Security Policy 19 (December 1998): 27-71.
28. For a complementary discussion of the role of civil society in promoting the Ottawa process, see Richard Prince, "Reversing the Gun Sights: Transnational Civil Society Targets Land Mines," International Organization 52 (summer 1998): 613-644. See also Stephen Biddle, Julia Klare, Johnathan Wallis, and Ivan Oelrich, "Controlling Anti-personnel Landmines," Contemporary Security Policy 19 (December 1998): 27-71.
29. Edward A. Kolodziej, "What Is Security and Security Studies? Lessons from the Cold War," Arms Control 13 (April 1992): 1.
30. Their rise is traced in Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1998).
31. Leon Gordenker and Thomas G. Weiss, "Pluralizing Global Governance: Analytical Approaches and Dimensions," in Thomas G. Weiss and Leon Gordenker, eds., NGOs, the UN, and Global Governance (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1996), p. 24.
32. Harold K. Jacobson, Networks of Interdependence: International Organizations and the Global Political System (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979), p. 8.
33. Kofi Annan, "The Quiet Revolution," Global Governance 4, no. 2 (Apr.-June 1998): 126.
34. Ramesh Thakur, "Human Rights: Amnesty International and the United Nations," Journal of Peace Research 31 (May 1994): 143-160.
35. The terminology is borrowed from James N. Rosenau. However, Rosenau uses sovereignty-bound to refer to state-actors, and sovereignty-free to refer to nonstate actors. Thus, in his definition, international organizations are explicitly included in the sovereignty-free category; James N. Rosenau, Turbulence in World Politics: A Theory of Change and Continuity (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990), p. 36. We find his terminology useful, but not his usage. In the sense in which we use it, the UN is constrained by the sovereignty of its member states, but NGOs are not so bound.
36. Gordenker and Weiss note an example of governments, IGOs, and NGOs cooperating over refugees and internally displaced persons in Central America in the early 1990s. The UNHCR took the lead in bringing together the World Food Programme (WFP), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and NGOs in project design, implementation, and monitoring. Gordenker and Weiss, "Pluralizing Global Governance,"p. 30.
37. See, for example, the strong bows to civil society and global governance by the UN secretary-general in Annan, "The Quiet Revolution," pp. 123-138.
38. For a list of UN-coordinated activities in mine clearance, see Assistance in Mine Clearance: Report of the Secretary-General (New York: UN General Assembly, document A/53/496, 14 October 1998).
39. Gordenker and Weiss, "Pluralizing Global Governance," pp. 34-35.
40. Most of this and the following paragraph are adapted from John English, "The Ottawa Process: Paths Followed, Paths Ahead," Australian Journal of International Affairs 52 (July 1998): 121-132.
41. See Robin M. Coupland, ed., The SIRUS Project: Towards a Determination of Which Weapons Cause "Superfluous Injury or Unnecessary Suffering" (Geneva: ICRC, 1997).
42. U.S. Department of State, Office of International Security Operations, Hidden Killers: The Global Problem with Uncleared Landmines (Washington, D.C.: Department of State, 1993).
43. One of the authors, Ramesh Thakur, chaired the regional symposium in Sydney in July 1997; the second author, William Maley, attended the symposia in Sydney and Manila in the same month.
44. See R. H. F. Austin, "Dealing with Landmines: A Legal Strategy," in William Maley, ed., Dealing with Mines: Strategies for Peacekeepers, Aid Agencies and the International Community (Canberra: Australian Defence Studies Centre, 1994), pp. 13-26.
45. Jessica Tuchman Matthews, "Redefining Security," Foreign Affairs 68 (spring 1989): 176. Matthews was writing in the context of environmental negotiations.
46. See G. Parthasarathy, India's High Commissioner to Australia, "Neither Comprehensive, Test Ban Nor a Treaty," Pacific Research 9 (November 1996): 32-35.
47. Report of the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (Canberra: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 1996), pp. 10-11, 50-54. Ramesh Thakur was a consultant to the Canberra Commission. Its report and recommendations acquired a fresh lease of life after the South Asian nuclear tests of May 1998.
48. The concern for unnecessary suffering was the driving force behind the 1868 Saint Petersburg Declaration Renouncing the Use, in Times of War, of Explosive Projectiles Under 400 Grammes Weight, and was explicitly incorporated in Article 23 (e) of the 1907 Hague Convention Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land.
49. See Elisa D. Harris, "Sverdlovsk and Yellow Rain: Two Cases of Soviet Noncompliance?" International Security 11 (spring 1987): 41-95.
50. For a thoughtful exploration of these dilemmas, see Michael Ignatieff, The Warrior's Honour: Ethnic War and the Modern Conscience (London: Chatto & Windus, 1998), pp. 109-163. The greatest challenge the Red Cross faced in adhering to a strictly meliorist mission was that posed by the Holocaust: see Jean-Claude Favez, Une mission impossible? Le CICR, les déportations et les camps de concentration nazis (Lausanne: Éditions Payot, 1988); Caroline Moorehead, Dunant's Dream: War, Switzerland and the History of the Red Cross (London: Harper-Collins, 1998).
51. For a thoughtful exploration of these dilemmas, see Michael Ignatieff, The Warrior's Honour: Ethnic War and the Modern Conscience (London: Chatto & Windus, 1998), pp. 109-163. The greatest challenge the Red Cross faced in adhering to a strictly meliorist mission was that posed by the Holocaust: see Jean-Claude Favez, Une mission impossible? Le CICR, les déportations et les camps de concentration nazis (Lausanne: Éditions Payot, 1988); Caroline Moorehead, Dunant's Dream: War, Switzerland and the History of the Red Cross (London: Harper-Collins, 1998).
52. For a thoughtful exploration of these dilemmas, see Michael Ignatieff, The Warrior's Honour: Ethnic War and the Modern Conscience (London: Chatto & Windus, 1998), pp. 109-163. The greatest challenge the Red Cross faced in adhering to a strictly meliorist mission was that posed by the Holocaust: see Jean-Claude Favez, Une mission impossible? Le CICR, les déportations et les camps de concentration nazis (Lausanne: Éditions Payot, 1988); Caroline Moorehead, Dunant's Dream: War, Switzerland and the History of the Red Cross (London: Harper-Collins, 1998).
53. See Ian Brownlie, International Law and the Use of Force by States (London: Oxford University Press, 1963), pp. 170-171.
54. Antitank mines are still permitted by the Ottawa Treaty, so long as they do not function exactly like APL; that is, so long as they are vehicle-or command-activated, but not victim-activated.
55. Cited in U.S. Gen. (ret'd) Robert Gard, Jr., "Why Anti-Personnel Mines Are Indefensible," Australian, 14 October 1997.
56. George C. Wilson, "Fratricide in U.S. Army Exercise May Bolster Land Mine Debate," Defense News 12, 13-19 October 1997, p. 32. The exercise was held on 23 March 1997.
57. Quoted in George C. Wilson, "U.S. Supporters Will Keep Fighting for Land Mine Ban," Defense News 12, 13-19 October 1997, p. 32.
58. See Gard, "Why Anti-Personnel Mines Are Indefensible"; Canada, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, "Questions and Answers - The AP Mine Ban Treaty, Ottawa Process II etc.," September 1997.
59. See Gard, "Why Anti-Personnel Mines Are Indefensible"; Canada, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, "Questions and Answers - The AP Mine Ban Treaty, Ottawa Process II etc.," September 1997.
60. See the letter from Gen. Sir Hugh Beach, "Landmine Loophole," Times (London), 9 September 1997.
61. David W. Ziegler, War, Peace, and International Politics, 5th ed. (Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman/Little, Brown, 1990), p. 314.
62. Michael Renner, "What Should Be Done with Nuclear Arsenals? Disarmament and Weapons Proliferation," in Charles W. Kegley, Jr., and Eugene R. Wittkopf, eds., The Global Agenda: Issues and Perspectives, 4th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995), p. 79.
63. See Ramesh Thakur, "India in the World: Neither Rich, Powerful, nor Principled," Foreign Affairs 76 (July-August 1997): 18-21.
64. See Dan Reiter, "Exploding the Powder Keg Myth: Preemptive Wars Almost Never Happen," International Security 20 (fall 1995): 5-34.
65. For a more detailed discussion of the problems of formal enforcement measures, see Adam Roberts, "Implementation of the Laws of War in Late 20th-Century Conflicts: Part I," Security Dialogue 29 (June 1998): 137-150.
66. See Telford Taylor, The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993).
67. See Guenter Lewy, America in Vietnam (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978), pp. 356-358.
68. See "Postanovlenie Verkhovnogo Soveta SSSR Ob Amnistii Sovershivshikh Prestupleniia Byvshikh Voennosluzhashchikh Kontingenta Sovetskikh Voisk v Afganistane" (Decision of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR about amnesty for war crimes committed by former Soviet troops in Afghanistan), Pravda, 30 November 1989, p. 1.
69. As Adam Smith wrote of "man," "Nature . . . has endowed him, not only with a desire of being approved of, but with a desire of being what ought to be approved of; or of being what he himself approves of in other men." Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (Indianapolis: Liberty Press, 1986), p. 212.
70. See Robert Axelrod, The Complexity of Cooperation: Agent-Based Models of Competition and Collaboration (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), pp. 40-68.
71. See Ramesh Thakur, "Get Test Ban Treaty Operational and Let India Join Later," International Herald Tribune, 9 September 1996.
72. The CTBT was adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 1996 by the overwhelming vote of 158 to 3. The decision was wrong in principle, faulty in logic, and bad politics. India responded by conducting tests in May 1998 to bring home the hollowness of that vote. Even I. K. Gujral, then prime minister and an opponent of the 1998 nuclear tests, explained them with reference to the CTBT maneuver. In a speech in Paris on 25 September 1998, he argued that testing "was practically forced on to India by the decision of the Nuclear Weapon States to force us against our will, and through an illegitimate stratagem, to be parties to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty"; K. K. Katyal, "Gujral Defends Pokhran Tests," Hindu (Chennai), 26 September 1998.
73. New York Times, 17 September 1998, p. A13.
74. Thomas C. Schelling, "Bargaining, Communication and Limited War," Journal of Conflict Resolution 1 (March 1957): 19-36.
75. Lloyd Axworthy, "Without Justice, No Security for Ordinary People," International Herald Tribune, 16 June 1998.
76. On this, see Samuel Huntington, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991); Juan J. Linz and Alfred Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996).
77. On this, see Samuel Huntington, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991); Juan J. Linz and Alfred Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996).
78. See Michael Doyle, Ways of War and Peace (New York: W.W. Norton, 1997), pp. 284-300.
79. Adam Roberts, "The Laws of War in the 1990-91 Gulf Conflict," International Security 18, no. 3 (winter 1993/94): 134-181.