The European Union today strongly condemned the decision by US President Donald Trump to lift US restrictions on landmines.
European Union’s diplomatic chief Josep Borrell said in a statement in Brussels that the decision undermines the global norm against anti-personnel mines, which has saved tens of thousands of people over the past 20 years. He said, the majority of the mine victims were children.
The European Union rebuke followed Mr Trump’s green light on Friday to a new generation of self-destructing landmines on the argument that they were safer.
Mr Borrell pointed out that the US, like the European Union, is an important global supporter of mine clearance and destruction. He said the change in policy not only directly contradicts these actions but also negatively affects the rules-based international order.
More than 160 countries, including most of the Western world, are party to the 1999 Ottawa Convention that aimed to eliminate anti-personnel mines.
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