The landmine ban hands Britain’s enemies an advantage

There are few better symbols of Europe’s military fecklessness during the brief era of relative peace that followed the end of the Cold War than the 1997 Ottawa Treaty, which banned the use of anti-personnel landmines by its signatories. The same is true of the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), which outlawed cluster munitions. This was championed by Gordon Brown, despite the strong opposition of the British armed forces.

It is easy to understand the humanitarian impulses which lay behind both treaties, both of which count the United Kingdom among its signatories. Anti-personnel mines and cluster bomblets can remain unexploded in the field for decades, killing and maiming civilians long after the end of the war for which they were deployed. At a time when the prospect of large-scale warfare between great powers seemed to be receding, it seemed like a relatively costless concession.