Amended Protocol II is the revised version of the Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices annexed to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). It was adopted on 3 May 1996 at the CCW Review Conference in Geneva and entered into force on 3 December 1998.
The original 1980 Protocol II applied only to international armed conflicts and was widely seen as inadequate during the early 1990s, when anti-personnel mines were causing severe civilian casualties in places such as Cambodia, Angola, Afghanistan and the former Yugoslavia. The amended text extends the protocol's scope to non-international armed conflicts, a significant expansion of international humanitarian law.
Key obligations include:
- Detectability: all anti-personnel mines produced after 1 January 1997 must contain enough metal to be detected by common mine-detection equipment.
- Self-destruction and self-deactivation: remotely delivered anti-personnel mines must self-destruct and have a back-up self-deactivation feature.
- Restrictions on use of booby-traps and other devices, including a prohibition on those attached to protected objects such as medical facilities, children's toys, or food.
- Recording and clearance: parties must record minefield locations and are responsible for clearing mines in territory under their control after hostilities.
- Annual reporting and consultations among High Contracting Parties.
Amended Protocol II is often discussed alongside the 1997 Ottawa Convention (Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention), which goes further by banning anti-personnel mines outright. States that have not joined Ottawa — including the United States, China, Russia, India, Pakistan and Israel — frequently cite Amended Protocol II as the framework governing their mine policy. Critics argue its technical standards are weaker than a full ban and that compliance verification is limited, while supporters note it brought major mine-using states under binding rules they would not otherwise accept.
Example
In its 2023 national annual report under Amended Protocol II, the United States reiterated that it retains anti-personnel mines compliant with the protocol's detectability and self-destruction standards.
Frequently asked questions
Amended Protocol II regulates how anti-personnel mines may be designed and used, while the 1997 Ottawa Convention prohibits their use, production, stockpiling and transfer outright.
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