U.S. Reverses Policy On Use of Landmines

On May 6, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) headed a congressional oversight letter with 107 other members of Congress to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper expressing disappointment to the Trump Administration’s reversal of the policy limiting the use of antipersonnel landmines to the defense of South Korea, and seeking answers to questions on the justification for the reversal and future plans.

You can read the letter here.

Here are the press statements for Senator Leahy and Rep. McGovern.

From Peace Action’s Senior Director for Policy and Political Affairs Paul Kawika Martin:

“Most of the world agrees: ban landmines because they indiscriminately kill innocents for years and are costly to clear. The Trump administration’s decision to reverse U.S. policy and allow the use of these horrific weapons deserves scrutiny. Answers to the questions in this bipartisan letter — led by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA-2) and signed by 107 members of Congress — will show that the U.S. should ratify the Mine Ban Treaty.”