Signature

Pursuant to Article 15, the Convention was opened for signature by all States at Ottawa, Canada, from 3 to 4 December 1997, and at the United Nations headquarters in New York, from 5 December 1997 until its entry into force on 1 March 1999. 122 States took advantage of this possibility and signed the Convention in Ottawa. The Convention was signed by a total of 133 States.

Please note that the Convention is now closed for signature.

How to become a Party to the Mine Ban Convention 

Pursuant to Article 16, the Convention is subject to ratification, acceptance or approval by the Signatories. Any State which has not signed this Convention may accede to it.

To become a party to the Convention the State concerned shall formally declare its consent to be bound by it in accordance with its constitutional arrangements for adherence to an international agreement. These constitutional arrangements generally require domestic action by the national parliament. Once the domestic requirements have been completed, an instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession must be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, in his capacity as the Convention’s depositary.

Pursuant to Article 17, paragraph 2, the Convention shall enter into force for that State on the first day of the sixth month after the date on which that State has deposited its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession. However, any State may at the time of its ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, declare according to Article 18 that it will apply provisionally paragraph 1 of Article 1 of this Convention pending its entry into force.

The Articles of the Convention are not subject to reservations.

ICRC, in cooperation with the United Nations, have developed the following APLC Ratification Kit. The Ratification Kit contains a short description of the main obligations of the States parties in implementing the Convention, as well as a model instruments of accession to the Convention. It is available for download in English, Español, and Français.

For more information, please contact the APLC Executive Secretariat with the Office for Disarmament Affairs (Geneva branch), e-mail: aplc@unog.ch; or to Treaty Section, Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations, New York, NY 10017, e-mail: treaty@un.org.