5 - Humanitarian Disarmament Triumphant?

Summary

The chapter identifies three dynamics that were at play in providing a space for the Anti-Personnel Landmines Convention (APLM) to emerge: the inadequacy of Protocol II to the Convention on Conventional Weapons which had been agreed in 1980; the development of a broad partnership between the Non Aligned states and some European middle powers; and the reemergence of a humanitarian sensibility generally with the ending of the Cold War. The lead up to the treaty is explained and a detailed analysis of the humanitarian credentials of the APLM Convention is provided, with a focus on four aspects of the treaty: the way the treaty challenged existing disarmament negotiating paradigms; the increased transparency of disarmament diplomacy because of the greater presence and engagement by civil society; the way verification was led civil society post-EIF; and the attention to victim assistance. The final part of the chapter sets out some broader reflections on the extent to which the APLM Convention can be considered to be ‘humanitarian disarmament perfected’.