Disarmament

Anti-Personnel Landmine Convention (APLC)

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction is commonly referred to as the Ottawa Convention or the Mine Ban Treaty.

The Convention was opened for signature at Ottawa in 1997 and entered into force in 1999. Currently, 164 States are party.

Under the Convention, States-Parties must destroy all stocks of anti-personnel mines in four years and clear all minefields in their territory in 10 years.

Greece signed the Convention in 1997 and deposited its instrument of ratification, simultaneously with neighboring Turkey, on 25/09/2003. Since entry into force on March 2004, Greece is in the process of fulfilling its Treaty obligations and has regularly submitted its article 7 report on measures taken to implement the Convention. At the Cartagena Summit in 2009 Greece announced the completion of the clearing of all its mined areas (Article 5 of the Convention), four years ahead of schedule. Greece is in the process of fulfilling its article 4 obligation and provides regularly updated information on its ongoing efforts in compliance with actions 5 to 7 of the Maputo Action Plan.