Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday after chairing a meeting of European Union defense ministers, Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said he was returning to Warsaw to present the bill to the lower house of parliament, the Sejm.
He urged all political parties to back the proposal and appealed to President Andrzej Duda to sign it promptly.
“Together with the Baltic states—Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia—and also with Finland, we have decided to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention," Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters.
"We are counting on majority support in parliament, and I am asking for the president’s swift signature because this is a multi-step process," he said.
He added that once Poland notifies the United Nations of its decision, it will take six months for the withdrawal to take effect.
The Ottawa Convention prohibits the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of anti-personnel landmines, and requires signatories to destroy existing stockpiles. It was adopted in 1997 and entered into force in 1999.
So far, 165 countries have signed the treaty—including Poland, which ratified it in 2012. Major powers such as the United States, Russia, China, Israel and Iran have not joined.
In the preamble to the treaty, signatory states commit to ending the use of landmines that "kill or maim hundreds of people every week, mostly innocent and defenseless civilians and especially children."
The treaty defines anti-personnel mines as those "designed to be exploded by the presence, proximity, or contact of a person and that will incapacitate, injure or kill one or more persons."
Anti-tank mines are not covered by the agreement.
Although Poland signed the treaty in 1997, it took 15 years to ratify it. One of the reasons for the delay was the large stockpile of landmines and the cost of their destruction.
Calls to exit the treaty have grown in recent months amid heightened regional security concerns.
In December, Finland announced it was considering withdrawal.
In March, the defense ministers of Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania jointly declared their intention to leave the convention, arguing that "military threats to NATO member states bordering Russia and Belarus have significantly increased" since their countries joined.
"We believe that in the current security environment it is paramount to provide our defense forces flexibility and freedom of choice to potentially use new weapons systems and solutions to bolster the defense of the alliance’s vulnerable eastern flank," the four ministers said in a statement.
"In light of this unstable security environment, marked by Russian aggression and its ongoing threat to the Euro-Atlantic community, it is essential to evaluate all measures that could strengthen our deterrence and defense capabilities," they wrote.
The statement added that, despite their intention to leave the treaty, the countries would remain committed to humanitarian law, including protecting civilians during armed conflicts.
According to a 2024 report by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Russia has used anti-personnel mines extensively in Ukraine.
In October, the United Nations stated that Ukraine is now the most heavily mined country in the world.
(rt/gs)
Source: PAP, IAR