122 states sign Ottawa landmine treaty

Only 14 months after Canada first called for states to negotiate a treaty banning anti-personnel landmines worldwide, 122 states (plus the Holy See and two Pacific Island dependencies) emerged from a December 2-4 signing conference in Ottawa with a commitment not to use, stockpile, produce or transfer mines. They joined the 1997 Nobel Peace prize winning international non-governmental coalition (the International Campaign to Ban Landmines) in celebrating the signing of the "Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction."

Canada was the first to deposit its ratification, followed by Ireland …