“Today’s decision to leave the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention is a retrograde move that will only further weaken the global consensus aimed at minimising civilian harm during armed conflict,” said Esther Major, Amnesty International’s deputy director for research in Europe.
“We call on the Lithuanian government to reverse this decision that could put civilian lives at risk,” she said, adding that anti-personnel mines have devastating effects on civilians.
Wait, I think there’s a big disconnect here. Nobody is suggesting they scatter a million landmines around Vilnius, or even emplacing them along the border right now. You can have landmines ready, but not place them until you notice troop buildups. You can even pre-place basic fences to keep civilians out of the zones you plan to use, it still works.
The time to place landmines is when you’re (about to be) at war. Not just for humanitarian reasons, landmines don’t actually work reliably forever.
And, very harshly, you can weigh those deaths against immediate deaths when you’re at war. Against an enemy that has repeatedly demonstrated that losing a war will mean you stop existing as a people, the equation becomes a lot less complex.
Fair point, nukes also deter if you don’t use them. But the point that still stands is that if you spend your money on mines you can’t spend it on other things. I don’t know enough about warfare to know how to spend money wisely, but I do hope Lithuanian government takes the downsides of mines into consideration enough.