Poland to withdraw from Ottawa Convention on anti-personnel mines

Poland will formally withdraw from the Ottawa Convention — which prohibits the use, production, and stockpiling of anti-personnel mines — on February 20, Deputy Minister of Defence Cezary Tomczyk announced during an interview on Polish radio.

“Poland is withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention on February 20 and, as a result, will be able to adopt and produce anti-personnel mines,” Tomczyk said.

The step follows Poland’s earlier declaration, made jointly with the Baltic states and Finland, that they would exit the treaty in March 2025. In July of that year, then-President Andrzej Duda signed into law Poland’s withdrawal from the convention, following parliamentary approval.

The Ottawa Convention, which entered into force in 1999, has been ratified by 164 states. The International Committee of the Red Cross notes that anti-personnel mines inflict extensive civilian casualties and pose a long-term threat even after active hostilities have ceased.

The treaty bans the military use of anti-personnel mines as well as their production, stockpiling, and transfer, and obliges signatories to destroy existing stockpiles. Poland signed the convention on December 4, 1997, but did not ratify it until 2012.

With its upcoming withdrawal, Poland becomes the fifth European Union member state to announce its intention to leave the treaty.

The region has seen a series of recent exits. Lithuania formally ended its participation on May 8, 2025, following a vote in the Seimas in which 107 deputies supported withdrawal, three abstained, and none voted against.

Finland also signalled its departure. On April 1, 2025, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo announced Helsinki’s plan to withdraw, arguing that doing so would enable the country to respond more flexibly to changes in the security environment. According to Orpo, leaving the convention would allow Finland to “prepare for changes in the security situation in a more versatile way.”

The Finnish government formally renounced the treaty on July 10, 2025.

The decision will come into force on January 17, 2026.

By Tamilla Hasanova