Landmines and Cluster Munitions

Duke of Wellington Excerpts

Thursday 3rd April 2025 Lords Chamber

[The Duke of Wellington (CB)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as one of my sons and his wife work for the Halo Trust, one of the leading de-mining charities. Also, I am a trustee of the Royal United Services Institute.

This debate is about a very difficult military and moral issue. There is no doubt that anti-personnel mines and cluster bombs disproportionately affect civilians. They make no distinction between combatants and non-combatants. The legacy of laying and dropping these weapons lasts for decades. In Cambodia, there are still mines dropped by the Americans during the Vietnam War. In Kosovo there are still mines dropped by the Americans and the British during the Bosnian war. The United Kingdom has a high moral duty to safeguard this Ottawa convention, of which it was a founder signatory in 1998.

However, 25 years later, the military situation in Europe has changed unimaginably. The Russians have laid hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of mines in Ukraine, which will take billions of pounds and decades to clear. It is very understandable that the Baltic states and other states bordering Russia and Belarus should feel it necessary to be able to defend themselves against further Russian aggression. Anti-tank mines can normally not be activated by human beings, and they can still be used. Modern technology has developed smart landmines, which can be activated and de-activated remotely. I humbly suggest to the Minister that the Government seek to preserve the principles of the Ottawa convention but attempt to modify it to take account of the new technologies and the transformed military situation in Europe.