Banning Anti-Personnel Mines - The Ottawa Treaty Explained (International Committee of the Red Cross , 1998, 24 p.): 2. The Ottawa treaty: 2.6 Reservations

Banning Anti-Personnel Mines - The Ottawa Treaty Explained (International Committee of the Red Cross , 1998, 24 p.)

2. The Ottawa treaty

		(introduction...)
		2.1 What is an anti-personnel mine?
		2.2 The elements of a comprehensive ban treaty
		2.3 Addressing the problem: mine clearance and assistance to victims
		2.4 Entry into force
		2.5 Ensuring compliance with the treaty
		2.6 Reservations
		2.7 Withdrawal

2.6 Reservations

No reservations are possible to any of the treaty’s provisions (see Art. 19). This means that at the moment of signature or subsequent adherence, a government is not entitled to make a unilateral declaration that it will not respect one or more of these provisions. In the negotiations, it was felt that the option of making reservations would inevitably create confusion and frustrate the object and purpose of the treaty, which is to impose a total ban on antipersonnel mines. Prohibitions on reservations are unusual in international humanitarian law, although they are included in some arms-control agreements.