Policy

The Holy See signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified it on 17 February 1998, becoming a State Party on 1 March 1999. The Holy See believes that new legislation specifically to implement the Mine Ban Treaty is unnecessary.

The Holy See regularly attends meetings of the treaty, including the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014, and more recently the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2018, where it provided a statement on Article 5 clearance efforts.[1] The Holy See regularly submits annual updated Article 7 transparency reports.

The Holy See is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. The Holy See is also party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

The Holy See has never used, produced, imported, exported, or stockpiled antipersonnel mines, including for training purposes.