In a statement Tuesday, the head of the U.S. delegation to the Second Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty informed participants that the Obama administration has begun a comprehensive landmine policy review. The statement came on the heels of an outcry by
human rights and disarmament activists on Obama’s decision to not to sign the 10-year-old treaty banning anti-personnel landmines. (Ploughshares Fund was one of the original supporters of the landmine ban campaign.) On the rejection of the treaty,
Heather Hurlburt of the
National Security Network , “I think what you see is an administration that is genuinely committed to multilateralism and renewing international cooperation coming up against the hard limits of domestic politics and realities."