Government proposal to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention sent out for comments

Withdrawal from of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, known as the Ottawa Convention, requires a government proposal. Comments on the draft proposal may be given until 16 May 2025.

On 1 April 2025, the Government decided to begin the preparations for withdrawal from the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, also known as the Ottawa Convention.

The Government’s decision is based on a report by the Defence Forces and on preparatory work by officials at the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Withdrawal from the convention requires a government proposal.

The draft government proposal has been prepared by a working group led by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

The draft proposal states that the main goals of Finland’s foreign and security policy are to safeguard Finland’s independence and territorial integrity, to avoid becoming involved in a military conflict and to improve the security and well-being of the people of Finland. In order to secure these goals and, where necessary, to fight large-scale, protracted wars, Finland must be able to develop its defence capabilities. It is therefore appropriate to withdraw from the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction. Withdrawal from the convention will enable the reintroduction of anti-personnel mines to supplement Finland’s defence capabilities.

The draft government proposal also assesses, among other things, effects of withdrawal from the convention. Withdrawal would have effects especially on Finland’s national defence and foreign and security policy.

Furthermore, the draft proposal suggests that amendments resulting from the withdrawal from the convention be made to the Criminal Code, the Coercive Measures Act and the Act on Military Discipline and Combating Crime in the Finnish Defence Forces.

The President of the Republic decides on Finland’s withdrawal from the convention after Parliament has given its consent. The withdrawal will take effect six months after the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who serves as the Depository of the convention, has received Finland’s instrument of withdrawal.

Comments on the draft government proposal may be submitted through the lausuntopalvelu.fi consultation service (in Finnish and Swedish) until 16 May 2025 at 16.15.