Sri Lanka on Tuesday agreed to sign up to a United Nations treaty to discipline its use of landmines, booby traps and certain other conventional weapons.
The Cabinet has given the go ahead to Sri Lanka’s accession to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons, a Foreign Ministry statement said.
Accession to the convention also means Sri Lanka will have to fall in line with the protocols on mines, booby traps, incendiary weapons and blinding laser weapons.
The treaty and its protocol’s is not a blanket ban but will put in basic standards for responsible use, guiding usage, types of mines, presence of stockpiles, among others.
"Acceding to the protocol does not mean it’s a blanket ban, or that we have to stop using landmines," a Foreign Ministry official explained.
"By becoming party to this we accept certain rules and regulations in the protocol to discipline our use, such as technical specifications on maintaining stockpiles, type