In recent years, there has been an increasing awareness and activism on the controversial issue of landmines.
Statistics regarding landmines also reveal shocking figures.
The United States against the banning of landmines President Clinton, in 1994, was the first leader to call for an international ban on anti-personnel landmines. Yet in 1997 when they all met in Ottawa, Canada, to sign a treaty to ban the use, the USA weren't there . And as the treaty became binding international law on March 1 st 1999, the United States has once again come under scrutiny as they look to actually increase spending on a new mine system. Other nations such as Russia, China, Cuba, Turkey, North and South Korea, India and Pakistan have also refused to sign the treaty, but the US is the most influential and therefore their lack of co-operation and leadership is an even more serious blow for such a treaty. As a result, there has been a lot of sustained pressure to urge the US to sign the agreement.