No, the Treaty does not allow for reservations. A State Party cannot join and then reserve the right to use mines in the future or in special circumstances. Further, a State Party remains bound by its treaty obligations even if it withdraws at some point, since as Article 20 says, the convention is of unlimited duration.
Definition issues
The treaty defines antipersonnel mines as "a mine designed to be exploded by the presence, proximity or contact of a person and that will incapacitate, injure or kill one or more persons". So, it is these weapons that are banned under the convention.
In addition, the negotiators of the convention acknowledged that antivehicle mines with anti-handling devices or sensitive fuses that explode from an unintentional or innocent act are considered antipersonnel mines and therefore prohibited too. This is also the ICBL’s view. But governments at that time did not include this in the text of the convention and not all States Parties today agree with this position.
The ICBL continues to urge member states for clarity on the interpretation of the definition, together with the International Committee of the Red Cross. We will lobby for our interpretation, which we believe is in line with that of the treaty negotiatiors.
Joint operations
The treaty forbids State Parties to “assist, encourage or induce, in any way, anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Convention” (Article 1). The ICBL and many states have interpreted this to mean that a treaty member should not assist another party in using antipersonnel landmines, nor should they derive any direct benefit from a minefield laid by this other party. We believe that involvement in such a joint operation contravenes both the letter and the spirit of the treaty. Clarity on what is meant by “assist” is expected from the Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World.
Mines retained and transferred
The treaty does allow a state to keep a limited number of mines for training purposes. Article 3 says that stockpiled mines "shall not exceed the minimum number absolutely necessarily". In addition, allowance is made for the transfer of mines to a destruction site.
In practice most states have only kept hundreds or thousands of mines and many have even destroyed those, realizing that they do not need live mines for training. The ICBL supports this and encourages those states that have retained tens of thousands of mines to destroy these.