As of 7 July 1998, 127 countries have signed the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and On their Destruction (the Mine Ban Treaty) and twenty-three have ratified it. This comprehensive treaty prohibits in all circumstances any use of antipersonnel landmines. It also requires that stockpiles be destroyed within four years of the treaty's entry into force, and that mines already in the ground be removed and destroyed within ten years. It calls on governments to provide assistance for the care and rehabilitation of mine victims. Four of the eighteen countries of the Middle East and North Africa region have signed the treaty to date -- Algeria, Qatar, Tunisia and Yemen -- and none have ratified. This region has been one of the most reluctant to embrace a ban on antipersonnel mines. Egypt, Iran, Iraq and Israel are producers of antipersonnel mines. While Israel, Egypt, and Iran have declared that they no longer export antipersonnel mines, Iraq remains one of only two nations in the world known to have exported in the past that have not announced a halt. Still, nearly every nation in the region has openly acknowledged the global humanitarian crisis caused by antipersonnel mines and has called for their eventual elimination. This fact sheet will detail the participation in the "Ottawa Process" leading to the ban treaty by countries of the Middle East and North Africa by looking at their sponsorship of relevant UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions, attendance in key meetings of the process, and other factors.