United States of America
Practice Relating to Rule 83. Removal or Neutralization of Landmines
The US Air Force Commander’s Handbook (1980) states: “The party establishing a minefield should always keep a record of its location.”
The US Naval Handbook (1995) states that international law “requires that, to the extent possible, belligerents record the location of all minefields in order to facilitate their removal upon the cessation of hostilities. It is the practice of the United States to record the location of minefields in all circumstances.”
In 1976, during discussions in the Ad Hoc Committee on Conventional Weapons established by the CDDH, the United States supported “reasonable and feasible requirements for recording the location of minefields”.
In 2003, the Permanent Representatives of the United States and the United Kingdom to the United Nations wrote in a letter to the President of the UN Security Council:
The United States, the United Kingdom and Coalition partners, working through the Coalition Provisional Authority, shall inter alia, provide for security in and for the provisional administration of Iraq, including by … supporting and coordinating demining and related activities.