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Disarmament DocumentationBack to Disarmament Documentation Fifth Anniversary of Mine Ban Treaty Signing, December 3
I. Canadian Foreign Ministry Press Release & BackgrounderPress Release'Ministers Graham and Whelan Celebrate Fifth Anniversary of Signing of Ottawa Convention', Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) Press Release No. 163 (2002), November 28; DFAIT website, http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca. Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham and International Cooperation Minister Susan Whelan today announced that they will participate in events celebrating the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines. On December 3, 1997, 122 countries signed the Convention at a conference held in the nation's capital. On November 29, Minister Graham and Minister Whelan will participate in a plaque unveiling ceremony to be held in the main lobby of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade headquarters in Ottawa. The plaque, which will remain on permanent display in the foyer of the Lester B. Pearson building, was created to commemorate Canada's support for the Ottawa Convention. "Five years ago Canada challenged the international community to sign and ratify a treaty that would oblige parties to end the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of anti-personnel mines," said Mr. Graham. "I attribute much of the remarkable progress achieved to date to an unprecedented level of cooperation and coordination between governments, international organizations and NGOs. These partnerships have resulted in 130 ratifications of the Convention, millions of hectares of land being cleared of mines, and a significant reduction in the number of new landmine casualties. Canada will continue to play a leading role in ensuring the full implementation of the Convention." ... "Since Canada signed the Ottawa Convention in 1997, the Canadian International Development Agency has contributed $72 million toward mine action activities in developing countries," said Minister Whelan. "We have engaged in humanitarian demining projects, victim assistance, and mine risk education. Canadian support is making a difference in the world. It has helped save lives and limbs, not to mention returning useable land to the people who rely on it." The Ministers underscored their pride in the direct participation of numerous Canadians in mine action activities throughout the world, including demining efforts, victim assistance programs, technology development and fundraising, as well as technical assistance to other countries to enable them to accede to the Convention. In addition, they highlighted the fine work being done by Canada's youth mine action ambassadors, who will also be organizing and participating in numerous fifth anniversary activities taking place across the country. BackgrounderBackgrounder attached to DFAIT Press Release No. 163 (2002), November 28. For the past six years Canada has been at the forefront of international efforts to eliminate anti-personnel mines (APMs) and alleviate the suffering they cause. A major architect in the development of the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines, Canada has also led international efforts to fully implement it. Since 1997, Canada has provided more than $100 million, through the Canadian Landmine Fund, as well as other available resources, to support mine action programs in the following key areas:
Mine action initiatives undertaken by Canada and the international community in the last five years have proven remarkably successful, due in no small part to outstanding cooperation between governments and civil society in addressing all facets of the issue. Results include:
While the international community has taken important measures to rid the world of APMs, much work remains to be done. According to the non-governmental reporting network Landmine Monitor, there are still approximately 15,000 to 20,000 mine-related casualties a year occurring in 70 countries. There are in excess of 230 million APMs stockpiled in 94 nations, and 65 countries have not yet ratified or acceded to the Convention, including three permanent members of the Security Council, the United States, Russia and China. Canada will continue to lead international efforts to fully implement the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines, with the aim of eradicating these weapons. II. ICBL Press Release'Campaign celebrates progress on Mine Ban Treaty fifth anniversary,' International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) Press Release, December 3; ICBL website, http://www.icbl.org. On the fifth anniversary of the Mine Ban Treaty, campaigners around the world called on states and armed rebel groups to embrace the emerging international norm that rejects mine use. Five years ago, the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction opened for signature in Ottawa, Canada. The following week, on 10 December 1997, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and its former coordinator, Jody Williams, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. "It is heartening to see such progress since the birth of the treaty five years ago," said Jody Williams, now ICBL ambassador. Williams highlighted the increase each year of the total number of victims of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO). "This means that our work is far from over," said Williams. The number of new mine/UXO casualties each year is now estimated by the ICBL's Landmine Monitor to be some 15-20,000 per year. The Mine Ban Treaty came into force quicker than any multilateral convention and, with 130 States Parties and a further 16 signatories, it is now one of the most widely accepted and fastest growing treaties of its kind. Since 1997, mine use has decreased and this is in keeping with the overwhelmingly positive trend which has seen trade in anti-personnel mines all but dry up; the number of countries producing the weapon drop to 14 (from 55 in the early 1990s); over 30 million stockpiled mines destroyed; vast tracts of land cleared; and expanded mine action programmes totalling more than $1 billion. There have been some notable aberrations from this positive pattern, however. Confirmed or compelling evidence that nine governments used anti-personnel mines between May 2001 and June 2002 was presented in the ICBL's Landmine Monitor Report 2002: Toward a Mine-Free World. The ICBL continues to condemn, amongst others, India and Pakistan for their extensive mining of the border between the two countries and Russia for mine use in Chechnya. Significantly, anti-personnel mine use has halted in key places in the last year, such as Angola and Sri Lanka. Campaigners, who continue to push for the inclusion of a ban on mine use and a commitment to mine action and victim assistance in cease-fire and peace agreements, have welcomed this. Anti-personnel mine use by armed opposition groups has been reported in at least 14 countries during the reporting period May 2001 through June 2002. The ICBL has called on these groups to refrain from mine use and to respect the growing international norm. The ICBL continues to criticise the 48 nations that go against the tide and remain outside the Mine Ban Treaty. These include US, Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and Egypt. As preparations get underway for an invasion of Iraq, the ICBL has called on the US not to use anti-personnel mines in Iraq or elsewhere. Every member of NATO except the US has joined the Mine Ban Treaty, and these member states, plus Australia (another potential ally in a US war in Iraq) have been urged to refuse to take part in any joint operations involving anti-personnel mines. Treaty States Parties and signatories should insist that non-signatories refrain from using anti-personnel mines in joint military operations, the ICBL said. The US military previously used anti-personnel mines during the Gulf War in 1991 and is said to have mines stored in Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain and elsewhere for possible use in Iraq. Today, Iraq is severely affected by mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) as a result of the Gulf War, the Iraq-Iran War and two decades of internal conflict. Mines and UXOs are a problem in the north of Iraq as well as the southern and central regions along the border with Iran, according to Landmine Monitor. New use of anti-personnel mines will only exacerbate an already dire situation. A year on, Afghanistan is still recovering from the decades of warfare that made it one of the most mine-contaminated countries in the world. The ICBL congratulates President Hamid Karzai for his government's accession to the Mine Ban Treaty in September 2002 and appeals to donor countries to make mine action and victim assistance programs a priority in rebuilding the country. ... The ICBL, a network of more than 1,400 groups in over 90 countries, continues to work locally, nationally and internationally to eradicate anti-personnel mines. Activists are marking the fifth anniversary with local activities, including letters to non States Parties in Asia-Pacific - India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. This forms part of an Asia Appeal, which aims to boost universalisation of the treaty in this region in the run-up to the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in September 2003. In Ottawa, the 'birthplace' of the treaty, the ICBL's Mines Action Canada, is organising "Without Reservation - Addressing the Challenges of Achieving a Landmine Free World", an international symposium involving over 100 people from 23 countries representing governments, Canadian and international NGOs, UN and other experts to work on plans for the next five years of the Mine Ban Treaty. III. ICRC Press Release'Anti-personnel landmines: going, going but not quite gone!', International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Press Release 02/73, December 2; ICRC website, http://www.icrc.org. Five years ago, one hundred twenty-one States signed a Convention in Ottawa which the ICRC claimed at the time marked the "beginning of the end of anti-personnel landmines", a weapon that was identified as the cause of immense and irreversible human suffering throughout the world. Five years later, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) salutes the tremendous steps taken towards the final elimination of this weapon. Today, 130 states have ratified or acceded to the Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-personnel Mines, or Ottawa Treaty as it is more commonly known, and public support for the ban remains undiminished. Most importantly, the Treaty has had a real effect in reducing landmine injuries. The annual number of victims has fallen dramatically - by over 65% in places such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, and Croatia where the Convention's stipulations programming anti-personnel landmine non-use, clearance and awareness requirements are being implemented. Parties to the Ottawa Treaty have reportedly destroyed 27 million of these mines. The accession to the Treaty, announced earlier this year, by Afghanistan and Angola, two of the world's most mine-affected countries, is particularly welcome. The ICRC contributes to global mine action by promoting universal adherence to and full implementation of the Ottawa Treaty; conducting mine awareness programmes; and providing medical care and rehabilitation services to mine victims who are mainly civilians. Landmine injuries are indeed among the most horrific injuries surgeons have to deal with. But, the situation has changed dramatically since the day when, back in 1994, the ICRC added its voice to calls for a complete ban on these inhumane weapons. At that time, these anti-personnel landmines were almost universally considered to be militarily indispensable and were widely used. Now, however, the prohibition of antipersonnel landmines is a widely accepted norm. This is good news. Yet all is not done. Men, women and children are still being hurt by these devices and the momentum of Ottawa cannot stop until the scourge of anti-personnel landmines is completely eradicated.. Efforts must continue to ensure that the Ottawa Treaty gains complete universal adherence. In addition, State Parties currently face two key deadlines: from March 2003 the destruction of all stockpiled antipersonnel mines must be completed for most States and 2009 when deadlines for the clearance of mined areas on their territory begin to fall due. In the time remaining prior to the Convention's First Review Conference (in 2004), the ICRC encourages all States Parties to re-commit themselves to this humanitarian endeavour and to ensure that the resources needed for its implementation are made available. The ICRC calls on all States not yet Parties to join the Convention as a matter of urgency. © 2002 The Acronym Institute. |