International Campaign to Ban Landmines
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines is a coalition of non-governmental organizations working for a world free of anti-personnel landmines and cluster munitions, where mine and cluster munitions survivors see their rights respected and can lead fulfilling lives.
The coalition was formed in 1992 when six groups with similar interests, including Human Rights Watch, Medico International, Handicap International, Physicians for Human Rights, Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation and the Mines Advisory Group, agreed to cooperate on their common goal. The campaign has since grown and spread to become a network of over 1,400 groups – including groups working on women, children, veterans, religious groups, the environment, human rights, arms control, peace and development—in over 90 countries, working locally, nationally and internationally to eradicate antipersonnel landmines.[1] A prominent supporter was Diana, Princess of Wales.
The organization and its founding coordinator, Jody Williams, jointly received the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to bring about the Mine Ban Treaty.
The campaign's greatest success occurred in 1999 when the Ottawa Treaty, which bans the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of anti-personnel mines, came into force. Some states, including the United States, Russia and China, have thus far refused to join. In 2004, the first review conference of the Ottawa Treaty, The Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World, was held in Nairobi, Kenya. The Summit produced the Nairobi Action Plan for 2005–2009, a set of 70 action points that member states committed to undertake in the five year period following the Summit. And in 2009, the second review conference, The Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World, occurred in Cartagena, Colombia. This conference produced the Cartagena Action Plan 2010-2014, an updated plan of 67 actions to enhance States Parties’ work under the Mine Ban Treaty.[2]
The ICBL and its flexible network of organizations remain committed to an international ban on the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of antipersonnel landmines, and for increased international resources for humanitarian mine clearance and mine victim assistance programs. The ICBL monitors the mine situation in the world (through a network of researchers producing the annual Landmine Monitor Report, which was rebranded in 2010 to be called the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor), and conducts advocacy activities, lobbying for implementation and universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty, humanitarian mine action programs geared toward the needs of mine-affected communities, support for landmine survivors, their families and their communities, and a stop to the production, use and transfer of landmines, including by non-State armed groups. The ICBL participates in the periodical meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty process, urges States not Parties to the Treaty to join and non-State armed groups to respect the mine ban norm, condemns mine use and promotes public awareness and debate on the mine issue, organizing events and generating media attention. The ICBL is a member of the Steering Committee of the Cluster Munition Coalition and works closely with the Cluster Munition Coalition to move along the universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
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[edit] Organizational structure
The ICBL has a five member Management Committee, an Advisory Board composed of 22 member organizations, and five ambassade as campaign representatives at speaking events and other conferences worldwide. They include Jody Williams, Tun Channareth (Cambodian landmine survivor and founder of the Cambodian Campaign to Ban Landmines), Song Kosal (landmine survivor and youth Ambassador for the ICBL), Elisabeth Bernstein (former ICBL coordinator), and Margaret Arech Orech (Ugandan landmine survivor and founder of Ugandan Landmine Survivors Association). Currently, the ICBL has eight staff members based in Geneva (the central office), Lyon, Paris, and Rome. Additionally, the ICBL has several interns each year.
[edit] Mine Ban Treaty
The Mine Ban Treaty, or the Ottawa Treaty, is the international agreement that bans antipersonnel landmines. Officially entitled The Convention on the Prohibition, Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Antipersonnel Mines and on Their Destruction, the treaty is sometimes referred to as the Ottawa Convention.
In December 1997, 122 governments signed the treaty in Ottawa, Canada. It entered into force and became binding under international law in March 1999, doing so quicker than any other previous treaty of its kind.
The treaty commits member states to “put an end to the suffering and casualties caused by antipersonnel landmines” by addressing current landmine problems and preventing future landmine problems. The general obligations that State Parties agree to are as follows:
- never use antipersonnel mines, nor to “develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer” them;
- destroy mines in their stockpiles within four years of the treaty becoming binding;
- clear mines in their territory within 10 years;
- in mine-affected countries, conduct mine awareness and ensure that mine victims are cared for, rehabilitated and reintegrated into their communities;
- offer assistance to other States Parties for example in providing for survivors or in clearance programs;
- adopt implementation measures (such as national legislation) in order to ensure that the terms of the treaty are upheld in their territory.
The Treaty is still open for ratification by signatories and for accession by those who did not sign before March 1999. As of 26 April 2010, there were 156 States Parties to the Ottawa Treaty. Two countries that have signed but have not ratified the treaty are the Marshall Islands and Poland. There are 37 countries which have not signed but are still able to accede to the Treaty. Several major powers, including the United States, are in de facto compliance with many of the obligations under the Mine Ban Treaty but have not signed.
[edit] Humanitarian effects of anti-personnel land mines
As of August 2009, the Landmine Monitor identified at least 70 countries that were considered to be mine-affected.[3] As of 2005, more than 200,000 square kilometers were suspected to be contaminated by landmines and UXO. However, by 2008 Landmine Monitor had lowered that estimate to 3,000 square kilometers.[4]
From 1999-2008, Landmine Monitor recorded at least 73,576 casualties of landmines, explosive remnants of war, and Improvised Explosive Devices. These casualties were spread over 119 countries and areas.[3] While tragically high, the number of casualties in the past decade is incomplete because it includes only recorded casualties. There was certainly under-reporting throughout the decade due to the lack of adequate data collection mechanisms worldwide, a lack of retrospective data collection, and under-reporting of certain groups of casualties, such as foreign nationals, refugees or internally displaced persons, non-state armed groups (NSAG), or ethnic minorities. Mine/ERW casualties during conflicts are also under-reported.[5]
In 1999, the year of the entry into force of the Ottawa Treaty, Landmine Monitor recorded the probable use of antipersonnel landmines by 15 states. By 2009, the only states known to have continued using antipersonnel landmines were Burma and Russia.[6]
As of 2008, Landmine Monitor reported that as many as 35 states not party still stockpiled an estimated 160 million mines. The vast majority of these stockpiles belong to China (about 110 million), Russia (about 24.5 million) and the United States (10.4 million).[7]
Since 1999, the use of antipersonnel mines and mine-like improvised explosive devices (IEDs) by non-state armed groups (NSAGs) have been reported in at least 28 countries. 19 of these countries were States Parties, while 9 countries were States not party. In 2008, NSAG use of landmines and IEDs was confirmed in seven countries, three of which are States Parties.[8] However, while landmine use continues to decrease, the use of IEDs has increased significantly, especially in Afghanistan and Colombia.
[edit] See also
- Mines Advisory Group
- Geneva Call, an NGO inspired by the ICBL that focuses on non-state actors
- Ottawa Treaty (Mine Ban Treaty)
- Swiss Foundation for Mine Action
- Mine clearance agencies
- Demining
- Land mine
- Anti-personnel mine
- Aki Ra Active in removing mines.
- Ban Advocates Voice from communities affected by cluster munitions
- Manitoba Campaign to Ban Landmines
- International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons
[edit] References
- ^ ICBL: History, www.icbl.org/index.php/icbl/About-Us/History
- ^ Cartagena Action Plan, www.cartagenasummit.org
- ^ a b Landmine Monitor Report 2009, p.1.
- ^ Landmine Monitor Report 2009, p. 34.
- ^ Landmine Monitor Report 2009, p. 46.
- ^ Landmine Monitor Report 2009, p.4.
- ^ Landmine Monitor Report 2009, p.17.
- ^ Landmine Monitor Report 2009, pp.10-11.
[edit] External links
- International Campaign to Ban Landmines (official website)
- Mines Advisory Group
- "Poem of the Land Mine Museum" video with documentary footage (2 min).
- Manitoba Campaign to Ban Landmines (official website of Canada's first provincial campaign to ban landmines)
- Ken Rutherford, Disarming States: The International Movement to Ban Landmines, (March, 2011)
