DISARMAMENT: Landmine Treaty a Rare Multilateral Success

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Aug 29 2001 (IPS) - The convention against the use of anti- personnel landmines has become the most successful of international disarmament treaties, despite the fact that the world’s major powers – China, Russia and the United States – have yet to officially recognise the accord.

The Ottawa Convention, as the pact is known, was adopted in the Canadian capital in December 1997 and entered into force in March 1998 under the formal title: “Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction.”

It has been ratified by 118 countries and signed by 140, “which in such a short time is a fantastic achievement,” said Belgian ambassador Jean Lint, who serves as co-chair of the convention’s follow-up committee.

“This is the only convention where the future is not gloomy, given multilateralism’s current passage through a difficult period,” observed Lint.

As far as arms control, the Belgian diplomat’s comments are corroborated by the stagnation of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament talks in Geneva.

Also backing his statement are the failure of a treaty for verifying compliance with the convention on biological weapons and the threats hanging over the anti-ballistic missile treaty.

Lint said that in the “encouraging and positive” climate surrounding the fight against landmines, the countries party to the convention will gather in Managua Sep 18-21 for their third meeting.

From June 2000 to the present, 22 countries have ratified the landmine convention. In that period, those responsible for treaty follow-up dedicated themselves to application of its provisions.

Despite the fact that the convention “has been a success story, anti-personnel landmines continue to represent a serious humanitarian emergency,” ambassador Steffen Kongstad of Norway, who served as president of the Second Meeting of States Party to the Convention, stressed during a press conference in this Swiss city.

More than 40 countries remain outside the Ottawa Treaty, he said, including Cuba, China, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Russia and the United States.

This year, new landmine victims have been reported in 70 countries, but there are 90 nations that are considered “mine affected”, says Susan B. Walker, programme officer for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL).

The Landmine Monitor 2001, the ICBL’s annual report on the world’s landmine situation, to be released in September, “does have some very disturbing findings this year,” said Walker.

But, she pointed out, “the good news is that we are having an impact on the ground. There has been reduced use (of landmines) in recent years and there are fewer new mine victims.”

The most notable reductions have been recorded in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Croatia and Kosovo, reported the representative of the ICBL, an organisation that was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 in recognition of its world leadership in the fight to eliminate these weapons.

The number of countries manufacturing anti-personnel mines has plummeted from 55 to just 14, and there has been almost a complete halt in trade of these devices.

The ICBL also reports that more than 27 million landmines have been destroyed in some 50 countries, and that 28 nations party to the convention have completely eliminated their stockpiles.

Next month’s meeting in the Nicaraguan capital of the states party to the convention is expected to involve discussion of new plans to ensure compliance with the timeframes set for the continued destruction of landmines and to clean up mined areas in order to prevent future tragedy.

Ambassador Kongstad commented that the decision to hold the meeting in Nicaragua is fitting because it is a country affected by anti-personnel mines and has “worked hard and actively” in the implementation of the convention.

“Central America will probably be one of the first mine-free regions in the world,” he said.