DISARMAMENT: Progress on Landmine Elimination under Scrutiny

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Sep 12 2001 (IPS) - The fight against anti-personnel landmines in the last year has made important advances, despite the fact that some countries – Uganda and Angola in particular – have violated the stipulations of the international treaty banning the devices, experts said Wednesday.

The Ottawa Convention, as the anti-mine 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.”

Susan B. Walker, programme officer for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) said here Wednesday, as she presented the “Landmine Monitor Report 2001”, that the application of the convention has had positive effects during the last year.

The document is produced annually by the ICBL, an independent organisation that received the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for its global campaign against landmines.

Belgium’s delegate before the United Nations Conference on Disarmament, Jean Lint, announced the ratification of the convention by Chile, which would bring the number of parties to the treaty to 120. There are 21 more countries that have signed the convention but have yet to ratify it.

The treaty has become the norm, in practice, even for non- signing states, as is proven by the virtual disappearance of the landmine market and by the notable decline in production of these devices, Lint told the Conference on Disarmament.

Walker, meanwhile, reported that the use of landmines has been sharply reduced as a consequence of the stigma surrounding these weapons. The number of new victims used to average around 26,000 a year, but in 2000 it fell to around 15,000 to 20,000, she said.

But in spite of this limited success, Walker lamented that Uganda, a country that signed and ratified the anti-mine convention, and Angola, which only signed the treaty, had reportedly used landmines in the period of May 2000 to mid-2001.

In the case of Uganda there exists “a solid possibility” that it utilised landmines in June 2000 within the neighbouring territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Ugandan government has denied any employment of mines.

The cases of non-compliance with the convention that Walker mentioned have been cause for serious concern by the Dutch government, stressed Chris C. Sanders, representative of the Netherlands.

The Dutch diplomat said these incidents would come under scrutiny at the third meeting of the states party to the convention, to be held next week in Managua, Sep 18-21.

Argentine delegate Horacio Solari, who applauded Chile’s ratification of the treaty, commented that the meeting in the Nicaraguan capital will represent a big step towards the full application of the convention’s principles in favour of humanitarian efforts to eradicate landmines.

ICBL spokeswoman Walker said that 185 million square metres had been de-mined in Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia, Cambodia, Croatia, Kosovo, Laos and Mozambique in the year 2000.

In that period, some five million stockpiled landmines were destroyed, bringing the total to more than 27 million of these explosives eliminated since 1998, according to the ICBL.

But today there are still 230 to 245 million anti-personnel mines in the arsenals of some 100 nations. China possesses approximately 110 million, Russia 60 to 70 million, the United States 11.2 million, the Ukraine 6.4 million, Pakistan six million, India four to five million, and Belarus 4.5 million mines.

The report Walker presented in Geneva Wednesday establishes that landmines are not being used in a massive way in any conflict around the world, though occasional employment of these weapons is alleged to occur in Russia (Chechnya), Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

In the three cases, government forces as well as rebel organisations reportedly continue to set up minefields.

The Landmine Monitor Report alleges that two other countries that have signed the convention, Ethiopia and Sudan, are still using anti-personnel mines.

In preparing the annual document, the ICBL relied on 122 researchers in 95 countries.