POLITICS: Nations Must Take Lead to Create Mine-Free World

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Susanne Link

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 16 2004 (IPS) - Nations should develop action plans to show the upcoming Nairobi Summit on a Mine Free World how to achieve the goal of a mine-free world by 2009, said U.N. officials, representatives of states and non-governmental organisations at a briefing here Thursday.

“The sense of a real national direction will keep states and the international community focused on the (Mine Ban Treaty’s) goals,” said Jean-Marie Guéhenno, U.N. under-secretary-general for peacekeeping operations.

The Mine Ban Treaty, which entered into force in 1999, prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines. Its core aims are a global ban on landmines, destruction of stockpiles, clearing existing mines and assisting victims.

The Nairobi Summit, which will take place in Kenya’s capital from Nov. 29 to Dec. 3, is the first review conference of the treaty.

The summit will also mark the halfway point between the treaty’s entry-into-force and the deadline for the clearance of minefields by the first states that joined the convention.

According to experts who spoke at the briefing, it will be an opportunity to review the political and resource commitments that states have made to the treaty and to bring the landmine issue back into the public consciousness.. It will also look ahead to the day when all states become parties to and fully implement the Mine Ban Treaty.

For instance, mines kill or injure 15,000-20000 people each year, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL).

Since it opened for signature in 1997, 143 countries have ratified the treaty, and another nine have at least signed the document, the first step in the process of becoming a party to a treaty. A remaining 42 nations are outside of the treaty entirely.

According to Hynes, the number of mine-producing countries has declined from 55 in 1997 to 15 today, among them China, Israel, Iran, India and the United States. Those nations are counted as producing countries even if they have not manufactured landmines in recent years because they have not yet banned production. For example, the United States stopped making landmines in 1997 but reserves the right to start again.

“There are also no confirmed transfers of mines (occurring) today and there have been only six documented cases of using (mines) last year,” said Hynes. Thirty-five million stockpiled mines have already been destroyed; another 10 million still need to be destroyed.

According to Guéhenno, coordination among non-governmental and governmental players must continue. “It is an essential part of making the best of resources; coordination is an integral part of good management of resources that are always scarce.”

Added ICBL Inter-sessional Programme Officer Susan Walker, “The close partnership between the governments and civil society has been the key.” In her opinion the Mine Ban Treaty is one of the few multilateral processes that is working today.

According to Hynes, it is hoped the Americas will be declared mine-free next year. Yet 50 countries that are party to the treaty are still mine-affected, among them 23 in sub-Saharan Africa, including Angola, Eritrea and Sudan.

At least 10 states could reach the goal of being mine-free by the beginning of the summit. “Among them are Guinea-Bissau, Yemen and Malawi,” said Julia Taft, assistant administrator and director of the U.N. Development Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery.

Taft considers the Mine Ban Treaty a conflict-resolution tool because mine-clearance is one of the first things that rebel or fighting groups agree to when they begin negotiating for peace. For example, the first collective action of Bosnia-Herzegovina was to become a party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Seen as part of conflict resolution, “removal of mines is a development investment and needs to be inserted in the national development plans and in all the planning documents for that country,” Taft said.

The summit is also viewed as a necessary forum to increase funding sources. Five billion dollars have been spent since 1997 to destroy stockpiles and clear mines.

But how much more is needed to reach the treaty’s goals seems to be uncertain. “It is impossible to calculate,” said Martin Barber, director of the U.N. Mine Action Service, because mines are still being planted, in Burma, Chechnya and Colombia, for example.

Walker suggested that some money could be better spent if it was used for basic equipment rather than to develop hi-tech equipment that cannot be used in mine-affected countries. “I have seen millions, if not billions, being spent on doing research and statistics,” she said. “And sometimes all we need is a better mine-detector.”

She asked states to “send the highest level of representation possible from your governments, work to ensure that they arrive in Nairobi with strong statements reaffirming their political and resource commitments and that the needs of landmine survivors and mine-affected communities are being addressed in national plans.”