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The Third Meeting of States Parties (3MSP) to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty will be held 18-21 September 2001 in Managua, Nicaragua at the Convention Center of the Intercontinental Hotel-Managua. The 3MSP will be chaired by the Nicaraguan Foreign Minister, Mr. Francisco Aguirre Sacasa. The 3MSP is one of the most important landmine events of the year 2001.
The Meetings of States Parties are key annual gatherings of all of the major players in the mine ban and effort to address this crisis, including States Parties, observers, NGOs, UN agencies and other international organizations. This year an expected 500 diplomats, landmine survivors, deminers and activists will participate in the Managua Meeting. Over 100 governments are eligible for full voting status at the conference and up to 50 are expected as observers; the International Committee of the Red Cross, UN agencies and others will also take part.
Article 11 of the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction (the Mine Ban Treaty) stipulates that annual meetings of states parties shall be convened by the United Nations Secretary General until the first Review Conference of the Convention in 2004. The Convention says, "The States Parties shall meet regularly in order to consider any matter with regard to the application or implementation of this Convention."The annual meetings provide an important impetus to assess progress and further the goals of the ban movement.
The Mine Ban Treaty is the international agreement that bans antipersonnel landmines. Sometimes referred to as the Ottawa Convention, it is officially titled: the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction.
The treaty is the most comprehensive international instrument for ridding the world of the scourge of mines and deals with everything from mine use, production and trade, to victim assistance, mine clearance and stockpile destruction.
In December 1997 a total of 122 governments signed the treaty in Ottawa, Canada. In September the following year, Burkina Faso was the 40 th country to ratify, triggering entry into force six months later; thus, in March 1999 the treaty became binding under international law, and did so more quickly than any treaty of its kind in history. Today, the treaty is still open for ratification by signatories and for accession by those that did not sign before March 1999.
Of the 140 states that have joined the treaty, a total of 118 have ratified or acceded, at the time of writing.Another 22 have signed but not yet ratified. A total of 53 countries remain outside of the treaty entirely and these include China, Egypt, Finland, India, Israel, Pakistan, Russia and the United States.
States Parties are countries for which the Mine Ban Treaty has entered into force. The convention entered into force 1 March 1999 for the first 40 nations that ratified, making it the most rapidly ratified treaty of its kind in history. Thereafter, the convention enters into force for a country six months after it has deposited its instrument of ratification or accession with the United Nations Secretary General. A signatory is a country which has signed the treaty, but not yet ratified. Those who signed the treaty before it entered into force 1 March 1999 must still ratify it to become full States Parties. Now that the treaty has entered into force, countries may no longer sign it, rather they may become bound without signature through a one step procedure known as accession.
As in the previous Meetings of States Parties, the ICBL has official observer status to the 3MSP and will participate in the Meeting in full. We will have a large delegation of approximately 145 survivors, deminers, campaigners and landmine monitor researchers from more than 60 countries around the world. Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, supporter of the ICBL and Patron and Honorary Chair of Landmine Survivors Network, will open the conference along with landmine survivors from throughout the Americas. Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams of the ICBL will speak in the opening ceremony with other dignitaries. The ICBL will make a formal speech to delegates at the beginning of the 3MSP and will make numerous presentations and interventions throughout the various working sessions of the meeting.
In addition to launching the Landmine Monitor 2001: Toward a Mine-Free World , we will hold briefings, exhibits, film screenings and media events throughout the week, and we will schedule lobbying meetings with various delegations. UNICEF will sponsor an exhibit by Italian photographer Giovanni Diffidenti. We will use the occasion to highlight the landmines crisis in the Americas and to address the progress made to date, both regionally and internationally. We will also use this important opportunity to raise awareness in this region, and the world, about the importance of universalization and implementation of this treaty and the continued government-civil society partnership.
In addition, we will hold ICBL and LM meetings and conduct skills-sharpening seminars with campaigners to cover topics such as fundraising, utilizing the media, lobbying and e-activism.We’ll also organize a seminar of Youth activists from the Americas region and launch a new Youth Campaign Kit.
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The participants will first elect a new president, then they will have an opportunity to present statements during the ‘General Exchange of Views’ and then they will review the work of the four Standing Committees established at the previous Meetings of the States Parties as part of the Intersessional Work Programme. They will then set plans for future work and adopt a final declaration as well as a work programme. In addition, they will set the date and location of the next Meeting of States Parties.
The First Meeting of States Parties (FMSP) was held in Maputo, Mozambique 3-7 May 1999. The FMSP was held in Mozambique, a mine-affected country in one of the most mine-affected regions in the world. This was a significant step in the movement to ban antipersonnel landmines and in the process of treaty implementation. It succeeded in drawing the world’s attention to the landmines crisis. In Maputo an Intersessional work programme was established and has continued meeting and working throughout the two years since, in between the Meetings of States Parties. See the SCE homepage at the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining website.
See our FMSP resource page for more information.
The Second Meeting of States Parties (SMSP) to the Mine Ban Treaty was held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, from 11-15 September 2000. The ICBL participated in the meeting with an official delegation of nineteen people; additionally, 162 ICBL campaigners, researchers, deminers and survivors from fifty-three countries attended. It was organized around the theme ‘Every Minute Counts’.
The ICBL viewed the SMSP as a very successful event on the road to a mine-free world. In focusing governments, the UN agencies and NGOs on the mine issue, once again, the work advanced. For example, there were six ratifications and accessions in the week before the SMSP, and a total of thirteen ratifications and accessions in the three months leading up to the meeting.
The ICBL capitalized on the SMSP, and the months of preparation for it, to refocus its own energies as well as. During the course of the week, campaigners held bilateral meetings with more than sixty governments, both in the Palais and in embassies and missions around Geneva. The ICBL addressed various sessions of the SMSP, held media briefings, and the ICBL and the Swiss Campaign and other NGOs based in Geneva organized numerous awareness-raising events including exhibits in the Palais des Nations as well as in the town.
The ICBL has issued an ACTION ALERT encouraging you to do all you can to urge maximum ratifications by the time of the 3MSP in September. Last year at the SMSP the ICBL called for 120 ratifications by the 3MSP in Managua.There are currently 118 so we have just TWO MORE to go! We are particularly encouraging all signatories in the Americas to ratify, so we urge you to contact the governments of Chile, Guyana, Haiti and Suriname and urge ratification before the 3MSP in Managua!
Write, call, meet your government representatives.Find out who they are sending to the 3MSP. Urge them to send high-level delegates and experts informed on the issues. Tell them how important this meeting is. If they are not sure who will attend, ask them to inform you as soon as they have designated someone.
c/o Handicap International
Colonial Los Robles de la Funeraria Don Bosco 25 vrs al este, casa #1
Managua
NicaraguaTel/Fax. +505.278.41.28
Mobile +505(0)88.12036
Email jackie@icbl.org
or media@icbl.org for media contacts
For ICBL members participating in the conference please find registration forms and logistical information HERE.
United Nations Under-Secretary General for Disarmament Affairs,
office 3170 A, Secretariat of the United Nations, United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017
Tel +1 212 963 7706
Fax+1 212 963 1121
USA
Managua:
Oficina de Asuntos logísticos de la III Conferencia de Estados Partes de la Convención de Ottawa, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Nicaragua. Detrás del Restaurante los Ranchos, Managua, Nicaragua.
Telephone:(505) 266-8041/Fax:(505) 266 2572.
Email: marina.stadthagen@cancilleria.gob.niNew York:
Permanent Mission of Nicaragua to the Office of the United Nations
820 Second Avenue 8Th Floor, Suite 801 New York, NY 10017.
Telephone : (212) 490 7997 / Fax : (212) 286-0815
Email: nicaragua@un.intGeneva:
Permanente Misión of Nicaragua to the Office of the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva
16 Rue Du Roveray, Geneva, Switzerland, 1207
Telephone: (0041) (22) 737 3090 / Fax: (0041) (22) 736 6012
Email: misión.nicaragua@ties.itu.int
Oficina de Asuntos logísticos de la III Conferencia de Estados Partes de la Convención de Ottawa, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Nicaragua. Detrás del Restaurante los Ranchos, Managua, Nicaragua.
Telephone:(505) 266-8041/Fax:(505) 266 2572.
Email: marina.stadthagen@cancilleria.gob.ni