Action Plan

Bangkok-Nairobi Action Plan

© John Rodsted 1996

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), the decade-old global coalition of non-governmental organizations, met in Bangkok, Thailand from 20-21 September 2003 for its Fourth General Meeting of its members. Previously, the General Meeting has met in Frankfurt (1998), Maputo (1999), and Washington DC (2001).

The ICBL views the First Review Conference of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty in late November 2004 as a key opportunity to organize, activate, and implement with vigor a wide range of activities in support of the ICBL’s goal of the total elimination of antipersonnel mines.

At the Bangkok meeting, the ICBL adopted an Action Plan to guide its work during the period from September 2003 to December 2004. A summary is presented here. By the time of the Review Conference, the ICBL will strive to achieve the following goals:

Universalization

• Achieve at least 150 States Parties to Mine Ban Treaty
• Secure ratification by all 12 remaining signatories: Brunei, Burundi, Cook Islands, Ethiopia, Greece, Haiti, Indonesia, Marshall Islands, Poland, Sudan, Ukraine, and Vanuatu.
• Continue to work for universalization of the treaty by all non-States Parties, while targeting accession by: Bahrain, Estonia, Finland, Kuwait, Latvia, Micronesia, Mongolia, Oman, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Tonga, Tuvalu, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates.
• Ensure that an unprecedented number of non-States Parties participate in the Review Conference, and that some key countries attend the Standing Committee meetings in 2004.
• Work towards mine policy progress and eventual accession by key countries outside of the treaty, such as the China, Russia and the US.

Implementation

• Reach 100 percent compliance on Article 7 reporting.
• Ensure a common understanding on Article 1 (interpretation of ‘assist’) is reached by States Parties.
• Ensure a common understanding on Article 2 (definitions) is reached by States Parties, and lobby, in particular, five problem countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom).
• Ensure a common understanding on Article 3 (mines retained for training) is reached by States Parties.
• Get all 19 States Parties with domestic legislation ‘in process’ to comply with Article 9 by completing all the necessary steps. Get the others to initiate this process.
• Have all States Parties complete their stockpile destruction by their deadlines, and encourage early completion in the period before the Review Conference.
• Ensure that States Parties act swiftly to get Turkmenistan to comply with Article 4 (by destroying most or all of the 69,200 mines it has retained for training).
• More action on compliance, including a State Party to ask the UN to initiate the process of implementing Article 8 and through more transparency, especially on the list of experts.

Non-State Actors

• Mission by representatives of the Non-State Actors Working Group to engage government and NSA in joint mine ban activities, if requested by national campaigns.
• Mainstream NSA discussion into Standing Committees, ICBL, UN, international organisations, and other fora.
• Ensure landmine eradication is included within conflict resolutions and peace processes with NSA
• Seek cooperation of governments, INGOS, NGOs and other pro-mine ban NSAs in supporting engagement of NSAs in a landmine ban, mine action and victim assistance.

Mine Action

• Bring mine action reality and field perspectives into the Standing Committee meeting in February and May 2004 and the Review Conference. For example: Lead discussion of the terms “mine-free,” “impact-free,” and “mine safe” to reach a common understanding.
• Relate progress in mine action to the results expected by 2009.
• Increase involvement by Mine Action Working Group (MAWG) members in the group’s work, including feedback on the group’s statements and presentations in the intersessional meetings in 2004 and Review Conference.
• Conduct in-depth research (using interns and researchers within existing member organizations) to prepare a mine action issues brief, including talking points, for country campaigns to use when lobbying donors. Obtain feedback on the results of these meetings to form the basis for presentations to the Standing Committees in 2004.

Mine Risk Education

• The Mine Risk Education (MRE) Sub-Group will respond to requests for MRE materials using resources on the ICBL website, MRE experts, and colleagues. Handicap International Belgium is in charge of the theme. Among others, Landmine Resource Centre in Beirut is one resource focal point.
• The MRE Sub-Group will work to examine the possibility of conducting a MRE training workshop for countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States region.
• The MRE Sub-Group will follow-up with UNICEF on matters related to the International Mine Action Standards (IMAS) on MRE.
• The MRE Sub-Group will explore opportunities for conducting a specialized MRE workshop on MRE norms and quality work.

Survivor Assistance

• The Working Group on Victim Assistance (VAWG) will analyse donor funding and present its findings to the Standing Committee meeting in February 2004.
• Push for governments to develop and/or implement a plan of action to address the needs and promote the rights of mine survivors, or more generally to improve rehabilitation services for all persons with disabilities, in all mine-affected countries.
• Push for better reporting on victim assistance activities by States Parties through increased use of Form J and use of the 4 P’s (problems, plan, priority, progress).
• Draw attention to the need for sufficient and sustained victim assistance in areas controlled by NSA.
• Encourage States Parties to send representatives of the relevant ministries to attend the Standing Committee meetings in 2004