ICBL Statement submitted at the UN First Committee on Disarmament

On 1 November 2012 the International Campaign to Ban Landmines submitted a statement to the United Nations’ First Committee on Disarmament and International Security. The statement highlighted the progress that has been made to-date with more than 80% of the world’s countries on board the Mine Ban Treaty, but also emphasized the work still needed to clear land and to assist survivors and their communities. “In today’s world, any use of antipersonnel mines is unacceptable and must be strongly condemned. We need to finish the job we started twenty years ago to put a final end to these weapons. This can and should be achieved within years and not decades.”

**************************************************************************************************************************Remarks to the United Nations First CommitteeInternational Campaign to Ban LandminesNew York, US, 1 November 2012Thank you Mr. Chair,I am pleased to speak on behalf of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, a global network of non-governmental organizations in some one hundred countries, working towards a mine-free world.We welcome the references of support for the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty made by numerous delegations in their statements to the First Committee. These reaffirm our common commitment to the goal of eliminating antipersonnel landmines.This year marks fifteen years since the adoption of the Mine Ban Treaty and twenty years since the creation of the international campaign. The treaty has proven to be a shining example of humanitarian disarmament, and the process leading to it created a powerful model of citizen diplomacy.More than 80% of the world’s countries are on board of the Mine Ban Treaty as of today. Its real and lasting impact has been clearly felt – not only in the 160 countries that have banned the weapon, but even in the small number of states that have not yet joined the treaty. The stigma on the weapon holds so strong that most of those remaining outside the treaty abide by the ban norm. Many hundreds of square kilometers of contaminated land have been cleared of mines, and more than 45 million stockpiled landmines in 87 countries have been destroyed. Most importantly, the number of new casualties caused by landmines each year has dropped dramatically to fewer than 5,000 recorded cases, in comparison to over 20,000 at the beginning of 1990s. The Mine Ban Treaty is working. But despite this remarkable progress, still every day some 12 people are killed or maimed by landmines or explosive remnants of war, showing that states need to work even harder to clear the land of these vile weapons and to assist survivors and their communities. We are also extremely concerned that a tiny number of governments outside of the treaty are still using antipersonnel landmines, including Myanmar and Syria this year. In today’s world, any use of antipersonnel mines is unacceptable and must be strongly condemned. We need to finish the job we started twenty years ago to put a final end to these weapons. This can and should be achieved within years and not decades. In order to achieve that, we are calling urgently for:

• an immediate halt to the use of any new antipersonnel landmines, anywhere;
• the 36 remaining countries to join the Mine Ban Treaty without delay;
• States Parties to the Treaty to increase their efforts to comply with all treaty obligations, especially to clear their land of mines and assist victims;
• all countries to provide the necessary resources to achieve the treaty’s goals quickly.

The international community will gather at the beginning of December in Geneva at the 12th Meeting of States Parties to the treaty. We urge all states to attend this meeting and come prepared with updated information on their progress in joining the treaty or fulfilling treaty obligations and commitments. Meanwhile, here in New York, we are asking all governments to support the resolution calling for full universalization and implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. Half of the states that have not yet joined the treaty nonetheless vote in favor of the resolution in order to demonstrate their support for the treaty’s humanitarian objectives. It is time for those who continue to abstain, to start voting in favor, reflecting the nearly universal view that these weapons need to disappear from the face of the Earth.Thank you.Please click here to download the full ICBL statement in PDF