NEWS FROM THE CAMPAIGNS

Contents: Afghanistan , Australia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Canada, Greece, Italy, Japan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Zambia

AFGHANISTAN - Afghan Mine Action and Awareness Month

As part of the Afghan Mine Action and Awareness Month, activities took place in all the six main cities of Afghanistan. These included conferences, rallies, disabled people’s sport tournaments, radio/ TV messages and meetings, organized by the Afghan CBL and its members such as the Afghanistan Human Rights Commission, ABRAR, DAFA, MCPA, AKBAR and OMAR.

Government officials, NGOs, donors and diplomats were invited to all of the events. Government officials pledged and promised to work on the implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty within treaty-mandated deadlines, and participants in the events – including representatives from the consulates of States Not Parties India, Iran and Pakistan -- signed petitions, resulting in thousands of signatures being collected.

AUSTRALIA - Ongoing Activities on Clusters and Victim Assistance

The Australian Network to Ban Landmines (ANBL) is coordinating a group of organisations working towards a ban on cluster munitions that cause 'unacceptable harm'. The University of Queensland Centre for Peace and Reconciliation hosted a roundtable on cluster munitions in early September. ANBL is also active in supporting a capacity building project among mine survivors in Nepal. This is a partnership with the Nepal Campaign to Ban Landmines, with funding from AusAID, the Australian Government aid agency.

AZERBAIJAN - Azerbaijan CBL Launches Project on Cluster Munitions and Holds Training Workshop in Baku

The Azerbaijan Campaign to Ban Landmines (AzCBL) recently launched a six-month project - 'Cluster Munitions: Monitoring and Information Campaign in Azerbaijan' - aiming to provide reliable empirical data on the humanitarian impact of cluster munitions within Azerbaijani territory in order to better understand the true scope of the problem.

The project is financially supported by the Norwegian Embassy in Azerbaijan through the Eurasia Foundation, which also helped fund last month's 'Regional Workshop on Cluster Munitions', held in Baku in collaboration with the ICBL. The first day of the workshop was attended by delegates from the Azerbaijani National Mine Action Agency, representatives of civil society in Baku, regional coordinators of the AzCBL, as well as regional ICBL campaigners from seven countries (Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and Turkey). The aim of the workshop was to raise awareness and educate about the problem of cluster munitions, as well as to train in data collection related to cluster munitions strikes and incidents. The second day was a regional ICBL planning session on future advocacy on landmines and cluster munitions in the region.

ICBL and AzCBL delegates also conducted an extensive set of meetings with the Azerbaijani government, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations, in order to advocate the goals of the Oslo Process to ban cluster munitions, and to highlight the 10th anniversary of the Mine Ban Treaty. Lastly, AzCBL and ICBL held a joint press conference on cluster munitions and the Oslo Process, focusing on the contamination in Nagorno Karabakh. The conference attracted impressive media attention

BELGIUM - Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Brussels Conference

On 9 May 2007, the Belgian government organized an event commemorating the landmark International Conference for a Global Ban on Antipersonnel Mines, held in Brussels from 24 to 27 June 1997. Cambodian mine survivor, Ms. Song Kosal, who promoted a treaty on antipersonnel mines 10 years ago, attended the Conference together with Afghan mine survivor, Mr.Firoz Ali Alizada. The president of Jordan’s National Committee for Demining and Rehabilitation, HRH Prince Mired Raad al-Hussein, the Belgian ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defence (represented by the socialist senator who introduced the ban on cluster munitions) and Development and Cooperation, and the ICBL Executive Director participated in an academic session attended by H.E. Princess Astrid from Belgium. A round-table discussion took place on the topic of the Mine Ban Treaty (update and perspectives).

CANADA - Campaigning on Clusters and Youth Involvement

In May, Mines Action Canada (MAC) launched a briefing book for Canadian Members of Parliament titled Cluster Bombs and the New International Process to Stop Them: A Quick Reference Guide for Parliamentarians. Alongside this, in the lead-up to the Lima Conference on Cluster Munitions, MAC engaged many diplomatic missions from the Americas in bilateral meetings to ensure regional presence and participation at this meeting. MAC is seizing the historic opportunity offered by the 10th anniversary of the signing in Ottawa of the Mine Ban Treaty to galvanize popular support for strong Canadian action against cluster munitions. This includes hosting a series of public forums in major cities across Canada and developing a people’s toolkit for action on cluster munitions, available as a CD and on MAC’s website.

The Young Professional International Mine Action Programme, now in its fourth year, will see nine Canadian Young Professionals deploy to postings in Africa and Asia to provide assistance in mobilizing local young people against landmines, developing advocacy and education materials, and research for approximately five months. This program is supported by the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment Strategy and the Canadian International Development Agency’s International Youth Internship Program.

Lastly, MAC is coordinating In Our Lifetime: 2007 Youth Model Review Conference to take place alongside the 8th Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty from 18 to 22 November. As a simulation of the Second Review Conference of the Mine Ban Convention, just over 50 youth from around the globe will discuss topics covering universalization, mine clearance and victim assistance, aiming to measure the progress made since the Nairobi Action Plan was adopted by States Parties in 2004.

GREECE - A Campaigner’s Diary: Louisa O'Brien tells us about her talk at the "Little Owl"

"As part of a week of events in April arranged to welcome in the spring at the Oikia Karapanou on the Greek island of Aigina – within the framework of the “Week of the Little Owl” - the Greek campaign was invited to speak about the International Campaign, and, naturally, the issue of the Greek minefields and survivors. I was accompanied by a very good friend of the Greek campaign, and of the survivors, Jacky Miller; and two of the survivors, Redouane Kharbouche and Guma Ndikumana, from Morocco and Burundi, respectively.

The Oikia Karapanou is a beautiful neo classical building with magnificent views over the Saronic Gulf, where seminars and all kinds of happenings regularly take place, to the enrichment of island cultural life. The talk took place in a large-ceilinged room and all those taking part in the week were invited to cram themselves in and sit on sofas and cushions all around the room. To start with, they showed an excellent and sensitive documentary from a private TV channel which had been aired in November 2006. Then I talked about the Campaign, internationally and locally, and there were many very interesting questions which were answered by Redouane and Guma as well as myself and Jackie. Later on, at the lunch outside on trestle-tables, the questions kept coming, and the organizers handed us 350 euros which had been hastily gathered together as a gesture of support for the boys. During the following week a journalist wrote a full-page and mostly accurate article about the ICBL and the Greek treaty situation. All in all it was a successful and encouraging meeting with the Little Owl."

ITALY - “Bomb Eats Bomb” – 2,000 Signatures Against Cluster Bombs Collected in Rome in One Night

Typical Roman doughnuts, locally known as “ bombe fritte” – fried bombs – were handed out by volunteers from the Italian Campaign to Ban Landmines in an initiative aiming to garner support for a bill to ban cluster munitions which is currently being discussed in the Italian Parliament. The initiative was organized on 8 September in the context of Rome’s “White Night”, an all-night event comprising a series of concerts, arts performances and entertainment in the streets of the city. During the night, two thousand people stopped by the Italian CBL’s stalls and signed the petition on the cluster munitions bill. Their signatures, together with the 50,000 previously collected, will be handed in to Italian authorities later in the year.

JAPAN - 10th Anniversary Events

The Japan Campaign to Ban Landmines(JCBL), established on 19 July 1997 celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Mine Ban Treaty as

well as its own by organizing an event on 21 July 2007. JCBL invited Ms. Margaret Arach Orech, ICBL Ambassador and Coordinator of the Uganda Landmine Survivors Association, whose activities have been supported by JCBL since 2006. The event was held at the Japanese Red Cross Society in Tokyo with 80 participants including JCBL supporters and volunteers, member NGOs, media, academics and students. Margaret’s powerful speech and report on the current situation of Uganda as well as survivors' day to day lives was followed by a JCBL presentation covering the activities of the JCBL and ICBL for the past decade as well as JCBL's action plan for the next 10 years. Through the events, participants renewed their commitment and showed their full support for the JCBL's new target of banning cluster munitions.

In early September, the Association for Aid and Relief Japan organised a two-day mine ban awareness raising initiative in Tokyo, which was attended by over 3,000 people.

NEPAL – Victims’ Voices Against Landmines

From 18 to 25 August, the Nepal Campaign to Ban Landmines (NCBL) organized a series of activities under the title "Victims’ Voices Against Landmines and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs)”. Activities kicked off with a three-day training program for victims of landmines and IEDs from 17 provinces. The training covered the a wide range of topics including, among others, the problem of landmines and IEDs in Nepal, recording and mapping of suspected areas, landmines and International Humanitarian Law, landmines and Human Rights, Mine Action, Disability Rights, and the Mine Ban Treaty. Sessions were facilitated by NCBL members as well as representatives from the Nepal Army, the ICRC, UNICEF and the National Human Rights Commission. One of the outcomes of the training was the creation of a National Network of Mine Victims, affiliated to the NCBL, which aims to reach out to victims nationwide and get them actively involved. The training was followed by a national seminar, attended by more than 100 people, with the participation of national ministers, UN representatives, diplomats, civil society organizations and survivors. The media covered this event extensively. Other activities included meetings with the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist), Nepal Army, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives - all of whom were given memorandums drafted after the victims’ training - and a press conference.

SRI LANKA - Seminar for Media Reporting on Landmine & Humanitarian Issues

Due to the recurrent misreporting that occurs on the work of the humanitarian sector in Sri Lanka, the Landmine Ban Advocacy Forum (LBAF) and the Sri Lanka Press Institute - at the suggestion and with the support of Geneva Call - organised a seminar on media reporting on mine action on 24 July 2007. The seminar was attended by about 45 people from 25 news agencies, including journalists and editors of print and electronic Tamil, Sinhalese and English media. Several media agencies also covered the event.

The primary objective of the seminar was to raise participants’ awareness and understanding of humanitarian issues pertaining to the landmine situation in Sri Lanka so as to ensure accuracy and enhance journalists’ capacity to report on this. The programme included presentations on: Sri Lanka Today - the Humanitarian Perspective; Overview of the National Mine Action Programme in Sri Lanka; Technical Aspects of Mine Action; Sri Lanka’s Obligations Under International Humanitarian Law and the Ottawa Treaty; Improving the Normative Framework - Geneva Call’s Deed of Commitment; and The Work and Vision of the Landmine Ban Advocacy Forum in Sri Lanka. Many of the actors involved in mine action such as the Government, UN agencies, I/NGOs and advocating bodies were present. The questions raised by participants showed a keen interest in the subject and suggested general support for a ban, though there were clear concerns as to how this could be achieved in the current context.

TAIWAN - ICBL Ambassador Visits Mine Affected Areas

On 28 August 2007, ICBL Ambassador Mr. Tun Channareth, Sr. Denise Coghlan from the Cambodia Campaign to Ban Landmines, and representatives of Eden Social Welfare Foundation, ICBL’s campaign member in Taiwan, visited Taiwan’s most mine-affected region, the offshore island Kinmen. Accompanied by local authorities, ICBL delegates visited minefields in Kinmen’s Hou-bian area where the newly established Army Demining Unit has started to clear landmines. .

Taiwan laid landmines on Kinmen and other offshore islands in the 1950s. Starting in the mid-1990s, the Ministry of National Defense contracted foreign commercial demining companies to undertake surveys and clearance, mainly in response to local development needs. In mid-2006, the Army started trial demining and officially established its first demining unit in April 2007. According to the team leader of the Demining Unit, there are 153 minefields, covering approximately 3,436,848 square meters of land on Kinmen. The Army estimated more than 70,000 landmines still lie buried . In 2006, 1,135 landmines were removed and destroyed.

ICBL delegates also paid a visit to Mrs. Chen Chang Li-yu, a 66-year-old landmine survivor. Mrs. Chen lost her leg and injured her arm by stepping on landmines when she was 17 years old. She raised her six children alone with very limited resources. Commending Mrs. Chen's courage, Sr Coghlan urged the authorities to be just as brave and remove all mines from the ground.

ZAMBIA - Cluster Munitions Raised at SADC's Head of States Summit - Campaigner Robert Mtonga reports.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of States’ Summit (HoSS) held its 27th meeting in Lusaka, Zambia from 10 to 18 August 2007. This provided campaigners on cluster munitions and landmines with a glittering opportunity to push the cluster munitions agenda on the table. Member States suffering from landmine and /or cluster munitions contamination include Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Zambian Campaign to Ban Landmines (ZCBL) working with the Zambia Mine Action Centre ensured that the issue of cluster munitions was included in the discussion note presented by Zambia while the Malawi-based Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation worked with the Malawi Government to ensure they take a positive position on the issue. Both objectives were achieved. Furthermore, the ZCBL wrote a special supplement in the widely circulated Times of Zambia newspaper to coincide with the opening session of the HoSS. Among other things, the supplement urged SADC member states to take a leadership role on cluster munitions as they had done on antipersonnel mines, and to ensure the completion of all obligations by States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty. Unfortunately, civil society organisations were not accredited to attend the formal deliberations. The SADC Secretariat was also not ready to volunteer information directly to the campaigners. It is clear that much work needs to be done before and after the Vienna Cluster Munitions Conference in December 2007. Malawi has recently come on board, Zambia is ready and eager, Lesotho, Angola and Mozambique have voiced support for the spirit and principles of a desired international treaty banning cluster munitions. Therefore neither time nor resources should be spared in ensuring that the SADC Region comes home to roost. What is more, the regional Campaigners are on their marks ready to do and to dare…