Author(s):
Melissa Sabatier <melissa@icbl.org> .
Geneva,
Tuesday 16 May 2006
The Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies meeting took place on May 10 and 11.
ICBL Presentations: The ICBL made a strong statement highlighting countries, with deadlines in 2009 and 2010, that are not on target to meet their obligations under Article 5. The ICBL also made an intervention in response to the co-chairs' discussion paper on fulfilling Article 5, voicing our support for the concept of an expert group to review eventual requests for extensions under Article 5.
Highlights for ICBL
- Several countries, including Albania, FYR of Macedonia, Jordan, Nicaragua, and Swaziland indicated that they expected to finish their mine clearance programs by their deadlines.
- Guatemala made a detailed presentation on its mine clearance program from the beginning, to the official end on 15 December 2005.
Concerns for ICBL
- Not enough countries have set deadlines when clearance of all mines in mined areas will be completed.
- Not enough countries have developed mine action plans for the fulfillment of Article 5; this is especially worrisome for countries that have Article 5 deadlines for the destruction of all mines in mined areas in 2009 or 2010.
- Some countries, including Bosnia-Hercegovina and Yemen, made reference to "permanent marking" of mined areas, which is not consistent with the treaty because eventually all areas must be cleared, not just fenced off.
- Zambia and Mauritania described their end objective under Article 5 as "no new victims" or "free from the impact of mines" instead of what the treaty requires - destruction of all antipersonnel mines in all mined areas.
Quote of the Day
“ The treaty does require States Parties to complete clearance as soon as possible, which means unjustified delays in beginning the required identification and destruction of antipersonnel mines in mined areas are not consistent with the treaty’s obligations.” Tamar Gabelnick, ICBL Treaty Implementation Director
ICBL Statements were delivered by: Tamar Gabelnick, ICBL, Stuart Maslen, Landmine Monitor.
