Author(s):
Site Admin <webmaster2@icbl.org> .
Sunday 30 September 2007
On September 27th the Indian Campaign to Ban Landmines commemorated the 10th Anniversary of the Mine Ban Treaty. The event was marked by a conference with the participation of the ICRC, the UN, the Diplomatic Community as well as the Indian Government.
Justice JS Verma, Former Chief Justice of India and Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission was the Chief Guest and the ICBL’s Executive Director, Sylvie Brigot, delivered the keynote address, outlining the history of the mine ban movement, its struggles and challenges ahead.
Speaking on the occasion, the Canadian High Commissioner, David Malone lauded the achievements of the Treaty and also expressed the optimism that the countries still remaining outside the Treaty would come onboard in the years to come. Vincent Nicod, Regional Delegate of the ICRC drew attention to the humanitarian aspects meant to be served by the Treaty, while Eimar Barr, Deputy Director UNICEF, representing the UN system explained the UN role in promoting the Treaty, with specific reference to the UNICEF Mine Risk Education programme. Dr. Balkrishna Kurvey, Coordinator of the Indian CBL explained the victim situation in the mine-affected areas of India.
Gaddam Dharmendra, Director, Disarmament Division, Ministry of External Affairs and Brigadier AK Bhattacharjee of the Indian Army
Panelists speeking in the 10th Anniversary conference in New Delhi. Photo: Mine Action Canada.
presented the Government of India’s perspective, the former on the overall policy framework and the latter about the practices followed by the Indian Army to minimize harm to innocent civilians. The Conference also listened to the testimonies of two survivors, Gulzar Mir of Kashmir and Santa Singh of Rajasthan who explained how they fell victim to landmines and the hardship they faced since then. A short film, ‘Mind Your Steps’ especially made for the occasion documenting several cases of landmine victims and survivors in different regions of India made a powerful impact on the audience including members of the government, civil society, academia and the media.
The conference was preceded by a press conference which was well attended by the Indian media, as well as a photo exhibition (continuing for four days) highlighting the situation of landmine victims in India and the world. On September 28th, Sylvie Brigot, gave a talk on ‘10 Years of Mine Ban Treaty – Achievements and Challenges’ at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies and was joined by Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan and Ambassador Satnam Jit Singh in an interactive session with intellectuals, researchers and academics. Official meetings were also held by Sylvie Brigot with the Ministries of External Affairs and Defence.
The Indian Campaign to Ban Landmines at the 10th Anniversary conference in New Delhi. Photo: Mine Action Canada
Even though India is not a signatory to the treaty, organising the event in the country had its own significance. The 10th Anniversary celebrations gave an opportunity to bring the issue to the forefront of public consciousness as also to raise it with responsible official circles. The participation of the senior representatives of the Indian Government, for the first time in a public forum in India, to present their views on the issue of mine ban is reflective of the Government’s increasing openness and flexibility on this issue and should hopefully result in a freer and more forthcoming dialogue in the future.
