States Parties 161 States Not Party 36
(Geneva, 12 July 2011) The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) condemns in the strongest possible terms the horrific killing of four deminers from the Demining Agency for Afghanistan (DAFA) in Farah province of Afghanistan and the abduction of another 27 members of DAFA’s staff.
In total, 31 members of staff from DAFA, including 20 civilian deminers, were abducted while clearing landmines in Shamalga village of Balabuluk district on Wednesday 6 July 2011.
Four of those abducted were cruelly killed, including one who it is believed was beheaded. Fortunately, the ICBL understands that the remaining 27 have been released .
This week, representatives from 100 governments as well as the United Nations, international organizations and the ICBL met in Geneva for annual "intersessional" meetings of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. The week has seen a mixture of good and bad news. "We welcome Nigeria's completion of mine clearance and the work that continues around the world to clear mine-affected land," said Kasia Derlicka, director of the ICBL."But at the same time, we are deeply disturbed that landmines continue to be laid in Burma, Libya, and, apparently, southern Sudan."
Geneva, 30 April 2011 -The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) welcomes the formal pledge by the Libyan National Transitional Council, not to use antipersonnel and anti-vehicle mines, and to destroy all mines in its possession.
This in-depth guidance document issued in April 2011 was developed to enhance victim assistance. It illustrates the importance of accessibility, employment and education for survivors and persons with disabilities within the frameworks of the Mine Ban Treaty, the Convention on Cluster Munitions and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
States can only eradicate landmines and the suffering they cause by joining and completely respecting the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, said the ICBL at an event in Cambodia to mark the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action. "Our common goal of a mine-free world is within reach, but we must all do more to get there," explained Kasia Derlicka, ICBL Director.
Monaco, 2 December 2010 -- The international organization Peace and Sport, under the patronage of Prince Albert II of Monaco, has granted the 2010 Sports Event for Peace award to the wheelchair rugby exhibition match Rumble in Cartagena, held at the 2009 Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World. The summit was a landmark event where over 1,000 delegates from governments and civil society gathered together to evaluate a decade of progress in implementing the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.
Geneva, 2 December 2010 - Despite significant advances, hundreds of thousands of landmine and cluster munition survivors worldwide still struggle to see their rights respected, said two global civil society campaigns as they marked the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3 December. Landmine and cluster munition survivors can and should be active contributors to their societies, not passive aid recipients.
Geneva, 24 November 2010 - Record-breaking progress in implementing the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty was made in 2009. Use and production of the weapon, as well as casualty rates, were the lowest on record, while more contaminated land was cleared than ever before according to Landmine Monitor 2010, released today at the United Nations. In 2009, 3,956 new landmine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties were recorded, the lowest number for any year since the Monitor began reporting in 1999.
Landmines claim victims around the globe every day and continue to threaten civilians long after the end of conflicts. An antivehicle mine explosion that killed 13 Cambodian civilians on 16 November comes as a cruel reminder of the need to accelerate life-saving mine clearance work in all contaminated areas.
(Vientiane, 12 November 2010) - Governments agreed today on a 66-point action plan to turn legal obligations in the cluster bomb treaty into concrete actions. The Vientiane Declaration and Action Plan issued at the First Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions set unprecedented new standards by which all governments will be judged, the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) said today at the conclusion of the meeting, which was held in Lao PDR, a country heavily contaminated by cluster bombs.
The international organization Peace and Sport, under the patronage of Prince Albert II of Monaco, has announced the nominees for the 2010 Sports Event for Peace award. The wheelchair rugby match Rumble in Cartagena that was the talk of the town at the Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World is shortlisted along with only two other events. "By harnessing the power of athletes with disabilities, the event demonstrated that ability can replace adversity and triumph can overcome tragedy," said Juan Pablo Salazar from Fundación Arcangeles, co-organizer of the event.
Vientiane, Lao PDR, 9 November 2010 -- Governments have no time to waste to turn the promises of the new international treaty banning cluster munitions into concrete, live-saving actions, said the Cluster Munition Coalition today. The treaty's historic First Meeting of States Parties is being held from 9-12 November in Lao PDR. This is a defining moment in the life of the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, the most significant disarmament treaty in over a decade. The Convention bans the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions and requires the destruction of stockpiles, clearance of cluster munition remnants from affected land and the provision of assistance to victims and affected communities.
Taking place in Geneva from 29 November - 3 December 2010, the Tenth Meeting of the States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty will review progress made since the landmark 2009 Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World.
Speaking notes for Tamar Gabelnick, ICBL Treaty Implementation Director, at the 2 November press briefing announcing the Tenth Meeting of the States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty to be held in Geneva from 29 November - 3 December 2010.
Bangkok, 1 November 2010 – The destruction of millions of stockpiled cluster submunitions years before deadlines mandated under the Convention on Cluster Munitions—a legally-binding treaty banning the weapon which entered into force on 1 August 2010—shows the treaty’s effectiveness in saving civilian lives, according to Cluster Munition Monitor 2010, a report released today. “There is real momentum behind the ban on cluster munitions,” said Steve Goose of Human Rights Watch, Cluster Munition Monitor’s Final Editor.
Next » 1 2 3 4 5 6
