Author(s):
Chayer Amelie <amelie@icbl.org> .
Tuesday 30 November 2010
As announced earlier this year, a transition process is underway within the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor (the Monitor), towards a more unified structure to take full effect in 2011. A Transition Team of CMC & ICBL governance members has been in place since February 2010, and has reviewed all aspects of our collective work, based on the results of the campaign-wide consultations held in 2009.
The CMC, ICBL, and Monitor on a practical level have increasingly been sharing resources over the last few years including coordination of civil society sponsorship programmes and sharing of work between CMC and ICBL staff. This will be reinforced in the future while still ensuring the three components continue to be the global authorities in their areas of work.
The ICBL and CMC will operate under one legal structure with a new Governance Board providing strategic, financial and human resources oversight. In practical terms, the CMC and ICBL will remain two separate and strong campaigns with dedicated staff for both. Staff working on administration, finance, logistics and policy will support both campaigns.
The Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor will remain the research and monitoring arm of both the CMC and ICBL, and will continue to provide the international community with innovative, civil society-based monitoring of the global landmine and cluster munition situation.
We are confident this transition will allow us to effectively continue playing the civil society leadership role that we are committed to and that States Parties, our partners, and donors, expect from us.
On 12 November, the Steering Committee of the CMC and the Management Committee of the ICBL were dissolved and their responsibilities were transferred to the new Governance Board.The Governance Board has elected a Chair (Steve Goose of Human Rights Watch) and an Administrative Committee to provide more regular input to staff and the working of the campaigns (Atle Karlsen of NPA, Eva Veble of DCA, Miriam Struyk of IKV Pax Christi, Paul Hannon of MAC, and Steve Goose of HRW.)
Governance Board members include:
Afghan Landmine Survivors’ Organisation, Action On Armed Violence (UK), Asociación para Políticas Públicas (Argentina), Cambodia Campaign to Ban Landmines, Campaña Colombiana Contra Minas, DanChurchAid, Handicap International, Human Rights Watch, ICBL Georgian Committee, IKV Pax Christi (The Netherlands), IPPNW (Russia and Zambia), Japan Campaign to Ban Landmines, Mines Action Canada, Nepal Campaign to Ban Landmines, Norwegian People’s Aid, Protection (Egypt), Religions for Peace.