Decisions on Future Meetings

Thank you Wolfgang, Thank you Mr. President,

Five years on…the foresight and vision of the early leaders of this Convention has been proven in the progress made to date, as mentioned by Ecuador yesterday. One example of this was the establishment of the informal intersessional work programme, given its crucial role during the past five years in maintaining momentum and focus on the global anti-personnel mine problem and the ban movement.

I recall Ambassador Dahinden, GICHD, saying in one of his closing remarks at the intersessionals, that his colleagues predicted when he took the job as Director that he “would end up sitting in an almost empty room with a bunch of activists”. Instead, over the past five years the intersessional work programme has grown into a vibrant and results-oriented forum for all key mine action actors and States Parties and other States, with probably literally thousands of bilateral side meetings in addition to the Standing Committees.

As many States Parties have noted in the past, more concrete and practical work can be done in the informal setting of the intersessionals. The ICBL strongly supports emphasis on this informal approach to the work of the Convention, given its proven success and achievements to date and is pleased with the outcome of the document prepared by Germany and Malaysia. Given the flexibility of this process to date, we urge States Parties to consider shorter Meetings of States Parties on alternate years, combined with a shorter second intersessional, as made possible by Point 2E on Page 2 of the “Decisions on Future Meetings” document.

The hallmark of the Ottawa process has been the true partnership between governments and civil society – joining forces to address this global humanitarian crisis. Inclusion of the ICBL as full partners in this process is also reflected in the conduct of the meetings of the Convention, be they intersessional, annual Meetings of States Parties, regional meetings or this first Review Conference.

Our voice and field experience has not only been heard, but sought out, which has contributed to the concrete, practical and field-oriented approach to making progress in ridding the world of anti-personnel mines. The ICBL wishes to sincerely thank the Standing Committee Co-Chairs and Co-Rapporteurs, the Meetings of States Parties Presidents, the Implementation Support Unit and, of course, you Wolfgang and your Friends of the President for this excellent cooperation over the years.

The ICBL pledges our commitment to work with all States Parties and other organisations to effectively meet the challenges ahead in the coming five years, as evidenced by the 350 ICBL campaigners from 83 countries who are here in Nairobi this week.

Thank you.