Printed from: www.icbl.org/Universal/Events-and-News
Geneva, 1 March 2010 -- Eleven years after the Mine Ban Treaty became binding international law, activists worldwide are stepping up their call on the United States to join. The U.S. announced last November that it had initiated a review of its landmine policy. "During the policy review process, it is crucial that decision-makers listen to the voices of landmine survivors and mine-affected communities," said Sylvie Brigot, Executive Director of the ICBL.
(London, 16 February 2010) - Burkina Faso and Moldova ratified the international Convention banning cluster munitions today, bringing the total number of ratifications to 30 and triggering entry into force on 1 August 2010, when the Convention will become binding international law.
Cartagena, 2 December 2009 -- In a statement Tuesday, the head of the U.S. delegation to the Second Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty informed participants that the Obama administration has begun a comprehensive landmine policy review. In the statement, the U.S. representative said, "The Administration's decision to attend this Review Conference is the result of an on-going comprehensive review of U.S. landmine policy initiated at the direction of President Obama." Although members of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines welcomed the reversal in the U.S. position and their participation at the Review Conference, campaigners remain guardedly optimistic about the motives behind such an abrupt change.
Opinion Editorial by Jody Williams -- Published in the Los Angeles Times on 1 December 2009. Last Tuesday, just before the Thanksgiving holiday, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly revealed that President Obama would follow in President George W. Bush's footsteps and not sign the international Mine Ban Treaty. Many of us had hoped he would embrace President Clinton's pledge that the U.S. would join. By refusing to join the Mine Ban Treaty, Obama shows disregard for international humanitarian law.
Twenty-eight countries have ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions between December 2008 and now. Two other ratifications are required for the convention to enter into force and become binding international law! Will your country be the next one to ratify?
Cartagena, 25 November 2009 -- The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) strongly condemned President Obama’s abrupt decision to continue the Bush administration’s policy of refusing to join the international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines. The announcement was made yesterday in an offhand remark by a U.S. State Department spokesperson who stated that an interagency review on the U.S. landmine policy had been concluded and a decision was made to maintain the status quo of the Bush years. The ICBL, 1997 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate, is calling on President Obama to publicly clarify his position on this issue without delay.
From 12-23 October 2009, ICBL campaigners gathered in New York to conduct advocacy and outreach in favor of the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions, alongside colleagues from the Cluster Munition Coalition. In addition to lobbying meetings, a briefing on preparations for the Cartagena Summit was held and the ICBL addressed the First Committee.
New York, 23 October 2009 -- Governments that have still not joined the international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines should participate in a forthcoming global summit and join the agreement without delay, said the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) today at an event at the United Nations in New York. “Almost all of the governments that have not yet joined the Mine Ban Treaty have pledged their support for the elimination of antipersonnel landmines,” said Sylvie Brigot, Executive Director of the ICBL. “They should participate in the upcoming treaty summit and announce their intent to join the agreement.”
The first map documenting the hazard posed by antipersonnel landmine contamination in Myanmar/Burma was issued by the UN in July 2009, based on data provided by Landmine Monitor. It represents a first small step by illustrating the extent of the country’s landmine problem in order to be able to address it more effectively.
From 29 June to 3 July 2009, Ambassador Satnam Jit Singh, Diplomatic Advisor to the ICBL, visited Mongolia to discuss the country's accession to the Mine Ban Treaty. Key political leaders and officials reiterated their support and promised to upgrade their efforts towards accession.
In the second week of July, members of the ICBL gathered in Tajikistan for the Dushanbe Workshop on Achieving a Mine-Free Central Asia to conduct advocacy and outreach in support of the Mine Ban Treaty, as well as the Convention on Cluster Munitions. This was the third in a series of regional meetings convened in the lead-up to the Mine Ban Treaty's Second Review Conference, which will take place in Cartagena, Colombia in the week of 30 November 2009.
20 May 2009 - The ICBL denounces recent use of antipersonnel landmines by the Pakistani Taliban (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan) in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. According to reports from the area including most recently from Human Rights Watch, an ICBL member, residents of Mingora, the epicenter of the fighting, have seen Taliban militants laying antipersonnel mines in the town.
An International People's Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Kashmir held hearings in Indian Administered Kashmir in 2008 and early 2009.
The "Komalah The Kurdistan Organization of the Communist Party of Iran" and the "Komala Party of Kurdistan" declared they will not use antipersonnel landmines, Swiss-based NGO Geneva Call announced in a press release on 7 April 2009.
Geneva, 3 April 2009 -- Global adherence to the Mine Ban Treaty and Convention on Cluster Munitions is the only effective way to stop the use of antipersonnel landmines and cluster munitions, and to fully address the humanitarian consequences of past use of these weapons.
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