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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.
Dushanbe, 7 July 2009 -- Central Asian states should join the vast majority of the world in renouncing antipersonnel landmines once and for all, said the 1997 Nobel Peace Laureate International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) today, at the opening of the Dushanbe Workshop on Achieving a Mine-Free Central Asia. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have yet to join the Mine Ban Treaty.
The Dushanbe Workshop is the third in a series of regional meetings convened in the lead-up to the Mine Ban Treaty's Second Review Conference. Government representatives from Central Asian states, states that financially or technically support mine action, UN agencies, international organizations as well as civil society campaigners are expected to attend. The workshop will focus on clearance of mined areas, victim assistance, cooperation in the region, as well as challenges for joining the Mine Ban Treaty.
The new international convention banning cluster bombs is already delivering results as signatories plan the destruction of these indiscriminate weapons even before it has entered into force, said the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC). On 25 and 26 June 2009, delegations from more than 80 countries will meet in the German capital to discuss plans for stockpile destruction. The event will allow experts to share knowledge and experience, and thus to provide signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions with guidance and broader information on the issue of cluster munitions’ destruction.
On 16-18 June 2009, ICBL Ambassador Margaret Arach Orech joined the Conference of Religious Leaders on Conventional Weapons: Small Arms and Landmines, in Nairobi, Kenya. She provided examples of specific actions religious leaders can take to facilitate the rehabilitation and inclusion of mine survivors into their communities.
GENEVA, Switzerland – 29 May 2009 – Several states that have signed the new international treaty prohibiting cluster munitions have already started to destroy their stockpiles of the weapon, even before the treaty formally takes effect, according to Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice, a 288-page report released today.
In the first week of April 2009, members of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) gathered in Bangkok, Thailand to conduct advocacy and outreach in support of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. This was the second in a series of regional meetings convened in the lead-up to the treaty’s Second Review Conference, which will take place in Cartagena, Colombia in the week of 30 November 2009.
We want to make the voices of survivors, their families and communities heard at the Second Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in Cartagena, Colombia, from 30 Nov. - 4 Dec. 2009! A progress review entitled Voices from the Ground, will be published based on answers from mine survivors.
The ICBL welcomed today the recent destruction of 392 antipersonnel landmines by the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), in Koya, northern Iraq. The news was announced by Swiss-based NGO Geneva Call in a press release on 1 September 2008.
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) today condemned the recent kidnapping of a group of Afghan deminers and called for the immediate release of the six men still being held captive. Unfortunately, attacks on deminers are not infrequent in Afghanistan and, if action is not taken to curb them, they risk jeopardising vital clearance operations.
On 24 July 2008 in Somalia, the Puntland Mine Action Centre, with technical support from Mines Advisory Group, destroyed 48 stockpiled antipersonnel mines near Garowe. This was the first officially recorded destruction of antipersonnel mine stocks in Puntland.
On 21 May, the Polisario Front destroyed 2,000 antipersonnel mines at Tifariti in Western Sahara. According to data provided by Polisario, this included mines of Italian, Chinese, Portuguese, Belgian, Romanian, former Yugoslav and Soviet manufacture.
Landmine survivors and all people with disabilities can now count on a powerful tool to ensure their rights are respected and their needs met, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) said today, hailing the entry into force of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Disability Rights Convention). The Convention, considered the first major human rights treaty of this century, was signed in December 2006. It will enter into force tomorrow, 30 days after the deposit of the 20th ratification (by Ecuador, on 3 April 2008).
The obligation to destroy all stockpiles serves both the treaty’s disarmament and humanitarian goals. First and foremost, destroying mines is a cornerstone of a treaty aiming to eliminate a class of weapons. Their destruction also ensures that the mines can never be laid in the ground and can therefore never claim a victim.
As far as demining is concerned, the treaty has been a qualified success. The destruction of many millions of emplaced mines has saved countless lives and many thousands of square kilometers have been returned to productive use. But progress in several States has been disappointing, and in a small number it has been unacceptable.
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