Summary of the Fourth General Meeting of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines

Author/Origin: ICBL icblSPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERicbl.org

(Tuesday 28 October 2003 Bangkok, Thailand) Summary: 20 - 21 September 2003
Bangkok, Thailand

General Meeting

The General Meeting of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) met in Bangkok, Thailand 20-21 September 2003. 141 participants from 54 country campaigns of the ICBL and representatives of international organizations and ICBL staff attended the General Meeting, as well as 9 NGO observers from an additional 9 countries. The General Meeting met immediately following the Fifth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, also held in Bangkok. Previous General Meetings were held in Washington DC, USA (March 2001), Maputo, Mozambique (May 1999) and Frankfurt, Germany (February 1998.) Preparatory documents and drafts were distributed via the ICBL member listservs, the ICBL website and a packet of background documents distributed in Bangkok prior to the meeting.

Fr. Vichai Phokthavi of the Thailand Campaign to Ban Landmines welcomed all of the campaigners, highlighting the spirit and soul put in all of our work. ICBL Ambassadors Tun Channareth and Jody Williams also welcomed all participants. After agreeing on co-chairs for all sessions of the General Meeting, the roll was called and agenda adopted.

The General Meeting received reports from the chairs of its various working and its Coordinating Committee reviewing their progress since the ICBL’s last General Meeting. Campaign representatives from various countries also presented reports on campaign successes obtained since the Washington General Meeting. Presentations included reports from campaigners from Afghanistan, Belarus, Brazil, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Sri Lanka, Uruguay and Yemen. Other campaigns were invited to put reports and visual material on boards for all to view.

Reports were presented on the extensive and comprehensive post 2004 consultation process and the ensuing Coordinating Committee proposal to the ICBL General Meeting on ICBL Goals, Structure and Activities Post-2004. For the second part of the session on “Goals and Strategies for the Future”, participants divided into strategy discussion groups based on thematic categories including the Ban, Non-State Actors, Mine Action, Mine Risk Education and Victim Assistance. Each group discussed:

• Goals and targets for the period following the 2004 Review Conference post-2004
• The preliminary elements of a plan of action to achieve these goals post-2004
• The structures necessary to achieve these goals post-2004
• Actions that can be taken now, in the lead-up to the Review Conference.

The next session, in the morning of 21 September included report backs from the thematic strategy discussion groups. Then regional discussion groups met, in regions including Africa, Americas, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States and Middle East/North Africa. Discussion topics included a review of the draft “Regional Goals for Nairobi Review Conference Action Plan” included in the conference preparatory documents, and goals, activities for the lead-up to the Review Conference and beyond. Regional groups reported back to the plenary after their discussions.

Adoption of Bangkok-Nairobi Action Plan

At the Bangkok meeting, the ICBL adopted an Action Plan to guide its work during the period from September 2003 to December 2004. A summary is presented below, as well as an ICBL Calendar of Events. It is accompanied by the “Regional Goals for Nairobi Review Conference Action Plan” which was adopted, with additional regional strategies and activities from the regional discussion groups.
The Action Plan can be viewed at www.icbl.org/info/actionplan

Adoption of Post 2004 Strategy

The General Meeting adopted the proposal on ICBL Goals, Structure and Activities Post-2004, a strategy to take the ICBL forward into the next phase, after the Review Conference in Nairobi in December 2004. The introduction states:

We acknowledge and celebrate that the ICBL and our partners in the movement have made great strides in reducing the threat posed by antipersonnel landmines to mine-affected communities worldwide. However, we also acknowledge that, quite simply, we have not yet achieved our goals...Post-2004, we should re-dedicate ourselves to our vision of a mine-free world, and to achieving all the goals stated in our original 1992 call for a ban and reiterated in our 2004 Action Plan. These goals remain relevant and critical.

The General Meeting re-affirmed that the goals of the ICBL remain the same, the ICBL’s commitment to ensure:

• Universal acceptance of a comprehensive ban on antipersonnel mines, including no use, no production, no trade and no stockpiling, plus destruction of stockpiles within the mandated 4 year deadline. This includes universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty and acceptance of the norm, as an international standard of behaviour, by all, including non-state actors.
• Increased resources for humanitarian mine action including surveying, mapping, marking, clearance and mine risk education.
• Increased resources for landmine survivor assistance and rehabilitation, for the purpose of increasing coverage and quality of victim assistance.

The General Meeting entrusted the Coordinating Committee to develop, in consultation with ICBL membership, a concrete, strategic Plan of Action 2005-2009, and endorsed the concept of the ICBL continuing to engage in the same types of activities as in the past, but in a gradually more decentralized fashion post-2004, with national campaigns, organizations and focal points playing an enhanced role where appropriate. Regarding structure, the Coordinating Committee is to develop a streamlined leadership and staff structure, to be implemented following the 2004 Review Conference.

Structural changes to the ICBL made during the General Meeting for the period from September 2003 through December 2004 include:

• The ICBL General Meeting noted that three CC members have stepped down: Association for Aid and Relief-Japan, German Initiative to Ban Landmines and South African Campaign to Ban Landmines. All of the members expressed their deep appreciation for their service to the CC and welcomes their continuing commitment to the movement to ban landmines.
• The ICBL General Meeting accepted the continuation of the ten remaining members on the CC: Afghan Campaign to Ban Landmines, Cambodian Campaign to Ban Landmines, Colombian Campaign Against Landmines, DanChurch Aid/Lutheran World Federation, Handicap International, Human Rights Watch, Kenya Coalition Against Landmines, Landmine Survivors Network, Mines Action Canada and Norwegian People’s Aid.
• The ICBL General Meeting invited three new members to the CC: the Brazil Campaign Against Landmines, the Italian Campaign to Ban Landmines and the Sri Lanka Campaign to Ban Landmines. The total number of CC members remains 13.

The Fourth General Meeting was indeed a successful one, in which decisions were made regarding the future course, strategy, activities and structure of the ICBL in a constructive and friendly atmosphere. Members, re-energized, re-affirmed our commitment to our vision of a mine-free world.