India and Pakistan come under fire for mine use
as ICBL marks Mine Ban Treaty anniversary

(Friday 01 March 2002 ) The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) called for an end to mine warfare on the India-Pakistan border, on the occasion of the third anniversary of the entry into force of the treaty banning antipersonnel landmines (Events around the world)

A total of 122 countries have ratified and another 20 have signed the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. Although most of Africa, Europe and Latin America, and some countries in Asia have joined the treaty, the following nations are among those that have so far refused to become States Parties: China, Egypt, Finland, India, Israel, North and South Korea, Pakistan, Russia and United States (U.S.).

Delhi and Islamabad will come under pressure this week as campaigners arrange embassy visits and mount a worldwide letter-writing campaign to communicate the ICBL message that mine use cannot be tolerated. Meanwhile, leaders in the Commonwealth have been asked to weigh in and condemn mine use at their meeting this weekend in Queensland, Australia (View Action Alert).

The ICBL also voiced its alarm at a possible reversal of U.S. landmine policy, calling on the Bush administration to honor its commitment to ban the weapon and to join the Mine Ban Treaty by a certain date. (View Action Alert)

Turning to the situation in Afghanistan, one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, the ICBL appealed to donor countries to make mine action and victim assistance programs a priority in rebuilding the country. The campaign urged the country's interim authority to begin destroying stockpiled antipersonnel mines, provide a comprehensive victim assistance program and prepare the way for the new government to accede to the Mine Ban Treaty as soon as possible. In order to highlight the problems posed by the contamination of landmines and UXO in Afghanistan and ways to address them, the United Nations Mine Action Center for Afghanistan, the Afghan Campaign to Ban Landmines, the ICBL and other partners will host an international meeting in Kabul in July 2002.(View Country Focus page)

Mine threat in India and Pakistan

"Mines will take the lives and limbs of civilians in India and Pakistan today and for years to come", said Faiz Fayyaz who heads the Pakistan Campaign to Ban Landmines. Echoing this statement, coordinator of the Indian Campaign to Ban Landmines Dr Balkrishna Kurvey said, "on top of the deaths and casualties, landmines are also denying farmers the use of large areas of land and clearing them will be expensive and dangerous".

The ICBL argues that any use of antipersonnel mines violates international law. "These weapons are illegal under customary international humanitarian law because they are inherently indiscriminate and their limited military utility is far overshadowed by their devastating humanitarian consequences", said coordinator Elizabeth Bernstein.

"Together with the humanitarian and economic reasons for banning mines, there are also powerful diplomatic motivations", said Bernstein, "since banning and clearing mines can be confidence building measures which can add to regional peace and security." Bernstein pointed to the example of Greece and Turkey and their long-term border dispute. Both countries made simultaneous announcements last year that they would join the treaty as a confidence building measure. (View joint statement)

Military experts taking part in a study carried out by the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1996, concluded that in the three previous India-Pakistan wars, the "contribution of these minefields to the ultimate outcome of the conflict was considered to be marginal."

The ICBL sent letters to India's Prime Minister Vajpayee (view letter) and Pakistan's President Musharraf (view letter) on 4 January, urging both sides to refrain from using mines and to make a public declaration to this effect. The campaign has not received an official response from India as yet. A reply from the Deputy Chief of Pakistan's Mission in Washington DC was sent on 29 January and states: "Pakistan has been obliged to take precautionary defensive measures in the face of massive Indian military deployments at our border."

Mine use in India and Pakistan has received media coverage over the last few months. Several civilian casualties have been reported, including a bicyclist who was killed on New Year's Day in India's Bikaner district and a child was injured in the same region soon afterwards. There have also been recent reports of mines killing and injuring military personnel. (list media reports)

The ICBL's groundbreaking Landmine Monitor initiative has documented mine use in other countries besides India and Pakistan, including in Angola, Burma, Russia and Sri Lanka. (Mayor Findings Landmine Monitor Report 2001)

Progress in eliminating weapon of terror

The Mine Ban Treaty was signed by a total of 122 governments on 3 December 1997 in Ottawa, Canada. In September the following year, Burkina Faso was the 40th country to ratify, triggering entry into force six months later. Thus, in March 1999 the treaty became binding under international law, and did so more quickly than any treaty of its kind in history. (Press Release 1 March 1999)

Today considerable progress has been made in eradicating antipersonnel mines: the international trade in mines is now at a virtual standstill, production has gone down dramatically, global use of mines has been reduced, there is an encouraging decline in the number of new mine victims, vast tracts of land have been cleared, and tens of millions of antipersonnel mines in stockpiles have been destroyed.

World attention now being focused on Afghanistan has certainly helped one of the world's most heavily mine-infested countries continue to deal with mine and UXO clearance activities - threatened with up to a 30% reduction prior to September 11, due to lack of funding. The ICBL continues to work closely with States Parties, the UN, the ICRC and others on the full implementation and consolidation of the Mine Ban Treaty. This includes efforts to ensure that all mine-affected States Parties in positions of need, will receive the necessary technical and / or financial assistance to be able to meet their obligations under this truly life-saving humanitarian treaty, one of the few success stories in multilateral diplomacy existing today.

For more information please see the links below, write to SPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERicbl.org">mediaSPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERicbl.org or contact:

• Liz Bernstein, ICBL Coordinator, +1-202-547-2667 (Washington DC)
  
• Susan Walker, Intersessional Programme Officer, + 41-79-470-1931 (Geneva).