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Asian Nations Must Adhere to Ban or Face More Mine Victims

Author/Origin: ICBL mediaSPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERicbl.org

(Monday 27 January 2003 ) (Colombo, Sri Lanka) At the opening of an Asia-wide meeting on landmines, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), 1997 Nobel Peace Laureate, called on Asian governments to adhere to the rapidly emerging international norm against the antipersonnel mine or else face the consequences of more mine victims for years to come.


Without urgent action, civilians keep paying the price for landmine use. A Cambodian landmine survivor with his family. Pic: John Rodsted
“Globally, antipersonnel mine use has diminished greatly. But in recent years more mines have been used in the Asia region than anywhere else in the world,” said Liz Bernstein, ICBL Coordinator. “This continued mine use is resulting in even more mine casualties and creating a lethal legacy that will last for decades unless urgent measures are taken immediately.”

End mine use now!

India and Pakistan laid large numbers of antipersonnel mines along their common 1,800-mile border beginning in December 2001, in one of the largest mine-laying operations anywhere in the world in many years. In Myanmar (Burma), both government and rebel groups continue to use mines extensively. Mine use by rebels has been on the rise in Nepal, where there are also strong indications of use by government forces. Armed non-state actors in the Philippines, India, and Pakistan also used mines in 2002. In 2001 and 2002, warring factions (Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and Northern Alliance) in Afghanistan used antipersonnel mines, but the United States did not. This heavily mine-affected country joined the Mine Ban Treaty on 11 September 2002.

In Sri Lanka, both government troops and LTTE forces have used mines extensively in the past, but there have been no reports of new use of antipersonnel mines since cease-fires in December 2001.

Stop mine production!

“We call on the governments of the Asia-Pacific region that have not yet joined the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty to do so without delay,” said Bernstein. “At the very least, users and producers of this indiscriminate weapon should cease and desist these activities immediately. They threaten to undercut the rapidly emerging international norm against the antipersonnel mine.”

Nineteen states remain outside the Mine Ban Treaty from the region, including eight of the fourteen mine producers left in the world: China, India, North Korea, South Korea, Myanmar, Pakistan, Singapore, and Vietnam. China has the world’s largest stockpile of antipersonnel mines (110 million), Pakistan the fourth largest (6 million), India the fifth largest (4-5 million), and South Korea has 2 million in stock. The non-States Parties also include some of the most highly mine-affected countries, such as Laos, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. Other non-signatories from the region are Bhutan, Mongolia, Nepal, and the island states of East Timor, FS Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Tuvalu.

By contrast, sixteen Mine Ban Treaty States Parties are from Asia-Pacific including Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Thailand and the island states of Fiji, Kiribati, Maldives, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, and the Solomon Islands. Another five countries have signed but not yet ratified the treaty: Brunei, Cook Islands, Indonesia, Marshall Islands, and Vanuatu. Globally, 146 countries have joined the treaty, of which 131 have ratified.

Good progress amongst States Parties

“We’re pleased with the progress made by States Parties in the region to implement the Mine Ban Treaty,” said Ven. Madampagama Assaji Thero of the Inter-Religious Peace Foundation, an ICBL member. “We’re thrilled that this month Japan is scheduled to complete destruction of its one million stockpiled mines and that this September Thailand will host the Fifth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Bangkok.”

The annual global gathering of States Parties will take place from 15-19 September 2003. The ICBL has issued an “Asia Appeal” calling on its members, friends and pro-ban governments to work together to encourage hold-out states of the region to join in the mine prohibition. The Appeal specifically targets India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

“Last month, we presented a petition in Oslo during the ‘peace talks’ that contains more than 1.1 million signatures from Sri Lankan citizens calling on the government to accede to the ban treaty and calling on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to stop using antipersonnel landmines,” said Assaji Thero. “We hope they will respond positively to our call so that no more lives are lost to this weapon.”

In Sri Lanka, data collected from various sources indicates more than 300 new mine casualties occurred in 2001. According to Landmine Monitor new mine casualties were recorded in 13 of the 16 mine-affected counties in the Asia-Pacific region during 2001: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, India, South Korea, Laos, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. In Afghanistan, the ICRC reported 1,368 mine casualties, up from 1,114 casualties in 2000. Cambodia was the only country in the region to report a significant decrease in 2001, 813 casualties were recorded compared to 847 in the year 2000.

ICBL representatives from twenty countries of the region are in Colombo for their annual regional meeting to discuss preparations for the ICBL’s fifth annual report, Landmine Monitor Report 2003, and to develop strategies to address treaty universalization and implementation concerns throughout the region. On 30 January, the group will undertake a fieldtrip to a mine-affected region in the north of the country.


Opening of Colombo conference, 27 January 2003
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