5MSP Daily Update 2

(Wednesday 17 September 2003 Bangkok, Thailand) Tuesday 16 September 2003, General Exchange of Views

Full reports and statements:

• Official report on today’s proceedings

Forty countries spoke including New Zealand, Bangladesh, Slovakia, Australia, Argentina, Chile, Holy See, Tajikistan, Slovenia, Colombia, Romania, El Salvador, Bosnia Herzegovina, Guatemala, Senegal, Mali, South Africa, Zambia, Cameroon, Peru, Rwanda, Italy, Czech Republic, Portugal, Honduras, Qatar, Mauritania, Brazil, Kenya, Mozambique, Jordan, Burkina Faso, Albania, Cyprus, Yemen, Guinea Bissau, Malawi, Greece and Ukraine. Mali spoke in the name of the Human Security Network. Peru presented the Lima Declaration: Towards a hemisphere free of antipersonnel mines.

Key messages from the day:

• Governments mainly presented the status of the implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty in their own countries;
• Reinforced their commitments to the Mine Ban Treaty, the work for a mine-free world should continue;
• Indicated universalization as a key priority;
• Reported positive results in mine affected countries thanks to the global efforts.
• Underlined the benefits of the partnership between States Parties and civil society Highlights for the ICBL:
• Issues for the Review Conference: common understanding on what the treaty bans (Slovakia); reduction or destruction of antipersonnel mines retained for training (New Zealand and Chile); formal way and common actions to address NSA mine use (Colombia); and maintaining the unique informal mechanism of consultation, but reconsidering the financial and time efforts (Australia and South Africa);
• Bangladesh, Malawi and Zambia reported progresses in the adoption of national implementing legislation;
• Greece announced completion of its internal procedure of ratification of the Treaty and it is in consultation with Turkey to deposit their instruments at the same time;
• Ukraine presented new steps undertaken towards ratification.

Areas of concern for the ICBL:

• The lack of shared understanding on some aspects of the Convention, such as Articles 1 (joint operations and assist) and 2 (anti-vehicle mines with sensitive fuses and anti-vehicle mines with anti-handling devices.)
• Need to maintain and enhance the level of financial support to mine- affected countries to comply with Article 5 (mine action) requirements and meet the 2009 deadline.

Quote of the day:

“If we want the children of the 21st century to live without the fear of death or harm, then a new surge of generosity and humanity is needed,” Monsignor Francesco Cao Minh-Dung of the Holy See