Call to Action #2: Article 7 Transparency Reports

Call to action

1) Please contact your government officials to remind them of this deadline and encourage them to provide more comprehensive and detailed reports. Ask them also to use the optional Form J to report on other issues, as States Parties agreed to do in the Nairobi Action Plan.

They should report on:

• • victim assistance (in mine-affected and donor states)
• • the intended purposes and actual uses of mines retained for
• training/development under Article 3 (in states that have kept over 1,000
• mines for this purpose)
• • numbers of, and plans to destroy or modify, antivehicle mines with
• antihandling devices or sensitive fuzes prohibited by the treaty (in
• countries that have such weapons in their stocks)
• • claymore mines and steps taken to ensure they can only be used in a
• command-detonated mode (in one of the 93 countries that have not yet
• declared if they possess such types of mines as identified by LM)
• • foreign stockpiles of anti-personnel mines.
• Emphasize that this annual update is a legal requirement. Tell them that the
• reports help keep other states informed about their progress in implementing
• the treaty and on any assistance they may require.
• 2) Publicize the reporting requirement!
• Make use of this date to write an article or opinion piece on your country’s
• compliance with the Mine Ban Treaty. Emphasize that the report is the best
• way for the government to shed light on activities that have a direct impact
• on civilian communities ­ at home and abroad.

BACKGROUND

Every year by April 30th, governments must provide updates to the original report they were required to send to the UN Secretary General within 180 days of the date that the treaty came into force for them. The reports should provide details on:

• national implementation measures;

• totals of stockpiled mines;

• descriptions of known or suspected mined areas;

• mines kept or transferred for destruction or training;

• conversion of mine-production facilities;

• status of stockpile destruction

• mine clearance programmes;

• types and quantities of destroyed mines;

• types of mines previously manufactured;

• measures taken to warn populations about mined areas.

There are still 5 States Parties that have not yet submitted their initial report: Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Guyana, St. Lucia , Sao Tome & Principe.

In these countries, the priority is simply to have them send in a complete report as soon as possible.

There are 3 countries that must submit their initial report soon: Estonia (30 April 2005), Papua New Guinea (31 May 2005), Ethiopia (30 November 2005).

Non-States Parties are also welcome to submit voluntary reports. In the past, signatory states that had not yet ratified, such as Lithuania in 2002 and Poland in 2003, have submitted such reports as a sign of their commitment to the treaty. We would like to encourage reporting by as many non-States Parties as possible.

For more information, see:

• http://www.icbl.org/treaty/reporting
• http://disarmament.un.org:8080/MineBan.nsf