Landmine Monitor is an unprecedented initiative by the International Campaign to Ban
Landmines (ICBL) to monitor implementation of and compliance with the 1997 Mine Ban
Treaty, and more generally to assess the efforts of the international community to resolve
the landmines crisis. It is the first time that non-governmental organizations are coming
together in a coordinated, systematic and sustained way to monitor a humanitarian law or
disarmament treaty, and to regularly document progress and problems.
The main elements of the Landmine Monitor system are a global reporting network, a central
data base, and an annual report. Landmine Monitor Report 1999: Toward a Mine-Free World
is the first such annual report. This is an Executive Summary of the full 1,100 page
report, which contains information on every country of the world with respect to landmine
ban policy, use, production, transfer, stockpiling, mine clearance, mine awareness, and
survivor assistance. Landmine Monitor Report 1999 also includes appendices with
reports from major actors in the mine ban movement, such as key governments, UN agencies
and the ICRC.
To prepare this report, Landmine Monitor had over eighty researchers gathering information
in more than 100 countries. It is largely based on in-country research, collected by
in-country researchers. Landmine Monitor has utilized the ICBL campaigning network, but
has also drawn in other elements of civil society to help monitor and report, including
journalists, academics and research institutions.
It should be understood that Landmine Monitor is not a technical verification system or a
formal inspection regime. It is an effort by civil society to hold governments accountable
to the obligations that they have taken on with regard to antipersonnel mines; this is
done through extensive collection, analysis and distribution of information that is
publicly available.
Landmine Monitor is meant to complement the States Parties reporting required under
Article 7 of the Mine Ban Treaty. It was created in the spirit of Article 7 and reflects
the shared view that transparency and cooperation are essential elements to the successful
elimination of antipersonnel mines. But it is also a recognition that there is a need for
independent reporting and evaluation.
Landmine Monitor and its annual report aim to promote and facilitate discussion on
mine-related issues, and to seek clarifications, in order to help reach the goal of a
mine-free world. Landmine Monitor works in good faith to provide factual information about
issues it is monitoring, in order to benefit the international community as a whole. It
seeks to be critical but constructive in its analysis.
In June 1998 in Oslo, Norway, the ICBL formally agreed to create Landmine Monitor as an
ICBL initiative. A Core Group was established to develop and coordinate the Landmine
Monitor system and to produce its first report. The Core Group consists of Human Rights
Watch, Handicap International, Kenya Coalition Against Landmines, Mines Action Canada, and
Norwegian People’s Aid. Overall responsibility for, and decision-making on, the
Landmine Monitor system rests with the Core Group.
The content and work plan for the first annual report were agreed upon at a meeting in
September 1998 in Dublin, Ireland. Research grants were awarded in late October, and final
country reports were produced by 1 March 1999. Throughout March, a small team at Human
Rights Watch edited and assembled the entire report. The report was printed during April
and released at the First Meeting of States Parties to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty in Maputo,
Mozambique in early May 1999.
The first Landmine Monitor annual report has attempted to establish a baseline of
information from which to measure progress in alleviating the landmine crisis. We faced a
number of serious challenges in producing the initial report, first and foremost time
constraints. We particularly regret that the extremely tight time deadlines did not allow
for full synthesis and analysis of the wealth of information gathered. This will be an
ongoing task for Landmine Monitor.
Landmine Monitor acknowledges that this ambitious report has its shortcomings. It is to be
viewed as a work in progress, a system that will be continuously updated, corrected and
improved. We welcome comments, clarifications, and corrections from governments and
others, in the spirit of dialogue and in the search for accurate and reliable information
on a difficult subject.