| <ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES | GENEVA INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR HUMANITARIAN DEMINING> |
The contribution of this paper does not necessarily imply the association of the ICRC with views or statements made in other chapters of Landmine Monitor.
Efforts to rid the world of anti-personnel (AP) mines have begun to bear fruit. In countries where the Ottawa treaty's comprehensive programme of non-use of anti-personnel mines, clearance and mine awareness is being implemented, the annual number of victims has fallen dramatically. This confirms that the treaty's prescriptions are correct and effective.
Notwithstanding these achievements, AP mines remain a menace and continue to bring suffering to civilian populations in many parts of the world. It is imperative to ensure universal adherence to and compliance with the treaty's provisions. States parties must meet their obligations fully by undertaking mine clearance, destroying their stockpiles within the deadlines set, and providing aid to landmine survivors. They must also adopt legislation to provide for the punishment of those who flout the treaty's provisions.
Throughout 2001, the ICRC maintained its pivotal role in promoting universal adherence to and full implementation of the Ottawa treaty. The ICRC also sustained its efforts to extend assistance, including curative care and physical rehabilitation, to thousands of war-wounded including mine victims. In view of the AP mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) which remain scattered in present and former battlefields around the world, the ICRC increased its mine awareness programs in order to inform the thousands of civilians living in such areas of the dangers they are exposed to.
Since the adoption of the Ottawa treaty, the ICRC has worked continuously to ensure that the treaty has an impact on the ground. To this end, the ICRC, through its delegations in countries across the world, was actively involved in promoting adherence to the Ottawa treaty and working with governments to ensure its full implementation. It provided technical assistance and advice to several countries on the drafting and adoption of national legislation to implement the Ottawa treaty.
The ICRC also organized or participated in national and regional meetings to inform States of the treaty's provisions and the requirements of implementation. In 2001, the ICRC and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) jointly organized a regional meeting on conventional weapons, mines, and international humanitarian law in Abuja, Nigeria, for ECOWAS member States. The ICRC also hosted a Regional Seminar on International Humanitarian Law in Port of Spain for representatives from 12 of the 14 Caribbean Community (CARICOM) States. This seminar included presentations and discussions on the ratification and implementation of the Ottawa treaty.
In May 2002, the ICRC, under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Republic of South Africa, held a regional seminar on ratification and implementation of international humanitarian law (IHL) in Pretoria. The seminar was attended by representatives from 12 of the 14 SADC (Southern Africa Development Community) States. Among the workshops organized during this seminar, one was dedicated to implementing legislation for the Ottawa Treaty on the basis of the South African experience and example.
In addition to ICRC-organized events, representatives of the institution participated in the following meetings on AP mines:
In order to promote a general understanding of the landmine problem, the ICRC provided documentation, videos and, in many cases, its Ottawa treaty exhibition (in English and Arabic) to be used as information tools. The ICRC also widely distributed its information kit to assist States in developing national implementing legislation to give effect to the treaty.[1]
The ICRC also prepared an information paper on the interpretation of Article 2 of the Ottawa treaty which defines what is an "anti-personnel mine". The ICRC remains concerned by certain anti-vehicle mines with sensitive fuses or sensitive anti-handling devices which can function as AP mines and be detonated by the presence, proximity or contact of a person. As called for by the President's Action Program adopted at the Third Meeting of States Parties in Managua, and in order to facilitate discussions on this issue, the ICRC encouraged States to consider and adopt best practices as regards the design and use of anti-handling and fusing mechanisms for anti-vehicle mines. These best practices were identified in the report of a technical expert meeting hosted by the ICRC in Geneva in March 2001.[2]
In all its efforts, the ICRC also encouraged adherence to amended Protocol II of the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). Even with the entry into force and widespread adherence to the Ottawa treaty, amended Protocol II remains an important instrument as it regulates anti-vehicle mines, booby traps and other devices not covered by the Ottawa treaty but which nonetheless maim or cause loss of life.
In addition, the ICRC organized a regional expert meeting on Explosive Remnants of War and the 2001 Review Conference of the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. This meeting was hosted by the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Budapest and brought together government experts from 23 States from central and eastern Europe as well as representatives from international and non-governmental organisations. The ICRC also actively participated in the second Review Conference of the CCW, held in Geneva in December 2001, and its preparatory meetings. The ICRC proposals for a new CCW protocol to deal with the problem of explosive remnants of war, other than AP mines, aroused widespread interest and States Parties have established a group of government experts to examine the problem in 2002. A future protocol dealing with this issue would greatly reduce the human casualties and socio-economic consequences of anti-vehicle mines, cluster-bomb sub-munitions and other UXO.
The ICRC continued its efforts to prevent mine accidents through its mine/UXO awareness programs. In 2001, working directly or through National Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies, it conducted mine awareness programs in Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia and Azerbaijan (region of Nagorny Karabakh), Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Georgia, Iraq, Lebanon, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Nicaragua, the Russian Federation (Chechnya), and Tajikistan.
In 2002, new mine awareness programs were started namely in Colombia, Namibia, and Peru.
A short summary of the programs in Afghanistan, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Lebanon, Nicaragua, and the Russian Federation/Chechnya is provided below.
Mines and UXO remain scattered in former and current front-line regions, taking a toll on unsuspecting civilians. Ongoing armed confrontations and the movement of civilian populations along or across former front lines significantly increase civilians’ risk of injury by mines/UXOs. Children are especially endangered, accounting for over half of all mine/UXO injuries in Afghanistan.
In 2001, the ICRC supported Afghan Red Crescent mine awareness activities. New information on contaminated sites was shared immediately with rapid action teams so that they could mark the sites and alert nearby populations. The ICRC provided the UN Mine Action program with over 80% of the data it compiled on new injuries. Findings from the ICRC’s analysis of the data, which were shared with other mine-action organizations, helped to improve target planning and adapt strategies for mine-clearance operations and mine-awareness programs.
International air strikes left behind new areas of UXO contamination, often near populated areas. When front lines disappeared, heavily mined areas again became accessible to civilians, who faced a high risk of injury as they attempted to resume their normal activities. While data collection activities were slowed by disruptions starting in September, they were reactivated in November. At the end of the year, expatriates worked to adapt the Afghan Red Crescent mine-awareness programs to new threats, particularly unexploded cluster bomblets.
Anti-personnel mines and UXO still posed a threat to the lives and limbs of civilians, particularly children, in front-line areas. The ICRC thus maintained its mine-awareness program, concentrating on activities carried out in schools or by children for other children, and on community-based work. Since April 2000, the ICRC has had at least one experienced mine/UXO-awareness expatriate supporting mine/UXO-awareness activities.
The community program consisted in producing luminescent "white boards" with a warning message for mine-affected areas. By the end of 2001, the ICRC, working together with the civil-defence agency, had set up 80 such boards across Nagorny Karabakh.
Landmines and UXO scattered throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina threatened the lives of its inhabitants. This caused major social and economic disruption, which in turn hampered reconciliation and reconstruction. It was recognized that an integrated approach combining mine awareness and other mine-action and humanitarian programs was needed to deal with the problem. Children were the subject of much concern because their natural curiosity puts them at great risk in mine-infested areas.
Mine-awareness instructors maintained contacts with municipal authorities and various organizations involved in the return process and working with internally displaced persons to discuss activities aimed at preventing mine incidents. Data gathering on mine incidents remained an integral part of the effort to develop appropriate mine-awareness program strategies.
ICRC activities during 2001 included: a publicity campaign involving the production of 90 giant billboards with a mine-awareness caption; the supply of materials (mine-awareness posters, leaflets, badges and banners, as well as T-shirts, caps, etc.) in support of community-based activities; ad hoc assistance to 28 people to help them regain their self-sufficiency; prostheses for five amputees and 1,400 pairs of socks for stump protection for the most needy amputees, as part of Japanese Red Cross aid to mine victims; assisting the local Red Cross in Tuzla canton to organize activities alerting the population to the mine risk; and special television and radio programs to caution the population returning to mine-contaminated areas.
Activities designed to inform children about the danger of mines and UXO included the publication of a quarterly mine-awareness magazine written by schoolchildren and their teachers. Other such efforts included presentations, drawing competitions in Gorazde and Tuzla cantons, and the production of a television spot based on a theater performance of a mine-awareness version of “Little Red Riding Hood”, video tapes of the performance, and comic books with a mine-awareness message. Audio tapes with songs from a play were delivered to 23 schools for children with special needs throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Mine-awareness activities were intensified in May and June 2001. The ICRC organized three mine-awareness workshops for 50 primary-school teachers, one workshop for nine Yugoslav Red Cross instructors from municipalities along the border with Kosovo to enable them to carry out mine-awareness activities in their respective areas, and one workshop for 45 community volunteers. The ICRC carried out 68 mine-awareness theatre performances for 9,870 children in various villages and engaged two theatre groups (one Serb, one Albanian) to perform a play based on "Little Red Riding Hood", adapted to convey a mine-awareness message.
As the lead agency for data-gathering on mine/UXO incidents in Kosovo, the ICRC collected and analysed information on 30 such incidents to help adapt the mine-awareness programme to the reality in the field. Data were also collected from health facilities and through direct contacts with communities, and regularly passed on to the United Nations Mine Action Coordination Centre. Save the Children Fund started implementing the mine-awareness school curriculum in 2001. For this reason, the ICRC phased out its school activities, but provided materials in support of the curriculum.
Efforts to alert the population to the mine threat included a community-based "safer village" programme working with trained volunteers, and the use of daily broadcasts, videos, posters, and leaflets to advocate safe behaviour. Some 7,600 children and 1,425 adults attended 74 mine-awareness performances. Additionally, 3,000 children and 1,350 adults received mine-awareness information. ICRC teams continued to support agencies involved in mine clearance.
Thousands of mines were laid during decades of conflict in Lebanon, where, together with an indeterminate amount of UXOs, they continue to pose a grave threat to people’s lives and security. Concerned about this threat, the ICRC, Lebanese NGOs and the local authorities launched projects in 1998 to address the problem. Although clearance operations had started, it was expected that the country would remain affected by mines and UXO for years to come.
The Lebanese Army's National Demining Office (NDO) coordinated the mine/UXO-awareness and clearance activities of organizations and agencies operating in the field. In 2001, the ICRC and the Lebanese Red Cross attended regular meetings of the National Steering Committee on Mine Awareness, headed by the NDO, along with other international and national organizations and agencies involved in mine/UXO awareness, in order to exchange information and discuss the progress of their respective activities in Lebanon. A mine-awareness programme, under the coordination of the NDO, was officially launched at the beginning of April with the support of the ICRC and the National Society. Throughout 2001, the ICRC took part in or gave presentations at several high-level meetings such as a workshop on demining organized by Lebanon and the UN, a regional conference on landmines organized by Landmine Monitor, and a regional workshop organized by the UN Mine Action Service and the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining.
The ICRC continues to support the Lebanese Red Cross to pave the way for a community-based integrated programme, which will combine awareness activities with the demarcation of mined areas, clearance of mines and humanitarian activities in general. As part of the national mine/UXO-awareness programme, 12 National Society instructors gave 216 mine-awareness presentations and distributed information in schools in the south, conducted four sessions for the local community, organized a two-day workshop, with ICRC support, for students from the Public Health Faculty of the Lebanese University, and introduced mine/UXO awareness into the programme of three summer camps organized in southern Lebanon for 390 children.
The Nicaraguan Red Cross, with the support of the ICRC and UNICEF, continued a child-to-child mine/UXO-awareness programme in 2001, which targeted children of school age. Thirty-three young people were trained under this programme to lead dissemination sessions in schools in the North Atlantic Region, where the army's mine-clearance activities were taking place.
Landmines and UXO remained a constant threat to the population in Chechnya and displaced people upon their return home. The ICRC’s mine-awareness program focused on children as the group most at risk.
Activities were conducted namely for Chechen children in IDP camps in Ingushetia. After an assessment in September 2001, the program was extended to two regions of Daghestan. The program methods included a puppet show and a “child-to-child” approach aimed at teaching youngsters ways of avoiding accidents and passing life-saving information on to their peers. A similar approach was developed for teenagers. In addition, the ICRC continued to collect data on mine and UXO casualties from the hospitals it assisted so as to make this information widely available. It also initiated contact with the media with a view to conducting a public education campaign. Throughout 2001, some 51,000 children took part in the ICRC's mine-awareness program. Some 890 teachers and parents took part in workshops and presentations or were otherwise involved in the program.
Providing aid and assistance to victims of war is one of the primary activities of the ICRC. The ICRC often provides medical and surgical care during and immediately following armed conflicts. In 2001, the ICRC continued to provide assistance (first aid, transport, curative care, and physical rehabilitation) for war-wounded, including mine/UXO victims, as well as training of civilian and military surgeons.
The ICRC supported 23 first-aid posts in 11 countries. These posts treated some 10,000 war-wounded.
The ICRC also provided regular medical assistance to 134 hospitals treating war-wounded people in 22 countries, in particular the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the northern and southern Caucasus, Angola, Sierra Leone, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan. This enabled 18,189 war-wounded, including some 1,500 injured by mines/UXOs, to be treated during the year. A further 150 hospitals received assistance on an ad hoc basis. In Afghanistan, the ICRC assisted 19 hospital and 16 first-aid posts. Once the air strikes began in October, the support was extended to cover 25 hospitals. The programme of support to 40 hospitals in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia covered 60% of inpatients and 80% of outpatients country wide.
ICRC surgical teams worked, and provided training, in 12 countries, including eight infested with landmines: Afghanistan, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan (Kenya), and Uganda. These teams performed operations on 10,500 patients and gave outpatient care to 69,850 others.
The construction and fitting of prostheses remain an important part of the assistance ICRC provides directly to mine victims. After four consecutive years of growth, the year 2001 showed a stabilization in the total number of physically disabled people assisted, mainly with prostheses (16,501) and orthoses (11,523). The proportion of mine victims among the amputees fitted remained the same at 59%. Most projects saw a slight decrease in assisted patients, with a proportional increase of patients fitted with a replacement prosthesis. Some projects, notably Myanmar and Ethiopia, assisted significantly more patients in 2001.
Three additional projects were initiated in Sudan (Juba), Afghanistan (Faizabad) and Iraq (Baghdad). This increased the total number of assisted prosthetic/orthotic centres to 40 in 14 different countries.
The ICRC continues to assist physical rehabilitation projects formerly operated by it, but which have now been handed over to local organizations, government ministries, National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies or non-governmental organizations. Resources for this assistance comes from the ICRC-administered Special Fund for the Disabled (SFD). During 2001, 48 projects in 25 countries received assistance from the fund. These projects assisted all those in need of their services, including mine victims.
ICRC prosthetic/orthotic programmes: production statistics for 2001
*Including first-time patients
| <ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES | GENEVA INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR HUMANITARIAN DEMINING> |
[1] ICRC information kit on the development of national legislation to implement the Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-personnel mines. As at 31 December 2001, over 30 States had adopted national legislative measures to impose penal sanctions and respect for its provisions.
[2] Report on the Technical Expert Meeting on anti-vehicle mines with sensitive fuses or sensitive anti-handling devices, ICRC, (Geneva, 13-14 March 2001).
