NOBEL LAUREATES TO HOLD EVENT AT GENEVA’S "BROKEN CHAIR"

WHAT?

• Nobel Peace Laureates Jody Williams and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) will discuss incidents of continued use and transfer of antipersonnel mines by signatories and States Parties to the CCW Amended Landmines Protocol, including Pakistan and Russia, at a press event on the eve of a diplomatic meeting on the agreement. China, Finland, India, Pakistan and the United States are the only States Parties to this Protocol which have not yet joined the 1997 Mine Ban (Ottawa) Treaty which comprehensively bans antipersonnel mines.

WHEN?

• 12pm, this Tuesday 14 December 1999.

WHERE?

• Under the "Broken Chair" in front of the Palais des Nations. The event will take 30 minutes. In the event of heavy rain, this event will take place inside the Palais. Artist Daniel Berset created the 12 meter-high "Broken Chair" sculpture in 1997 to symbolize the thousands of landmine victims around the world every year.

WHO?

• 1997 Nobel Laureate and ICBL Ambassador, Ms. Jody Williams
• Afghan Deminer and Ban Campaigner, Mr. Sayed Aqa

• Campaigners from Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and the United States.

WHY?

• The 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and On their Destruction (1997 Mine Ban Treaty) was negotiated in 1997, after the failure of the last CCW Landmines Protocol to make any meaningful progress toward a ban on antipersonnel mines. To date 136 nations have signed the treaty and 89 have ratified.
• By contrast, there are 45 States Parties to the Amended Landmines Protocol to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), of which only five (China, Finland, India, Pakistan and the United States) have not joined the Mine Ban Treaty. The amended Protocol was completed in May 1996 but its complicated series of restrictions represented a failure to adequately respond to the global landmines crisis.
• From 15-17 December 1997, nations will come together in the Palais des Nations to hold the Amended Landmines Protocol’s First Meeting of States Parties. The ICBL will use this week’s diplomatic meeting as an opportunity to encourage those countries that have not yet joined the Mine Ban Treaty to do so as a matter of humanitarian urgency. There will be daily briefings by ICBL inside the Palais open to diplomats and media.

For more information contact go to http://www.icbl.org or contact:Elisabeth Reusse-Decrey, Swiss Campaign to Ban Landmines, +41-(0)-79-411-70-10 Mary Wareham, Human Rights Watch, Tel. +41-(0)-79-470-17-47, wareham-at-hrw-orgSusan Walker, ICBL, Tel. +41-(0)-79-470-19-31, walker-at-icbl-org