North African Countries Urged to Ban - Addendum

FOR RELEASE

Monday, January 25, 1999

For futher information contact:

Stephen Goose, Washington, DC (202) 371-6592

Mary Wareham, Hotel Diplomat, Tunis +216-1-785-233

NORTH AFRICAN COUNTRIES URGED TO BAN LANDMINES

(Tunis, January 25)- On the eve of a regional conference on landmines, Human Rights Watch called on all countries of North Africa to embrace the 1997 treaty banning antipersonnel landmines.

"Egypt, Libya and Morocco are lagging behind the rest of the world in banning this insidious weapon," said Mary Wareham, senior advocate for the Arms Division of Human Rights Watch. "Already, 133 countries have signed this treaty, and it's going to take effect on March 1, 1999- faster than any international treaty in history. North Africa needs to get on this band wagon without delay."

North Africa is a heavily mined region- with all countries affected by the weapon. Egypt, which claims to suffer from some twenty-three million uncleared landmines, is also the sole remaining antipersonnel mine producer on the continent of Africa. Egyptian manufactured mines are known to have been deployed in countries including Afghanistan, Angola, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Nicaragua, Rwanda and Somalia. For these reasons, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines has chosen Egypt as the site for its Fifth International NGO Conference in late 1999.

Tunisia and Algeria are the only countries in North Africa which have signed the treaty. Human Rights Watch urged them to ratify and implement the treaty as soon as possible. To date sixty countries have ratified the treaty, including Jordan, Qatar and Yemen in the region of the Middle East and North Africa.

Wareham urged Tunisia and Algeria to start destruction of their stockpiled antipersonnel landmines, to accelerate their demining programs in order to clear all antipersonnel landmines within ten years, and to provide assistance to landmine survivors. She also called on them to comply with the treaty's requirement to report on their progress in implementing the treaty.

While some in the Middle East/North Africa region are very hostile to a landmine ban at this time- including Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Libya, and Syria- nearly every country has expressed support for a ban at some point in the future. "The landmine problem is not going away," said Wareham. " The time to ban antipersonnel mines is right now."

Human Rights Watch is a member of the 1997 Nobel prize-winning International Campaign to Ban Landmines. It is also coordinator of the Landmine Monitor initiative, a global reporting network that reports on implementation of the treaty and on the humanitarian response to the global landmine crisis. The 1997 Mine Ban Treaty comprehensively bans all antipersonnel mines, requires destruction of stockpiled mines within four years, requires destruction of mines already in the ground within ten years and urges extensive programs to assist the victims of landmines.

The two-day regional meeting on landmines is hosted by the Observatoire des Transferts d'Armaments (France) and Institut Arabe des Droits de l'Homme (Tunisia). For more information please consult: Human Rights Watch Fact Sheet: The Mine Ban Treaty and the Middle East and North Africa, July 1998.

Human Rights Watch: Mission Statement

Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world.

We stand with victims and activists to bring offenders to justice, to prevent discrimination, to uphold political freedom and to protect people from inhumane conduct in wartime.

We investigate and expose human rights violations and hold abusers accountable.

We challenge governments and those holding power to end abusive practices and respect international human rights law.

We enlist the public and the international community to support the cause of human rights for all.

The staff includes Kenneth Roth, executive director; Michele Alexander, development director; Reed Brody, advocacy director; Carroll Bogert, communications director; Cynthia Brown, program director; Barbara Guglielmo, finance and administration director; Jeri Laber, special advisor; Lotte Leicht, Brussels office director; Patrick Minges, publications director; Susan Osnos, associate director; Jemera Rone, counsel; Wilder Tayler, general counsel; and Joanna Weschler, United Nations representative. Jonathan Fanton is the chair of the board. Robert L. Bernstein is the founding chair.

Human Rights Watch

Arms Division

The Arms Division was established in 1992 to monitor and prevent arms transfers to governments or organizations that commit gross violations of internationally recognized human rights and the rules of war and promote freedom of information regarding arms transfers worldwide. Joost R. Hiltermann is the director; Stephen D. Goose is the program director; Loretta Bondì is the Advocacy Coordinator, Mary Wareham is the senior advocate, Ernst Jan Hogendoorn and Alex Vines are research associates; Sharda Sekaran is the associate; William M. Arkin, Kathi L. Austin, Monica Schurtman, and Frank Smyth are consultants. Torsten N. Wiesel is the chair of the advisory committee and Nicole Ball and Vincent McGee are the vice-chairs.

Web Site Address: http://www.hrw.org

Listserv address: To subscribe to the list, send an e-mail message to majordomo-at-igc-apc-org with "subscribe hrw-news" in the body of the message (leave the subject line blank).