LANDMINES CAMPAIGN CALLS ON FOURTEEN RECALCITRANT OSCE MEMBERS TO BAN LANDMINES NOW, CONDEMNS RECENT USE
(16 November 1999) On the eve of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Summit in Istanbul, the Nobel Prize-winning International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) called on the fourteen OSCE member states that have not yet joined the ban on antipersonnel landmines to do so immediately.
“These fourteen governments are clearly out of step with the rest of the OSCE when it comes to banning landmines,” said Liz Bernstein, Coordinator of the ICBL. The ten countries are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Russian Federation, Turkey, United States of America, Uzbekistan and Yugoslavia. “They stand against the tide of history and should join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty now as the OSCE´s Parliamentary Assembly urged in its St. Petersburg Declaration in July of this year,” she said.
The ICBL condemned recent mine use by OSCE members Russia in Dagestan and possibly Chechnya, and by Yugoslavia in Kosovo. Russia, Turkey, United States of America and Yugoslavia should be especially embarrassed to be among the 16 remaining countries that refuse to halt production of landmines.
The ICBL called on the nine OSCE member states that have signed but not ratified the ban treaty to ratify immediately, at the very least by the anniversary of entry into force of the ban treaty on 1 March 2000. They are Albania, Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Ukraine. The ICBL warmly welcomed the accession by Tajikistan to the treaty this month.
The ICBL called for continued and increased funding for mine clearance and victim assistance in mine-affected countries. At least 22 OSCE countries are mine-affected including: six states parties (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark and Slovenia), six signatories (Albania, Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine) and ten non-signatories (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Russia, Turkey and Yugoslavia). Abkhazia, Chechnya and Dagestan are also mine-affected.
The 32 OSCE States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty are: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Holy See, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of), Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and United Kingdom.
The Mine Ban or Ottawa Treaty bans the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of
antipersonnel landmines, requires destruction of stockpiled mines within four years, clearance of mined areas within ten years and assistance for mine victims. Several OSCE members worked closely with the ICBL to negotiate the Mine Ban Treaty including Austria, Belgium, Canada, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. The ICBL, a coalition of over 1400 non-governmental organizations in 90 countries, was awarded the 1997 Nobel Prize for Peace for turning a ban on mines from “a vision to a feasible reality.”
Contact: Liz Bernstein, Tel. c/o +1-202-612-4355, email.
banemnow-at-icbl-org
