Regional Conference on Antipersonnel Landmines (Europe)

Zagreb, Croatia
27 - 29 June 1999
Minutes from the panels held at the conference

Chairman's Summary

The Second Regional Conference on Antipersonnel Landmines was held in Zagreb, Croatia, 27-29 June 1999. Participants from 33 Countries, as well as 14 International Organizations and 50 nongovernmental organizations attended the Conference. At the beginning of the Conference Mrs. Jadranka Kosor, Deputy President of the Croatian State Parliament welcomed the Participants. The Conference was opened by Dr. Mate Granič, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Croatia. Cornelio Sommaruga, President of The ICRC, Mrs. Jody Williams, ICBL Ambassador and the recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize and Ozren Žunec, Croatian Campaign to Ban Landmines also delivered opening statements.

Following the opening session a general debate was held and 19 delegates took part in the discussion. Vladimir Drobnjak, Croatian Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, chaired the Conference. The work of the Conference proceeded in the form of Panels, where following topics were discussed: The Status and Implementation of the Ottawa Treaty, Mine Awareness, Victim Assistance, Rethinking Military Doctrine, Demining and Stockpile Destruction.

On the first day of the Conference, on the Military Field in Slunj, Croatian Army destroyed 3434 antipersonnel landmines. This has marked the beginning of Croatia's fulfillment of Article 4 of the Ottawa Convention. Thus the Republic of Croatia has set an example to all other countries in the region to follow her footsteps.

During the discussion the Participants reaffirmed the importance of universality of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Antipersonnel Mines and their Destruction and called for the full support to implementation of the Convention. They have welcomed the fact that 82 countries so far have ratified the Convention, hence demonstrating a strong determination of the overwhelming majority of international community to eliminate this weapon.

With the aim of contributing to the universality of the Ottawa Convention, the Participants called upon all countries which have not yet done so to ratify or accede to the Convention. In that context several delegations have stated that the ratification process in their countries has already begun. That fact was welcomed with appreciation and further support to the implementation of the Convention was pledged.

The Participants also agreed that continued cooperation at both regional and global level is fundamental framework for ensuring the implementation of the Convention, and affirmed their readiness to continue with such cooperation.

Attention was specially drawn to the recent Kosovo crisis, where antipersonnel landmines were recently implanted. The problem of antipersonnel landmines in the other countries in the region, notably Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which are among those that are mostly affected both in the region and the world, was also emphasized.

The international community was urged to help the mine affected countries in the region through necessary means, both financial and technical, in order to facilitate, speed up and make safer the process of mine clearance.

Participants to the Regional Conference welcomed a notable cooperation between Governments and non-governmental organizations. Strenuous efforts undertaken by the NGOs, as well as their valuable initiatives and influence contribute to the greater dynamics of the whole process. The Participants also expressed their hope that the cooperation between Governments and civil society would intensify throughout the region.

The Participants agreed that antipersonnel landmines cause enormous damage and casualties in the aftermath of a military conflict, thus primarily endangering civilian populations, and causing serious obstacles to the post-conflict rebuilding. In that context, the Participants attached great importance to the issue of economic reconstruction in the contaminated areas where landmines pose a serious obstacle to the economic and social development. They stressed the need for their rapid elimination as an important precondition for the revitalization and normalization of life in those areas.

The participants also expressed their concern regarding the danger that landmines pose to the return of refugees and displaced persons, slowing down the process, and called for their elimination in order to allow unimpeded and safe return to the affected areas.

The importance of rehabilitation of landmine victims was specially emphasized. The Participants called upon all the countries and international agencies to cooperate and participate with mine affected countries in the creation and implementation of the programmes and methods for each country, bearing in mind its own characteristics aiming to provide all sort of necessary assistance to the victims. The role of international agencies and NGOs is absolutely crucial in this segment.

On the issue of mine-awareness it was emphasized that it should not only be a method of educating people how to avoid and cope with the problem of landmines, but also a preventive mechanism which develops a long term general awareness aimed at total ban of this appalling weapon and its eventual elimination.

Conference provided an opportunity to assess again the limited military usefulness of landmines in military conflicts compared to their long-term socio-economic impact on civilian populations. The need for alternative means and techniques which would replace antipersonnel landmines in the military doctrine, was especially emphasized.

The Participants expressed their gratitude to the Republic of Croatia for organizing the Regional Conference on Landmines in 1999, as a follow up to the First Regional Conference on Antipersonnel Landmines, held in Budapest, 1998.

It is noted with pleasure that the Republic of Slovenia has accepted to host the Third Regional Conference next year. This will provide an opportunity to strengthen the cooperation between countries in the region, as well as to asses the ongoing achievements and developments connected to the implementation of the Convention and the process in general.

Minutes from the panels held at the conference