ACTION ALERT: RATIFICATION NOW!!!

(21. July) TO: ALL CAMPAIGNERS TO BAN LANDMINES
FROM: Liz Bernstein, ICBL
Re: ACTION ALERT: ACT NOW FOR RATIFICATION!!!

Although we did not reach our goal of 100 ratifications by 1 March we are fast approaching it now! Bets are being taken all around! At the time of this writing 137 have signed/acceded and 96 have ratified. But we have launched the second phase of our Ratification Campaign to urge as many signatories to the Mine Ban Treaty as possible to RATIFY before the Second Meeting of States Parties in Geneva, Switzerland 11-15 September 2000. 41 countries have signed but not yet ratified the treaty.

Our goal is to get maximum ratification by signatory states by September 11.

We at ICBL as well as our colleagues at UNICEF, ICRC and government partners are joining efforts to urge RATIFICATION NOW.

1. WRITE LETTERS to the Foreign Ministers and/or Heads of State of all governments
   which have signed but not yet ratified the treaty to encourage them to do so by 11 September 2000. (see sample letter)
   
2. VISIT embassies of these states in your capital
3. ENCOURAGE your government (states parties) to conduct demarches and other means in various fora to encourage all signatories to ratify by 11 September 2000.
4. CONTACT campaigners in that country (where they exist) to find out what you can do.
5. CONTACT media in that country.

In order to target our efforts, we’ve drawn up a list of some priorities, although of course it is important to get ALL 41 signatories to ratify. Attached is a full updated list of signatories/accession and ratifications. Below is a list suggesting some priorities by region. We urge you to write all of them, or at least those in your region, to select a few of those you deem important, perhaps neighboring countries in your region or those sharing a language or special relationship with your country, or just ones that interest you and visit their embassy, call the embassy, call your government leaders and encourage them to urge these countries to ratify.

Ratification ­ 41 countries have not yet ratified

17 Africa
6 Europe
2 CIS
8 Americas
7 Asia
1 MENA

AFRICA: Top Priorities are: Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana and others are: Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritania, Sao Tome, Tanzania and Zambia.

EUROPE: Top Priorities are: Malta and Romania and others are Ukraine, Lithuania,
Greece, Cyprus, Moldova, Poland

MENA: Algeria

ASIA: Top Priorities are: Brunei, Cook Islands, Maldives, Vanuatu and others are Bangladesh, Indonesia, Marshall Islands

AMERICAS: Top Priorities are: Colombia, Dominican Republic, St Vincent, Uruguay and others are Chile, Guyana, Haiti, Suriname

At the recent Coordinating Committee meeting in Geneva in May various members made pledges to help follow up with certain countries. For example, the Cambodian Campaign agreed to follow-up in the South Pacific following Reth’s trip to Fiji: Marshall and Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Palau. They will also follow up with Brunei and Indonesia. What countries can you and your campaign target?

In addition, several government partners including Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Hungary, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway and the UK have taken responsibility for various countries and will follow up with demarches in the coming weeks. If you are in those countries, ensure they follow up as well as consider complementary actions you and other campaigners can undertake. For a sample letter urging immediate ratification, followed by addresses of Foreign Ministers in targeted countries, see here. For more information, contact banemnow-at-icbl.org

Thanks for doing all you can for RATIFICATION NOW!!!

Liz