Landmine Monitor update
Informing on the preparations for the release of the Landmine Monitor Report 2000.
100 researchers from 83 countries representing the International Campaign to Ban Landmines’ Landmine Monitor research network gathered in The Netherlands from 15-17 May to participate in their final meeting to prepare the second annual Landmine Monitor report: Landmine Monitor Report 2000. This report is being prepared for release to the Second Meeting of States Parties to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty this September. The Netherlands meeting showed how the Landmine Monitor network of in-country researchers is truly international in its composition and therefore unique as the world’s only global civil-society based monitoring regime of a major multilateral treaty. 115 researchers from 85 countries are providing research for this second report, a rapid expansion from the network of 80 researchers from 50 countries that prepared the Landmine Monitor Report 1999.
The Netherlands meeting was co-hosted by NOVIB and The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs at a conference center near The Hague. During the opening plenary, The Netherlands Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister Van Aartsen described his government’s strong support for this global monitoring initiative. ICBL Ambassador and Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams emphasized the global importance to the ban movement of the Landmine Monitor initiative. The ICBL’s Coordinator, Resource Center Director and Webmaster also participated in the meeting as well as some key governments, (Belgium, Canada, and the Netherlands) and international agencies including the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) and the Open Society Institute (OSI).
At a reception hosted by The Netherlands Ministry for Development Cooperation, The Netherlands announced that it will support the Landmine Monitor with a donation of U.S. $100,000. Canadian diplomat Bob Lawson announced that Canada will continue its funding commitment to the Landmine Monitor with a contribution of Can. $250,000. This makes a total of ten donors to the second annual Landmine Monitor Report: the governments of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom in addition to the non-governmental institutions, the Landmines Project of the Open Society Institute and the John Merck Foundation.
During The Netherlands meeting, researchers submitted and discussed their final research reports in small regional meetings. Discussions focused on key thematic areas of research including ban policy, production, trade, use, stockpiling, mine action, mine awareness and mine victim assistance. Brainstorming on the release, distribution and advocacy of Landmine Monitor Report 2000 resulted in the Release and Distribution Plan attached below.
In June and July 2000, research reports will undergo thorough fact-checking and editing as they are combined for publication in Landmine Monitor Report 2000. As with the first annual report, Landmine Monitor Report 2000 will contain information on every country in the world with respect to mine use, production, trade, stockpiling, humanitarian demining and mine survivor assistance. The report goes to print in August 2000 and the report’s Executive Summary will then be translated into at least five languages including Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Most researchers plan to work with their national campaigns and NGOs to release and distribute their country report research in their own language at the same time as the main annual report is released.
LANDMINE MONITOR REPORT 2000: GLOBAL RELEASE AND DISTRIBUTION PLAN
Thursday 7 Sept. 2000: Landmine Monitor Report 2000 release date. Press conferences planned in Brussels, London, Nairobi, Oslo, Ottawa, Paris and Washington DC with more expected. Virtual release on www.icbl.org
Monday 11 Sept. 2000: Geneva, Switzerland. Landmine Monitor Report 2000 distributed to the Second Meeting of States Parties to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.
End Sept. 2000: Yalta, Ukraine. Landmine Monitor regional researchers meeting including release of a regional LM 2000 report at a public briefing. (tentative)
25-26 Oct. 2000: Djibouti. Regional Conference on Landmines hosted by government of Djibouti. A regional report on mines in the Horn of Africa will be released at this meeting by Somaliland LM country researcher, the Institute for Practical Research. Contact: ahesaSPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERrocketmail.com
Oct/Nov. 2000: Francophone Africa meeting of landmines. Francophone African LM reports will be released.
Oct. 2000: Damascus, Syria. The Landmine Monitor report will be distributed at a conference on documentation and information.
3 Dec. 2000: Cairo, Egypt. Landmine Monitor research, including the Egyptian country report, will be distributed at a media symposium on landmines.
No date: Palestine. Researchers plan to host a workshop to discuss the findings of their research.
Regional Follow-up:
In AFRICA, researchers plan to follow-up on allegations during the pre-publication phase. They will hold a training meeting as part of the production of the third annual Landmine Monitor report.
In the AMERICAS, researchers will write to the Organization of American States (OAS) with a request for their assistance on transparency measures on landmines and for information on the OAS demining and victim assistance initiatives. Researchers hope the OAS will actively encourage MBT states parties to submit their article seven reports on time. Researchers urged translation of the Executive Summary and key country reports into Portuguese as well as Spanish.
In ASIA-PACIFIC, national report releases are anticipated including in Nepal where the report will be translated into local language.
In EUROPE, researchers plan national releases including in Hungary where the country report will be published in the June issue of "Fundamentum", an important Hungarian periodical on human rights.
Researchers from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Central Asia will translate and distribute their research reports into their local language and distribute to their network of contacts. A joint report of the LM research on Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine is planned and further regional releases are anticipated.
In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), researchers plan to translate and distribute their country report research with accompanying press releases to government contacts, media, NGOs, diplomatic missions, mine action donors and practicioners.
Landmine Monitor is an unprecedented initiative by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) to monitor implementation of and compliance with the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty (1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and On their Destruction) and more generally to assess the efforts of the international community to resolve the landmines crisis. Landmine Monitor is largely based on in-country research, collected by in-country researchers, utilizing the ICBL's network of non-governmental organizations but also drawing on other elements of civil society to help monitor and report, including journalists, academics and research institutions.
For more information, to access the first report or to receive a copy of the next Landmine Monitor when it is released, please go to www.icbl.org/lm or email. lm-at-icbl-org
