U.S.A. – BAN MINES TODAY!

Over half of the ICBL’s Internet requests for information and endorsements of the ICBL’s Call for a Ban on Landmines come from citizens in the United States of America. At its second General Meeting in May 1999, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines decided to make the United States the ICBL’s number one country target. Why?

[ WHAT’S THE PROBLEM | WHAT CAN YOU DO | CONTACT U.S. DECISION-MAKERS | U.S. CAMPAIGN CONTACTS]

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

The Clinton Administration has said the U.S. will sign the treaty in 2006 but onlyif a search for alternatives to antipersonnel mines has been successful. The Pentagon’s lukewarm search for alternatives to antipersonnel mines, and a current lack of leadership on this issue by the President of the United States of America means this target of 2006 is unlikely to be met. The USA seems to be moving away from the ban rather than toward it.

For example, thePentagon has requested $48.3 million in this year’s budget for "pre-production activities" for a new mine system containing ADAM antipersonnel mines banned under the Mine Ban Treaty the U.S. says it intends to sign. Total costs for some 300,000 new RADAM systems are estimated at $194 million, with a final decision on production to be made in FY 2001.

Other concerns include:

• The U.S. has pressed its allies, including treaty signatories, to allow it to use antipersonnel mines in joint operations and to continue stockpiling U.S. antipersonnel mines on their territory, and to permit the U.S. to transport mines through their territory -- all of which are against the spirit, and perhaps the letter, of the ban treaty. and to continue stockpiling U.S. antipersonnel mines on their territory, and to permit the U.S. to transport mines through their territory -- all of which are against the spirit, and perhaps the letter, of the ban treaty.
• The U.S. publicly stated that it reserves the right to use anti-personnel landmines in Kosovo, even as it condemned Yugoslav forces for using them. Fortunately, the U.S. did not use AP mines in Kosovo, but it is now spending millions of dollars to remove mines laid by Yugoslavia ( a non-treaty signatory) and the KLA.
• The U.S. has 11.3 million antipersonnel mines stockpiled, the fourth largest mine arsenal in the world, after China, Russia and Belarus.
• The U.S. is retaining 1.2 million of so-called "dumb" mines, to be laid if conflict breaks out on the Korean peninsula.
• The U.S. has antipersonnel mines stored in at least ten foreign countries, including seven that have signed the ban treaty. The largest U.S. stocks are in South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Italy and Germany.
• The U.S. is one of only sixteen remaining mine producing nations. Thirty-eight former producing nations have banned manufacture. While the U.S. has not made new antipersonnel mines in at least two years, it refuses to adopt a formal moratorium or ban, and reserves the right to produce at any time.
• According to Pentagon officials, the 2006 deadline for developing alternatives for antipersonnel mines is not likely to be met, meaning the U.S. would not join the treaty at that time. DoD spent $5 million on its search for alternatives from FY1996-1998, with $26 million expected in 1999 and $58 million in 2000.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Express your support for the ban on antipersonnel landmines!

Try to do one or all of the suggested actions listed below. Contact the U.S. Campaign organizations for more information at the contact details listed below.

• Call/Fax/Email/Visit the President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, your Senator and your Congressional representative and tell them to support the U.S. joining the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty NOW! 2006 is too late for the world to wait for the United States to ban antipersonnel landmines. Click here for sample letters.

• Call/Fax/Email/Visit your State, District, County representative, Mayor, and other prominent local decision-makers (school board, rotary club, church leader). Ask them to support the U.S. joining the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty NOW! Ask for a written declaration or proclamation or resolution of support for the ban declaring your town, city, state a landmine-free zone! Circulate the petition calling for a ban.

• Call/Fax/Email/Visit your local newspaper, radio or television station. . Ask them to support the U.S. joining the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty NOW! Contact the U.S. Campaign organizations for audio and video footage. Use the sample letter provided below.

• Call/Fax/Email/Visit U.S. manufacturers of antipersonnel landmines. These are identified in the 1997 Human Rights Watch report Exposing the Source available from HRW (Tel. 1-202-612-4321) and from its web site: http://www.hrw.org/hrw/campaigns/mines/index.html

• Demonstrate! Join regular demonstrations against landmine manufacturers in the USA. Hold a candlelight vigil in support of the ban and in remembrance of the thousands of people around the world who have lost their limbs, lives and loved ones to this awful weapon. Make a mock minefield to show people what it is like to live in fear of landmines.

• Join the Call for Posters. The U.S. Campaign is issuing a call for posters, open to all ages, themed on the call for the U.S. to ban antipersonnel landmines now.

CONTACT U.S. DECISION-MAKERS

The Honorable William Jefferson Clinton
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington DC 20500
Via Fax: +1-202-456-2461
Via Email: presidentSPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERwhitehouse.gov

Hon. William Cohen
Secretary of Defense
The Pentagon
Washington DC 20301
Via Fax: +1-703-695-1219

Hon. Madeleine K. Albright
Secretary of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington DC 20520
Via Fax: +1-202-647-1533
Via Email: secretarySPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERstate.gov

Go to www.senate.gov – for all U.S. Senators

Go to www.congress.org – for all U.S. Congressional representatives

U.S. CAMPAIGN CONTACTS

Contact the Physicians for Human Rights [www.phrusa.org], the Grassroots Coordinator of the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines for the latest action alert, calendar of U.S. campaign events and newsletter on U.S. activities in support of the ban:

• Gina Cummings & Jennifer Logan
  Physicians for Human Rights
  100 Boylston Street, Suite 702
  Boston, MA 02116.
  Tel. 1-617-695-0041
  Fax: 617-695-0307
  email. BanMinesSPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERphrusa.org
  www.banminesusa.org
  

Contact other U.S.-based non-governmental organizations and individuals working in support of the ban:

• Adopt a Minefield [www.landmines.org]
  Web pages of the Adopt A Minefield initiative of the United nations Association of the USA.
  
• Africa Policy Information Center [www.africapolicy.org]
  APIC's is a member of the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines with an interest in African issues (including landmines) and the U.S. role in Africa.
  
• American Refugee Committee [www.archq.org]
  The American Refugee Committee has recently developed an educational program called Focus On Hope which is working with a number of schools in the U.S. on issues related to refugees, issues that many children from western nations know little about. They are concentrating on a few specific areas, one of which is the issue of landmines.
  
• CARE [www.care.org]
  CARE has a Landmine Info Center on its work eradicating landmines around the world and support for the ban campaign.
  
• Center for Defense Information [www.cdi.org]
  This site has a database of landmines-related info plus they are producing videos on the issue.
  
• Church World Service [www.churchworldservice.org/]
  CWS, a ministry of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., has a Landmine Update section in its web pages with the latest News and Action Alerts.
  
• Human Rights Watch [www.hrw.org/hrw/campaigns/mines/1999]
  email. hrwdcSPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERhrw.org
  Information on the Landmine Monitor initiative of the ICBL, Human Rights Watch reports on landmines in Cambodia, Angola, Mozambique, U.S. landmine producers and more.
  
• Jesuit Refugee Service [www.jesuit.org/]
  Landmines are listed as a priority issue in the section on the Jesuit Advocacy Network.
  
• Landmine Survivors Network [www.landminesurvivors.org/]
  email. LSNSPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERlandminesurvivors.org
  Information on landmine survivors inside the United States and abroad. Foreword by Jordan’s Queen Noor. On-line petition
  
• Senator Patrick Leahy [www.senate.gov/member/vt/leahy/general/]
  Senator Patrick Leahy is Congressional champion of the campaign to ban landmines.
  
• Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs [www.loga.org]
  LOGA has regular legislative updates on landmines.
  
• U.S. Committee for UNICEF Office [www.unicefusa.org]
  Contains information and action sections on banning landmines.
  
• Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation [www.vvaf.org]
  email. banminesusaSPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERvi.org
  Information on VVAF’s humanitarian programs, the global level one survey initiative and the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines.
  
• Jody Williams, ICBL Ambassador
  email. williamsSPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERicbl.org
  Jody Williams an American citizen, received the 1997 Nobel Prize for Peace along with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines for her work coordinating the campaign from 1991-1997.