Japan destroys its last landmine stockpile

Author/Origin: Yukie Osa, AAR Japan landmineSPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERaarjapan.gr.jp

(Wednesday 12 February 2003 Shin-Asahi, Japan) On February 8th the last of the Japanese stockpile of anti-personnel landmines (APM) was destroyed during an official destruction ceremony hosted by the Japanese Government (the Defense and Foreign Affairs Ministries) in Shin-Asahi town of Shiga Prefecture. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi gave the command and ‘pushed the button’ from Shin-Asahi to the Bibai, Hokkaido, where the last destruction took place.

Japan is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty since its entry into force 1 March 1999. Under the provisions of the treaty a State Party must destroy its stockpiled mines within four years. One million anti-personnel landmines were stockpiled and the destruction of landmines was started on January 17, 2000, at Shin Asahi town by then Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. The ceremony 8th February completed the stockpile destruction. Japan retained 15,000 APMs for training purpose in 1998, but as of December 2002 only 9,613 remain.

In his speech, after paying tribute to all those who worked for the stockpile destruction and the mine ban campaign, Prime Minister Koizumi said there are still many landmines left in the world and the total ban has not yet been achieved, so Japan will continue to appeal for a total ban worldwide.

In addition to Prime Minister Koizumi, 200 people participated in the ceremony including Mr. Akio Sato, Parliamentary Secretary for Defense, Mr. Tetsuro Yano, Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr.Kenji Kosaka, president of the Diet (parliament) Members’ League for a total ban on APMs, Ambasador Dr.Kuniko Inoguchi to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, as well as JCBL members and Japanese and two Afghan children.

Photo: AAR Japan

Right after the ceremony, Association for Aid and Relief (AAR), Japan and Shin-Asahi town co-hosted a “Ban Landmines, All-Japan Children’s Summit”. Prime Minister Koizumi also attended the opening ceremony of the Summit. In his speech, Prime Minister said “Although the Japanese stockpile destruction has been completed, there are 50 to 100 million landmines left in the earth. In order to make a peaceful world, please think about what you can do to solve this problem through this event.” Ms. Jody Williams, ICBL ambassador and Mr. Chris Moon, a landmine survivor who acted as a torch runner in the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic Games, sent messages to the Summit.

298 primary and secondary school children from all over Japan participated in the Summit to discuss what they can do to make a difference in solving the landmine problems in the world. Two survivors from Afghanistan, Mr.Nadir Shah, a 16- year-old UXO survivor from Wardak, and Ms.Mursil, a 10- year-old landmine survivor from Parwan, joined the Japanese children to discuss the landmine situation in Afghanistan.