ICBL Intervention: Regional Planning and Priority Setting

(Monday 18 August 2003 Lima, Peru)

Americas Regional Mine Action Seminar “En Camino hacia un Hemisferio Libre de Minas Antipersonal”
Lima, Perú 14-15 August 2003

ICBL Intervention
Regional Planning and Priority Setting
Thursday 14 August 2003, 15-16h30

Thank you, and felicitations to co-hosts Perú, Canada, OAS for holding the regional seminar in preparation for the 2004 Review Conference, this is the first such regional seminar being held.

On behalf of the ICBL, I congratulate Guyana for ratifying the treaty on 5 August 2003, becoming the 135th state party to the Mine Ban Treaty. Congratulations also to Costa Rica for becoming the first mine-affected State Party to be declared mine-free, in December 2002.

The Americas region has been a global leader in universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty, now 32 of 35 countries are state parties. Of the three other states in the region, Haiti has signed but not ratified the treaty, and Cuba and the USA remain outside the treaty. The ICBL calls for Americas State Parties to continue that global leadership by ensuring that universalization is fully achieved and that all states fully live up to their treaty obligations in the lead up to the Review Conference to be held in Nairobi in 2004.

Policy: We urge Haiti to follow the lead of Guyana and ratify the Ottawa Convention before the 5MSP or as soon as possible. We also call on Cuba and the US to join the Convention, and encourage State Parties to work together towards achieving this important goal. The US remains a major mine action donor, and has maintained the export moratorium issued in 1992.

Policy: Article 9, which states that each State Party shall take all appropriate legal, administrative and other measures, including the imposition of penal sanctions, to prevent and suppress any activity prohibited to a State Party under this convention by persons or on territory under its jurisdiction or control. Only 8 of 32 State Parties have enacted national implementation legislation in the region and a clear challenge for the region is to increase that number substantially prior to the Review Conference in Nairobi. National implementation legislation is important because it spells out penal sanctions for violations, it includes precise language on definitions, and it signals which authorities are responsible for its application at the national level.

ICBL with the ICRC has held regional information sessions on Article 9 for regional government representatives at the last Standing Committee meetings in May 2003, and for regional LM researchers at the global meeting in Rome in April 2003. The ICBL is pleased that the ICRC will make a presentation on national implementation legislation tomorrow afternoon and encourages those States Parties that have not enacted legislation to begin the process now and to complete it, at the latest, by the Review Conference in Nairobi.

Policy: Article 7. For full compliance with the Mine Ban Treaty we must stress that submission of transparency reports according to Article 7 is a treaty obligation, and annual reports must be submitted by 30 April each year. In addition to being a key obligation of the treaty it is also a valuable information tool for mine action planners, victim assistance providers and donors. There are still State Parties that have not submitted their initial reports, and as of July 2003 there were eleven states parties that had not submitted their annual updates. Several reports are incomplete and others have inconsistencies in the reporting. The ICBL is pleased that Kerry Brinkert of the Implementation Support Unit will lead a discussion on sharing best practices in the provision of information in the annual reports. We urge States Parties to use voluntary form J to inform on victim assistance efforts (five States Parties did so in their 2003 annual updates – Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, México and Perú).

Use and Colombia: Colombia remains the only country in the region where antipersonnel mines are being widely used. Hostilities have intensified throughout 2002 and 2003 with a corresponding increase in the use of mines. The ICBL calls on all parties to the conflict to cease mine use immediately, and calls for the landmine problem and use to be explicitly included in any future negotiations on resolving the conflict. The ICBL has condemned use of mines by NSAs in Colombia.

Colombia is urged to follow the example of other countries in conflict and begin humanitarian mine clearance now, and also to implement mine risk education programs in all mine affected parts of the country.

Stockpile Destruction: The ICBL congratulates Brasil, El Salvador and Nicaragua for having completed destruction of their stockpiles in the period May 2002 –May 2003. Stock destruction is underway in five states parties and the ICBL calls for destruction to be done in a transparent manner, with the participation of civil society observers, Landmine Monitor researchers, the media, and representatives of other States Parties. In the case of Venezuela, the treaty-mandated deadline for completion of stockpile destruction is 1 October 2003.

Mines Retained for Training: State Parties can retain hundreds, or thousands, but not tens of thousands AP mines for training and development. The ICBL continues to question the need for live mines for training and calls on States Parties to continue to evaluate the necessity for this exception. The ICBL welcomes the decision by many States Parties to reduce the number of mines retained for training. The ICBL believes that it is important to have complete transparency on mines retained for training and strongly supports the recommendation of the Standing Committee on General Status and Operation of the Convention that States Parties should in their Article 7 reports “include information on the intended purpose and actual use” of retained mines.

Funding: Canada and the US have made significant contributions to mine action in the region, and the OAS mine action program has received significant support from a number of donors. The ICBL urges donors to continue funding at appropriate levels so that completion of mine clearance is made prior to the ten –year deadline (the first deadline is March 2009), and so that survivor assistance needs are met in the long term. States Parties in the Americas have annually adopted OAS resolutions in support of mine action in Perú and Ecuador, in support of mine action in Central America, and one reaffirming the objective of an antipersonnel landmine-free Western Hemisphere. When in a capacity to do so, the ICBL encourages States Parties to contribute national funds to mine action, as Perú has done in 2002.

Clearance: as indicated above, the treaty-mandated deadline for completion of mine clearance for the first group of State Parties is March 2009.

Planning and Coordination: The ICBL believes that an increased focus on planning and coordinating mine action, including the development of mine action plans will lead to more accurate mine action data, and to improved efficiency in mine action activities. The ICBL calls for the participation of civil society in planning and coordinating bodies, including landmine survivors and representatives from mine-affected communities.

MRE: Mine risk education programs are being carried out in seven States Parties, while same basic MRE activities took place in another two. The ICBL believes that national and international non-governmental organizations are well placed to work in partnership with States to provide effective MRE programs, particularly those NGOs with experience in rural areas, and in working with peasant and indigenous populations.

Survivor Assistance: assistance to survivors in the Americas is of particular concern to the ICBL. Assistance must be viewed as long term and requires focused attention, that can lead to benefits for all disabled persons not just landmine survivors. Tomorrow afternoon my colleague Richard Villadiego, a landmine survivor associated with CIREC in Bogotá, will make a presentation on the challenges facing survivor assistance efforts in the region, so I won’t go into detail here.

Starting in September 2003, México will serve as co-chair of the SC on General Status and Operation, and Guatemala will serve as co-chair of the SC on Stockpile Destruction. Canada will serve as a co-rapporteur of the SC on SD, and Nicaragua will serve as co-rapporteur of the SC on VA. The ICBL commends those States Parties and wishes them success in their new responsibilities, and in maintaining international attention on the global antipersonnel mine problem, consolidating global mine action efforts, and contributing to the full implementation of the Ottawa Convention.

The ICBL-government partnership has been effective globally and in this region in universalizing the Convention and ensuring its effective implementation. The ICBL will continue to work with States Parties to ensure full compliance with the Mine Ban Treaty in the lead up to the Review Conference, we encourage states parties to leave Lima with a clear road map to achieving full implementation of the MBT in the region, and to make that a reality. The promise of the Mine Ban Treaty will not be fulfilled without sustained and increased commitment from governments and non-governmental organizations. Thank you.