ICBL urges NATO members to stand up to US on landmine ban

(Tuesday 12 June 2001 Paris, France) On the eve of US President George W. Bush’s first NATO meeting, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) called upon the United States to join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, and called upon other NATO members to declare publicly that they would oppose any US use of mines in joint NATO operations and would refuse to participate in any joint operations in which the US used antipersonnel mines.

Of NATO’s nineteen members, the United States and Turkey are the only two that have not signed the international treaty banning the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of antipersonnel mines, and Turkey’s Foreign Minister announced in April that Turkey was initiating the procedures to join the treaty.

The ICBL noted that the United States reserved the right to use antipersonnel mines during the NATO operation in Yugoslavia/Kosovo, and had it done so, could have put other NATO members at risk of violating the Mine Ban Treaty. “The US will remain part of the problem as long as it refuses to join the treaty and insists on being able to use antipersonnel mines. US funding for humanitarian mine action is very important, but use must stop,” said campaign coordinator, Liz Bernstein.

President Bush will meet other heads of states and government representatives in Brussels tomorrow for a NATO Special Meeting. Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom have an obligation to promote the treaty and to strive to convince President Bush to join the world in declaring antipersonnel landmines illegal weapons, said the ICBL.

The ICBL, the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate, also called on NATO nations to clarify their positions in opposition to foreign stockpiling and transit of antipersonnel mines on their territories. The United States has more than 200,000 antipersonnel mines stockpiled in Norway, Germany, and Greece, as well as at Diego Garcia, a United Kingdom dependent territory.

For more information contact:

• Liz Bernstein, ICBL Coordinator, +1-202-547-2667
  
• Sylvie Brigot, ICBL Government Relations Officer, + 33 1 47 88 97 53
  
• Sue Wixley, ICBL Advocacy & Communications Officer, + 44-(0)20-7820-9577