ICBL Urges Poland and other Countries to Join the Mine Ban Treaty

(Monday 18 June 2001 Warsaw) Representatives of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), 1997 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate, will call for speedy ratification of and accession to the Mine Ban Treaty and its full implementation by States Parties, at a conference that opens in Warsaw today.

The ICBL hopes that the conference, entitled "Understanding the Ottawa Convention on anti-personnel landmines" and organised by the governments of Poland and Canada, will bring on board countries that have signed but not yet ratified the treaty, including Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine and will encourage other "holdouts" to follow the leadership of their European neighbours.

Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Belarus and Russia are the only countries in the region to remain outside of the Mine Ban Treaty, the 1997 Convention that prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of antipersonnel landmines and their destruction. All European members of NATO have joined or are in the process of joining.

The two day conference will explore the practical implications of accession to and ratification of the Mine Ban Treaty, and examine progress with regards to treaty implementation. Some of the steps that are necessary for the implementation of the treaty are adoption of national implementation measures, destruction of stockpiles, destruction of emplaced mines, assistance for landmine survivors and annual transparency reporting.

In relation to implementation, the ICBL notes that Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria have completed their stock destruction, the Czech Republic announced June 15th that it had just completed destruction of the last of its 324,000 mines, and Moldova is in the process of destroying its stockpiles.

Other good news is that new State Party, Romania, has provided a number for its stockpiles and intends to begin destruction shortly, while Ukraine has a destruction plan in place for its millions of mines. However, the number of mines stockpiled by signatories Lithuania and Poland is unknown.

Of grave concern for the ICBL, is the fact that Russia, a current producer of mines, is believed to retain a stockpile of between 60 and 70 million mines, the second largest in the world and no information is available about the stocks of other non-signatories Finland, Estonia and Latvia.

"We hope that the conference will help to turn the words of the treaty into a reality," said ICBL Government Relations Officer, Sylvie Brigot. "The ICBL is pleased that Poland is co-hosting the conference", says Sylvie Brigot "because this shows their commitment to working for a landmine free world. But after signing the Treaty in December 1997, it is now time to ratify it.".

Out of the total of 140 countries that have joined the treaty, 117 have ratified, most recently Uruguay on 7 June. The ICBL has reiterated its call for 120 ratifications by the Third Meeting of States Parties, hosted by Nicaragua in September 2001, and hopes that the Warsaw conference will bring everyone closer to this target.

For more information please go to www.icbl.org or contact mediaSPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERicbl.org, or:

• Liz Bernstein, ICBL Coordinator, +1-202-547-2667 ·
• Sylvie Brigot, ICBL Government Relations Officer, + 48 22 657 61 00 (Sheraton hotel in Warsaw)
• Sue Wixley, ICBL Advocacy and Communications Officer, + 44 (0) 20 7820- 9577