Banning Landmines
International Campaign to Ban Landmines
In October 1992, six non-governmental organizations formed the International
Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL)- a coalition calling for a total ban on
antipersonnel mines. The six founding organizations were Vietnam Veterans of
America Foundation, Human Rights Watch, Handicap International, Medico
International, Mines Advisory Group and Physicians for Human Rights.
These organizations and many others operated a variety of projects, from
providing prosthetics and clearing landmines to provide aid and relief to
refugees and war-ravaged communities and documenting human rights violations.
All these groups witnessed the horrors of landmines and decided to join together
to address the root of the problem- to ban landmines so no more would be made,
sold or planted in the future while they tried to deal with the existing
landmines crisis.
Under the leadership of Jody Williams, the ICBL used fax and telephone to
communicate with NGOs worldwide, asking them to take action for a total ban on
landmines. The goal was simple: a ban on the use, production, stockpiling and
transfer of antipersonnel mines and more resources for mine clearance and
survivor assistance.
Hundreds of organizations joined the ICBL and held public events to raise
awareness in their communities, talked to their media and lobbied their
politicians. The ICBL became the fuel behind the entire global movement to ban
landmines and pushed forward what became known as the Ottawa Process
The Ottawa Process
ICBL members realized that they all had to work locally, nationally,
regionally and internationally, as well as with other partners including the
United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and governments to
achieve their goals.
Frustrated by the ineffectiveness of the 1980 Convention on Conventional
Weapons (CCW), the only treaty controlling the use of antipersonnel landmines,
members of NGOs who daily witnessed the effects of landmines began to call for
change. The French campaign urged then President Mitterand to call for such a
review conference to improve the CCW. Mitterand agreed to help, but the earliest
date possible for convening such a meeting was 1995!
The mine action community used the two years before the CCW Review Conference
to continue to raise awareness of the landmines issue with the general public
and governments. Campaigners from Canada to Cambodia took to the streets,
factories, temples, markets and schools to educate people about the landmines
crisis and the need for a ban. Momentum continued as the ICBL prepared for the
CCW Review Conference.
At the 1995-1996 CCW Review Conference the ICBL provided newsletters and
updates, lobbied government delegates, held public events and exhibits in the
streets and the conference venue, but the Review Conference did not result in
any real changes. It did, however, bring the landmine issue to the attention of
governments and the public around the world. It proved that the CCW was not
enough, a total ban was needed, and it increased support for a total ban. By the
end of the conference 40 countries said they supported a total ban. Governments
and NGOs began working more closely together, and governments felt more
pressure, as awareness grew around the world, to support a total ban. The
Government of Canada invited governments and the ICBL to Ottawa, Canada in
October 1996 to begin the process "Towards a Global Ban on Antipersonnel
Landmines."
At the end of that conference in Ottawa in October 1996, Canada issued a
challenge to the international community to negotiate and return to Ottawa to
sign a treaty banning antipersonnel landmines in December 1997. Everyone was
shocked! Just over one year to negotiate a treaty? Unheard of! Other treaties
took years! The Ottawa Process, as it would come to be known, was officially
started! It was decided that governments, the ICBL and other NGOs would meet in
Brussels, Belgium in June 1997 to build more political will and momentum, and
then in Oslo, Norway in September 1997 to negotiate the text of the actual
treaty.
Photo: John Rodsted |
In February 1997, 111 countries met in Vienna, Austria to write the first
draft of the landmine treaty. After Vienna, NGOs, UN, ICRC and government
partners participated in events and seminars worldwide to broaden support for
the Ottawa Process. Visits or conferences were also held in Mozambique, Japan,
Zimbabwe, Germany, South Africa, Sweden and Turkmenistan before the 24 June 1997
meeting in Brussels, Belgium.
The work was successful, and 97 countries signed the Brussels declaration,
which proclaimed support for the Ottawa Process, a strong treaty based on the
Austrian draft to be negotiated in Oslo, and a treaty signing by December
1997.
In September 1997, governments met in Oslo, Norway to negotiate the landmine
convention text. Despite numerous attempts, particularly by the United States to
weaken the text of the treaty, all of the governments adopted a strong treaty
with 'no exceptions, no reservations, and no loopholes'!
Throughout the Ottawa Process governments and the ICBL worked together in a
new partnership. Unlike other UN conferences, the ICBL members were allowed to
participate in the conferences in Brussels and Oslo. While some ICBL delegates
were inside the meeting rooms other campaigners continued their activities of
lobbying delegates, holding briefings and press conferences, issuing newsletters
and action alerts, mounting exhibits inside the conference halls and public
events outside in the city streets.
On 3 December 1997, 122 countries signed the Convention on The Prohibition of
The Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Antipersonnel Mines and on
Their Destruction in Ottawa, Canada. The global community had succeeded in
creating an international agreement in just over one year- an unprecedented
feat. This was also the first time that representatives from NGOs had played a
crucial part in the treaty negotiation process.
Joining the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty means that countries must destroy all their
stockpiled mines within four years, and they must remove all mines from the
ground in their country within 10 years, with extensions available for severely
affected countries. The treaty also includes mandatory reporting and providing
assistance with mine clearance and survivor assistance to mine-affected
countries to help deal with their mine problem.
Initially, countries could either sign or ratify the treaty. Signing the
treaty meant agreeing to abide by this new international law, and ratifying
meant taking it a step further and passing domestic measures banning landmines
and being legally bound by all treaty provisions. After the treaty entered into
force on 1 March 1999 countries could no longer just sign the treaty. They had
to accede to the treaty, which means signing and ratifying the treaty in one
step.
On 16 September 1998, Burkina Faso became the 40th ratification, and on 1
March 1999 the treaty entered into force. The Mine Ban Treaty has become binding
law faster than any other international agreement in history! To date,
152
countries have signed the treaty
and
143
have ratified it.
Click
here for a Mine Ban Treaty Ratification Update
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