1 March 2002 is the third anniversary of the entry-into-force of the treaty banning landmines. Since the treaty entered into effect on 1 March 1999, incredible progress has been made towards creating a landmine-free world. Many governments have joined the treaty, destroyed stockpiled mines, removed landmines from their soil, increased availability of support to survivors and stopped producing and exporting landmines. To date, 142 countries have signed the treaty, and 122 have ratified it, making it the most rapidly ratified treaty in history!
Despite the progress, much work is still needed to eliminate landmines. On 1 March 2002, as we celebrate our successes, we ask you to take action against those that continue to use landmines.
India and Pakistan have used landmines in three previous conflicts with each other, and recently planted mines along their shared border. These mines have already claimed the lives and limbs of both civilians and military personnel living and working in the affected areas. Neither India nor Pakistan has joined the treaty banning landmines.
What can you do to take action?
1. Get informed! Read the 2001 Landmine Monitor Reports on India and Pakistan online. Click here to read the ICBL’s Action Alert and information about the recent use of mines.
2. Sign the Youth Against War Treaty online online. Signatures will be handed over to the Indian and Pakistani governments. Collect treaty signatures in your community!
3. Send a letter to the editor of your school or community newspaper urging India and Pakistan to join the Mine Ban Treaty. Click here for a sample letter.
4. Visit the nearest Indian or Pakistani embassy and encourage embassy officials to pressure their respective governments to join the Mine Ban Treaty. Or, hold a protest outside the embassy.
5. Send a letter to the Indian and Pakistani governments or to their embassies in your country. Use a sample letter or write your own message. Sample letters are provided below. Click here for contact information for Indian and Pakistani missions around the world.
Send letters to your local embassy or to:
INDIA
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Rashtrapati Bavan
New Delhi 110004
India
Fax: +91-11-301-6857 +91-11-301-9545, 91-11-972-2-664-838
Mr. Jaswant Singh, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fax +91-11-301-0700
George Fernandes, Minister of Defense Fax +91-11-379-3397
Ambassador Kamalesh Sharma, Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations
UN Mission Fax +1-212-490-9656, Email: india@un.int
PAKISTAN
President Pervez Musharraf
Office of the President
Constitution Ave.
Islamabad
Pakistan
Fax: 92-51-920-3938, 92-51-920-1968, 92-51-811390
Mr. Abdus Sattar, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Fax: +92-51-920-7217, +92-51-920-2518, +92-51-920-0420, Email: pakfm@isb.sdnpk.org
Ambassador Shamshad Ahmad, Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations
UN Mission Fax. +1-212-744-7348, Email: pakistan@un.int
Sample letter:
1 March 2002
(Name)
(Address)
Dear (Name),
Today marks the third anniversary of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty entering into effect around the world. To date 142 countries have signed the treaty, but not India and Pakistan. I am very concerned that when so many countries are working to eliminate landmines, India and Pakistan continue to use them.
When you recently planted mines along your shared border many innocent people, including children, had to leave their villages. The media keeps reporting that some of these innocent people are stepping on the landmines and losing arms, legs or even being killed.
As a youth, I am very upset that India and Pakistan continue to lay weapons which cannot tell the difference between a soldier and a child, and which have been outlawed by most of the world because of the damage they cause to innocent people.
On this day I ask you to work for peace, for a world where Indian and Pakistani children can play freely without the fear of war or the fear of stepping on a landmine. I ask you to stop using landmines and to prove to young people around the world that India and Pakistan are truly willing to work together for peace, by joining the Mine Ban Treaty.
Sincerely,
(Your Name)
(Your Address)
