LM Report 1999

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ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA

Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the United States, His Excellency Lionel Hurst, signed the Mine Ban Treaty in Ottawa on 3 December 1997. At the signing ceremony, Amb. Hurst said that “the small countries of the Eastern Caribbean, possessing not a single landmine in their arsenals, have agreed to forego forever the acquisition and deployment of these very harmful instruments of war.”^[1]

Antigua and Barbuda has not yet ratified the treaty, but it states that the ratification process will be complete by May 1999.^[2]

The government of Antigua and Barbuda has been one of the most prominent members of CARICOM in its support for the ban on antipersonnel landmines. Antigua and Barbuda was an active participant in the Ottawa Process, endorsing the Brussels declaration and attending the Oslo negotiations as a full participant. It voted in favor of the pro-ban 1996 and 1997 UN General Assembly resolutions on landmines, but was absent from the 1998 vote. It has supported the Organization of American States (OAS) resolutions on landmines which have passed by consensus.

To date, Antigua and Barbuda is the only Caribbean state, and one of only seven member states that have submitted their country report to the OAS Register of Anti-Personnel Land-Mines.^[3]

Antigua and Barbuda is not mine-affected and has never produced, transferred, used or stockpiled antipersonnel mines.^[4]

^[1] Statement made by Ambassador Lionel Hurst of Antigua and Barbuda, Treaty Signing Conference, Ottawa, Canada, 3 December 1997.

^[2]Statement made by Ambassador Lionel Hurst of Antigua and Barbuda, at the Americas Regional Seminar, “Reaffirming Our Commitment”, co-hosted by the Governments of Canada and Mexico, Mexico City, January 11-12 1999. The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the response to the Landmine Monitor questionnaire (dated 20 January 1999), stated that the ratification process would be completed within the next three to four months.

^[3] Committee on Hemispheric Security, Permanent Council of the OAS, OAS Register of Anti-Personnel Land-Mines: Summary Table of Information Submitted by Member States for the Year 1997, CP/CSH-168/99 Corr. 1, February 1999.

^[4]Response to the Landmine Monitor questionnaire completed by the office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Antigua and Barbuda, 20 January 1999.

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