Iceland signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December
1997, but has not yet ratified. Iceland was an active participant in all of the
Ottawa Process treaty preparatory meetings and the negotiations. Iceland also
voted in favor of the United Nations General Assembly resolutions supporting a
landmine ban in 1996, 1997, and 1998. Iceland is not a state party to the
Convention on Conventional Weapons. Iceland does not produce, transfer, or
use landmines and maintains no landmine stockpiles. Iceland is not landmine
affected, though sea mines from World War II occasionally wash up on its shores.
[1]
Iceland’s representative at the Ottawa signing ceremony said that
“Iceland will take an active interest in the International Action Plan to
address assistance and rehabilitation of victims with the objective to
contribute to the best of its ability in these two important
areas.”[2] Iceland has
donated $10,000 to the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in
Mine Clearance. Iceland has also donated $800,000 to Ossur, a company that
manufactures prostheses, for the provision of prosthetic limbs, training, and
equipment in
Bosnia-Herzegovina.[3]
[1]Country Profiles, United
Nations Demining Database, http:www.un.org.Depts/Landmine/ (Ref.
3/12/99).
[2]Statement by Mr. Helgi
Agustsson, Permanent Under-Secretary, Head of Icelandic Delegation to Mine Ban
Treaty Signing Ceremony, Ottawa, 3-4 December 1997.
[3]United States Department
of State, Hidden Killers, September 1998, pp. C-1, C-6.