There are some 110
million anti-personnel land mines buried in 68 countries, in particular
post-conflict areas such as Cambodia, Bosnia, and Mozambique. These mines cause
horrific injuries to ordinary citizens not only during war but after fighting
has finished. This is a humanitarian problem that greatly hinders post-war
recovery and development.
In June 1997, the Government of Japan signed the Protocol II as amended of
the Convention on Prohibitions or Restriction on the Use of Certain Conventional
Weapons which may be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to have
Indiscriminate Effects (Convention on Conventional Weapons). In December 1997,
the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Keizo Obuchi, attended the signing
ceremony for the Ottawa Treaty and signed it. In September 1998, the Government
of Japan ratified the Treaty and established the treaty-implementation law
called the "Law on the Prohibition of the Manufacture of Anti-personnel Mines
and the Regulation of the Possession of Anti-personnel Mines"
At the signing of the Ottawa Treaty, late Prime Minister Obuchi proposed the
"Zero Victims Program" and stressed the importance of taking a comprehensive
approach to the problem by implementing a universal and effective ban on
anti-personnel mines and strengthening assistance for demining and victims. In
this conflict, he announced a pledge of assistance of 10 billion yen for the
five years from 1998.
In addition, simultaneously, the Government of Japan decided that the export
of machinery and materials required for humanitarian demining activities would
be an exception to the three principles of weapons exports which strictly
prohibit weapons exports.
At the First Meeting of State Parties to the Ottawa Treaty held in Maputo,
Mozambique on May 1999, Mr. Takemi, the then parliamentary State Secretary for
Foreign Affairs who attended the meeting as the Japanese representative,
stressed the need for; 1) the universal application of the Treaty; 2) the
signing of the Protocol II to CCW as amended and moratorium on the export of
anti-personnel mine by countries which are considered unlikely to sign the
Treaty in the near future; and 3) early commencement of negotiations for a
treaty that bans the international transfer of anti-personnel mines at the
Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. He also explained Japan's intention to
implement demining and provide assistance for victims based on the three
principles of ownership, partnership, and human security and announced specific
aid packages for Thailand, Chad, and Nicaragua. His statement was warmly
welcomed.
At this same Meeting, it was agreed that countries would implement joint
activities during the intersessional period until the Second Meeting in
September 2000. The Government of Japan was elected as rapporteur for the
Standing Committee of Experts on Victim Assistance established as part of these
joint activities. Japan will become a co-chairman at the Second Meeting.
With regard to the destruction of stockpiled anti-personnel mines, one of the
main obligations in the Ottawa Treaty, the Government of Japan will complete
destruction of the approximately one million land mines which it holds by the
end of February 2003 in full compliance with the provisions of the Treaty.
To secure transparency and to obtain the understanding of its citizens, the
Government of Japan conducted public demonstration of the destruction work
together, with a briefing meeting. The demonstration was attended by around 200
people including the then Prime Minister, Mr. Obuchi, Minister for Defense, the
General of the Ground Defense Force, government officials, local citizen
representatives, local leaders, and people from the NGO and media. It increased
public understanding of how the Government of Japan would handle the destruction
work.
After the Ottawa Treaty came into force, in view of the importance of
obtaining its universal acceptance, the Government of Japan urged, in
cooperation with Canada, non-ratifiers to ratify the Treaty as soon as possible
and participate in the First Meeting of State Parties. Since then, the
Government of Japan has been taking opportunities of international conferences
and bilateral talks to call upon the non-ratifiers to accede to the Treaty and
will continue to do so.