The International Campaign to Ban Landmines, formally launched in 1992 by
a handful of nongovernmental organizations, is presently made up of over 1,400
organizations in 90 countries worldwide. It is an unprecedented coalition
bringing together human rights, humanitarian mine action, children's, peace,
disability, veterans, medical, development, arms control, religious,
environmental and women's groups who work locally, nationally, regionally and
internationally to achieve its goals. Since its inception, the ICBL has remained
focused on its call for a ban on the use, production, trade and stockpiling of
antipersonnel mines, and for increased resources for mine clearance and victim
assistance.
Thirteen member organizations currently serve as the
Coordination Committee of the ICBL.[1]
During the past year, the Italian Campaign to Ban Landmines and Physicians for
Human Rights have stepped down from the Coordination Committee, and the German
Initiative to Ban Landmines has joined. Three new full-time staff members
joined the ICBL, to enable the ICBL to implement its ambitious 2004 Action Plan
adopted at its Third General Meeting, held in Washington DC in March 2001. With
the new positions of Advocacy and Communications Officer, Government Relations
Officer and Webmaster, staff of the ICBL now totals seven. The Resource Center
remains in Sana'a, Yemen.
The time period since release of Landmine
Monitor Report 2000 has been marked by heightened ICBL activity and projects
to ensure that landmines remain a focus of the international community until the
weapon has been eradicated. The ICBL engaged in numerous major events,
including the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in
September, Ban Landmines Week and the ICBL General Meeting in Washington DC in
March, the meetings of the Intersessional Standing Committees of the Mine Ban
Treaty in December 2000 and May 2001, as well as a series of ten regional ICBL
and Landmine Monitor (LM) meetings. In addition, the ICBL participated in
several other regional and thematic meetings; undertook ICBL advocacy missions;
sent a variety of letters to decision-makers; issued numerous Action Alerts;
published two activity reports (one on activities at the Second Meeting of
States Parties and one on Ban Landmines Week); and issued quarterly Landmine
Updates. Much of this information has been disseminated via the ICBL
website.
Second Meeting of States Parties
The Second Meeting of States Parties (SMSP) to the
Mine Ban Treaty was held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, from
11-15 September 2000. The ICBL participated in the meeting with an official
non-state delegation of nineteen people; additionally, 162 ICBL campaigners,
researchers, deminers and survivors from fifty-three countries attended.
The
ICBL viewed the SMSP as a very successful event on the road to a mine-free
world. In preparing for these annual meetings, governments focus on the mine
issue, which tends to move the work forward. For example, there were six
ratifications and accessions in the week before the SMSP, and a total of
thirteen ratifications and accessions in the three months leading up to the
meeting.
The ICBL capitalized on the SMSP, and the months of preparation
for it, to refocus its own energies as well as. An ICBL preparation team arrived
in Geneva well before the meetings, and the ICBL participated fully in the Task
Force with governments and the ICRC in planning to ensure a successful meeting.
The ICBL also held several internal meetings to make best use of the opportunity
afforded by the presence of 160 campaigners in Geneva. An ICBL Orientation
Meeting was held the day before the SMSP opened, as well as daily morning
briefings during the Meeting itself, to plan and assign daily tasks. Many ICBL
working groups and regional groups took advantage of the time in Geneva to
organize their own strategy and working meetings.
During the course of the
week, campaigners held bilateral meetings with more than sixty governments, both
in the Palais and in embassies and missions around Geneva. The ICBL addressed
various sessions of the SMSP on many occasions, starting with the Opening
Ceremony, the Opening Plenary and during informal consultations on various
articles.
The ICBL participated in three media briefings and prepared news
releases and media kits, in addition to government and ICBL delegate participant
kits. Prior to the SMSP, the ICBL distributed action alerts to campaigners,
urging them to encourage their governments' full participation in the
Conference. In addition, signatory and non-signatory states were encouraged to
ratify or accede to the Mine Ban Treaty by the time of the SMSP through several
letters to government officials by the ICBL and to various embassies via member
campaigns.
Members of the ICBL and the general public were kept informed
throughout the preparation for and the week of the conference via a web page
created in July and devoted to information regarding the SMSP and ICBL
participation in it. In addition to the Landmine Monitor Report 2000,
the ICBL distributed numerous publications at the Meeting. The ICBL, the Swiss
Campaign and other NGOs based in Geneva organized numerous awareness-raising
events including exhibits in the Palais des Nations as well as in the town. The
Swiss Campaign to Ban Landmines organized the installation of a large hourglass
outside the United Nations (the theme of the SMSP was “Every Minute
Counts”), distributed publicity materials throughout the city and held
several youth events. A number of ICBL national campaigns displayed printed
materials, banners and posters outside the conference hall as well.
General Meeting of the ICBL and Ban Landmines Week in Washington, DC
The Third General Meeting of the ICBL, a biennial
meeting of representatives of its national campaigns and member organizations,
met in Washington DC, on 6-7 March 2001. Some 160 participants from 80 country
campaigns of the ICBL and representatives of international organizations
attended the General Meeting, as well as 20 NGO observers from an additional 10
countries. The Meeting, as well as a Landmine Monitor researcher meeting (see
below) was scheduled to be an integral part of Ban Landmines
Week.
Participants in the General Meeting received reports from the chairs of
the various ICBL working and administrative groups, and its coordination
committee on progress toward its goals since its last General Meeting in May
1999 in Maputo, Mozambique. Participants also met in working sessions of the
various thematic working groups and in regional groups, in addition to plenary
sessions of the Meeting.
At the Second General Meeting in Maputo, the ICBL
had agreed to redouble its energy and efforts to achieve universalization of the
Mine Ban Treaty, as well as ensure its full implementation, targeting the Treaty
Review Conference in 2004. Toward this end, the Third General Meeting finished
work on and adopted an “ICBL 2004 Action Plan.” The ICBL 2004 Action
Plan lays out a detailed universalization and implementation strategy for its
members. It can be followed by country, by region, by year and/or by
mine-related issue (i.e., mine action, survivor assistance, etc).
The 2004
Action Plan was developed over the six months leading up to the General Meeting,
based upon input from various National Campaigns, individual NGOs and working
groups of the ICBL who contributed via email and fax, and through discussions
that took place during regional meetings in the six-month period. In addition,
the ICBL CC took advantage of December 2000 Standing Committee meetings (see
below) to hold a special two-day session to review and develop the 2004 Action
Plan in preparation for the General Meeting.
During Ban Landmines Week in
Washington DC, two hundred mine survivors, deminers and campaigners from 90
countries came together in Washington, DC, marking the first time that the ICBL
converged in the US. Simultaneously, 200 activists from 46 of the 50 states,
including members of Students Against Landmines from schools nationwide, met in
Washington for a USCBL national conference and four days of activities including
over 300 meetings with their Congressional representatives. While in the US
capital, international and US activists alike urged the US government to join
the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.
Some of the activities and awareness-raising events
included a reception at the Organization of American States, embassy visits and
a press conference, a shoe pyramid and an international demining demonstration
on the capitol lawn. Exhibits in shopping malls and cafés; "landmine"
coasters in bars; the first ever amputee hockey tournament; a screening of
“Land of Iron,” a film about landmines in Korea; and a mine-related
play are a few of the many events which culminated in a demonstration in
Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House. There, young people from
around the world and the US presented hundreds of thousands of signatures of
young people calling for a ban. The week's events ended with an interfaith
prayer service. Additionally, H.M. Queen Noor of Jordan, USCBL chair Jerry White
and ICBL Youth Ambassador Song Kosal met with US Secretary of State Colin Powell
during the week.
Also scheduled during this week, was the global meeting of
Landmine Monitor researchers for review and submission of their draft reports
for Landmine Monitor Report 2001. Unlike the past two years, this was
the only meeting bringing together all the researchers. Instead of a second
global meeting was a series of regional meetings of researchers, which were
designed to generate more public awareness and researcher involvement in each
region. These regional meetings were also coupled with ICBL activity in each
region.
Campaign Activities
ICBL/Landmine Monitor meetings: This year
the ICBL held day-long campaign seminars in conjunction with the new series of
Landmine Monitor regional researcher meetings. At each ICBL session,
campaigners strategized on work in the region, discussing campaign priorities,
sharpening advocacy and media skills, as well as conducting events to raise
public awareness. These meetings also provided an opportunity for regional
campaigners to discuss and contribute to the ICBL 2004 Action Plan.
The
series of meetings began in October 2000 in Yalta for campaigners from Former
Soviet Union/Central Asia; there campaigners developed a regional action plan to
contribute to the overall 2004 Action Plan. In November, a regional meeting in
the Americas was held in Buenos Aires before the Second Hemispheric Conference
on Banning Landmines. Campaigners participated in the Conference, held
discussions with their governmental representatives, held a press conference,
visited embassies of non-states parties in the region and began strategizing for
the Third Meeting of States Parties. In Buenos Aires, the ICBL also challenged
remaining signatories of the region to complete ratification of the Mine Ban
Treaty, and challenged States Parties to complete destruction of stockpiles and
submit outstanding Article 7 transparency reports by the Third Meeting of States
Parties. At the conclusion of the seminar, the government co-chairs from
Argentina and Canada issued these calls as the “Managua
Challenge.”
In Djibouti a meeting was held, also in November, in
conjunction with a Regional Conference on Landmines for the Horn of Africa and
Gulf of Aden. Here ICBL participants also discussed regional action plans.
Tokyo was the venue for another regional meeting of campaigners in November,
held to coincide with stockpile destruction and a fundraising marathon run by
Chris Moon to generate funds for demining in Cambodia. The last regional
meeting of that month was held from 28-30 November in Lomé, Togo, for
Francophone African campaigners. They held a public seminar on landmines, a
press conference and discussed regional strategies and information sharing.
European campaigners met in Geneva during the Intersessional Standing
Committee meetings, and they also held a regional campaign meeting in Geneva in
May 2001 to further strategize and coordinate advocacy plans for the region.
Campaigners from the Middle East and North Africa met in Beirut in January 2001,
where activities included an advocacy session, and a public event where Lebanese
mine action organizations showcased their work. Campaigners from Southern Africa
met in Johannesburg in January while those from Southeast Asia met in Bangkok.
There they participated in a stockpile destruction ceremony and held a
roundtable to present their research to diplomatic representatives in Bangkok.
Their neighbors from South Asia met in Kathmandu in Nepal, where they also held
roundtables, an advocacy seminar and a media briefing.
Other seminars:
In addition to the series of Landmine Monitor and ICBL regional meetings,
the ICBL also participated in numerous workshops, seminars and conferences
throughout the reporting period. A few of them are cited here. In June 2000
ICBL members participated in an Asia-Pacific Roundtable, an annual conference
held in Kuala Lumpur, and gave a presentation on landmines. In August 2000,
ICBL Ambassador Tun Channareth, hosted by UNICEF Bangkok, traveled to Fiji to a
meeting of Parliamentarians of the Pacific Island nations to urge accession and
ratification among these states. In September 2000 the ICBL participated in the
International Conference on War-Affected Children held by the Government of
Canada in Winnipeg.
A Day for a Mine Free World, organized by the
ICBL and members of the European Parliament was held on 21 September 2000 at the
European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, immediately following the SMSP in
Geneva. The day opened with an ICBL press conference, followed by the signing
of a “Call for a Mine Free World” petition, by
parliamentarians, campaigners, and citizens at the Parliament building.
The
Brazilian Campaign to Ban Landmines represented the ICBL participating in the
World Social Forum 2001 held in Port Alegre, Brazil from 25-30 January 2001. The
campaign held a workshop and staffed an information booth with exhibits and
materials throughout the forum.
The ICBL participated in the Seminar on the
Destruction of the PFM1 mine which was held in Budapest 1-2 February 2001, as
well as in the Seminar on Universalization and Implementation of the Ottawa
Convention in Africa, held in Bamako, Mali 15-16 February 2001. The Bamako
meeting, co-hosted by the governments of Mali, Canada, and France, marked the
first time since May 1997 that countries from all of Africa came together to
discuss the landmine ban. Members of the ICBL, including landmine survivors,
deminers and campaigners from throughout the continent, participated in this
Conference. The ICBL prepared a fact sheet on Africa and press releases for the
seminar.
In March 2001, the ICBL participated in the UN Asia Pacific
Regional Disarmament Conference in Wellington, New Zealand, and delivered an
address to the Conference, as well as attended bilateral meetings with treaty
non-signatories and a workshop reviewing the difficulties some Pacific States
have faced in moving to ratify or accede to the Mine Ban Treaty. Also in March,
and in Asia, ICBL campaigners participated in a symposium on the Impact of
Landmines in Sri Lanka hosted by the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies. The
symposium discussed the political situation and distribution of mines in Sri
Lanka and the difficulties of getting aid to mine-affected areas.
National
seminars or workshops were also held in countries including Afghanistan, Angola,
Australia, Colombia, Georgia, Germany, India, Japan, Lebanon, Nepal, Nigeria,
Pakistan, Peru, South Africa, Yemen and the U.S. New campaigners have begun
activities in Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mongolia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Peru and
Turkey.
Additionally, ICBL Ambassadors, staff and members undertook a number
of advocacy and awareness-building missions, including to Australia, Canada,
Fiji, France, Guatemala, Greece, India, Japan, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan and
Belgium (for the European Council and Parliament). The ICBL sent letters to
heads of state, issued media releases and engaged in other advocacy activities
on the occasions of international events such as the Asia-Europe Summit, the UN
General Assembly in New York, government summits such as of the European Union,
the Francophonie, the Organization of American States, the Organization of
African Unity, the Assembly of African Francophone Parliamentarians, the Rio
Group, MERCOSUR, Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the
Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Letters to heads of state and media releases
were also issued on the occasions of bilateral visits of Heads of State, such as
then-President Clinton to Vietnam, the President of the EU to the Koreas and
President Bush to Europe. Letters to heads of state were also sent to mark 3
December and 1 March Mine Ban Treaty anniversaries urging governments to accede
to or ratify the treaty. Letters were also sent congratulating new
ratifications, and urging all signatories to ratify before the Third Meeting of
States Parties in September 2001. Letters were also sent prior to the two
meetings of the Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the
Convention highlighting issues of concern to the ICBL in preparation for the
meetings.
As in previous years, the third anniversary of the opening for
signature of the Mine Ban Treaty galvanized campaigners into action worldwide.
On 3 December 2000, which coincides with the International Day for Disabled
Persons, activities were held around the globe, from exhibits, to concerts, film
screenings and hockey on prosthetics matches. Similarly the first anniversary of
the entry into force of the treaty on 1 March 2001 further spurred action
worldwide. A concerted campaign effort in anticipation of Ban Landmines Week
targeted the United States, urging the newly-elected President Bush to join the
treaty, and included a coordinated letter-writing campaign, virtual postcards,
embassy visits, “a Shoe for Bush” campaign in France and Belgium and
a Youth Against War petition-gathering effort in which 260,000 petitions were
collected from 41 countries worldwide and sent to President Bush.
The ICBL
also issued regular Action Alerts, including several Ratification Campaign
Action Alerts, prior to 1 March 2001 and again in May 2001, in anticipation of
the Third Meeting of States Parties to be held in September. Further
information on ICBL activities can be found at its website,
http://www.icbl.org
and particularly through its quarterly publication Landmine Update, at
http://www.icbl.org/update/landmines/.
ICBL
Website Activities: Since its launch in 1998 the ICBL website has
continually increased its scope. With a significant increase in time and
resources spent on the website and related activities since June 2000 the
coverage has significantly broadened. The website has been updated throughout
the period with the latest news about landmines. Some notable developments
during this period are:
the Index on Landmines, a comprehensive guide to
landmine resources on and off the internet
(http://www.icbl.org/index);
the ICBL Landmine Image Library, a tool to present the many images donated
to the ICBL over time to the public and to serve the needs of the campaign for
visual material
(www.icbl.org/imagelibrary);
special sections created to provide updated information on conferences and
meetings, such as the SMSP, Intersessional Standing Committee Meetings, and ICBL
General Meeting;
an administrative interface to the ICBL website, which
eases the updating of the pages themselves, and allows for regular staff
members, working groups and others involved in the ICBL to directly update their
parts of the website without assistance from the webmaster.
Campaign members
have also been trained in the use of the website with related tools.
ICBL Participation in the Intersessional Work Program
The ICBL has been a key player in the intersessional
work program since it was established in May 1999, at the First Meeting of
States Parties (FMSP) in Maputo, in order to “consolidate and concentrate
global Mine Action efforts...and to highlight the role of the Convention as a
comprehensive framework for Mine Action.” The gathering of most of the
relevant players in mine ban and related issues through the regular meetings of
the Intersessional Standing Committees (SCs) offers a unique opportunity to
seriously address the landmine problem and related victim assistance,
socio-economic reintegration, mine awareness and humanitarian mine clearance
needs. The SCs were created to provide a clear picture of needs, gaps and
available resources – as well as measure progress in achieving the goal of
a mine-free world.
The intersessional process is conducted with input,
recommendations and action points resulting from NGO-IO-government
collaboration. Strategizing, planning agendas and ICBL participation and
speakers was coordinated by the ICBL Government Relations Liaison (now known as
the ICBL Intersessional Programme Officer) working closely with the ICBL Chairs
from the Victim Assistance, Mine Action and Treaty Working Groups, as well as
the ICBL Coordinator and governmental Intersessional Standing Committee
Co-Chairs and Co-Rapporteurs (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Germany,
Honduras, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Peru, Slovakia,
Thailand, Yemen and Zimbabwe) and the President of the Second Meeting of States
Parties. This included bringing the present and past ISC Co-Chairs and
Co-Rapporteurs together with the ICBL, ICRC and GICHD in the 4th and
5th meetings of the ICBL Intersessional Contact Group (IICG, formerly
known as “20 + 2”) in December 2000 and May 2001. This series of
meetings has proven invaluable in preparing for the Intersessional Standing
Committee meetings, both in substantive and practical matters.
The four
Standing Committees -- Mine Clearance and Related Technologies (formerly two
SCs, these were combined after the September SMSP); Victim Assistance,
Socio-economic Reintegration and Mine Awareness; Stockpile Destruction; and
General Status and Operation of the Convention -- each met during two, one-week
long periods of intersessional meetings (December 2000 and May 2001) between the
annual Meetings of State Parties held in September. Action points identified
from the first year of the intersessional work program were included in the
SMSP’s President’s Action Program and served as the basis for
planning for the second year of intersessional work. Implementation and work on
these Action Points are ongoing.
Attendance at the restructured meeting
session in December 2000 was even more substantial than the first year, with
more than 330 persons participating, representing more than 75 countries, dozens
of members of ICBL, Landmine Monitor researchers, academic institutions and
international, UN and regional organizations. In May 2001, there were 350
participants representing more than 80 countries and dozens of organizations.
At each meeting there were between 65 and 75 ICBL Campaigners, landmine
survivors and LM researchers.
At the SC Meetings on General Status and
Operation of the Convention the ICBL, under the leadership of its Treaty
Working Group, highlighted important issues which were discussed during the two
meetings: foreign stockpiles and transit of mines and joint operations with
non-signatory states in which AP mines could be used (Article 1 –
interpretation of “assist”); antivehicle mines with antihandling
devices (Article 2 - definitions); mines retained for training and development
(Article 3); timely destruction of APM stockpiles (Article 4); provision of
assistance for mine clearance and victim assistance (Articles 5 and 6); the need
for comprehensive Article 7 reporting; compliance issues (Article 8); and the
obligation to enact national implementation measures (Article 9). ICBL was a
key participant in the Universalization Contact Group led by Canada, which
coordinates efforts to promote universalization by about 15 governments, along
with ICBL, ICRC and UNICEF. ICBL is also part of the Article 7 Contact Group
chaired by Belgium.
The Treaty Working Group also led ICBL’s
participation in the SC on Stockpile Destruction, with the TWG Chair
moderating sessions of the meetings. Emphasis was placed on progress reports,
identifying problem areas, including lack of resources for stockpile
destruction, and the approaching four-year deadline to destroy stockpiles. ICBL
and Landmine Monitor urged countries to provide more information on existence,
numbers and types of APM stockpiles worldwide.
At the SC meetings on Mine
Clearance and Related Technologies, the ICBL Mine Action Working Group
(MAWG), as well as its member mine clearance organizations, made concrete and
informative interventions on several thematic topics discussed by the SC,
including: "Standards and Criteria (IMAS and IMSMA)," "Measures of Impact and
Benefit," "Planning and Prioritization," "Coordination," "Building National
Capacity" and “Technologies”. The Mine Awareness subgroup of MAWG
recommended that Mine Awareness be moved to the SC on Victim Assistance
following the 3MSP.
The ICBL Working Group on Victim Assistance, as well as
its member organizations, made concrete and informative presentations and
interventions during the Standing Committee on Victim Assistance on
issues that had been identified for follow-up and action during the first year
of intersessional meetings. These included six thematic areas: (a) raising the
voices of landmine survivors; (b) linking resources with needs (including
encouraging use of a new voluntary reporting form, “Form J,”
approved at the SMSP and submissions for the Portfolio of Victim Assistance
Programmes); (c) implementing lessons learned related to the coordination of
victim assistance; (d) guidelines, information dissemination (Canada produced a
compilation of existing guidelines for the May 2001 meeting) and information
management (IMSMA); (e) social and economic reintegration (with a special
emphasis on vocational and psycho-social rehabilitation); and, (f) mine
awareness.
[1] These include: Afghan Campaign
to Ban Landmines, Association for Aid and Relief/Japan, Cambodia Campaign to Ban
Landmines, Colombia Campaign Against Mines, German Initiative to Ban Landmines,
Kenya Coalition Against Landmines, Handicap International, Human Rights Watch,
Landmine Survivors Network, Lutheran World Federation, Mines Action Canada,
Norwegian People’s Aid, and South African Campaign to Ban Landmines.