The
Non-State Actors Working Group (NSAWG) was established by country campaigns in
the ICBL to address the issue of NSAs and landmine use. Since NSAs are not
covered by the Mine Ban Treaty, the Working Group sees the need to develop a
complementary process to engage NSAs in an unconditional ban on the use,
production, stockpiling and transfer of landmines and obtain their cooperation
on integrated mine action. It promotes and disseminates research and
information related to NSAs and landmines. Since 1997, NSAWG members have been
approaching NSAs in East and South Asia, Latin America, North and East Africa,
and southern Europe to discuss the landmine problem with them and seek their
commitment to a ban.
In March 2001, the NSA Working Group listed 20 country
campaigns from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Europe and North
America as members of the group.[2]
It has published a brochure and put up a website at
www.icbl.org/wg/nsa
where research materials and NSAWG/country campaigners’ papers on NSAs and
landmines can be found.
A Non-State Actors Database Program is hosted by the
London-based International Alert and is maintained in partnership with Geneva
Call. The Database’s regional and country surveys of NSAs, collection of
NSA declarations, and reference information on selected NSAs, are available from
nsadba@international-alert.org.
Other country campaigns and partners have
been developing new research on various NSAs. The Indian Campaign, for
instance, has produced a briefing paper on “Militant Groups in
India” and their use of explosives. The Thai Campaign, with Non-Violence
International taking the lead, has put together a report on the landmine issue
in Southeast Asia, including an overview of NSAs and landmine use in the region.
Yeshua Mosher and Andrew Seth have also written informative articles on
landmines in Burma in recent issues of the James Madison University's Journal
of Mine Action and of the Burma Debate produced by the Open Society
Institute. Landmine Monitor researchers likewise report on NSA landmine-related
activities under each country report in this and past issues of Landmine
Monitor.
Following the ICBL General Assembly in Washington in March 2001,
the Swiss Campaign assumed the post of co-chair of the NSA Working Group,
replacing Mines Action Canada. The Philippine Campaign continues to be the
other co-chair of the Working Group. Neil Mander, convener of the New Zealand
campaign has taken on the task of moderator of the Working Group’s
listserve, while Non-Violence International, on behalf of the Thai Campaign,
continues to maintain the Working Group’s web page.
Post-NSA
Conference Developments. To pursue its efforts in developing strategies for
and actually engaging non-state armed groups in committing themselves to a mine
ban, several country campaigns of the NSAWG organized a landmark conference on
24-25 March 2000, in Geneva. Dubbed “Engaging Non-State Actors in a
Landmine Ban, A Pioneering Conference,” the event was organized and hosted
by the Swiss Campaign in cooperation with members of the Colombian Campaign,
Mines Action Canada, the Philippine Campaign, the UK Working Group on Landmines,
and the Zimbabwe Campaign. About 120 people from over 30 countries attended.
(For more details, see Landmine Monitor 2000 NSA Working Group Report, p.
994.)
The summary proceedings of the conference have been published in
pamphlet form and a book publication of papers and other documents presented or
made available during the Conference is being prepared for release by the end of
2001. The Summary Proceedings were widely distributed.
Guidelines in
Engaging NSAs. One of the Conference’s recommendations was the
further development of the Working Group’s draft Guidelines in Engaging
NSAs through workshops at the field level, and the integration of the
experience and research of other organizations working with similar groups.
Toward this end, low-key workshops with selected NSAs in Southeast and South
Asia and in East Central Africa are currently being planned to improve the
draft, and to provide a forum where NSA commitment to a landmine ban can be
enhanced.
Geneva Call: L’Appel de Geneve or The Geneva Call
is a new international NGO based in Geneva that calls upon NSAs to commit
themselves to a total ban on AP mines and to other humanitarian norms, and
serves as a mechanism to hold NSAs accountable for their commitments. Geneva
Call was launched in March 2000 by members of the Working Group. It hopes to
fill a gap in the international legal regime whereby NSAs, as a rule, are not
allowed to enter into or adhere to international treaties such as the Mine Ban
Treaty.
The initial mechanism is for NSAs to sign a standard “Deed of
Commitment for Adherence to a Total Ban on Anti-Personnel Mines and for
Cooperation in Mine Action,” or to deposit their own unilateral
declarations. The custodians for these deeds are the authorities of the Republic
and Canton of Geneva. Under the standard “Deed of Commitment,”
signatory groups commit themselves to prohibit under any circumstances the use,
production, stockpiling and transfer of AP mines, as well as to undertake and
cooperate in mine action activities. They also pledge to cooperate in the
monitoring and verification of their commitment, notably by providing
information and allowing fact-finding missions.
So far, three NSAs, the Sudan
People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front (MILF) and the Rebolusyonaryong Partidong Manggagawa-Alex Boncayao Brigade
(RPM-ABB) of the Philippines, have deposited their unilateral declarations. The
latter two signed the “Deed of Commitment.”
The accountability
mechanism of the Deed is currently being tested with the MILF for apparent
violations reported in the latter part of 2000, when conflict between the MILF
and the government forces intensified. Pursuant to the transparency and
accountability mechanism envisioned in the Deed, Geneva Call is undertaking
plans to hold a fact-finding mission in Mindanao in 2001, the area of the
conflict in the Philippines. Initial arrangements have been made with
government and rebel representatives for this mission but continuing political
instability in the country has moved back the schedule.
The Geneva Call is
also following up commitments and declarations made by NSAs during the Geneva
Conference and in other fora. Regular dialogue was established, for instance,
with high-ranking representatives of the Polisario Front and the Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK) to review their stand on landmines and encourage them
to join the ban movement.
In addition, in order to promote the norm of a
total ban on AP mines in a more systematic way, Geneva Call has started, in
partnership with the Working Group, the development of an educational handbook
on the landmine problem directed at NSAs and their constituencies. Once
finalized, the handbook will be widely circulated, in particular among NSAs, and
publicized through the future website of the Geneva Call
(http://www.genevacall.org/).
The distribution of the handbook will be followed up by dialogue with receptive
NSAs.
Geneva Call has also established contacts with NGOs dealing with NSAs
on other problems related to the application of humanitarian norms, such as the
use of child soldiers and torture, in order to share knowledge and experience
and to discuss prospects for cooperation. More information on Geneva Call is
available from info@genevacall.org.
Advocacy of NSA work: Several NSA
Working Group country campaigners have given presentations on NSA landmine ban
advocacy in national and/or regional fora. In his paper, “The Ottawa
Process and Nonstate Actors,” presented at the national conference
organized by the Indian Campaign in New Delhi last 3 May 2001, Lt. Gen Gurbir
Mansingh elaborated on the necessity of getting NSA compliance and related
strategies. In Sri Lanka, a meeting called “Engaging Non-State Actors in
the Ottawa Convention Process” was organized by the Centre for Defence
Studies of Kings College (London) and the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies
(Colombo).
A briefing by Philippine campaigners was also devoted to the theme
in the forum, “Measured Steps: The Global Movement to Ban
Landmines,” co-sponsored by the Canadian Embassy and held at the
University of the Philippines in February 2001. In Mali, South African
campaigner Noel Stott gave a presentation at the Seminar on the Universalization
and Implementation of the Ottawa Convention in Africa, held on 15-16 February
2001. On 4 May 2001, Swiss campaigner Elisabeth Reusse-Decrey was invited by
Cornelio Sommaruga, President of the Geneva International Centre for
Humanitarian Demining, to give a presentation on the NSA issue and Geneva Call
at a meeting of the Centre’s Advisory Board.
The Australian Network
has continued to monitor situations of instability in the region, especially in
Myanmar/Burma, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Bougainville, but has not undertaken any
direct action except to build base contacts, in particular with communities from
Sri Lanka. A petition was presented to the Australian Government seeking
support for advocacy with the Sri Lankan government and rebel factions for a
total ban. An Australian campaigner attended the seminar on landmines in Sri
Lanka in April 2001.
The NSAWG has also sought to advance NSA work in other
mine initiatives such as in the Intersessional Standing Committee on General
Status and Operation of the Convention on landmines.
Field Work.
Working Group members and Landmine Monitor researchers in Thailand, the
Philippines, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Colombia, Kenya,
Zimbabwe, Switzerland and the United Kingdom continued to engage NSAs in their
countries, sub-regions, or work sites where and when possible, as special
initiatives or in the course of other work. The Japan Campaign has sent a
Japanese volunteer to work as an intern with Thai-based campaigners active in
NSA work in the region.
In the Guwahati state capital of Assam (North East
India), some ex-NSAs attended the Regional Seminar held by the Indian Campaign
on 30 December 2000. NSA representatives also attended the Indian
Campaign’s Regional Seminar in the Kohima state capital of Nagaland (North
East India) on 6 December 2000. NSA groups in Nagaland have a peace truce with
the Government of India.
In all, communication lines have been established
with NSAs in Burma/Myanmar, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan
Colombia, Angola, Sudan, Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan, Kosovo/Yugoslavia, and the
Polisario in Western Sahara/Morocco. In places such as the Philippines and
Colombia where political negotiations are taking place, NSA Working Group and
Geneva Call campaigners lobby for specific agreements relating to landmine
use.
For instance, during the April 2001 multi-sectoral Solidarity Conference
on the Peace Process held in Metro Manila, Philippine landmine campaigners
lobbied peace panel members of the government and the National Democratic Front
of the Philippines to adhere to a landmine ban. The Conference was held as a
prelude to the resumption of formal negotiations between the two parties.
An
open letter to the Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional (ELN/National Liberation
Army) was also presented during a three-day meeting in July 2000 in Geneva
between the Colombian government, ELN guerrillas and civil society delegates to
discuss the possible content and modalities of a peace process with the ELN.
The letter, given to the ELN delegates at the meeting, called on the armed group
to live up to its earlier announcement regarding cessation of the use of mines.
The letter provoked a debate on the fringes of the meeting and, in turn, media
covering the conference reported on it in the country. Early in August 2000 it
was given national coverage on radio and television.
[2] These are the Afghan Campaign,
Australian Network of the ICBL, Azerbaijan Campaign, Colombian Campaign, Indian
Campaign, Irish Campaign-Pax Christi, Italian Campaign, Kenya Coalition Against
Landmines, Mines Action Canada, Namibian Campaign, Nepal Campaign, New Zealand
Campaign, Pakistan Campaign, Palestine Campaign, Philippine Campaign, South
African Campaign, Swiss Campaign, Thai Campaign, Landmine Action (UK), and
Zimbabwe Campaign. The WG also has a roster of experts/associates working
closely with the group. This includes London-based Eduardo Marino, the previous
chair of the NSA Working Group; Mary Foster, formerly with Mines Action Canada;
Rae McGrath, technical adviser to Landmine Action (UK Campaign); and retired
Indian Maj. Gen. Dipankar Banerjee, executive director of the Regional Centre
for Strategic Studies based in Colombo and international consultant of the ICRC.
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