| U.S.
Campaign to Ban Landmines In this edition. . .
1) Success on Mine Action Depends on Success of the Mine Ban Treaty ICBL Press Release Geneva, 4 April 2007 - On the occasion of the UN International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) stated that the only effective and realistic way to promote mine action is to seek universal adherence to and implementation of the Antipersonnel Mine Ban Treaty. "It is not enough to provide funding and rhetorical support for mine action, if you continue to insist on the need to use antipersonnel mines," said Sylvie Brigot, ICBL Executive Director. The ICBL called on all States not Party to the treaty to join in the shortest possible delay. It also called on States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty to remain vigilant on full implementation of the treaty, including providing sufficient national and international resources until all treaty provisions have been respected. "Raising awareness on mine action and victim assistance is definitely needed," said Ms. Brigot. "But the UN Day should be used as an opportunity to strongly promote adherence to and implementation of the Antipersonnel Mine Ban Treaty by all UN member states. It is the only legal instrument that will lead to the eradication of antipersonnel mines and support for landmine survivors." To read the full press release, go to: http://www.icbl.org/news/press_release . 2) Landmines Still Kill 20,000 Yearly, Despite Moves Toward Elimination - UN Official UN News Centre 3 April 2007 – Although efforts to curtail landmines have been successful, much remains to be done as the devices still kill nearly 20,000 people every year, the top United Nations peacekeeping official said today on the eve of the second-ever International Day dedicated to curbing the scourge. In the 10 years since the conclusion of the anti-personnel mine-ban treaty, known as the Ottawa Convention, "much obviously has been achieved in terms of eradicating devices which are in the ground and stigmatizing any new use of such weapons, in eliminating stockpiled devices, in assisting victims," Under-Secretary-General Jean-Marie Guéhenno told reporters in New York. Casualty rates have been slashed by 50 per cent, "which has enabled millions of people in mine-affected countries to resume their normal lives by making land safe for farming and by allowing children to walk safely to school by opening roads to transportation and commerce," he added. However, between 15,000 and 20,000 people are killed annually by landmines years, or even decades, after the end of a conflict in such places as Western Sahara and Cyprus. "So long as there are mines, they are a danger to the local population. They are a great impediment to the resumption of local life," he said, calling for stronger international agreements which address the humanitarian impact of such deadly weapons. To read the full article, go to: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=22117&Cr=landmine&Cr1= . 3) U.S. Observes Second Annual International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action Media Note 4) U.S. Official Cites Significant Progress in Removing Land Mines By Jim Fisher-Thompson Emphasis is shifting to ordnance disposal, State Department official says Washington – After considerable progress in removing land mines across the world, the greater problem today is with unexploded munitions, says a senior State Department official. Richard Kidd, director of the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, said April 4 during a webchat with an audience in Eastern Europe that the accomplishments in humanitarian land mine removal have been significant in reducing deaths and injuries. "Everyone involved in mine action should be proud of the accomplishments to date, with casualties down to well under 10,000 per year and processes in place to focus resources where they will have the greatest impact," Kidd said. "Today, more people come to harm through tampering with unexploded ordnance than by land mines." For example, he pointed out that in a recent accidental explosion of an ammunition dump in Maputo, Mozambique, more people were killed there than by land mines in the past three years. Those mines are remnants of a bloody civil war during which thousands of land mines were emplaced in the southern African nation. So, "It is right and appropriate to shift focus to where the problem is," he said. To read the full article, go to: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2007&m=April&x=200704051002381EJrehsiF0.8254663 . 5) 82 Signatories to the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities Landmine Survivors Network Campaign For Ratification Begins The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities opened for signature and ratification on Friday, March 30, 2007, at United Nations Headquarters, in New York. A record 81 countries and the European Community signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and 44 signed the Convention’s Optional Protocol, a mechanism to address individual violations and make country visits. "Today was an historic day for every individual of the world," said Jerry White, President and Co-founder of Landmine Survivors Network (LSN). "More countries signed in one day than ever before in UN human rights treaty history. This human rights treaty, the first in the 21st century, will protect and promote the rights of 650 million persons with disabilities, 10% of the world’s population." Among countries that signed were those in which LSN has a significant presence, including Colombia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Jordan, and Mozambique. Adnan Al Aboudy, LSN-Jordan Director, served as a member of the Jordanian delegation that signed the Convention. Procedurally, once a country signs the Convention, the national representative then takes the treaty to his/her country for ratification. LSN, working with disability and human rights groups, will now launch a global campaign to secure 20 treaty ratifications. During the opening ceremony, Jamaica both signed and ratified the Convention; 19 more ratifications are needed to bring the treaty "into force." To read the full press release, go to: http://www.landminesurvivors.org/news_article.php?id=769 . 6) House Bill on Cluster Bombs Introduced: Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act of 2007 (H.R. 1755) On March 29, Reps. McGovern (MA), McCollum (MN), and Issa (CA) introduced H.R. 1755, the "Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act of 2007." H.R. 1755 bans the use of cluster munitions in or near civilian populated areas, as well as the use, sale, and transfer of cluster munitions with a failure rate of more than one percent. It is the companion bill to S. 594, introduced in the Senate by Sens. Feinstein (CA) and Leahy (VT) in February. To read the text of H.R. 1755, go to: http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=2518&issue_id=138 . 7) Sacramento Bee Editorial: Ban Cluster Bombs April 2, 2007 Anyone traveling through Laos, Cambodia or other recovering war zones is likely to come across children and adults who have lost limbs or eyesight after stumbling across a long-buried bomb. Every few days, a civilian somewhere is killed or maimed because of remnants of past wars. It could be a farmer in Afghanistan running his plow across a field or a child in Kosovo who picks up what seems to be a harmless chunk of metal. Over the last decade, more than 150 countries have unsuccessfully pressed the United States and other countries to sign a treaty banning the use of land mines. Yet even as they crusade on that unfinished task, widespread use of another indiscriminate weapon of war -- cluster bombs -- has increased the threat to civilians. "Cluster bombs" are a catchall term for munitions that armies have stockpiled all over the world. They can be dropped from planes or fired from artillery. Once in the air, these munitions disperse smaller "bomblets." These bomblets are designed to explode in the air or when hitting their targets, and can be effective in taking out an area of infantry and armor. Yet many of these bomblets prove to be duds and fail to detonate. This results in hundreds or even thousands of tiny bomblets left behind, later exploding when someone disturbs them. To read the full editorial, go to: http://www.sacbee.com/324/story/147736.html . 8) Back Bill To Ban Cluster Bombs: Only Human By Kathleen Peratis The United States and Israel, as well as dozens of other countries that are makers, sellers or stockpilers of weapons, are in the cross hairs of an international movement to abolish cluster bombs. Weapons are, of course, meant to kill, and are a fact of war. But cluster bombs, like landmines, kill indiscriminately, and therefore they should be banned. This is how they work: A single cluster bomb spews dozens or hundreds of smaller sub-munitions, called bomblets, over a wide “footprint.” The bomblets are designed to explode on impact and to destroy broad targets, such as massed armor and infantry formations. But the design of the vast majority of sub-munitions available today, including the billions that are stockpiled, is grotesquely imperfect. Unguided, these sub-munitions hit unintended targets. Worse, some of the bomblets do not explode on impact — duds, as they’re called. Duds become de facto landmines, capable of exploding much later when touched by a plough or a child — which is a horrifyingly routine occurrence. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, duds from cluster bombs dropped by the United States between 1964 and 1973 have killed or injured some 11,000 people in Laos alone since the end of the Indochina war, and continue to claim victims to this day. The United States used tens of millions of sub-munitions in the 1991 Gulf War, and an estimated 2 million in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. To read the full article, go to: http://www.forward.com/articles/back-bill-to-ban-cluster-bombs/ . For more information on the US Campaign to Ban Landmines, go to www.banminesusa.org U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines To make a donation to the US Campaign to Ban Landmines go to: www.banminesusa.org/support/body.html and click on Donate. |
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