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Campaign to Ban Landmines In this edition. . .
Landmine Monitor Report 2006: Toward a Mine-Free World
Progress in Mine Action may be Jeopardized by Decreasing Funding, according to Landmine Monitor Report 2006 GENEVA, Switzerland - 13 September 2006 - More land was demined in 2005 than ever before, but global funding for mine action decreased for the first time, raising concerns about future progress in eradicating mines and efforts to meet the needs of the increasing number of survivors, according to Landmine Monitor Report 2006: Toward a Mine-Free World. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) releases the 1,230-page report at the United Nations today. Landmine Monitor reports on the global landmine situation and scrutinizes the implementation of and compliance with the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. Landmine Monitor Report 2006 is the eighth annual edition of the report. Mine action programs in 2005 demined more than 740km2 of land, an area equal to the size of New York City, and more than in any other year since the start of modern demining in the late 1980s. This included active clearance of a total of almost 145km2 of mined areas and 190km2 of battlefields. More than 470,000 landmines, including around 450,000 antipersonnel mines, and more than 3.75 million explosive devices were removed and destroyed. To read the full report, go to: http://www.icbl.org/lm/updates/lmrelease Record area cleared of landmines BBC News A greater area was cleared of landmines last year than ever before, according to a new report from a group that monitors the use of the weapons. But the International Campaign to Ban Landmines warned that a funding shortfall could lead to fewer clearance operations in the future. And despite the success in 2005, casualties from mines rose by 11% to more than 7,000. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) said that 740 sq km (286 sq miles) of land - an area the size of New York City - had been demined. To read the full article, go to: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5343254.stm Anti-personnel mine ban treaty enters critical phase International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Geneva (ICRC) – The annual meeting of the 151 States party to the Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines opened today in Geneva, nine years to the day after governments agreed to comprehensively ban these inhumane and indiscriminate weapons. Over 700 representatives of governments, international agencies and non-governmental organizations are attending the meeting, which will assess achievements in clearing mined lands and bringing assistance to mine victims. Although progress is being recorded in these areas, "the Convention is entering a critical phase," said Philip Spoerri, director for international law at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in his opening statement to the meeting. "The clock is ticking," he warned. To read the full article, go to: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/220224/b1d306a6622e13a16dc33de54f9288f5.htm Update on Victim-Activated Landmines Act of 2006 As we reported in a previous USCBL newsletter, Senators Patrick Leahy (VT) and Arlen Specter (PA) introduced the "Victim-activated Landmine Abolition Act of 2006" (S. 3768) on August 1, 2006. This bill prohibits the United States from procuring landmines and other victim-activated weapons under any circumstances. While not banning the use of landmines, Congressional adoption of this bill would constitute an essential step toward a total ban by enacting a legislative freeze of the production of landmines and other weapons that are set off by a victim. It would halt the Bush administration’s plans to produce new antipersonnel mine systems, including the Spider system. The USCBL recently sent the following letter to the Senate encouraging senators to cosponsor the legislation: http://www.banminesusa.org/news/876_victim-activated.html At the time of writing, 11 senators have cosponsored the legislation, including Senators Leahy (D-VT), Specter (R-PA), Dorgan (D-ND), Chaffee (R-RI), Feinstein (D-CA), Jefforts (I-VT), Durnin (D-IL), Harkin (D-IA), Mikulski ( D-MD), Hagel (R-NE), and Reid (D-NV). To learn more about the legislation, go to: http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=1995&issue_id=9 If It Looks Like a Landmine, Smells Like a Landmine...
Would a bomb by another name be any less explosive? Would a landmine by another name be less pernicious? For the first time in nearly a decade, the Bush administration plans to begin production of a new generation of antipersonnel mines. Seeking to avoid the images of soldiers in wheelchairs and dismembered children associated with landmines, the administration has renamed these particular landmines "networked munitions systems." Wrapping landmines in a new name--removing the stigma they deserve--makes selling them to Congress and the public easier. Still, these networked munitions systems are nothing but high-tech landmines, and carry the same abhorrent side effects they always have. Fortunately Congress is not that easily fooled. On August 1, Senators Patrick Leahy (VT) and Arlen Specter (PA) introduced the bipartisan Victim-Activated Landmine Abolition Act of 2006. The bill prohibits the procurement of any victim-activated weapon, whether called a landmine or something else. The move to re-start production of victim-activated landmines represents a departure from previous U.S. practice and policy in this area. During the 1990s, U.S. landmine policy was constantly evolving, but was heading in the direction of a total ban. Unfortunately, when a global treaty comprehensively banning antipersonnel landmines was signed by 122 governments in December 1997, the U.S. was conspicuously absent. The Treaty now counts 154 States Parties, including all of the U.S.'s NATO allies. To read the full article, go to: http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3468 Remnants of War Cleared from Afghanistan’s Devil's Garden The last of the thousands of deadly landmines, unexploded and abandoned ordnance, and booby traps that infested former battlefields around Bagram, Afghanistan, have been successfully cleared, largely through the support of the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. The actual clearance of what was dubbed "the Devil's Garden" because it reputedly contained the most dangerous minefields in the world, was conducted by the HALO Trust, a non-governmental organization and Department of State grantee that specializes in the removal of explosive war debris, beginning in December 2001. As a result, over 72,000 refugees and many thousands of internally displaced Afghans have safely returned to their properties and farms in an area that was once a fiercely contested battle front. See related photos at www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/pix/b/71588.htm. Now, the former minefields and battlegrounds in Bagram, located in Afghanistan’s fertile Shomali Valley, are again producing the delicious grapes and other fruits for which the region was once famous. Most of its inhabitants have rebuilt their homes, planted new crops, and repaired the canals and "karizes" (traditional underground irrigation channels) to water the area’s soil. The "Devil's Garden" is no more. The Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement invested nearly $5 million in this vital effort. Additional funding was generously provided by Roots of Peace, a non-governmental organization, and by Tracey and George Begley, American philanthropists, in Public-Private Partnerships with the Department. The United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, and Norway also funded clearance in the Bagram area. To read the full press release, go to: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2006/71620.htm 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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