Ottawa Treaty
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The Ottawa Treaty or the Mine Ban Treaty, formally the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, bans completely all anti-personnel landmines (AP-mines). As of 2007, it has been signed/accessioned by 158 countries. Thirty-seven states, including the People's Republic of China, India, Russia and the United States, are not party to the Convention.
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[edit] Implementation of the treaty
Besides stopping the production and development of anti-personnel mines, a party to the treaty must destroy all the anti-personnel mines in its possession within four years. Just a small number of mines is allowed to remain for training (mine-clearance, -detection, etc.). Within ten years after signing the treaty, the country should have cleared all of its mined areas. This is a difficult task for many countries, but at the annual meetings (see below) they may request an extension (and help).
Only anti-personnel mines are covered. Mixed mines, anti-tank mines, remote controlled claymore mines, anti-handling devices (booby-traps) and other "static" explosive devices against persons are not within the treaty.
[edit] Destruction of stockpiles
According to the ICBL report for May 2006; several countries declared stockpiles totalling over 160 million landmines, of which more than 39.5 million have been destroyed so far by States Parties. 74 countries have completed the destruction of their stockpiles, and another 64 countries have declared that they did not possess stockpiles to destroy.[1]
[edit] Signatories
There were originally 855,000 signatories of the petition launched by ithe International Campaign to Ban Landmines in 1997; when the Convention was opened for signature, it has been signed by 133 countries; as of November 2007, it has been signed or acceded to by 158 countries and ratified by 156.[2] Thirty-seven countries have not signed the treaty.
The most important countries producing and stockpiling landmines that have not signed are the People's Republic of China, India, the United States and Russia. The United States refuses to sign the treaty because it does not offer a "Korean exception", as landmines are said to be a crucial component of the U.S. military strategy in South Korea. According to the US government, the one million mines along the DMZ between North and South help maintain the delicate peace by deterring a North Korean attack. India has not signed the treaty because it deems landmines necessary to prevent infiltration of Pakistani trained Islamic extremists into Jammu and Kashmir state.
There is a clause in the treaty, Article 3, which permits countries to retain landmines for use in training or development of countermeasures. 64 countries have taken this option. In total 289,000 mines have been declared as retained by various countries under Article 3. A further 23 countries have not declared a figure.
[edit] Annual meetings
Annual meetings of the treaty member states are held at different locations around the world. These meetings provide a forum to report on what has been accomplished, indicate where additional work is needed and seek any assistance they may require.
- 1st annual meeting in May 1999 in Maputo (in mine-affected Mozambique) [1]
- 2nd annual meeting in September 2000 in Geneva, Switzerland [2]
- 3rd annual meeting in September 2001 in Managua (in mine-affected Nicaragua) [3]
- 4th annual meeting in September 2002 in Geneva, Switzerland [4]
- 5th annual meeting in September 2003 in Bangkok, Thailand [5]
- The first review conference (5 years after the treaty came into force) was held from 29 November – 3 December 2004 in Nairobi, Kenya. [6]
- 6th annual meeting in November/December 2005 in Zagreb, Croatia [7]
- 7th annual meeting in September 2006 in Geneva, Switzerland [8]
[edit] Diana, Princess of Wales' Role in the Ottawa Treaty
The Ottawa Treaty was championed for by the late Diana, Princess of Wales. She visited Angola in January 1997, and walked through a mine field - twice to make sure all media present got pictures of her in that area. In January 1997, Angola's population was approximately 10 Million and had about 10-20 Million Land Mines in place from their civil war.[3] In August 1997 she visited Bosnia with the Landmine Survivor's Network. Her work with Landmines focused mostly on the injuries created by them, in most cases in children who play around them.
Due to the amount of influence she had, her death in August 1997 sparked the Government of the United Kingdom and other nations to ratify and sign the Ottawa Treaty[citation needed]. When the Second Reading of the Landmines Bill took place in 1998 in the British House of Commons, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook praised and paid tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales's work on landmines:
| “ | "All honourable Members will be aware from their postbags of the immense contribution made by Diana, Princess of Wales to bringing home to many of our constituents the human costs of landmines. The best way in which to record our appreciation of her work, and the work of NGOs that have campaigned against landmines, is to pass the Bill, and to pave the way towards a global ban on landmines."[4] | ” |
[edit] See also
- Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons
- Swiss Foundation for Mine Action
- Mine clearance agencies
- Demining
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- ICBL website (International Campaign to Ban Landmines)
- List of Treaty Signatory from Veterans for America
- E-Mine - Electronic Mine Information Network by United Nations Mine Action Services
- Landmine Monitor
- Landmine Action
- Full English text at ICRC website (International Committee of the Red Cross)
- Charity - Diana, Princess of Wales
- Angola's Landminesde:Ottawa-Konvention
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