Newsletter July 2003

[No. 2 2003]

Iraq is littered with explosive remnants of war, some of which date back to at least the 1920s. The recent conflict there has exacerbated an already serious ERW problem. In its invasion of Iraq in 2003, the United States made widespread use of ground-launched MLRS rockets, which each contain more than six hundred explosive submunitions and have an official failure rate as high as thirty per cent. "Use of cluster munitions in these recent conflicts have only made the local ERW problem much worse," John Borrie said.

The US military confirmed publicly that coalition forces dropped nearly 1,500 cluster bombs of varying types during Operation Iraqi Freedom, putting at risk Iraqi adults and children along with humanitarian aid workers, United Nations personnel, civilian staff and military officials.

Under the UN Convention on Conventional Weapons, Governments have begun negotiating the scope of new international humanitarian law to identify responsibility for clearance of weapons that become ERW, as well as ensuring warnings to civilians, risk education, the provision of information and victim assistance.

These measures need to go beyond the current CCW negotiations on future ERW, and face up to dealing with explosive remnants of past conflicts that still pose a danger to civilians in places such as Laos, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

New Zealand is amongst a group of governments concerned about the seriousness of ERW and determined to see international measures in place to reduce the incidence of ERW-related tragedies. With the next round of CCW negotiations on ERW due to take place in November, New Zealand must maintain it's strong support for these measures and provide leadership to encourage other governments to support the measures also.

The Clear Up! Campaign has the potential to deliver humanitarian results of a magnitude similar to the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty, on the basis of cooperation between NGOs and governments around the world. It is fitting for NZ CALM to play an active role in the campaign and ensure our government does likewise in the international negotiations.

Deborah Morris, For the CALM Committee

Government Support for Demining

We congratulate our Government for increasing aid for Mine Action Assistance overseas.

In the last year there were three new initiatives.

Following an application by Christian World Service, the Government made a grant of $79,000 for mine awareness education in Afghanistan. In April 2003 the Government announced that it would send up to 15 Defence Force personnel to Iraq to be part of the United Nations Mine Action Service and the Minister for Disarmament announced that the Government had granted $135,000 to the UNDP Mine Action programme in Sri Lanka.

In November 2002, the Cambodia Trust of New Zealand donated $125,000 to the Cambodian School of Prosthetics and Orthotics using $25,000 from the Trust and $100,000 from the Government's Voluntary Agency Support Scheme (VASS). All these Government grants are in addition to their standing commitment to Mine Action Assistance worldwide. CALM thanks the Government for their awareness of the tremendous problems and suffering still being caused by landmines and for being prepared to take a positive action. The role of CALM of course is to encourage the Government to do even more.

Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting of the New Zealand Campaign Against Landmines will be held at the Council Chamber, on the first floor of the Town Hall. It is booked for 5.30pm on Thursday 14th August.

All members and CALM are welcome so please do feel free to bring a friend.

The Agenda will include;
1. Welcome and Apologies
2. Minutes of the 2002 AGM
3. Presentation of Annual Reports.
4. Election of Officers and Committee for 2003/2004
The present officers are; Convenor, John Head; Deputy Convenor, David Zwartz; Secretary, Stuart Beresford; Treasurer, Brian Hayes; Chris Swain, Youth Coordinator; Committee, Deborah Morris, Bangkok; John Borrie, Geneva; Graham French, Christchurch; Lawrence Carter, Auckland; Neil Mander, Auckland; Ian Wilks, Wanganui; Paul Roberts MFAT; Alyn Ware, Dr Malcolm Watson, Ian Shearer, David Wilkin, John Waldmann, Rob Wilkinson, Roy Saffrey, Peter Zwart, Geraldine Canham-Harvey, Gerald Sutton, Hayden Montgomerie and Richard Davis(on leave).
At the previous AGM, following the resignation of Neil Mander as Convenor, I agreed to take over the role of Convenor for the third time until the return of Deborah Morris from overseas. It would appear that it will be another year before Deborah will be back in the country and ready to take on this position.
5. General Business
Following the AGM, we will hold a Committee meeting when we get down to the business of planning the coming year's activities.
There are many challenges facing the incoming Committee. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines is planning a major review of its role and activities in 2004. Landmine Action in the UK is planning a major campaign to alert the world as to what needs to be done to control and clear up the devastation of cluster bombs and other Explosive Remnants of War. They seek our help. The Canadians and the US campaigns seek our support for the Night of a Thousand dinners and our Government deserves our active support for their increasing involvement in the full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. We need an active and enthusiastic Committee to support a wide range of activities.

John V Head, Convenor NZ CALM.

Worldwide progress in the universalisation of the MBT

As at 12 May 2003 there were 134 States had ratified or acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. Thirteen countries had signed but have yet to ratify. The countries that have ratified or acceded since our previous newsletter are; #131 Cyprus (17 Jan 03); #132 Sao Tome & Principe (31 Mar); #133 Timor Leste (7 May);
#134 Lithuania (12 May).

Change of Editor

While I was away on holiday, Stuart Beresford circulated the following message on my behalf; "In the Dominion Post of the 14th May there was a brief announcement that Wellington City Councillor David Zwartz had been appointed Israel's Honorary Counsel in New Zealand. He has been for some time the President of the New Zealand Jewish Council and the appointment came as no surprise to me. I think I may have been the first to congratulate him on his appointment and I did ask whether this new workload, in addition to his family responsibilities and City Council commitments meant that he would not have the time to carry on as Editor. He has now confirmed that he does wish to be released.
He has been a member of the Committee since 1994. He took over the Convenorship for a brief period in May 1995 and later that year took over from me as Editor.

As Convenor, I thank David for the very significant contribution he has made to our campaign. As an Editor he was very professional and his work gained many plaudits from the ICBL. As a Committee member he kept us on track on many occasions. I am very grateful for his personal support and I do hope he will be able to continue as a Committee member and Deputy Convenor.
The position of Editor is now open. It does not carry a salary although I would like to review this. I would welcome enquires from people who would consider taking over this interesting and important position.

John V Head, Convenor

The above statement was circulated by Secretary Stuart on 30/6/03 to all on our email link. We received only one nomination and, knowing her well, I will be recommending to the Annual General Meeting that she be appointed. She is Louise Head; educated at Kapiti College and Victoria University where she graduated in 1997. She has worked full time since and her present position is with Mission Hall, Graphic Designers, Wellington where she is a Project Manager, which involves quality control and supervision of accounts. She has a keen interest in world affairs---and landmines! This newsletter has been typeset by Louise.

The situation in the Pacific

The following countries have ratified or acceded to the Treaty; Timor Leste, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue (the 8th in the world), Samoa and the Solomon Islands. The three nations that signed the Treaty in Ottawa in 1997 but have yet to ratify are the Cook Islands (legislation authorising ratification is before Parliament now), the Marshall Islands (their Minister of Foreign Affairs has advised Hon Marian Hobbs that it was important for the Marshall Islands to join the international efforts to ban landmines and that their Government was considering the implications of ratifying), and Vanuatu where Parliament will be meeting in December and it is hoped that a paper authorising ratification will be on the agenda.

The States that have yet to accede to the Treaty are Papua New Guinea where Parliament has now authorised accession. The Federated States of Micronesia has the matter under consideration. From Palau we have had a very positive statement from the Minister of State and we are expecting a resolution authorising the accession to the Treaty will be placed before the 6th OEK when it meets. The Senate has already passed a resolution supporting accession. Tonga reports that consultations are being held with the relevant "line" departments. Tuvalu sees no urgency in acceding to the Treaty.
All Pacific nations have expressed support for the Mine Ban Treaty and the banning of landmines but some need a little more encouragement than others to sign up.

Final comment from the retiring Editor

Just as there is fashion in clothes, cars, food and methods of child raising, there is fashion in good causes. We all know of high profile causes and campaigns of recent years which no longer attract the same level of public support or attention. This may be because of a change in the image of a movement, or for political reasons, or because the effort put into a cause has solved the problem.

The NZ campaign against landmines was started in 1992 and has achieved successes beyond those of many other NGOs, while never gaining a particularly high public profile (except by association with the late Princess Di's anti-landmine activities). It attracted more supporters when it was campaigning to change NZ government policy, but tended to lose them when the tasks in hand were the lower-key grind of fundraising for victim support, persuading Pacific nations to ratify the Ottawa Treaty, monitoring Treaty adherence, or educating the general public on the scourge of landmines.

At the international level, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning ICBL's influence in helping create the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty, and its central place in monitoring the Treaty and continuing to make policy, is a triumph for civil society in a world where multilateral successes are few and far between.

In New Zealand, CALM's strength comes from the steadfastness of its founder and present convenor, John Head QSM, in pursuing the humanitarian vision of the campaign while applying practical solutions of lobbying, informing and educating to bring about constructive changes.

Although not being as fashionable now as it has been, the need for the anti-landmine campaign is as great as ever. There are still millions of landmines in the ground in Third World countries, killing and wounding their civilian populations and hindering their economic development. Although the number of countries joining the Mine Ban Treaty is still growing, there are some large and influential nations (USA, Russia, China, India, Pakistan) which delay their accession, and landmines are still being used by insurgent groups. And the present victims of landmines let alone the new ones will require prosthetics and other assistance for the rest of their lives.

Clearly the problem of landmines has not yet been solved, whether or not it is seen as a fashionable cause to help.

I am sorry to say that the pressure of two new jobs means I am now not able to continue devoting regular time to editing the CALM Newsletter, which I have done since 1995, but I will certainly continue to support this most worthwhile of causes in other ways.

David Zwartz

Clear up campaign

Worldwide there is great concern not only about landmines but also about the devastating impact of unexploded cluster bomblets and other explosive remnants of war (ERW). Leading a worldwide campaign is the British Landmine Action (LA). Deborah Morris and John Borrie have been attending overseas conferences on these issues and have asked CALM to give the campaign full support. I am sure that those who have noted the suffering caused by cluster munitions in Iraq will be very pleased to help. The LA has just published a Global Survey of the Explosive Remnants of War, written by John Borrie.

Fifth meeting of the states parties to the mine ban treaty (5MSP)

The 5MSP will be held in Bangkok from the 15th to the 19 September 2003 and this will be followed by a two day conference of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL).The 5MSP is the major diplomatic conference of the year and we are hoping that several Pacific countries will announce their joining the MBT. The ICBL is carrying out a major review of their policy and this meeting will help chart the future course of the ICBL. The CALM Executive will be nominating Hon Deborah Morris to be the CALM representative on the Government Delegation, The CALM Delegation to both Conferences will be John Head, Convenor, Brian Hayes and Hayden Montgomerie. Hayden is the President of the United Nations Youth Association of NZ and may be able to attend while travelling back from Europe.
Our Government is considering funding three representatives from NGOs in Pacific countries and CALM is acting as liaison between the Government and these NGOs.

Night of a thousand dinners

In November we plan to combine again with UNICEF to organise the NZ contribution to the Canadian initiated Night of a Thousand Dinners. This is a worldwide fundraising activity and last year the evenings raised US$1.2 million from 800 dinners in 40 countries. In NZ we raised $1500 and this went to support the UNICEF landmine projects in Mozambique. The NZ coordinators are David Zwartz from CALM and Denis Mc Kinlay of UNICEF. There is a lot of information about last year's dinners in earlier newsletters and David and Denis will be giving you more information later.

CALM operates a news group for people who want to receive by email, this newsletter, world media reports and other important information to ban landmines. To join this news group please email our Secretary at S.Beresford@paradise.net.nz

This newsletter has been prepared by John Head, typeset by Louise Head and printed and distributed by Stuart Beresford.