NZ Ratifies
Anti-Personnel Mines Ban
New Zealand has ratified the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel
mines, Disarmament and Arms Control Minister Don McKinnon announced
today.
New Zealand's formal instrument of ratification was deposited with
the United Nations in New York yesterday.
"It is a crime to be involved with the use, stockpiling, production
or trade in anti-personnel mines anywhere in New Zealand territory,"
Mr McKinnon said.
"Ratification shows our commitment to the ban remains as strong
as ever. I look forward to New Zealand playing a constructive role
at the first Conference of States Parties to the Convention in Maputo,
Mozambique, in May."
Mr McKinnon acknowledged the role of non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) in the international campaign.
"This has been a unique international movement. New Zealanders
have played a significant role internationally in efforts to negotiate
a ban on anti-personnel mines. They have been supported back home
by the New Zealand Campaign Against Landmines (CALM) and many other
groups," he said.
Mr McKinnon called on countries that had not yet signed the Ottawa
Convention to do so as soon as possible.
The Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling,
Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction
was adopted in late 1997. New Zealand signed the Convention on 3 December
1997, the day it opened for signature. Legislation giving effect to
the provisions of the Convention in New Zealand law was enacted in
December 1998.
CALM Pleased
At Treaty Ratification
Press Release From New Zealand Campaign
Against Landmines
The New Zealand Campaign Against Landmines (CALM) is pleased to
hear that New Zealand has now ratified the Landmine Ban Treaty, also
known as the Ottawa Treaty.
This follows on from enactment of special legislation at the end
of last year to completely ban anti-personnel mines from New Zealand.
This move, along with New Zealand's contribution to mine clearance
and victim support work in mine-affected countries, will help to increase
the pressure on countries who have yet to sign the Treaty. 133 countries
have now signed the Treaty and of those 62 have ratified so far. Countries
which have yet to sign the Treaty include Russia, China, India, Iraq,
Israel, North Korea, Cuba and the USA.
Anti-personnel mines are an utterly indiscriminate weapon. They
cannot tell the difference between a soldier and a civilian, a man,
a woman or a child. They are designed to maim. Around the world, every
thirty minutes, there is another victim. Countries such as Cambodia
have millions of landmines scattered around, mostly in rural areas
where poverty and hardship are already widespread.
New Zealand was a supporter from the outset of the Ottawa Process
which led to the signing of the Ottawa Treaty in December 1997. New
Zealand military and civilian people are continuing to make a major
contribution to mine clearance work and victim support work in Angola,
Mozambique and Cambodia. Research work is continuing in an endeavour
to find better and safer ways of finding mines and clearing them before
they maim or kill the local people.
-- Neil Mander
Convenor NZ Campaign Against Landmines.
