New Zealand Campaign Against Landmines (CALM)
NEWSLETTERDecember 1998[No 4 1998] New
Zealand Has Nearly Ratified!
Ottawa Report by Neil Mander, Convenor of CALM I was honoured to represent CALM at the international meeting of some 60 Landmine Monitor researchers held at Ottawa on 1 and 2 December this year. Plenary sessions looked at the task of assembling data and presenting it in individual country reports, for the report which will be presented to the Conference of States Parties in Maputo, Mozambique, in May 1999. The emphasis is on accuracy and reliability of the data. If possible two or three sources should be checked and compared against each other. Regional Group workshop sessions reviewed the initial draft reports from each country and considered problems being experienced by researchers. Possibilities for further research and collaboration between researchers from different countries were offered. In the Asia-Pacific region it was great to note the impressive progress that had been made in countries previously thought to be "difficult". The work by our own John Head in investigating mine usage and holdings in Papua New Guinea was amongst those. On the other hand it seems that the North Korean administration is determined to keep mines on their southern border, as much to keep their own citizens in as anything else! I presented the initial reports on New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and 13 South Pacific island states for whom we have been given the responsibility of data collection. * Where do we go from here? Our next deadline is 1 February 1999 by when drafts of final reports must be submitted to our Regional Co-ordinators. They will offer comments or ask questions, after which we have until 1 March to submit the final reports. A further conference in Oslo at the beginning of March will review these reports. In Canada a small group is setting up a database to hold the gathered information and make it accessible on a website. And all of this has to be completed well before the States Parties meeting in Mozambique in May 1999. An outdoor ceremony and "shoe mountain" provided a public celebration of the first anniversary of the signing of the Ottawa Treaty, and a moving inter-faith service emphasised that the problem and the solution belongs to no one group or people. It was a good feeling to be in Ottawa again when the announcement came through that New Zealand had passed its Anti-Personnel Mines Prohibition Act and that ratification of the treaty would be close behind. The news was greeted warmly by others at the conference. Perhaps the weather and surroundings reflected the wider situation.
Last year there was the magic of snow on the ground reflecting the myriads
of fairy lights on trees around the city. This highlighted, for me,
the excitement and novelty of a completely new achievement, a treaty
which was until very recently considered to be impossible. This year,
there was no snow, just the cold and hard reality of getting on with
the work of striving towards a world free of landmines. *Before going to Ottawa, Neil
wrote to the Prime Ministers or Presidents of 13 Pacific nations: Cook
Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia,
Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
He also asked the Secretary-General of the South Pacific Forum to encourage
forum members to respond; and asked NGO contacts in the Pacific nations
to assist with data gathering, as well as requesting information from
MFAT, NZ Defence Force and New Zealand NGOs (on humanitarian aid to
landmine victims).
At the Parliamentary Select Committee [for the record] On Thursday 12 November, a delegation from CALM appeared before the Parliamentary Select Committee for Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade in support of our submission supporting the Anti-Personnel Mines Prohibition Bill. John Head, Andrew Ladley and I spoke in favour of the legislation, urging that it be moved as rapidly as possible through the remaining stages of the Parliamentary process so that the Ottawa Treaty could be ratified by NZ. We noted that it was now almost one year since the Treaty had been signed in Ottawa, that NZ was held in high esteem in the international community because of its work in demining, mine awareness education, mine victim assistance and by political and diplomatic work especially as part of the Ottawa Process. As a separate move, subsequent to the legislation being passed, we urged increased effort by NZ to support other countries meet their obligations under the Treaty for mine clearance, destruction of stockpiles and victim support and rehabilitation. We urged increased expenditure on our plastic mine location research work in Auckland University. Neil Mander (CALM Convenor) Papua New Guinea
report by John Head Before I left NZ I was made very aware of a number of rumours about landmines, the lawlessness in PNG cities, and after reading the "Lonely Planet Guide" I knew I could expect a range of difficulties obtaining information from "bureaucrats". Fortunately, I was able to obtain information from a variety of military sources in NZ, Australia and PNG. Col Takendu, Chief of Staff to the PNGDF was particularly helpful. A former Engineer Officer, he had spent five years in this country in a liaison role and asked me to pass on his best wishes to some of the friends he had made. I was also able to gather reports from a number of NGO contacts. Wilhelm Zonggonau, a former resident of West Papua and now director of the National Alliance of Non Government Organisations in PNG, and Janet Philemon, Secretary General of the PNG Red Cross, were particularly helpful. All reports agreed that the PNG does not have landmines apart from command-detonated Claymore mines imported from Australia about 20 years ago. Their Army used these in Bougainville prior to 1993, but lifted all except two, which were found and destroyed by the NZ Army Engineers sent to Bougainville before the first Peace Making venture in 1993. Booby traps have been a problem in Bougainville as well as UXOs (unexploded bombs and shells) left behind in many parts of PNG following World War 2. The command-detonated Claymores are not banned under the Ottawa Treaty. Two years ago we followed up a report in the New Zealand Herald that the PNG Army had flown a plane load of landmines into Southern Bougainville. This was not confirmed from any source and Col Takendu described the report as "psychological warfare" by the BRA to get NZ "on side". PNG's new ambassador to the United Nations has been instructed to sign the Ottawa Treaty. Cabinet has approved ratification of the treaty and this was to have been approved by the PNG Parliament in February 1999. I had very good co-operation from all the so-called "bureaucrats" I had dealings with, but the "Lonely Planet" reports of lawlessness were not exaggerated.
Since its establishment, the Afghan Campaign to Ban Landmines (ACBL) has played a key role in educating the people of Afghanistan, politicians and military commanders, as well as the world about the landmine crisis. ACBL brought together humanitarian, developmental, religious and various other groups to a common stand for a complete ban on antipersonnel mines, increased resources for humanitarian mine action and mine victim rehabilitation. Because of the status of the Afghanistan seat at the United Nations, Afghanistan could not sign the Ottawa treaty in December 1997 although both sides, the Taliban and the Northern Alliance, are willing to sign. Now the supreme leader of Taliban has issued a public statement, based on a proposal from the ACBL, banning the production, stockpiling, trade and use of anti-personnel landmines on behalf of Afghanistan. [The full text is available from CALM] The resource centre, funded during 1998 by Norwegian People's Aid (NPA), is also the ICBL post office box, telephone and fax address, runs the operational bank account, the web site, and is the first line address to receive information/referrals. It also aims to be a central store, clearinghouse and archive of information, documents, exhibition materials, and resources in all formats that campaigns can use for their campaigning activities - to respond to requests for information but also be pro-active in asking what materials would be useful and developing original materials, information packs, etc. The centre is also developing a photographic library (with John Rodsted) of images in all formats from a variety of sources that all campaigns can use. The continuation of the centre depends on fundraising by ICBL and the NPA. Guidelines for survivor assistance The ICBL Working Group on Survivor Assistance, comprised of more than 25 international humanitarian and development organisations, has developed a set of principles and guidelines to help shape and promote comprehensive rehabilitation for hundreds of thousands of landmine victims worldwide. The Mine Ban Treaty enters into force March 1999. The Treaty requests State Parties to do "their utmost" in providing assistance to landmine survivors. States "in a position to do so shall provide assistance for the care and rehabilitation, and social and economic reintegration of mine victims." Thus, there is an affirmative obligation on States to provide assistance. The Treaty says such "assistance may be provided, inter alia, through the United Nations system, international, regional or national organisations or institutions, non-governmental organisations or institutions, the ICRC, national Red Cross or Red Crescent societies and their International Federation, non-governmental organisations, or on a bilateral basis." The ICBL Guidelines for Survivor Assistance are intended to help everyone involved, including donors and caregivers, develop effective programs to help landmine victims heal, recover and resume their roles as productive and contributing members of their societies. The guidelines incorporate ten basic human rights of landmine survivors as well as recommendations to improve emergency medical care, continuing medical care, physical rehabilitation (including prosthetics and assistive devices), psychological and social support, education and economic opportunities for all persons with disabilities, including mine victims and their families. CALM sent a copy of the draft guidelines to the Cambodia Trust in Wellington for comment. The full text is available from CALM. United Nations
General Assembly resolution AC.1/53/L.33, proposed by Canada, passed through the UNGA by consensus, but went to a vote in the First (Disarmament) Committee on 4 November 1998. No country voted against the resolution. 124 voted in favour, including treaty noon-signatories such as Armenia, Belarus, Bhutan, DR Congo, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mongolia, Nepal, Nigeria, Oman, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, UAE. 19 abstained (Azerbaijan, China, Cuba, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Kazakhstan, Libya, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Morocco, Pakistan, Burma/Myanmar, RO Korea, Russia, Syria, USA, Viet Nam). The resolution called on states to sign the ban treaty, but not by a certain date. The resolution did not refer to progress made in other fora toward a ban, such as the Conference on Disarmament, but this is probably because no progress was made this year in the CD. It welcomes the generous offer of the Government of Mozambique to act as host for the First Meeting of States Parties, to take place in Maputo during the week of 3 May 1999. Jody Williams
helps fundraising
At the beginning of November Jody was in Canada supporting an initiative by classical musicians 'Consort Caritatis' to raise money for mine victims through a benefit concert of the Verdi Requiem and then the sale of the CD, which was launched with the concert and will be highlighted throughout Canada's major music store chain. They anticipate contributing $175,000 for victims - all the $125,000 production cost for the CD and the concert was donated as money or in-kind by musicians. An award from the Olender Foundation at the Kennedy Center in Washington
for being a 'peacemaker' resulted in a charitable contribution of $25,000
in Jody's name to Human Rights Watch for its work on the Landmine Monitor.
Jody is also donating her $10,000 honorarium from the upcoming Nobel
laureates' conference towards the production of the Landmine Monitor
report. by Geraldine Canham, a CALM supporter in New Plymouth In the middle of this year I spent four months in Kabul teaching English, and on a steep learning curve of many aspects that never impinge on the average Kiwi's life. As part of my orientation, I attended a landmine awareness course, run by the Organization for Mine Clearance and Afghan Rehabilitation (OMAR). OMAR is funded by a UN agency and the EU. They run similar courses for the community, and signs reminding people of the dangers of mines are painted on many prominent walls around the city. The course was very enlightening, but just as equally sobering. We spent the first few hours learning about statistics of mine victims and mine clearance. According to their 1998 statistics, ninety percent of land affected by landmines is agricultural (and only fifteen percent of the country is considered arable). Twelve to fifteen people daily fall victim to landmines, of whom eighty percent are civilians. One half of mine casualties will die due to inadequate medical assistance. Our tutor then explained each of the different anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, and the unexploded ordnances (UXOs) we might encounter, describing their construction, detonation and action. We were able to hold defused samples of these weapons. Outside the classroom, we learnt that white stones were placed in lines or clusters in cleared areas, with red stones denoting areas yet to be cleared. A red flag with an 'M' signature, showed a discovered mine yet to be denoted. The second part of the course was held in the fields around Darulaman Palace, once home to the king. Here Afghan mine clearance teams were painstakingly combing through the fields. This particular team had an excellent clearance rate, but the work was slow and obviously highly dangerous. We were able to see a few recently discovered mines still lying in wait in the ground. A few days earlier, a neighbouring mine had claimed a local woman on a firewood-collecting trip, and the shredded remains of her clothes eerily hugged a nearby post. Although the trails we used through the clearance area were declared 'safe', I still found myself stepping in the footprints of the person before me. I found my mind wrestling with the idea that an innocent walk through a field could be so fatal, especially as delicate cornflowers and Anzac poppies nodded gently in the breeze amongst the grasses. While we watched 100 metres away, the located mines were detonated. The shockwave reverberated strongly through us. A course such as this is a necessity for foreign workers in a place such as Afghanistan. For me, it furthered my awareness and knowledge of landmines, and made me resolve to become more involved in campaigning against them. Upon returning to NZ, and going for a walk in the countryside, the images of the course return, and I count my blessings to live in a country free from these hidden and indiscriminate killers. Postscript: the Peshawar-based 'Frontier Post' editorial on 18 November reported that more mines were being laid in the north of the country by both sides in the current civil war. Mine Ban Treaty anniversary actions worldwide On 3 December, the first anniversary of the signing of the Mine Ban Treaty in Ottawa, actions around the globe included: Angola: Week of Action including bicycles races, exhibits, workshops, press conference, videos broadcast on national TV and visit to rehabilitation centres on the 3rd, the International Day of the Disabled. Belgium: Screening of the documentary "La Vie de Vanna" on the life of a young Cambodian girl who lost a leg to a landmine (also shown on national TV on 8 December). Hand-over of about 10,000 petitions collected during the past year to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Brazil: National Call-in Day to the President to encourage ratification of the treaty, destruction of stockpiles, and provision of assistance to victims in countries to which Brazilian mines were exported (President's email:pr@planalto.gov.br). Canada: Shoe pyramids in five cities (coast to coast); launch of Youth Against War; interfaith services; and a benefit concert. Italy: Screening of film "Spotlight on a massacre", press release and meetings with schools and public conferences throughout the week. Japan: Participate in US Call-in Day by encouraging calls to the US Embassy in Japan. Sri Lanka: Interfaith meditation, poster campaign, leafletting and a meeting. Sweden: Rally in Stockholm featuring speakers from political parties who have written a joint proposal to the Parliament to raise Sweden's spending on mine clearance. USA: National Call-in Day to President Clinton at the White House (Tel. +1-202-456-1111, or e-mail: president@whitehouse.gov). Leafletting at subway entrances in Washington DC. Sanford, Maine - vigil at Vishay Sprague plant to urge them to pledge to halt any further involvement in the production of mines.
Third NGO Tokyo
conference on anti-personnel landmines
The Japanese Association to Aid Refugees held the Third NGO Tokyo Conference on Anti-Personnel Landmines with the theme of "Post-Ottawa: What should we do next?" at the end of November 1998. By an overwhelming majority the conference adopted policy recommendations to 1) the Government of every state in the world; 2) non-signatories of the Ottawa Convention; 3) signatories of the Ottawa Convention (not yet ratified); 4) nations that have ratified the Ottawa Convention; 5) all non-state actors; 6) the Government of Japan. Full text of the recommendations is available from CALM. Section 6 was particularly interesting: 6) Recommendations for the Japanese Government Landmine detection
update Our work at the University of Auckland on landmine detection has continued and expanded this year. We have set ourselves the task of developing technology to find buried, non-metallic objects. This year we have been investigating three possible approaches: a thermal imaging technique, a ground-penetrating radar, and an explosive-sniffer. Our main effort continues to go into the thermal imaging system. Unlike most other similar approaches, ours uses microwave energy to stimulate the formation of a thermal image of the mine on the surface of the ground. We have some images which give an idea of size and shape as well as location. I recently attended two landmine conferences in Europe. At the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Aspire (northern Italy) I met the Canadian Ambassador for Mine Action, Jill Sinclair. The Canadians have put $17 million into a Centre for Mine Action Technologies. At the Second International Conference on the Detection of Abandoned Landmines in Edinburgh I chaired a session on electro-optical sensors. The conferences confirmed that we are doing the right kinds of things but more work is needed to achieve reliable and cost-effective detection. We will continue improving the three current techniques and may investigate a fourth, NQR [see below]. We will be setting up a dummy minefield in which we bury mine-like objects and leave them for lengthy periods before trying to find them. More funding (about $400,000) would allow us to have a few people working full time on this most worthwhile project. [From NZ Friends' Newsletter November 1998;
contact Lawrence at: lj.carter@auckland.ac.nz] "Landmine Detection Tests" The first landmine detection field test of nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) technology was recently conducted by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects at the Army's Combat Engineer School at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. The test uses magnetic field pulses to locate landmines. Twenty-two out of 24 antipersonnel landmines and six out of six anti-tank mines were found in the exercise. [From Jane's Defence Weekly, received through the Center for Defense Information, Washington, DC.] Cost of clearing DMZ landmines estimated at $10 billion Land mines in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between south and north Korea cover 992 square kilometres and will cost approximately US$10 billion to clear when the two Koreas are reunited, a national congressman has said. The DMZ is likely to be left as a "belt of death" for several decades after inter-Korean unification because it contains some 1 million antipersonnel mines that cannot be easily detected. To put it in stark terms, mines exist in one out of every 15 steps along the DMZ, the lawmaker explained. It is feared that there will be many casualties of soldiers and civilians in the course of clearing the mines, a painstaking, hazardous and highly specialised process made more difficult because some of the mines are made of wood and plastic. A total of 48 mine accidents occurred between 1992 and September 1998, in which 41 servicemen and civilians were killed, and 46 injured. [Source: Seoul Yonhap in English (semi-official news agency of the ROK), end October] To walk without
fear: The global movement to ban landmines To walk without fear is a comprehensive and authoritative account of the global movement to ban landmines. It brings together leading academics, senior policy-makers, and prominent leaders of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to examine and draw lessons from the Ottawa Process that culminated in December 1997 when over 120 states signed a Convention to ban the use, sale, and production of landmines. An essay by Nobel Laureate Jody Williams and Steve Goose, of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, describes how a global coalition of NGOs led the world towards a ban on landmines, while a chapter by the Canadian diplomats who orchestrated the Ottawa Process takes the reader behind the scenes into the diplomatic arm-wrestling that resulted in Canada's leadership role. International specialists offer assessments of the military utility of mines, their humanitarian consequences, the role of the Red Cross, landmine victims, national ban campaigns, the problems of mine clearance, and interpretations of the legal text of the treaty. Academic specialists analyse the policy process and negotiations, explore the political economy of mines, and identify the implications of the treaty for the development of international humanitarian norms, democratisation, and civil society. Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lloyd Axworthy, draws lessons from the Ottawa Process for other policy issues. To walk without fear resulted from an unusual collaboration of universities, governments, and NGOs, which developed in tandem with the negotiation process itself. Chapters were developed through a series of policy workshops, a seminar series, intensive focus-group discussions with government officials and NGO members, and a 'lessons learned' exercise that brought together over 200 NGO and government participants immediately after the signing of the Convention. The book will be of particular value to policy-makers interested in drawing lessons from the Ottawa Process, to NGOs interested in replicating its results in other areas, to academics and students interested in foreign policy and international affairs, and to the general public seeking an accessible and readable account of one of the most significant global movements in recent years. Order through any bookseller - an excellent book for CALM members to donate to their local library! A complimentary copy from the publishers was presented by a delegation from CALM to Hon Don McKinnon on 17 December.
This newsletter was prepared by David Zwartz
…CALM (New Zealand Campaign Against Landmines)… Convenor:
Neil Mander Spokesperson:
John Head Treasurer and resource officer: P O Box 17-195, Karori, Wellington
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CALM is the New Zealand Campaign Against Landmines.
CALM is a member of ICBL, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines
which was co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in December 1997.
