New Zealand Campaign Against Landmines (CALM)
NEWSLETTERFebruary 1997[No 1 1997]
Overseas the campaign is growing, although this is not reflected in the New Zealand media. One of the aims of this newsletter is to pass on to our supporters an analysis of key issues that have arisen in 1997. If you want to write a Letter to the Editor of your local paper about landmines - and I hope you will ! - we can provide additional background information. I have also enclosed some information from Ian Kidman, Executive Officer for The Cambodia Trust, who recently returned from Cambodia. This will remind you of the human aspect of the campaign. The Maputo ConferenceBrian Hayes, our CALM Treasurer, will be attending the 4th International NGO Conference in Maputo, Mozambique from the 25th to the 28th of this month. Our reason for sending Brian to the Conference is for him to gain first hand experience of conditions in this heavily mined part of Africa, and to find out how the landmine scourge has affected the people. He will also be able to participate in the decision-making of our international campaign and his presence will be a reminder that the first effective mine clearing in Angola was established by the N Z Army. Although we did not seek donations from our membership, we welcome and appreciate the following generous donations which have made Brian's visit possible: from the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Quaker Peace and Service Aotearoa-NZ, Leang's Salon, Mrs Noeline Gannaway, Mr Ian Kuperus, and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Brian, with the help of the committee, held a Garage Sale which raised $620 and plans a sponsored musical performance. The balance will come from CALM funds. (The government grant just announced goes entirely to the conference organisers, not to Brian's expenses.) We look forward to Brian's report on his return.Nobel Peace Prize nominationThe International Campaign to Ban Landmines has been nominated for the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize by US Congressman James McGovern. In a letter to Mr Geir Lundestad, Director of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Congressman McGovern said, "The International Campaign to Ban Landmines represents a dramatic expression of the will of civil society to change international norms. An award to them of the Peace Prize in this critical year would send a powerful signal that such models for social change are recognised as critical and important as we move into the next century."United Nations General Assembly resolutionOn 10 December 1996 the UNGA Resolution 51/45s called for an international agreement to ban anti-personnel mines and urged (among other things) "that States pursue vigorously an effective, legally binding international agreement to ban the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines with a view to completing the negotiation as soon as possible." Support came from 155 countries, no country opposed the resolution, but ten countries abstained. It is unlikely that those ten (Belarus, China, Cuba, North and South Korea, Israel, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Syria) will be at Ottawa in December. The USA was the main sponsor of this resolution and their UN Ambassador, Madeleine Albright, who had seen the horrors of landmines at first hand, is to be congratulated on achieving so much international support. It was a much stronger resolution than ones passed in earlier years. Madeleine Albright is now the Secretary for State in the new Clinton Cabinet.Support from many sidesHis Holiness Pope John Paul again called for a ban on landmines and on the 13th of January said, "I express the hope that a juridicially binding agreement with appropriate provision for inspection will see the light of day at a meeting scheduled in Brussels next June. Everything must be done in order to build a safer world." The Minister of Foreign Affairs Rt. Hon Don McKinnon has written stating "I am looking forward to working on the Disarmament and Arms Control portfolio, and I can see that we have a busy year ahead of us, particularly in regard to anti-personnel mines. Hopefully 1997 will take us considerably closer to our shared objective of a total ban on these weapons." We welcome the inclusion of the following in the following in the Government's Coalition Agreement on Foreign Affairs: "New Zealand must maintain an international profile . . . help play our part in promoting peace . . . and help play an effective role in international organisations, particularly contributing to and in other ways supporting the role of the United Nations in its peacekeeping and humanitarian activities." We congratulate the Government of Kiribati for joining the International Campaign's call for a mine-free South Pacific. We note that Samoa, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea supported the UNGA Resolution and Mrs Joy McLauchlan MP has agreed to write to their Prime Ministers to ask them to support a mine-free South Pacific.Landmine workshop in New ZealandThe New Zealand Army will be holding a four day workshop on de-mining at Linton Camp in April. It will be held under the auspices of the ASEAN Regional Forum and the workshop will cover a wide range of topics including identifying training requirements, selection of trainees, and international, political, and other issues.Princess Diana's visit to AngolaNews and photos of her visit filled English papers - especially those on sale in NZ. Shortly afterwards a reliable nationwide poll in the UK indicated that 90% of those polled supported a total ban on landmines. When a Junior Minister stated that the UK Government did not support an immediate ban but preferred to negotiate the landmine issue through the UN Conference on Disarmament, the issue became political, to the embarrassment of the British Red Cross (which arranged Princess Diana's visit). The British Labour Party fully supports the Canadian "Ottawa initiative." CALM issued press releases pointing out the political implications but as far as I know these were not published in the NZ media.The ban - political developmentsLandmines are the only regularly used weapons of mass destruction. You will recall that after years of preparatory negotiation, the UN Inhumane Weapons Convention Review Conference in Geneva last May achieved so little that the former Minister of Disarmament the Hon D.A.G. Graham expressed the disappointment of the Government. He said, "The final result in Geneva fell well short of what I would have liked, which is the immediate ban on all anti-personnel mines." His comments were echoed around the world by Governments and NGOs. There was a growing awareness that if an immediate ban was to be achieved, it would not be possible through the UN where because consensus was required to make decisions, one or two countries could indefinitely hold up progress. They effectively have a veto that retards or prevents strong agreements. The Ottawa Conference in October 1996 grew out of this frustration. Canada led the way and called a Conference of Governments and NGOs that desired urgent action on a ban. They agreed to meet again in Brussels in June 1997 to draw up a Treaty and then to ask all countries to return to Ottawa in December 1997 to sign the Treaty. It was realised that not all countries would sign. China and Russia have already stated that they would not be participating, but the proposers of the Treaty believed they would carry most of the world with them. The pro-ban movement was gaining so much momentum and popular support, [Princess Diana's visit to Angola is a good example of this] that warning bells started ringing among military leaders in many countries. For them, the logical solution would be to transfer ban negotiations to the Conference on Disarmament (CD) where it had taken thirty years to achieve a ban on chemical weapons. France and Australia (why?) were among a group of countries that proposed the CD option but when, on January the 17th, President Clinton also supported the proposal came on side, the Canadian Treaty programme received a setback.US Pentagon policyWe have received an e-mail from Washington outlining the views of the U S Pentagon on landmines. Although they assert that there has been a "fundamental shift in the thinking by the Department of Defence about how we defend ourselves" they state that 1,000,000 "dumb" mines are still needed to defend the border between North and South Korea and that although they are doing a lot of research they can see no alternative to landmines and they are not prepared to give them up until a suitable alternative is found. Copies of this e-mail are available. We can see why the American President is obliged to slow down the landmine ban campaign. The Pentagon is overlooking the fact that 20,000 people are being killed or maimed each year and that American-made mines are killing people in Afghanistan(Model M8A1), Angola (Models M14, M16A1, M16A2, M18A1), Cambodia(Models M2A4, M7A2, M16A1 )and Mozambique (Models M14 AND M18A1). We can ask, "How did they get there ?"Crisis (or is it chaos) in the CDAlthough the President of the United States called for the landmine issue to be placed on the Agenda of the Conference on Disarmament (CD), there is no certainty that this will happen. The new UN Secretary-General recently asked the CD for urgent action on the banning of the production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium. India and Pakistan have organised support from 21 developing countries to support the Secretary-General, to demand more concessions from the five nuclear powers and all have refused to allow any new issue to be added to the CD Agenda until the five nuclear powers have made significant concessions. India and her support group have the power to block the inclusion of landmine issues on the Agenda and this debate could take all of this year. New Zealand is one of the 61 members of the CD and the CALM Committee discussed whether we should approach our Minister of Disarmament to ask him to support India's stand. We agreed to take no action. Because the landmine ban negotiations in the CD are likely to collapse before they even get started, it is important that we give the Canadian programme for a treaty to ban landmines all the support we can.Regional conference in SydneyThe Australian Campaign has sought our co-operation for the organisation of a Regional Seminar to be held at Sydney University from the 14th to the 17th of July. We have asked for a couple of political topics to be added to the Agenda but I am giving this advance notice so that anyone who will be in Sydney about this time may adjust their schedule so that they can attend. Let me know if you are interested.New resourcesIf your organisation is now planning its year's programme and you wish to include discussion about landmines, please do not forget we can help with videos, coloured slides (with scripts), posters, children's art work and audio tapes. John V Head CALM (New Zealand Campaign Against Landmines) c/- 6 John Sims Drive, Broadmeadows, Wellington Phone (04) 478-1828, fax (04) 384-2112, E-mail: jhead@i4free.co.nz |
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.
