Newsletter January 2003

[No. 1 2003]

Landmines in Iraq? [continued]

The relevant clauses of New Zealand's Anti-Personnel Mines Prohibition Act 1998 are:

7. Prohibitions and offences---(1) No person may---

• Use an anti-personnel mine; or
  
• Develop, produce, or otherwise acquire an anti-personnel mine; or
  
• Possess, retain, or stockpile an anti-personnel mine; or
  
• Transfer to anyone, directly or indirectly, an anti-personnel mine; or
  
• Assist, encourage, or induce, in any way, anyone to engage in conduct referred to in paragraphs (a) to (d).

8. Exceptions to prohibitions--- Despite section 7 (1),---

d) A member of the armed forces may, in the course of his or her duties, participate in operations, exercises, or other military activities with armed forces of a state not a party to the Convention that engage in conduct prohibited by section 7 (1), if that participation does not amount to active assistance in the prohibited conduct.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) has commented:

"The ICBL believes that participation in joint operations with an armed force that uses antipersonnel mines is clearly against the spirit of the Mine Ban Treaty, and possibly a violation of the treaty obligation not to assist in any way with the use of antipersonnel mines by anyone else.

"The ICBL calls on State Parties to insist that non-signatories do not use antipersonnel mines in joint operations, and to refuse to take part in any joint operations that involve use of antipersonnel mines.

"The ICBL also expressed concerns about the antipersonnel mines that the United States has stockpiled in five States Parties (Germany, Japan, Norway, Qatar, and the United Kingdom at Diego Garcia), and the possibility of the USA transiting mines across the territory of States Parties for possible use in Iraq. [Qatar has been identified in media reports as a likely headquarters for future US military action in Iraq.]

As I saw first-hand during my own years of service, antipersonnel landmines pose tremendous risks to civilians and US troops on the ground," said Lt. General Hal Moore, former Chief of Staff for Army Personnel. "The United States should eliminate from our arsenal this weapon that cannot tell the difference between child and soldier, and that lies in wait to produce death and grief. It makes no sense to add more landmines to the millions of existing time bombs." Lt. General Moore commanded troops during the Korean and Vietnam Wars and was portrayed by Mel Gibson in the film We Were Soldiers. He was one of eight senior retired commanders who sent a letter to President Bush last year urging him to ban antipersonnel landmines.

The US Campaign to Ban Landmines' warning about possible use of mines in the event of war in Iraq also comes as the Bush Administration is apparently nearing the end of a formal review of US landmine policy that has been under way for eighteen months. [ICBL]

A New Year for the Anti-landmine Campaign

In 2003 We Celebrate The Tenth Anniversary of CALM's Founding by John Head.

John saw in 1993 that New Zealand needed to have a constructive policy on landmines, and then worked to achieve that - and more. The transformation of his vision into reality is one of the outstanding successes of NGOs in this country, and reflects the tremendous impact NGOS have had on the landmine issue world wide. It is now accepted that this "Ottawa Process" involving civil society has been seen as a constructive way forward in future international negotiations.

In 1992 our government accepted that landmines were a legitimate weapon of defence. CALM was established in 1993 and a strong committee, working with some influential NZ NGOs, was able to convince the government to ban the use of antipersonnel mines by the Army, sign the Ottawa Treaty, and pass the necessary ratification legislation. Since then there has been good co-operation with the relevant sections of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in supporting the worldwide movement to ban landmines.

But even after these ten years of success, there is more work for CALM and its supporters. John Head has indicated that he now wishes to step down from his third term as Convenor. CALM needs to find a new Convenor to guide us in facing the following challenges:

• Eight states in the Pacific region have not yet ratified or acceded to the Ottawa Treaty. As they are our neighbours, CALM and New Zealand have a special responsibility to encourage them to join.
  
  
• As part of the push for universalisation of the treaty, CALM must continue lobbying the diplomatic representatives in New Zealand of those major world nations (such as USA, China, Russia, India and Pakistan) that have not yet joined up.
  
  
• Even when every state has adopted the treaty, there is and will be a huge ongoing humanitarian need to help landmine victims. CALM must keep on working with other NGOs like UNICEF and Cambodia Trust to raise funds for victim support.
  
  
• CALM must spread information about the anti-landmine campaign to fellow New Zealanders, and particularly, educate youth onthe issue.
  
  
• We need to encourage and support the acclaimed work of the New Zealand Army in assisting demining in many mine-plagued countries.

With this first newsletter for 2003 we wish a Happy New Year to all CALM members and supporters, and may you be full of resolve to work with CALM on these important parts of the international campaign to ban landmines!

David Zwartz, Editor

Improved mine clearance methods. A remote controlled mine clearance machine invented by a UK man had its first field trials in Bosnia last November. The tank-like machine, nicknamed Bigfoot, is designed to save time and money by clearing anti-personnel mines much faster than traditional methods. It is a tracked vehicle with ten pneumatic 'feet' attached to the front which pound the earth, setting off any mines. Bigfoot was inspired by a news item about Princess Diana in the minefields of Angola. The same inventor has also developed "Mineworm," which works on a similar principle but uses plough-like discs instead of feet, removes the debris left by the explosives, and prepares the land for cultivation. Traditional clearance methods are done by hand, making the process slow, expensive and dangerous. [BBC] [New Zealander Major John Flanagan made considerable use of mechanical methods when he was in charge of clearing Kosovo of landmines. Editor]

Treaty Progress Report

1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction (1997 Mine Ban Treaty)
Under Article 15, the treaty was open for signature from 3 December 1997 until its entry into force, which was 1 March 1999. Since then, states may no longer join by signing it and later ratifying, rather they use a one-step procedure known as accession. According to Article 16 (2), the treaty is open for accession by any State that has not signed.

As of 11 November 2002 there have been 146 signatories/accessions and 130 ratifications, accessions or approvals.

Latest Ratifications: Gambia (23 September 2002) and Cameroon (19 September 2002).
Latest Accessions: Central African Republic (8 November 2002), Comoros (19 September 2002) and Afghanistan (11 September 2002).

Among the states which have signed but not ratified are Pacific nations Cook Islands, Marshall Islands and Vanuatu. [www.icbl.org]

Mine destruction. Moldova has destroyed 11,000 of the more than 12,000 anti-personnel mines it inherited from the former Soviet Union. The balance will remain in the army's stockpile to be used for training. Moldova is the first FSU state to honour its Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty commitment. [Moldovan private ProTV]

DMZ mines cleared. Land mine clearance work in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) along the military demarcation line between North and South Korea, to allow reconnection of cross-border rail and road links, was completed on 14 December. When the projects are completed, inter-Korean visits will become more frequent and the inter-Korean railway project is of international significance as it will be linked to Russia's Trans-Siberian railroad in the future. [Yonhap News (South Korea)

Youth Section

The youth section of the CALM website is now up and running, see www.protel.co.nz/calm/youth. We are keen that this does not become a static site and we welcome suggestions on what you would like to see on there. Email Helen with your comments at helen.presland@paradise.net.nzhelen.presland@paradise.net.nz

An important part of the site is the Youth Against War Treaty information. In September 2003 the signatures of youth around the world will be presented to the governments of Pakistan and India with the wish that these two states cease the use of landmines as a weapon of war and work towards peace. Both countries have used mines in three wars with each other and recently planted landmines along their shared border. The media has reported both civilian and military casualties from these newly planted mines. These two powerful South Asian countries have the capacity to send a strong message to their neighbours in South Asia and indeed throughout the world by joining the Mine Ban Treaty. The ICBL has prioritised working to achieve universalisation of the Mine Ban Treaty in South Asia by 2004.

This is a great opportunity for youth to make a difference. The treaty can be signed by anyone under 25 and it would be great to have lots of New Zealand signatures on there! A copy of the signature collection form is attached to this newsletter [see page 10] and the treaty can also be signed on line on the ICBL site, see www.icbl.org/youth/yaw/signtreaty.html

If you are not yourself under 25, please pass the form on to your children or grandchildren - or take a copy to a local school or youth group.

The world's Largest Lesson - on Landmines
English-To-Go (www.english-to-go.com) is an Auckland-based Internet publisher that supplies English language training materials to teachers and home educators in over 110 countries. Each week it brings out new lessons based around a current Reuters news story.

In 2001 it organised an hour-long simultaneous lesson on landmines for 2006 teachers and 79,739 students in 114 countries. On 12 November 2002 English-To-Go was more ambitious and expected an even wider coverage, which it was submitting for a world record to the Guinness Book of Records. (Top five countries by student participation in the lesson were China, Viet Nam, New Zealand, USA and UK.)

Aid to Viet Nam
The Australian Government has decided to donate VND25 billion (US$1.6million) for the first stage of a project to clean up landmines and other unexploded ordnance in Phong Dien district in the Vietnamese central province of Thua Thien - Hue. The project will be implemented in the 2003-2005 period, and also includes infrastructure building and resettlement of residents. A similar project in the province worth $500,000 is being funded by the German non-governmental organization Potsdam Kommunikation. [Vietnam News Brief Service]

Cyprus Ratifies
The House of Representatives in Nicosia unanimously passed a bill ratifying the convention on the prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of antipersonnel mines and on their destruction at the beginning of December. [Cyprus News Agency, Nicosia]

Sri Lanka, Rebels Urged to Outlaw Landmines

Sri Lankan anti-land mine campaigners handed a petition with 1.1 million signatures to government and rebel peace negotiators in Oslo last month, urging them to outlaw mines.

The Sri Lankan government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have been holding Norwegian-brokered talks on how to end Asia's longest-running war.

The campaigners want the two sides to honour the 1997 Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel land mines as part of a drive to end the separatist conflict in which 64,000 people have died.

"Citizens are asking the government and the rebels to stop the land mines," a Buddhist anti-land mine campaigner told government and rebel negotiators in an Oslo hotel. Flanked by Catholic and Protestant leaders, he handed over a petition in boxes signed by 1.1 million people topped by a picture of a mine victim on crutches. Sri Lanka's population is almost 20 million.

The negotiators, however, made no promises to outlaw anti-personnel land mines that have killed or maimed thousands during the 19-year war and are now preventing many people from returning home after Norway brokered a truce in February 2002.

An estimated two million land mines are scattered in Sri Lanka but neither side trusts the other enough to agree to the Ottawa treaty.

The government negotiator said the government would consider signing the treaty, which now has 130 states parties. Clearly the issue of demining is of fundamental importance, especially with regard to the resettlement of internally displaced people," he said.

"Work has already been undertaken by the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE and it remains to formalize some of these arrangements, either by accession to the Ottawa treaty or by some other suitable method," he said, without giving details.

The LTTE negotiator said that the rebels had already cleared about 100,000 land mines with Norwegian and British help in the north and east of the Asian island state. "Demining has become a serious problem for the Tamil people," he said. "All our fertile lands have been turned into minefields."

He said the rebels had asked their reclusive leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, to "consider favourably" an agreement to be bound by the Ottawa treaty. "We need some time to consider this issue," he said.
[Reuters]

Canadian Landmine Fund Renewed
To mark the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines (on 3 December 1997), the Canadian government announced an additional $72 million for the Canadian Landmine Fund, which supports mine action activities around the world.

"Tremendous progress has been achieved during the last five years," Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham said, "But we realise that much remains to be done. Eliminating landmines in severely mine-affected countries is a prerequisite for poverty reduction and long-term sustainable development."

The Canadian Landmine Fund supports mine-clearing projects, assistance to landmine victims and their communities, mine risk education and the destruction of stockpiled mines. It will also be used to promote universalisation of the Ottawa Convention and support development of Canadian-made mine action technologies. [Canadian DFAIT]

India Removing Border Landmines

The Indian army will take another six months to clear hundreds of thousands of land mines planted along its border with Pakistan, India's defence minister said at the end of December 2002. The mines were laid during the 10-month stand-off between the nuclear rivals.
"The army has completed demining of about 16 to 18 percent of the area in the past two months," the defence minister was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency. At least 80 soldiers have lost their lives in the operation, he said.
Clearing of the heavily mined border began in October after India decided to pull back hundreds of thousands of soldiers who had been moved to the frontier after an attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001. India blamed the attack on Pakistan's spy agency and two Pakistan-based Islamic militant groups. Islamabad denied the charges, as did the rebel outfits seeking Indian Kashmir's independence or merger with Pakistan.
More than 292,000 anti-personnel and anti-tank mines were planted as India and Pakistan came close to a fourth war in the spring, according to PTI. Intense international pressure defused tensions between the hostile neighbours who twice have gone to war over the Himalayan province claimed by both sides. [Associated Press]

[Note: Neither India nor Pakistan have signed the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty. Many civilians were killed or maimed when minefields were laid across their land, on both sides of the border, during this latest confrontation. Editor]

Geneva Call brings anti-personnel mines ban to Somalia

Somali factions, including the Transitional National Government, have signed the "Deed of Commitment under Geneva Call for Adherence to a Total Ban of Anti-Personnel Mines and for Co-operation in Mine Action".

The different Somali factions, which have been involved in a bloody civil war for 12 years, attended a national reconciliation conference in Eldoret (Kenya) in an effort to bring peace to the war torn country. A first step was achieved with the signing of a truce agreement by leaders of 15 regional factions. The situation in Somalia is extremely complex and fluctuating. Somalia has not had a fully functional government and has been ruled by clan warlords since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in January 1991. The Transitional National Government formed in July 2000 controls only parts of Mogadishu and slivers of territory elsewhere.

Due to the 1977-78 war against Ethiopia and the ongoing civil war, Somalia is one of the most heavily mine-affected countries in Africa. Thousands of people have been killed or injured by landmines. Moreover, their presence terrorizes the population, hinders socio-economic reconstruction and prevents refugees and displaced people from returning home. In this regard, the commitment of the Somali factions will contribute to preventing new mines from being planted in the ground and will facilitate the implementation of mine clearance programmes by the international community. It will also contribute to building confidence among the factions attending the Eldoret conference as well as sending a positive signal to the peace process.

Geneva Call is aware that the commitment of the Somali factions takes on a particular character given the complexity of the conflict and will take time to be fully implemented on the ground. It is also aware that some militiamen are fighting outside the control of the factions and might use landmines for economic purposes. However, despite these difficulties, Geneva Call believes that the commitment taken is an important step towards universalisation of the mine ban norm in the country and a contribution to a mine-free Somalia.

Geneva Call is an international humanitarian NGO dedicated to engaging non-State actors to adhere to a total ban on anti-personnel mines. To facilitate this process, it provides a complementary mechanism by which non-State actors, as they are not eligible to sign the Ottawa Convention, can commit them
selves by signing a unilateral declaration called the "Deed of Commitment". To date, five groups have banned this indiscriminate weapon through the "Deed of Commitment": the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army; the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Revolutionary Proletarian Movement of the Philippines; and the two major Kurdish movements of Iraq. Negotiations are under way in Angola, Burma, Chechnya, Colombia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Western Sahara. [Geneva Call]

When this report arrived, CALM convenor John Head wrote a letter of congratulation on its great achievement to the head of Geneva Call, expressing appreciation of its dedicated efforts. Negotiating with Non-State Actors (NSAs) is diplomatically very difficult, since governments are reluctant to become involved. Hence the importance of NGOs, such as Geneva Call, which are able to gain the confidence of NSAs and convince them of the need to embrace the principles of the Mine Ban treaty.

Nepal mine deaths. A land mine blew up a bus carrying soldiers, police and civilians in Nepal in December, killing at least five passengers and wounding 30, police said. They blamed Maoist rebels for the attack on a highway near Karkare village in Sindhuli district, 125 miles southeast of the capital, Katmandu. [AP]

Landmines in Africa

"We call on the governments of Egypt, Libya, and Morocco to join the rest of the region in embracing the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty," said Mary Wareham, co-ordinator of the ICBL's Landmine Monitor research initiative, at the opening of an Africa-wide meeting on landmines in Addis Ababa last month. "We urge Africa's leaders to follow through on their commitment to ban this insidious device, which represents a daily weapon of terror for many citizens of this region."

All 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa have now joined the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, with the sole exception of Somalia where various political factions and the Transitional National Government last month signed a commitment to ban antipersonnel mine use in areas under their control. [see page 8]

In north Africa, Algeria and Tunisia are States Parties. Egypt, a staunch opponent of the landmine ban, remains the only country on the entire continent of Africa that has not formally renounced landmine production. According to Landmine Monitor over half of the countries of Africa are mine-affected. [ICBL]

European Union landmine strategy

The EU Mine Action Strategy 2002-2004, adopted by the Commission in December, said €105 million would be provided through country and regional strategy papers, the EU's humanitarian aid office ECHO and the Rapid Response Mechanism. The support will be used to produce landmine surveys, help clearance and offer assistance to victims, including the economic and social rehabilitation of the de-mined regions and the resettled populations. The strategy says the EU will promote a dialogue on overall Mine Action leading to stockpile destruction. [European Report]

This newsletter edited by David Zwartz, despatched by Helen Presland and Helen & David Zwartz

CALM operates a news group for people who want to receive, by email, this newsletter and other important information about the campaign to ban landmines. To join this newsgroup please send a blank email to <CALMnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com>.

The "Join CALM" membership form is also now online. This can be accessed from the "Join CALM" link on the main website page and also from the "Contact Calm" page on the Youth site. This form automatically sends an email directly to CALM with all details.

Youth Against War Treaty

WE WANT NO MORE WAR

WE WANT NO MORE LANDMINES

WE WANT NO MORE MINE VICTIMS

WE PROMISE TO WORK FOR PEACE IN OUR WORLD

Return completed petitions to: Helen Presland, CALM NZ, 12b 120 The Terrace, Wellington, by August 2003.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS TREATY, THE WORK OF NZ CALM (Campaign Against Land Mines) AND THE WORK OF THE ICBL SEE http://www.icbl.org/newzealand and http://www.icbl.org