Message
from Jody Williams, Convenor of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines
(ICBL)
Before thinking about the future, we should not neglect to feel
very proud of what the campaign has accomplished. Who would have thought
that in five short years since its formal launching at the end of
1992, we would have achieved a global ban treaty and been awarded
the Nobel Peace Prize. But we did! Of course, the real prize of the
campaign is the ban treaty and it sets the stage for the next phase
of our work. And in thinking about future structures to strengthen
the ICBL, we need to think about the work that needs to be carried
out.
Reflections
of John Head, Convenor of the New Zealand Campaign Against Landmines
(CALM)
In 1992 few people in the world (apart from those directly affected)
were aware of the human suffering and economic hardship caused by
landmines. The armies of the world considered them to be a legitimate,
effective and necessary form of defence, but thanks to the pioneering
work of the Campaign in conjunction with organisations such as the
Red Cross all this has changed and the remarkable nature of this change
was so apparent at the signing of the Ottawa Treaty earlier this month.
Neil Mander from Auckland, and I were in Ottawa to be part of the
celebration and Neil's report follows, but for me this momentous occasion
was a victory for the people of the world. Civil society has played
a major role in influencing Government decisions and it is the leadership
of the small countries of the world that has changed world opinion
so dramatically. The success of the Treaty can be measured in the
lives it saves, the stocks of landmines destroyed and the renewed
efforts to care for landmine victims. There were few countries not
represented at Ottawa and all representatives, whether they signed
the Treaty or not, must have returned to their homeland much more
aware of the need to clear the world of these weapons of misery. Two
years ago the Secretary General of the United Nations called a Conference
to clear landmines. He appealed for US$70,000,000. Countries at the
Conference offered US$14,000,000. It is very heartening to note that
at the end of this Ottawa Conference Foreign Minister Axworthy announced
that Governments had made a fresh committment to contribute US$500,
000,000 towards clearing the world of landmines. The awareness and
concerns of Governments and civil society has certainly changed.
OTTAWA
December 1997
Report by Neil Mander
After an incredible year the Ottawa Process resulted in 122 countries
signing the Landmine Ban Treaty early this month in Ottawa. John Head
and I represented CALM at the signing ceremony, the concurrent Mine
Action Forum and then the NGO Forum which followed.
Opening Plenary and Signing Ceremony The setting for this very historic
event was the Government Conference Centre in the centre of Ottawa.
The main chamber which had been decorated with the flags of the countries
participating and with massive wall hangings, was most impressive
in its appearance. Television cameras and concurrent simultaneous
translation into six languages all helped to convey the importance
of the major event taking place.
Speakers at the Opening Plenary included Hon Lloyd Axworthy, Minister
of Foreign Affairs, Canada, Mr Bernard Miyet, Under-Secretary General,
Dept of Peacekeeping Operations, United Nations, Hon Patrick Leahy,
USA. and Mr Steve Goose, International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
The following day, at the start of the two days of the signing of
the Treaty, speakers included Secretary General of the United Nations
Kofi Annan and Jody Williams of ICBL who was accorded a standing ovation.
Canada was the first to sign the Treaty and also to announce that
they had also ratified it.
Later on the Honourable Deborah Morris, Minister of Youth Affairs
and Assistant Minister for Women's Affairs, spoke and then signed
for New Zealand, with John Head being included in the official party.
Deborah Morris paid tribute to the work of NGOs around the world in
achieving the Treaty. She referred to the demining work being carried
out by New Zealand Defence Force personnel and to the research work
being carried out at Auckland University. She looked forward to New
Zealand being able to ratify the Treaty as soon as possible. We were
pleased at the positive response to the selection of Deborah to sign
for New Zealand.
John and I were honoured to be able to meet Deborah informally before
the Treaty signing and discuss with her the background and work of
CALM. We were also pleased and impressed with the cooperation and
assistance from New Zealand's High Commissioner in Canada, Jim Gerard
and his staff, and also the Conference Liaison Officer.
At the conclusion of the Signing Ceremony a number of countries
present as observers made statements indicating that they supported
the intentions of the Treaty but were unable to sign at present for
a variety of reasons, mostly to do with their perceived need for border
protection. These included Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Ukraine, Russia,
Finland, Cuba, China, Ukraine, Belarus and the USA. The USA delegate
also spoke of the huge effort that the USA is putting into mine clearance
and victim support and their intention to greatly increase expenditure
in this.
In his closing remarks Lloyd Axworthy mentioned that NGOs must be
part of the ongoing process, and that we must all work to get the
non-signatory countries on board. He challenged the private and corporate
sectors to also be involved. There is to be a conference in March
1998 to deal with the task of how to make it all work.
Mine Action
Forum
This took the form of Round Table Seminar sessions attended by Government
and NGO representatives, which were held on a wide variety of topics.
Because these were being held in two or three parallel streams we
were limited in what we could attend. Some of the topics covered are
mentioned below, together with some brief comments on a few of the
points made. A full report of the Forum was distributed and John and
I have copies of that.
In "The Ban Treaty: Early Ratification, Entry into Force, Universalisation,
Cooperative Compliance", emphasis was placed on the need for early
entry into force of the Treaty (which will follow once the first 40
countries have ratified) and rapid universalisation. There is a need
for a strong diplomatic push to maintain the momentum that has been
developed. Entry into force of the Treaty will place requirements
on countries for survey and reporting of minefields and stocks, for
clearance of minefields and destruction of stocks and for reporting
to the Secretary General of the United Nations.
Under the heading of "Mine Clearance: Perspectives and Challenges,
Appropriate Technology", it was noted that a first and vital step
in afflicted countries is to establish Mine Action Centres whose task
is to plan, survey and supervise mine clearance work. Free-lance,
uncontrolled clearance work is of dubious value and will not have
vital quality control and assurance. It was mentioned that practices
in the field were often not what was thought or taught. The prone
position so often depicted was reserved for the benefit of photographers!
In practice, deminers squatted or crouched to enable them to use their
hands and arms! Simple, effective, robust and reliable equipment is
needed. Complex, fragile machinery which needs a team of PhDs to operate
and maintain it is of little use in the field. There were scathing
references to "60 tonne paperweights" and "playing in sand-pits" to
emphasise that the real world was vastly different from the idealised
laboratory conditions that some equipment seemed to be developed for.
Transfer of victim assistance skills to local people was seen as
a high priority. Many victims are poor, living in remote rural areas,
with little access to medical or technical facilities. There is a
huge need for new work possibilities for those who can no longer work
as farmers.
Mine Awareness teaching has resulted in impressive reduction of
mine casualties for relatively modest expenditure.
Almost all of the discussions and Treaty arrangements assumed the
participation of legitimate Governments. Rebel and guerrilla groups,
given the label Non State Actors, are now often responsible for much
of the landmine laying activity. Because of hard-line stances taken
by them and their governments it is usually difficult to persuade
both parties to refrain from landmine use. There are possibilities
for them to be persuaded that it is in their own best interests to
refrain from landmine use, noting that such groups sometimes become
the government in due course, and will then have the problem of demining
and dealing with victims.
The news media were credited with massive assistance to the world-wide
campaign, including giving attention to the work of Princess Diana.
There is now a risk of "compassion fatigue" setting in, after a year
or so of concentrated effort. In further publicity, the media will
usually be looking for a human interest angle. NGOs can help by finding
new angles. An example was the Angolan landmine factory which now
manufactures batteries, a real swords to ploughshares step.
Ottawa Process
Review
A day was spent reviewing the Ottawa Process, examining the things
that made it work, and asking how a similar process might be used
again, and on what subject. Points noted included that there was a
Pied Piper role, in this case shared by the Canadian Government and
Jody Williams. Speed was vital, in contrast to the slow-moving UN
Conference on Disarmament. There were no other major political distractions.
The issue was essentially humanitarian. NGOs and Governments collaborated
well with each other. The underlying belief was that individual people
can make a difference. A paper suggested that military weapons in
the hands of civilians should be the next objective, noting that there
are many of the same humanitarian justifications as in the landmine
situation.
NGO Forum
The NGO Forum which followed the end of the diplomatic conference
focussed on the role of NGOs in making the Treaty effective.
Funding has always been a major problem. Demining work in Afghanistan
started in 1990, but work could only ever be scheduled for a month
ahead, as there was not ever assured funding for more than 4 months'
work at best.
We should try to convince our Governments to consider security in
terms of social and humanitarian terms rather than in military terms.
Traditionally military spending has always been far greater than other
spending such as education and health. Discussion ranged around how
to persuade Governments to divert spending from military budgets to
humanitarian landmine clearance and victim support. It was noted that
clearance of affected areas is not sufficient on its own. Often, cleared
areas are taken over by rogue soldier groups and more mines are sown.
A Tobin Tax was suggested as a new way of raising money for landmine
work. This is a tax on foreign currency exchange transactions which
usually occur quite independently of transfer of goods or services.
It was suggested that Governments could find these attractive as they
would have a stabilising effect on their economies.
Some doubts were cast on the usually quoted statistics, such as
the cost of demining which can vary widely depending on the nature
of the terrain. It is important to consider, rather than the number
of mines cleared, the area of land that is restored to useful production.
The merits and demerits of compelling the military to deal with the
demining task were aired.
It should be noted that many mine-affected countries also have other
major problems such as in the health area.
The question of Non State Actors received further attention, with
two papers seeming to favour a Courts-based approach to the problem,
perhaps reflecting the legal background of the presenters. Alienation
from their Governments has resulted in the situation the rebels are
in, and the mine issue cannot be readily isolated from the whole situation.
Outlaws have not been renowned for respecting the established legal
systems! A more cautious and softer approach may well lead to better
negotiated results.
Another contributor suggested that the problem is often economic,
with resultant pressure to manufacture armaments including landmines
and the recruitment of child soldiers as part of the process. In Angola
there has been 25 years of civil war with the resultant destruction
of the infrastructure of the community. There is no structure that
can be addressed or contacted. There is now a generation of soldiers
who know no other way of life and now form bandit gangs. Child soldiers
have become expert in all military equipment and all ex-military would
have kept back landmines as well as other gear when they were disarmed.
It was suggested that communities must work out their own answers,
but that NGOs can help them to get it together.
A feature of landmines is that the technology is simple, they can
be made as a backyard operation. The high-tech surveillance that can
be brought to bear on nuclear or chemical weapons just does not apply.
NGOs have a task here to monitor and report.
A further task will be to track landmine stocks as they are destroyed,
and make sure there is no "leakage" or diversion in the process. International
observers and also NGO observers could be used to help ensure the
credibility of the process, noting that the spirit of the Treaty places
the onus on individual states so that they are guided by their own
consciences. Assistance could be sought from groups such as trade
unions, particularly in tracking exports of mines or components. It
was noted that Canada and South Africa have already voluntarily destroyed
their stocks. Cambodia will follow within one year and Australia has
promised that it will destroy its stock.
Regional groups took a closer look at aspects that were particularly
relevant to them, and in particular the countries in their regions
that have yet to sign the Treaty. In South East Asia these include
Singapore, Laos, Vietnam, China and Korea. In the Pacific there are
Tonga, Palau, Tuvalu, Nauru and Papua New Guinea. CALM is to follow
up this latter group. Assistance could be given to the Campaigns in
those countries, but it would be wise to tread gently and tactfully
especially when dealing with SE Asian Governments. Concern was expressed
that Taiwan is virtually barred from participating in the Treaty as
it is not a member of the United Nations. It still wishes to contribute
to demining and victim support.
It was noted that University students and staff love a challenge,
and could usefully be fed some of the problems to work on. Production
of a 'black list' of companies making landmines or their components
was suggested.
Ongoing funding of the ICBL is not necessarily solved by the award
of the Nobel Peace Prize. At present the money is being held in a
special account by the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation who
have spent millions of dollars on the campaign - a figure of $4.5M
was mentioned. The Nobel money cannot be used until after the restructuring
of the ICBL is completed. In the meantime NGOs should press to be
represented on bodies allocating funds to demining, mine awareness
or victim assistance work. They should press towards the wider aim
of implementation of the Treaty. Concern was expressed that funds
might be lost in administration rather than actual mine work. The
US grant is to be administered by the State Department through its
Embassies.
Interfaith
Service
An Interfaith Service was held in the Notre Dame Cathedral of Ottawa.
A very moving service included contributions from many groups and
faiths, focussed on the scourge of landmines and need to create peace
and healing. Messages of greeting were received from Pope John Paul
II and from Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Canadian
Demining Technology Showcase
I visited the Canadian Demining Technology Showcase to see the wide
range of mine location and clearance equipment on display. This ranged
from bullet/bomb-proof coveralls through intelligent probes which
would identify whether an obstruction was a rock, ie safe. There was
a variety of mine-destruction explosive charges, a ground-penetrating
radar (which seemed to need a considerable amount of training to be
able to interpret the images on screen), metal detectors which were
capable of locating small pieces of metal (a needle in a haystack
would be no problem!) and tracked or wheeled vehicles which acted
like huge rotary hoes to detonate or mince any buried mines or unexploded
ordnance.
I also was able to meet and chat with people involved with the development
of landmine location equipment. There was interest in the research
work being done in the University of Auckland and several leads will
be followed up.
Summary
Our warmest congratulations go to the Canadian Government for taking
the initiative with the whole of the Ottawa Process which culminated
in the signing of this global landmine ban treaty. The signing ceremony
and its associated events all flowed without hitch and the preparatory
work had obviously been well done by both Government and NGO people.
It was impressive to note that in this event of global significance
there was no discrimination between Government and NGO delegates.
All mingled and contributed without hindrance.
I felt privileged to participate in the events in Ottawa and to
represent CALM. One could not help but be impressed by the warmth
with which we were greeted in honour of New Zealand's contribution
to the whole campaign.
For me, it was a completely new experience to walk to work through
falling snow and to find the ground covered in snow, something previously
seen only on picture postcards. The custom of decorating trees with
fairy lights gave a magical touch to the night-time sceney.
John and I look forward to New Zealand being able to ratify the
Treaty in the near future and to its increased financial contributions
to help rid the world of the scourge of landmines and in providing
assistance to victims and communities affected by them. Specifically,
we may be able to offer assistance to countries in the destruction
of their stockpiles, and to encourage those who have yet to sign the
Treaty. As an NGO we will continue to have a role in all of this work.
NADI CONFERENCE
REPORT
A Round table Conference was held at Nadi, Fiji, on the 20 and 21st
November to encourage greater involvement by Pacific countries and
was attended by 22 NGO and Government representatives from Australia,
Fiji, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, Nauru, Vanuatu, Tonga, New Zealand, Samoa,
Niue, Papua New Guinea and Canada. We discussed the international
humanitarian and environmental disaster caused by anti-personnel mines
and all agreed that their Governments should support the Ottawa Process,
and sign and ratify the Treaty as soon as possible. Of those countries
attending, only Tonga, Tuvalu and Nauru have yet to sign the Treaty.
The Conference was largely financed by the Australian Government supplemented
by grants from the Canadian High Commissions in Wellington and Canberra.
Keynote speaker was H.E. Mrs Valerie Raymond, Canadian High Commissioner
to New Zealand and the South Pacific.
The Conference was organised by the Rev Paul Tekei of the Pacific
Council of Churches, Suva; Sister Patricia Pak Poy of the Australian
Campaign and John Head of the New Zealand campaign. Dr Andrew Ladley
from NZ and Dr William Malley from Canberra played a major role as
resource people.
CONCLUSION
The following prayer composed by Sister Denise Coghlan was used
at the Interfaith services at Oslo and Ottawa and at the Nadi Conference.
Reader: Today we pray especially for a world of peace, a
world free to celebrate and dance, a world free from mines. We pray
for families who have members killed by landmines.
All: Comfort them
Reader: We pray for the children, women and men struggling
to build a new life.
All: Give them courage.
Leader: We pray for a change of heart for the producers of
landmines.
All: May they use their engineering and business skills for
development, not war.
Reader: We pray for deminers.
All: Grant them safety and perseverance in their holy work.
Leader: We pray for countries severely afflicted by landmines.
All: May their lands be abundant with rice and corn and food,
not desecrated by landmines.
Reader: We pray for heads of governments.
All: May they ban landmines in Ottawa this December, and
give funds for demining and for victim assistance.
Reader: Dear God, thank you for your loving kindness. Forgive
our faults; and help us to do good, not evil.
1997 has been a year of achievement for the landmine campaign. We
must acknowledge the impact the life and death of Princess Diana has
given to the international awareness of this humanitarian crisis,
but she was not a lone voice speaking out. Canada's Foreign Minister
Lloyd Axworthy's initiative when he called nations to Ottawa to sign
a Treaty banning landmines, forced all Governments to consider these
issues. Here in New Zealand with our Government fully supporting the
Ottawa Process, our campaign has been able to focus on involving Pacific
Nations in the Ottawa process as well as working on national issues.
I have been working with the campaign since its inception and I
believe this may be a very good time to hand over leadership to another
member of our Committee. We will be holding a Committee meeting late
next month to consider future activities of CALM. I must thank Committee
members for their energetic support of our campaign and I thank so
many of our supporters not only for your donations which have enabled
us to survive, but also for some very supportive letters. I have even
had a personal letter from Princess Diana shortly before her death.
It has been a privilege to be the Convenor of CALM.
We wish you all a very happy Christmas and may 1998 fulfil its promise
for everyone.
John Head
Convenor of CALM
19th December 1997
