New Zealand Campaign Against Landmines (CALM)
Newsletter October 1996
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| There are further interesting aspects of the Ottawa
Conference that can't be included in a newsletter or put on our
World Wide Web page. CALM has arranged a public meeting to present
a fuller report, and give supporters an opportunity to ask questions
or comment. VENUE: Shell Theatrette, 96 The Terrace, Wellington DATE: Tuesday 26 November 1996 TIME: 5.30pm
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The New Zealand Contribution
New Zealand delegates to the Ottawa Conference were: Caroline Forsyth (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, International Security and Arms Control Division, Wellington) as Head of Delegation; and myself. I was one of nine NGO representatives accredited to their country's official delegations. We were able to participate in all sessions, even the closed ones.
Thousands of New Zealand signatures were among the 2,600,000 who petitioned for a ban on landmines. The art work of Thongsak Keokotarany (Mangere Intermediate) and Nick Harwood (Karamu High School) was on display, selected from the many contributions by students from around the world. Their posters highlighted the suffering caused by one of the most insidious weapons of all time.
At the conference's introductory session, Caroline Forsyth spoke of the work of our demining teams, questioned the military utility of landmines, and reported that New Zealand had now increased its contribution to the UN "Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Clearance." This is in addition to the funding it gave to other mine clearing projects in places such as Cambodia.
The New Zealand government was one of the first offering to co-sponsor a resolution being presented at the current session of the UN General Assembly, calling for an international agreement to ban anti-personnel landmines.
Research into Mine Clearance
The day before the conference opened delegates were invited to "One step at a time," an exhibition of humanitarian demining at the Canadian War Museum.
We saw a Canadian-trained German Shepherd dog sniff out explosives in a mock minefield, and then watched three Canadian soldiers take 20 minutes to methodically search an area 1 metre x 2 metres for mines. It was a great demonstration, by well-trained soldiers, but I wondered how long it will take us to clear the estimated 110,000,000 landmines now creating havoc and misery in 71 countries.
Before the conference I was advised not to push for further research into mine clearance, because the more funding those projects get, the less will be available for mine clearance, mine awareness programmes, and victim support. The prodding method used in the demonstration is at present the only effective way of clearing mines with the required 99.6% degree of certainty.
At one of the NGO information sessions, David Gowdey (author of "The hidden killers") reviewed mine clearing procedures around the world. I asked about research into mine clearance. David stated that new methods had been found to locate mines, but unfortunately, small US companies did not have the funds to develop programmes, and major companies do not work in this area because, David said, there is such limited demand for the equipment that it would not be profitable for them. "It is all a matter of dollars." The US Pentagon has put considerable resources into mine clearance but their discoveries are not available to humanitarian deminers.
Quoting the underfunded researches of Lawrence Carter at Auckland University, and Australian work at the Fred Hollows Foundation and the Defence Scientific and Technology Organisation, I called for more funding and better co-ordination of research activities. If landmines can be quickly located and destroyed, their military significance will disappear and the production of landmines will cease.
On the conference's final day, Mr Hans Kligenburg of the Danish Foreign Ministry reviewed the July 1996 Copenhagen Conference. New Zealand was not one of the 48 countries attending. Part of the conference reviewed new researches into mine detection. It was noted that five European countries (Denmark, Norway, Germany, Netherlands and Sweden) were helping fund this research. The Danish report showed that there is a lot of research going on around the world, and the prospects for more efficient and speedier mine detection are promising.
The Military Utility of Landmines
At one of the conference open sessions the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mr Cornelia Sommaruga, spoke about an ICRC report which questioned the value of landmines in war. It also detailed the dangers they present to soldiers laying them.
In the Korean War, two Canadian servicemen were killed by landmines laid by Canadians, and the ICRC reported that fifty Australian soldiers were wounded when they walked into a Canadian minefield. Fifteen prominent retired US generals (including the former commanders of NATO, and the Korean, Vietnam and Gulf wars) have called for a ban. We were challenged to add retired generals from our own country to the list.
At one of the NGO seminars, Nola Skinner of King's College, Cambridge, UK reported on research her team is doing in Eritrea, Falkland Islands, Iraq, India, Pakistan, Finland and South Korea to ascertain whether the tactical value of landmines was greater than their disadvantages. Nola has promised to keep CALM informed of their findings.
Can NGOs Influence Governments?
The world-wide call to ban landmines was inspired initially by the ICRC and other NGOs. The importance of NGOs in the campaign, and their influence on politicians and government policies, was very evident at the conference. Don Herbert of Dalhousie University (Canada) spoke at an NGO forum about the influence of NGOs. I was able to table a CALM report on the effectiveness of NGOs in New Zealand. This is available on CALM's Internet web site: http://www.protel.co.nz/calm
Medical Issues
Cornelia Sommaruga of the ICRC spoke of the feelings of Red Cross nurses and doctors who have to look into the eyes of children whose limbs have been turned into a gory mess of flesh and bone splinters by landmines. He called for urgent action to stigmatise and ban them. "The landmine crisis cannot wait for a consensus decision by United Nations committees. Every fifteen minutes someone in the world is being killed or mutilated by a landmine and by the year 2007, the year when new UN controls come into force, there will be a further 200,000 victims."
Later that day at the NGO/academic panel, Peter Herby of ICRC reminded us of the success of the recent World Court decision on nuclear war. He said that the ICRC was preparing a case to go before the World Court calling for the banning of landmines, on the grounds that:
their use is aimed at the civilian population;
they cause unnecessary suffering; and
their use is against humanitarian law.
Of soldiers wounded in battle, about 25% die of their wounds; 60% fully recover; and only 15% are left with a permanent disability.
But for those wounded by landmines, 30% die of wounds; 60% are left with a permanent disability; and only 10% recover fully.
Peter Herby called for the medical community throughout the world to support actively the call for a landmine ban.
Production and Export of Landmines
Steve Goose of the Human Rights Watch Arms Project reported on thorough investigations into landmine producers in the USA. He found that no company produced landmines, but eight companies produced landmine components. UNICEF and other NGOs await his report and are considering trade embargoes on those firms. Radiola has ceased production on humanitarian grounds.
He told me that although landmines continue to be produced in large quantities in a number of countries, his research showed that few if any countries were now exporting them.
Production has been banned in Italy but it is rumoured that one company involved (Valsella Meccanotecnica of Brescia) has transferred its technology and staff to Singapore to continue production there.
Countries which have banned landmines and are destroying all their stocks (except those needed for training deminers) include Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Norway, Italy, Philippines, Switzerland and Austria.
Funding
The United Nations estimates that it would cost between US$33 billion and US$100 billion to remove all landmines. (UN reports suggest that 1-2 million more mines are still being laid each year.)
In 1994 the UN Secretary-General called a conference of concerned countries to raise funds for demining. He expected pledges of US$70 million, achieved pledges of $20 million, but received only $14 million in the following year. Since 1994 a further $14 million has been received.
Landmines are being cleared under UN auspices in 14 countries but it was disappointing to hear that some mine-clearing projects in Nicaragua, Angola and Cambodia have run out of funds and stopped operating.
There are an estimated 110,000,000 landmines to be cleared, world-wide. Although about 100,000 a year are being cleared, UN reports suggest that a further 1 to 2 million are still being laid each year.
The US Pentagon is funding extensive research into mine clearance methods but the results are not available for humanitarian deminers. Other counties funding research are Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany.
Rehabilitation of landmine survivors is grossly underfunded. Gerry White, a landmine survivor, told the conference how little is being done for their welfare.
Conference decisions
- The call went out from Hon Lloyd Axworthy, Canada's Minister of
Foreign Affairs, on behalf of those present, for all nations to support
a ban for the production, transfer, storage and use of landmines by
the year 2000.
- Countries were invited to meet again in Belgium in June 1997, to
draw up a treaty, and then meet again in Ottawa in December 1997 to
sign it.
- We were asked to develop political and NGO contacts at a regional
level, to encourage all countries in the world to sign the treaty.
There is awareness that in spite of great world-wide momentum calling
for a ban, at this stage we would expect a small number of countries
not prepared to support it. [Cuba, Libya, Vietnam and China were not
prepared to support the ban proposed by the Inter-Parliamentary Union
at its last meeting in Beijing, September 1996.]
- Countries were encouraged to co-sponsor the resolution being presented
to the present session of the UN General Assembly this month, calling
for an international agreement to ban anti-personnel landmines. [The
New Zealand government was one of the first to offer to co-sponsor
the resolution.]
- There was agreement that extra finance and research was needed
for landmine clearance, mine awareness programmes, and victim assistance.
Some Noteworthy Quotes
Cornelia Sommaruga (ICRC): "The land that used to feed them will now only maim and kill them."
Ambassador Molander (Sweden): "Violations of the Protocols should be treated as war crimes."
Stephen Lewis (UNICEF): "We must reverse this tide of insanity."
Linda Trapp (World Vision): "Anti-people mines is one of the legacies we are passing on to the children of the world."
Chris Moon (Landmine Survivors): "I stepped on a mine - where did my leg go?"
Stephen Lewis (UNICEF): "187 countries have ratified the Rights of the Child Convention, but landmines have taken away their rights under Articles 1 and 6."
Senator Leahy (USA): "Landmines are one of the most insidious weapons of all time."
Cornelia Sommaruga (ICRC): "The world cannot wait for consensus decisions."
Bob Lawson (Canadian government): "The ripples caused by our early campaigns have grown into waves which are going to sweep away all obstructions to banning landmines."
Jody Williams (International Campaign to Ban Landmines): "Lloyd Axworthy's challenge to sign an international treaty in December 1997 shows courage, vision, and true global leadership."
The Way Forward
In New Zealand we should be:
- Calling on our government to increase its funding for UN demining,
and the rehabilitation of survivors;
- Urging our government to work on establishing a landmine-free zone
in the South Pacific - MP Joy McLachlan's letter to all South Pacific
Forum leaders is a very welcome first step;
- Supporting the fund-raising activities of humanitarian organisations
such as Red Cross, Oxfam, World Vision and the Cambodia Trust;
- Supporting the activities of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
John V. Head
Convenor, CALM
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.
