Campaigners around the globe aretaking action this week to once again draw the world?s attention to thehorrific consequences of landmines and to call for renewed efforts toward amine-free world. The campaign is led by the Internationalcampaign to ban land mines, a network of more than 1400 non-governmentalorganizations in 90 countries working for a global ban on landmines.
Today (March 1, 2009) the world marks ten years since the treaty banning antipersonnel mines became bindinginternational law.
TamarGabelnick, the Treaty Implementation Director at the International campaign toban land mines, told VOA?s Douglas Mpuga that the main aim of the treaty was toactually ban antipersonnel landmines. ?It?s a complete ban on the use,production, stockpiling and transfer of anti-personnel landmines. Also, toprovide for the clearance of the landmines, and to provide assistance tolandmine victims, she added?.
Speaking from the French capital, Paris, Gabelnick noted that the first purpose of mine ban treaty was to banthe weapons, and that has been a uniform success. ?There are 156 states thatare party to the convention to ban land mines ? that means 156 states that willnever again produce, use or transfer landmines?.
She said the other successeshave been the clearance of the land, a process she described as a tool throughwhich mine clearance is happening in dozens of countries around the world.
?International cooperationand assistance is also a requirement of the treaty which means countries thatare not manufacturers but have more resources are required to give to otherstates, provide victim assistance, and destroy stockpiles.?
Gabelnick said that althoughin the past ten years over 40 million landmines have been destroyed, a minefree world means ?the full universalization and implementation of theconvention?. ?It?s not possible to find each and every mine because, of course,they are hidden in the ground, but a mine free world means trying as much aspossible to get rid of all the mines - and that is possible?.
She notedthat there are only 39 countries outside the treaty and only two countries aresaid to be actually using landmines. ?So much has been achieved but there isstill a lot of work to be done and later this year there will be a conferenceto review what progress has been made and what remains to be done.