Global Policy Forum

By Jessica Hartl*

More work is needed to eradicate landmines and assist affected individuals and communities to meet the goals of the International Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty (Ottawa Convention), conceded speakers at an April 3 UNA-USA Council of Organizations event to observe International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action. Capitalizing on the 10th anniversary of the treaty going into force, speakers took the opportunity to critically assess progress toward its objectives.

"Since the Ottawa Convention went into force in 1997, the implementation challenge has been huge," said Lydia Good, mine action program specialist with UNDP. The UN alone has 14 agencies that comprise the UN mine action team (UNMAT), in addition to the myriad NGOs, governments, donors and commercial partners that the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) helps identify. The financial resources required are also considerable-it can cost as little as $3 to create a landmine and up to $1,000 to remove it.

Many of the 156 states that are party to the Mine Ban Treaty have begun to meet their treaty obligations by destroying weapons stockpiles, for example. But by 2009, at least 24 nations are expected to request an extension in order to complete their obligations by each of their deadlines. In response, the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) has set up a new treaty-monitoring website to help countries track the objectives they are meeting.

Zach Hudson, director of UNA-USA's Humanitarian Campaigns, identified several reasons for the treaty's success thus far. For one, the number of casualties has gone down from 25,000 a year in the 1990s to 5,600 to 12,000 in 2006. In addition, many countries that have not ratified the treaty still comply with all its provisions. But the speakers agreed the ultimate goal to "put UNMAT out of business" through eradication of landmines has not yet been achieved. As Gabriele Russo, policy coordination officer of UNMAS pointed out, UNMAT still works in 43 countries.

Afghanistan has the world's largest mine action program-the UN has been working on mine action in the country since the late 1980s, and currently employs 7,500 Afghans. A major sign of progress is that Afghanistan is poised to take full control of the program from the UN in a couple of years.

Moving forward, the international community needs to focus on those areas where civilians are most at risk, as 90 percent of landmine casualties are civilians. Not only are landmines posing an immediate threat to life, but the fear of mines also restricts access to arable land, water, education and other resources. This negative impact of landmines exacerbates existing poverty and is increasingly recognized as a critical issue in addressing mine action from a holistic, community-based approach. After 10 years in the field, UNMAT is discovering that donors will no longer fund mine action by itself-they want to see the UN agencies taking into consideration the effects mines have on a country's development, environment, health and in other areas. In response, Lou Luff of UNOPS said his office was taking on the coordination role to implement this holistic, community-based approach.

The latest initiative by the global community is a treaty to ban the use of cluster munitions. This issue came to the forefront after the 2006 war in Lebanon, in which millions of cluster sub-munitions were used. As a result, a strong coalition of countries will meet in May to begin delineating what exactly will be banned. This is expected to be the most contentious part of the negotiations. Yet negotiators have set their sights on opening the treaty for ratification by the end of 2008. The US, unfortunately, is not supporting this effort, but legislation restricting the use, production and transfer of cluster bombs by the US has been introduced in both the House and the Senate.

With the key roles NGOs have played in pushing for the creation and ratification of the Mine Ban Treaty, and subsequent on-the-ground assistance, NGOs are a vital component of mine action. The speakers called on NGOs to continue their advocacy and assistance both in the US and abroad, as well to urge passage in Congress of the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act (S. 594 and H.R. 1755) on which Adopt-A-Minefield and the US Campaign to Ban Landmines is working.

To learn more about UNA-USA's Adopt-A-Minefield program and its work as chair of the US Campaign to Ban Landmines, visit www.landmines.org.

About the Author: Jessica Hartl is coordinator of UNA-USA's Council of Organizations.