The
International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), formally launched in 1992 by six
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), is a broad-based coalition of over 1,400
organizations in 90 countries worldwide. Since its inception, the ICBL has
remained focused on its call for a ban on the use, production, transfer, and
stockpiling of antipersonnel mines, and for increased resources for mine
clearance and victim assistance. A committee of thirteen member organizations
and a staff of seven, based in three continents, coordinated the ICBL in 2001
and 2002.[1]
In 2001 and the first half of 2002, the ICBL engaged in an exhausting number
of activities aimed at achieving full universalization and effective
implementation of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, and adherence by all to the
rapidly-emerging international norm against the antipersonnel
mine.[2] It updated its 2004
Action Plan, adopted at the Third General Meeting of ICBL members in March 2001,
which recommits the campaign to accomplish its goals within the 2004 timeframe
by setting out detailed plans and priorities to do so.
The ICBL actively participated in numerous major events, including the Third
Meeting of States Parties, where it released Landmine Monitor Report
2001, intersessional meetings, and six regional and one global ICBL and
Landmine Monitor meetings. In addition, the ICBL participated in several other
regional and thematic meetings, undertook several advocacy missions, sent many
letters to decision-makers, issued numerous Action Alerts to the network and
published a report on ICBL Activities at the Third Meeting of States Parties and
another report on Ban Landmines Week, as well as quarterly Landmine Updates. In
2001 and the first half of 2002, more information dissemination than ever was
done through the ICBL’s sophisticated system of electronic mail groups and
its comprehensive website: www.icbl.org.
THIRD MEETING OF STATES PARTIES
The ICBL took full advantage of opportunities
presented by the Third Meeting of States Parties (3MSP) held in Managua,
Nicaragua from 18-21 September 2001, as the most important landmine event of the
year. Despite the tragic events of 11 September, and ensuing travel
difficulties, 97 ICBL campaigners, researchers, deminers and survivors from 42
countries attended in the meeting in which 95 governments
participated.[3]
In the months leading up to the meeting, the ICBL issued numerous
ratification alerts and, with Chile’s ratification on 10 September,
reached its target of 120 ratifications by the time the meeting opened. During
the weekend before the meeting, ICBL campaigners held preparation and
orientation meetings, engaged in a series of trainings on lobbying, using the
media and e-campaigning, and witnessed the destruction of 20,000 mines by
Nicaragua on 17 September.
Throughout the week of the 3MSP, ICBL members held bilateral meetings with
numerous governments, updated each other in daily campaign briefings and met to
strategize in thematic and regional Working Groups, in addition to conducting
several briefings for delegates and media. The ICBL spoke on numerous occasions
throughout the 3MSP itself, including during the opening plenary. The
ICBL’s Head of Delegation, Steve Goose of Human Rights Watch, delivered a
statement on behalf of the campaign during the general exchange of views and
throughout the week representatives of the ICBL Working Groups made numerous
interventions.
The ICBL held a media briefing on the opening day and participated in a
closing media briefing with the Foreign Minister of Nicaragua, Francisco Aguirre
Sacasa, who was also 3MSP President. The ICBL prepared and distributed news
releases and media kits, as well as participant kits for delegates. Outside of
Managua, ICBL members and the general public were regularly updated in the
lead-up to the meeting and during the week through regular email updates and a
special web page: www.icbl.org/3msp.
Several ICBL publications were distributed at the meeting, in addition to
Landmine Monitor Report 2001. The ICBL also facilitated a photograph
exhibit by Italian photographer Giovanni Diffidenti, sponsored by UNICEF, and
entitled, “Legacy of the Perfect Soldier.” The exhibition was
located next to the conference center in Managua’s main shopping mall and
also made available online.
INTERSESSIONAL WORK PROGRAM
The ICBL continued its key role in the
intersessional work program established in May 1999 at the First Meeting of
States Parties to carry the work of the Mine Ban Treaty forward between the
annual Meetings of State Parties. The regular intersessional Standing
Committees (SC) meetings are uniquely organized in an informal and practical
Geneva-based setting to further encourage continuity, transparency,
inclusiveness and a cooperative spirit; all key elements in the success of
global mine ban movement. The ICBL Intersessional Program Officer’s near
constant presence in Geneva contributed greatly to the ICBL’s impact in,
and the overall success of, the intersessional work program.
The 2002 intersessional Standing Committee meetings endeavored to take an
integrated global approach and adopt a longer-term vision, with an enhanced
focus on the assistance and cooperation matters related to core humanitarian
objectives of the Mine Ban Treaty. One key goal remained to provide a clear
picture of needs, gaps and available resources, particularly as the first treaty
deadlines rapidly approached: 2003 for stockpile destruction and 2009 for
clearance of mined areas. These objectives will become increasingly important
in the two years leading-up to the first Review Conference in 2004.
The four Standing Committees -- Victim Assistance and Socio-Economic
Reintegration; Mine Clearance, Mine Awareness and Mine Action Technologies;
Stockpile Destruction; and General Status and Operation of the Convention --
each met twice during one-week long periods in January and May 2002 at the
Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD). Participation in
these meetings reached record levels in 2002. Approximately 450 persons
representing more than 100 countries (73 States Parties and approximately 30
non-States Parties), ICBL members, and international, UN and regional
organizations attended both sets of meetings. More than 90 ICBL members
attended the January 2002 meetings, while over 70 participated in the May
meetings.
A Coordinating Committee (CC) made up of States Parties also met monthly in
2001 and bi-monthly in 2002, with 3MSP President Nicaragua as its chair. The
ICBL and ICRC were regularly invited to participate in these meetings, which
addressed practical coordination matters relating to the intersessional work
program and preparations for the annual Meetings of State Parties. From
September 2001 to September 2002, the CC consisted of the sixteen Co-Chairs and
Co-Rapporteurs of the four intersessional Standing Committees (Australia,
Austria, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, France, Germany, Honduras, Kenya,
Norway, Peru, Romania, Switzerland, Thailand and Yemen). The need for balance
between donor and mine-affected countries, and principles of regional
representation and the need for continuity, as well as engagement of experienced
and new countries governed selection of these leadership positions.
In September 2001, the 3MSP agreed to establish an Implementation Support
Unit (ISU) to ensure the sustainability of the intersessional work, which the
ICBL has worked closely with since its formation. The Mine Ban Treaty
deliberately has no Secretariat to provide support functions as negotiating
states viewed the delivery of mine action funds to the field as more urgent.
The ISU was formed to ensure continuity and sustainability and, in particular,
to enable full participation by mine-affected countries and others with limited
resources in the continued “Ottawa Process.” The ISU was not
established to replace the important efforts of States Parties.
The ICBL’s Intersessional Program Officer continued to work to promote
the intersessional work, bringing together present and past SC co-chairs and
co-rapporteurs together with the ICRC, the ISU and ICBL Coordinator and Working
Group chairs for meetings of the ICBL’s Intersessional Contact Group
(IICG, formerly known as “20 + 2”) in January and May 2002. These
meetings proved invaluable participants to substantively prepare for the SC
meetings, and also served as informal fora for strategic planning with
government partners. The IICG now includes representatives from 29 countries
that have served as Co-Chairs and Co-Rapporteurs of the intersessional Standing
Committees since their inception in December 1999.
SC on General Status and Operation of the Convention (Co-Chairs:
Norway & Thailand; Co-Rapporteurs: Austria & Peru) The ICBL, under the
leadership of its Treaty Working Group (TWG), highlighted the following issues,
all which were included on the agendas during the January and May meetings:
possible antipersonnel mine use by non-signatories in joint military operations
with States Parties, as well as foreign stockpiles and transit of mines (Article
1 – interpretation of “assist”); antivehicle mines with
antihandling devices (Article 2 - definitions); mines retained for training and
development (Article 3); timely destruction of stockpiled antipersonnel mines
(Article 4); the need for comprehensive and timely transparency reporting
(Article 7); compliance issues (Article 8); and the obligation to enact national
implementation measures (Article 9). The ICBL was a key participant in the
Universalization Contact Group chaired by Canada, which coordinates efforts to
promote universalization by over two dozen governments, along with ICBL, ICRC
and other international organizations. The ICBL was also an active participant
in the Article 7 Contact Group chaired by Belgium, which expanded in 2002 to
include Article 9.
SC on Stockpile Destruction (Co-Chairs: Australia & Croatia;
Co-Rapporteurs: Romania & Switzerland) The Treaty Working Group also led
ICBL’s participation in this SC and the TWG Chair provided a global
overview in the opening sessions of both meetings. The TWG emphasized the need
for States Parties to provide regular progress reports (in addition to timely
and comprehensive Article 7 transparency reporting), identified problem areas
including resource constraints for stockpile destruction, and warned States
Parties to take the rapidly approaching four-year deadline for destruction of
stockpiles seriously as this constitutes one of the visible and essential
aspects of treaty implementation. The ICBL also urged countries to provide more
information on existence, numbers and types of antipersonnel mine stockpiles
worldwide.
SC on Mine Clearance, Mine Awareness and Related Technologies
(Co-Chairs: Germany & Yemen; Co-Rapporteurs: Belgium & Kenya) The ICBL
Mine Action Working Group (MAWG) and its member mine clearance organizations
assisted in turning the major focus of this Standing Committee to the 10-year
deadline for clearing mined areas as outlined in the Mine Ban Treaty. The MAWG
urged States Parties to determine the extent of the mine action work that has
been completed, and what remains to be done in order to prioritize needs and
assess what will be required to accomplish the clearance obligation laid down by
the treaty. The MAWG is leading an ongoing process to gather information that
will provide a global picture of the state of mine clearance to date and
identify the work remaining to be done prior to 2009, with funding provided by
Co-Chair Germany. The 3MSP shifted Mine Awareness discussions to this Standing
Committee from the Victim Assistance Standing Committee, as urged by ICBL since
1999.
SC on Victim Assistance and Socio-Economic Reintegration (Co-Chairs:
Canada & Honduras; Co-Rapporteurs: Colombia & France). The ICBL Working
Group on Victim Assistance (WGVA) continued to play an important role in setting
the agenda for this Standing Committee. In the May meeting, presentations
looked at the progress made by a new consultative process to identify
medium-term priorities for the Standing Committee, which will hopefully enable
the Committee to show measurable progress in mine victim assistance by the time
of the Review Conference in 2004. Although not definitive, priorities areas
initially identified by the SC included: economic integration, national
planning, prosthetics and emergency medical care. Areas supported by the
Standing Committee included: “Raising the Voices,” a leadership
training for landmine survivor advocates; critical issues and advancements in
medical care and psychological, social and physical rehabilitation; human rights
and disability issues; and prosthetics and orthotics. “Raising the
Voices” continued in its second year, with financial support provided by
Canada and Norway, and fourteen mine survivors from Africa (Angola, Chad,
Ethiopia, Eritrea, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan and Uganda)
participated in the intersessional meetings in January and May 2002.
Updated information and background on the intersessional work program can be
found on the ICBL website at
http://www.icbl.org/sc and on the GICHD
website at http://www.gichd.ch.
OTHER CAMPAIGN ACTIVITIES
ICBL/Landmine Monitor meetings. ICBL staff
continued to conduct campaign seminars in conjunction with regional researcher
meetings held to prepare Landmine Monitor Report 2002. At each ICBL
session, campaigners strategized on their work in the region, discussed campaign
priorities, updated the 2004 Action Plan, and engaged in events to raise public
awareness.
In October 2001, Asia-Pacific campaigners met in Seoul, Republic of Korea,
following their research meeting. They wrote a joint open letter to Korean
President Hon. Kim Dae Jung, which was released in a joint press conference with
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jody Williams during an international symposium at
Chungbuk University. The campaigners undertook a field trip to the
Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), where they presented an autographed Landmine
Monitor Report 2001 to Korean military officers following a briefing on the
mine situation along the border with North Korea. Campaigners also met with
farmers injured by mines dislocated from the DMZ.
In early November 2001, ICBL members from the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS) region of the former Soviet Union met in Yerevan, Armenia. In
addition to internal research and campaign meetings, the participants took part
in a roundtable discussion at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visited the
Center of Trauma, Orthopedics and Rehabilitation to discuss mine survivor
treatment, and spoke in a roundtable discussion hosted by Armenia’s Deputy
Minister of Defense. They made a field trip to the Tavush region in the north
of the country along the border with Azerbaijan, where they met with local
villagers and the governor of the province to discuss the mine problem. Every
evening national television reported on activities of the campaigners.
Later in November 2001, Landmine Monitor researchers from Africa met in
Nairobi, Kenya before their research meeting to discuss advocacy strategies and
actions in support of the mine ban in the region. They brainstormed on
fundraising strategies, actions to engage non-state actors on the mine ban and
updated the ICBL’s 2004 Action Plan. The meeting concluded with a
roundtable on the mine problem in the region attended by Nairobi-based diplomats
and government officials.
At the ICBL/LM Americas meeting held in Brasilia, Brazil in early December
2001 campaigners discussed their advocacy plans and targets for 2002. The Human
Rights Commission of the Chamber of Deputies hosted a roundtable seminar on
implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty in the region, at the National Congress;
campaigners and representatives of the Brazilian Campaign to Ban Landmines
spoke.
The regional meetings for Europe and the Middle East/North Africa took place
in January 2002 in Geneva during intersessional Standing Committee meetings.
Again, the ICBL staff led advocacy discussions on campaigning in these regions
and sought to identify specific campaigning challenges in Europe, including
interpretation issues related to the Mine Ban Treaty, and in the Middle East,
where civil society groups often have less status and freedom to campaign than
elsewhere, and government support for the antipersonnel mine ban is lowest.
Over 90 researchers and campaigners from 75 countries participated in the
Global Meeting of Landmine Monitor Report 2002 researchers held in Paris,
France in mid-April 2002, as well as representatives of key countries and
international agencies. In an integrated ICBL/LM program, participants reviewed
their research reports with all the research coordinators in small or individual
group sessions, while at the same time participants attended a series of
workshops prepared by the ICBL staff and working group chairs on various
campaigning tools and topics. Several campaigners met with Paris-based
representatives of their governments, as well as with members of the media.
Other events: In
addition to the regional ICBL/Landmine Monitor meetings, the ICBL participated
in numerous workshops, seminars and conferences throughout the year. A few of
them are cited here. ICBL representatives and Landmine Monitor researchers
attended a regional governmental seminar in Warsaw in mid-June 2001, which
examined Mine Ban Treaty challenges for signatory state Poland and other
countries of Eastern Europe and the Baltic. In late June 2001, the ICBL
representatives from Japan and Russia and in-country Landmine Monitor
researchers cooperated with Canada and Mongolia to conduct the first ever
government seminar on landmines in non-signatory Mongolia. ICBL members from
the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand participated a regional
government meeting on stockpile destruction hosted by Malaysia and Canada in
mid-August in Kuala Lumpur. ICBL members participated in a “Students for
a Mine-Free World” Conference held in Sarajevo in late October 2001. In
early November 2001, the ICBL attended a regional governmental conference on
victim assistance in Bangkok, hosted by Thailand.
In mid-January 2002, ICBL representatives spoke in a regional seminar on the
Mine Ban Treaty, in North Africa, organized by Tunisia and Canada in Tunis. The
national campaign in Brazil represented the ICBL at the World Social Forum, held
in late January 2002 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. In May 2002, the ICBL
participated in a government workshop in Kinshasa on the Mine Ban Treaty and the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), during which the DRC deposited its
instrument of accession to the ban treaty. Later in May, ICBL members attended
a regional governmental conference on the mine problem in Southeast Asia, hosted
by Thailand in Bangkok, the location for the Fourth Meeting of States Parties.
Campaigners from the region met the day before the event, addressed the
conference, and held a press briefing.
In addition to these events, the ICBL’s Ambassador, 1997 Nobel Laureate
Jody Williams, undertook numerous speaking engagements in support of the ICBL in
2001 and the first half of 2002. ICBL members and national campaigns also held
national seminars or workshops in many countries worldwide and the ICBL
Ambassadors, staff and members undertook a number of advocacy and
awareness-building missions. Between May 2001 and May 2002 awareness-raising
activities were held in countries including: Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia,
Australia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China,
Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, Egypt, France,
Georgia, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos,
Lebanon, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritius, Mongolia, New Zealand, Nepal,
Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania,
Russia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden,
Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, UK, and
the U.S.
The ICBL sent letters to heads of state, issued media releases and engaged
in other advocacy activities to promote the landmine ban at international fora
in 2001 and the first half of 2002. ICBL members also participated in donors
conferences and other meetings to help address mine action needs. These
included: the UN General Assembly in New York, the UNGA’s Special Session
on Children, the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the European Union,
the Francophonie, the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, the G8 and G6B,
NATO, OSCE, Organization of American States, the Organization of African Unity
(the African Union since July 2002), the Assembly of African Francophone
Parliamentarians, the Rio Group, MERCOSUR, Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers,
the Arab League, the World Social Forum, the FIFA World Cup and the Centennial
of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Coordinated campaign actions: The Mine Ban Treaty anniversaries of 3
December (the opening for signature in 1997) and 1 March (the entry-into-force
in 1999) once again galvanized campaigners into action around the globe. The
ICBL sent letters to Heads of State on these occasions and others, and issued
regular Action Alerts on universalization and ratification targets, as well as
denouncements of specific instances of mine-laying by treaty hold-outs and
non-state actors. In the US, the US Campaign to Ban Landmines called on ICBL
members and pro-ban governments to join its push for a positive outcome to the
Bush administration’s landmine policy review. On 1 March 2002, ICBL
members called on India and Pakistan to halt their laying mine along their
common border.
In the last quarter of 2001, the ICBL responded to the increased demand for
accurate and updated information on landmines in Afghanistan by creating a web
page
http://www.icbl.org/country/afghanistan/
containing fact sheets, press releases, action alerts, photographs and more.
The ICBL circulated several updates and press statements by the Afghan Campaign
to Ban Landmines (ACBL) and worked with the ACBL, the Afghan government and
United Nations to put together a governmental seminar on landmines in Kabul in
late July 2002.
The ICBL published and updated several campaign tools in 2001 and the first
half of 2002, such as its Campaign Kit (now available in Arabic, French,
Portuguese, Spanish and Russian), its quarterly “Landmine Update,” a
new booklet on fundraising sources and strategies, and an ICBL Report on
Activities at the Third Meeting of States Parties. It produced new brochures,
bumper stickers, pins, caps and continued to make documents, photographs, videos
and other material available in various languages for different audiences
through its Resource Center, member organizations and the web site. The ICBL
conducted a membership inventory of resource demand and availability and began
the process of scaling down the Yemen-based Resource Center to increase
effective and efficient production and dissemination of campaign resources
through a decentralized system of regional, linguistic and thematic resource
focal points
On 3 December 2001, the ICBL launched two new youth advocacy tools: a
“Youth Campaign Kit”and an extensive Youth section of its
website, in cooperation with young campaigners in various countries
around the world:
http://www.icbl.org/youth.
In 2001 and the first half of 2002, the ICBL Webmaster worked with the ICBL
Coordinator to train staff and campaigners in web-based advocacy, in addition to
constantly improving and updating information dissemination through electronic
mail groups and the ICBL website:
www.icbl.org.
As in previous years, ICBL staff and leadership were invited to speak in
various fora to NGOs and others on lessons learned both from the ICBL’s
campaign experience and the establishment and success of its Landmine Monitor
initiative. The ICBL continues to be viewed as one of the world’s most
successful examples of an expertly coordinated, creative, systematic and
sustained NGO initiative that continues to build on its enormous success. More
information on the ICBL’s activities is available at
http://www.icbl.org and particularly through
the quarterly “Landmine Update,” at
http://www.icbl.org/update/landmines/.
[1] The CC membership has not changed since
it was approved by the last General Meeting of the ICBL network in March 2001:
Afghan Campaign to Ban Landmines, Association for Aid and Relief/Japan, Cambodia
Campaign to Ban Landmines, Colombia Campaign Against Mines, German Initiative to
Ban Landmines, Kenya Coalition Against Landmines, Handicap International, Human
Rights Watch, Landmine Survivors Network, Lutheran World Federation, Mines
Action Canada, Norwegian People’s Aid, and South African Campaign to Ban
Landmines. The ICBL staff are: Elizabeth Bernstein, Coordinator; Sylvie Brigot,
Government Relations Officer; Dalma Føldes, Resource Center Director;
Kjell Knudsen, Webmaster; Jackie Hansen, Project Officer; Susan B. Walker,
Intersessional Program Officer; Sue Wixley, Advocacy and Communications Officer.
Contact icbl@icbl.org. [2] This chapter
focused on the period from June 2001 to June 2002, but includes some information
from the first half of 2001 also reported in the ICBL chapter in Landmine
Monitor Report 2001. [3] The 95
government delegations to the 3MSP included 67 States Parties, 17 Signatories
and 11 non-signatories.
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