The
ICBL Mine Action Working Group (MAWG) was formed in February 1998 to serve as
the focal point for addressing issues related to mine action, with particular
focus on work in the field. The core members of the group are
project-implementing organizations, such as Handicap International France,
Handicap International Belgium, Mines Advisory Group, Mines Clearance Planning
Agency, Norwegian People’s Aid, Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation,
Medico International, and advocacy organizations such as the German Initiative
to Ban Landmines. In addition to this core, there is wider participation from a
number of the other organizations either involved or interested in the issue.
Norwegian People’s Aid assumed the role of chair of the MAWG during this
reporting period.
The MAWG is a loose structure, which communicates mainly by email, but MAWG
members also meet to discussions strategy on the sidelines of various
international mine action meetings. The MAWG’s main goal is to ensure
that the realities of mine action work in the field are reflected in the global
mine action policies developed by the international community. It seeks to
assist State Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty to achieve the goals outlined in the
obligations of the treaty. The MAWG promotes the ICBL’s call for more
resources for humanitarian mine action and works to ensure meaningful NGO
participation in all relevant political and decision-making processes that
define the parameters for mine action. Some recent activities undertaken by the
MAWG in 2001 and 2002 are listed below.
Intersessional work program: The MAWG members worked closely with the
Standing Committees Co-Chairs, Germany and Yemen, and co-rapporteurs Belgium and
Kenya on the agenda and goals of the January and May 2000 meetings. In January,
the MAWG made a longer intervention than usual in the form of a “Global
overview of Mine Action and Outlook for the Future,” as agreed at the
agenda setting meeting by the Co-Chairs held in Geneva in November 2001. On an
invitation from the Co-Chairs, the MAWG agreed to provide a status report of the
actual situation on the ground. The presentation made clear that at current
levels of funding and clearance, many mine-affected countries would not meet the
treaty’s ten-year deadline to destroy emplaced mines. The presentation
also identified key needs: 1) realistic and appropriate funding to mine action;
2) more and appropriate information for decision-making, priority-setting and
tasking in humanitarian mine clearance operations; and, 3) national strategic
mine action plans.
The presentation led to a request by the German Co-Chair that ICBL continue
its work in status reporting on mine clearance and efforts to address the
identified needs. Germany also offered to fund such research through the ICBL
and the MAWG hired a consultant on a short-term basis to prepare a further
intervention for the intersessional meeting in May 2002.
In May, the MAWG presentation highlighted the lack of consistent
reporting procedures on mine clearance activities by operators, and
stressed the need to constructively embark on an evaluation of the size of the
mine problem worldwide through various forms of survey (such as Impact Surveys
and General Level 1 Surveys), and to assess the priority of mine clearance in
order to meet cost efficiency as well as cost effectiveness. The MAWG
emphasized the need for urgent attention to the ten-year deadlines, and again
pointed to the difficulties many countries will have in complying, without
resorting to the provisions for extending the deadline.
MAWG and issues related to mine action funding and activities: MAWG
members participated in the Steering Committee Meeting for Mine Action in May
2002, chaired by the UN. Members also participated in an annual meeting of mine
action program managers and advisors from 24-26 February, chaired by the UNMAS
and hosted at the GICHD. MAWG members continued to represent the ICBL at
meetings of the Mine Action Support Group (MASG), which convene the major mine
action donors.
Survey Action Center: The Global Landmine Impact Survey by the Survey
Action Center (SAC) includes several MAWG members in the Survey Working Group,
which parents the SAC. The MAWG continued to call for support for the
implementation of more impact surveys in the near future to improve information
for strategic planning of humanitarian mine action.
Third Meeting of States Parties: The MAWG made two statements at the
meeting during discussions on the work of the Standing Committee on Mine
Clearance, Mine Awareness and Related Technologies, outlining key points that
the international community will have to address in order to solve the crisis of
landmines. Among others, these included: acknowledging the low impact that
research and development has had on work in the field, and the importance of
targeting research and development to focus more on operational needs; the need
for an increased focus on the improvement of equipment and technologies
currently in use; the need for increased and sustained funding levels with
longer term commitment from the donor community, as well as more flexibility in
financial budgeting and planning of projects.
These points as expressed by the MAWG, were also stressed at several
bilateral and other international meetings and venues during the second half of
2001. Among them, a meeting of orientation for the European Commission,
informing the EC of key points in the humanitarian mine action work globally.
For any information please contact the chair, Sara Sekkenes, Norwegian
People's Aid, email: sa@npaid.org.
MINE RISK EDUCATION SUB-GROUP
The ICBL’s Mine Risk Education Sub-Working
Group (formerly Mine Awareness Sub-group) was created during a meeting of the
ICBL Mine Action Working Group (MAWG) in September 1999. The Sub-Group operates
within the framework of the MAWG, reflecting the understanding of its members
that MRE be viewed as an integral component of mine action. Members of the
Sub-Group include representatives from the following organizations: Colombian
Campaign to Ban Landmines, Handicap International Belgium, Handicap
International France, INTERSOS, Landmines Resource Centre (Lebanon), Mines
Advisory Group, Norwegian People’s Aid, Rädda Barnen (Save the
Children Sweden), and RaDO. Handicap International Belgium chaired the
Sub-Group in 2001 and 2002.
The Sub-Group’s main objective is to serve as a resource on MRE issues
for the ICBL and others. As part of the ICBL 2004 Action Plan, the ICBL General
Meeting adopted the following MRE goals in March 2001: advocate, monitor and
provide guidance to the international community as to where/what/how mine risk
education is needed; advocate for and maintain a higher profile of mine risk
education in Standing Committees, Meetings of States Parties and the mine action
community; advocate and encourage development of more programs and improved
sustainability of programs; and promote improvements in the quality of mine risk
education programs.
The Sub-Group urged States Parties to shift mine risk education to the
Standing Committee on Mine Clearance and States Parties accepted this proposal
in September 2001. The Standing Committee was subsequently renamed to the
Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Awareness and Related
Technologies.
Members of the Sub-Group delivered seven statements to States Parties, on the
following subjects: International Workshop on the Design of Materials, Resources
and other Media in Mine Awareness Programmes; Lessons Learned from Mine
Awareness in Southern Afghanistan, Children's Role in Mine Risk Education,
Evaluation of Effects, Situation and Needs in Most Mine-Affected Countries and
The Mozambican Model [of MRE].
The Sub-Group co-organized a meeting together with UNICEF for all mine risk
education operators (MRE Working Group) in Geneva on 30 May 2002.
The MRE Sub-Group established its own web page on the ICBL site:
www.icbl.org/wg/maw.
The Group has established two email groups to facilitate discussion on mine
risk education, one for members of the ICBL Mine Risk Education Working Group
and another for the group and all mine risk education practitioners. For any
information please contact the chair, Stan Brabant, Handicap International
Belgium, email:
stan.brabant@handicap.be.
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