The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL)
considers the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling,
Production, and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and On Their Destruction
(“Mine Ban Treaty”)[1]
the only viable comprehensive framework for achieving a mine-free world. The
ICBL believes that the only real measure of the Mine Ban Treaty’s success
will be the concrete impact that it has on the global antipersonnel mine
problem. As with the three previous annual reports, Landmine Monitor Report
2002 provides a means of measuring that impact. The five-year anniversary
this year of the negotiation of the Mine Ban Treaty in Oslo and its signing in
Ottawa also give added impetus and meaning to an assessment of progress made and
challenges remaining.
It is abundantly clear that the treaty, and the ban movement more generally,
are making a significant difference in eradicating the weapon and saving lives
and limbs of civilians in every region of the world. A growing number of
governments are joining the Mine Ban Treaty, and as detailed below, there is
decreased use of antipersonnel mines, a dramatic drop in production, an almost
complete halt to trade, rapid destruction of stockpiled mines, fewer new mine
victims in key affected countries, and more land demined. These positive trends
have continued in this most recent Landmine Monitor reporting
period.[2]
But the challenges that remain are daunting. It is increasingly evident that
at current levels of mine action funding and demining, many mine-affected States
Parties will not meet the ten-year deadline for completion of mine clearance.
Antipersonnel mines continue to be laid by governments and rebel groups, and in
this reporting period India and Pakistan embarked on what appears to be the
largest mine-laying operations in many years. While headed in the right
direction, the world is nowhere close to the objective of Zero New Mine Victims.
The mine problem is far from solved, and will not be solved without sustained
and increased commitment from governments and non-governmental organizations.
[1]The ICBL generally uses the short title, Mine
Ban Treaty, although other short titles are common as well, including Ottawa
Treaty, Ottawa Convention and Mine Ban
Convention. [2] The reporting period for
Landmine Monitor Report 2002 is May 2001 to May 2002. Editors have where
possible added important information that arrived in June and July
2002.
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