Mr. President,
Thank you for the opportunity to provide a global overview of implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty during the past five years. At the outset, we wish to congratulate you and all the States Parties on the very good documents, especially the excellent review document. It is thorough in perhaps an unprecedented way. This will allow States Parties the luxury of not having to go through the convention article by article and instead focus on concrete plans for the future. This was a wise decision in keeping with the unique character of this Convention.
We thank President Petritsch and the Friends of the President for giving the ICBL the opportunity for extensive input into the Review process and all the documents. While we have some disappointments at things still left out, and will have some suggested changes, we are mainly concerned that the documents do not get weakened or watered down or overloaded with non-essential text in the next few days.
One of my favorite observations about the Oslo negotiations in September 1997 is that the treaty actually got stronger during three weeks of negotiations, that it was not picked apart by narrow national positions and concerns, that States kept their eyes focused on the bigger goal of a truly comprehensive ban that would become the framework for global mine clearance and victim assistance. Let us match that performance this week.
I would like to present some of the highlights of this year’s Landmine Monitor Report—highlights since the last report and highlights since 1999. This report is a special edition with a five-year review from 1999-2003, including a global review and a review for every country in the world. We thank the many donors that made this special 1,300 page edition possible.
There is simply no question that the Convention is working. States Party compliance with the requirements is impressive, the benchmarks of progress are positive across the board, and the treaty is making a difference in the lives of those in mine-affected communities. Very importantly, even among those not party to the treaty, the new international norm rejecting the antipersonnel mine is taking hold, as more and more nations embrace the humanitarian and disarmament objectives of the treaty, including a widespread reluctance to use the weapon even among non-State Parties.
Since the treaty took effect five years ago, use of the weapon around the world has fallen dramatically, global funding for mine action programs has increased more than 80 percent, more than 1,100 square kilometers of land has been cleared, and the number of new mine victims each year has decreased markedly.
Landmine Monitor Report 2004 cites compelling evidence of use of antipersonnel mines by four governments since May 2003: Georgia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, and Russia. In contrast, the first Landmine Monitor Report 1999 identified 15 governments using antipersonnel mines in the previous year. A total of 21 governments have used antipersonnel mines since 1999. It is noteworthy that only Russia and Myanmar have used them regularly, each and every year of the period.
Though not reflected in the Review Document, many current States Parties have used antipersonnel mines in the recent past. Three current States Parties have admitted use since 1999, but prior to acceding to the treaty. One current State Party has admitted using AP mines after signing the treaty but before ratifying. There are serious and credible allegations that four other signatories that are now States Parties used AP mines since 1999, and that one State Party used AP mines even after entry into force. I mention these not to cast blame or shame at this point, but to indicate the growing strength of the norm against antipersonnel mines in that even recent users of the weapon have now foresworn it forever.
One of the greatest success stories of the Mine Ban Treaty is that sixty-five States Parties have completed the destruction of their stockpiles, collectively destroying more than 37 million antipersonnel mines, including four million mines in the last year. Every State Party so far has met its treaty-mandated four-year deadline for stockpile destruction, except for Guinea and Turkmenistan, both of which have subsequently completed stockpile destruction.
The power of the mine ban movement is reflected in the fact that a de facto global ban on the trade of antipersonnel mines has been in effect since the mid-1990s, with only a very low level of illicit trafficking and unacknowledged trade taking place. Moreover, of the more than 50 countries known to have produced antipersonnel mines, all but 15 have formally renounced production.
From 1999 to 2003, more than 1,100 square kilometers of land—equivalent to about 125,000 football fields—were cleared, resulting in the destruction of more than four million antipersonnel mines, nearly one million antivehicle mines, and many more millions of pieces of unexploded ordnance. The past five years have witnessed the initiation and expansion of many mine action programs, and ever-greater amounts of land being returned to communities for productive use.
Some form of mine clearance was reported in 2003 and 2004 in a total of 65 countries, including the first humanitarian mine clearance operations in Armenia, Chile, Senegal, and Tajikistan. In 2003 alone, a combined total of more than 149 million square meters of land was cleared.
According to Landmine Monitor Report 2004, 83 countries are mine-affected, including 52 States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty. States Parties that have declared completion of mine clearance since 1999 include Bulgaria (October 1999), Moldova (August 2000), Costa Rica (December 2002), Czech Republic (April 2003), Djibouti (January 2004), and, most recently, Honduras (June 2004). However, in 2003 and 2004, no mine clearance or mine risk education activities were recorded in 13 States Parties.
Landmine Monitor has identified about $2.1 billion in donor mine action contributions from 1992-2003. Of that 12-year total, 65 percent ($1.35 billion) was provided in the past five years. For 2003, Landmine Monitor has identified $339 million in mine action funding by more than 24 donors. This is an increase of $25 million, or 8 percent, from 2002, and an increase of $102 million, or 43 percent, from 2001.
However, in 2003, Afghanistan and Iraq received 38 percent of global mine action funding, while an unusually large number of mine-affected countries experienced a decline in donor contributions to mine action, including States Parties Cambodia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Eritrea.
The number of reported new mine casualties declined in the majority of mine-affected countries since 1999 and in 2003. Landmine Monitor identified 8,065 new casualties caused by landmines and unexploded ordnance in 2003. However, many casualties go unreported and Landmine Monitor estimates there are now between 15,000 and 20,000 new casualties annually around the world—far fewer than the 26,000 per year estimated in the 1990s.
According to Landmine Monitor, in 2003, new landmine and UXO casualties were recorded in 65 countries. A total of 86 percent of reported new casualties were identified as civilians and 23 percent were children.
The major progress in the past five years in preventing antipersonnel mines from being laid and in clearing existing minefields has not been matched in the area of victim assistance. Landmine Monitor reports that while global mine action funding has increased greatly since 1999, identifiable resources for mine victim assistance have actually declined ($29.8 million in 1999 compared to $28.2 million in 2003). Resources for victim assistance as a percentage of total mine action funding have decreased significantly and steadily from 14.9 percent in 1999 to 8.3 percent in 2003.
In many mine-affected countries the assistance available to rehabilitate and reintegrate landmine survivors back into society remains desperately inadequate. Landmine Monitor identified only 35 countries receiving resources from other States for mine victim assistance programs in 2003.
Landmine Monitor estimates that there are somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000 mine survivors in at least 121 countries today. From 1999 to September 2004, Landmine Monitor recorded more than 42,500 new landmine and UXO casualties from incidents in at least 75 countries; but the true numbers are likely to be twice that many.
I have presented an overwhelmingly positive picture of the past five years. But we should not be lulled into a false sense of complacency or satisfaction. Many problems remain, and the challenges of the next five years may be greater than those of the past five years. We face the key challenges of universalization, of expanded mine clearance, and of adequate victim assistance. But it is also the case that State Party compliance has NOT been absolute or uniform, even regarding core obligations prohibiting use and requiring destruction of stocks within four years. Ongoing State Party disagreements about fundamental matters such as what landmines are banned, and what acts are banned under the prohibition on assistance, undercut the credibility of the treaty.
We would like to intervene later in more detail on the challenges still facing us.
Thank you.
