Statement of Joost Hiltermann of Human Rights Watch
regarding Nobel Peace Prize October 10, 1997


As a founding member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Human Rights Watch is extremely thrilled with the announcement by the Nobel Committee this morning to award this year's Nobel Peace Prize to the international campaign, which is now a coalition of over 1,000 NGOs.

We are pleased that the Nobel Committee saw that in awarding the prize, it would help to save the lives of thousands upon thousands of innocent people--including children, women and men.

We sincerely hope that the awarding of this prize will encourage those governments that have been reluctant or have refused outright, to sign on to an immediate and comprehensive ban--the U.S., Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Finland and others--to do so now and thereby to put an end to the terrible suffering this indiscriminate weapon has caused and continues to cause.

We would like to thank the governments of Austria, Belgium, Canada, Mexico, Norway and South Africa--the so-called core groups--for taking the leadership in bringing negotiations over a comprehensive ban to a successful conclusion in Oslo last month.

Finally, we hope that the awarding of the Peace Prize will focus attention also on the plague of small arms and light weapons generally. The trade in these weapons is fueling violent conflicts across the globe especially in Africa, and has contributed to horrendous abuses of human rights and suffering among civilian populations in areas of war and conflict.