Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The United States heads into the Cartagena Summit, which opens Sunday 29 November in Colombia, now saying that it is continuing to review its policy on signing the international Mine Ban treaty. The US is sending a sizeable official observer team to the summit, with groups from the State Department, Pentagon, US Agency for International Development and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Cartagena Summit is the second review of the 1997 Ottawa Convention that bans the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of antipersonnel mines. More than 1,000 delegates, including several heads of state, will participate in the summit, which will assess progress made in clearing the world of landmines.
Cause of US shift unexplained
The US said in a statement issued Wednesday 25 November that it is still reviewing its position on signing the 10-year-old Mine Ban treaty – the opposite of what it said the previous day, but it was unclear if the statement was a correction of an error, a change in tactics ahead of the Cartagena Summit that opens 29 November in Colombia, or a change of heart following harsh criticism.
What landmines do: an eloquent image
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Good progress has been made in reducing the number of landmines throughout the world, but much more work remains to be done, with 70 countries still having mines or explosive remnants of war, concludes the Landmine Monitor Report 2009: Toward a Mine-Free World, an annual report published Thursday 12 November by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. This year’s report includes a 10-year summary since the reports began in 1999. The group is the research and monitoring programme of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
Eighty percent of the world’s countries are party to the treaty but the report notes that “Thirty-nine countries—including China, India, Pakistan, Russia, and the United States—have yet to join the treaty, but most are in de facto compliance with many of the treaty’s key provisions. In recent years, Myanmar and Russia are the only states using antipersonnel mines. Use by non-state armed groups decreased from a high of 19 countries in 2001 to seven countries in 2008.”
Juanes, Cuban Peace Without Borders Concert (image: 4VFnet)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Colombian superstar, 17-time Grammy award winning musician Juanes, is giving his voice to the Cartagena Summit on a Mine-free World that takes place in Cartagena, Colombia 29 November-4 December. Juanes, who has sold more than 9 million albums worldwide, in 2006 became the first musician ever to perform in the European Parliament’s debating chamber, as part of the European Union’s commitment to eradicate landmines. He organized the Peace Without Borders concert in September 2009 in Cuba, which Entertainment Daily called “the largest open air gig since the 1959 Revolution”, with half a million people attending.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland will lead efforts to backup a major conference that opens 29 November in Colombia, the Cartagena summit on a mine-free world. The conference marks the 10th anniversary of the Ottawa Treaty entering into force and provides the opportunity for its second review conference to assess progress and how well the convention is being respected.
