Prince Mired of Jordan at GICHD offices overlooking Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Israel’s commando attack on six ships have grabbed world attention this week. Last week it was North Korea’s torpedoes.
Amid the gloomy talk of wars and fighting, one man was quietly but forcefully convincing military and political leaders to take one step in the other direction, away from the tools of war.
Prince Mired Raad Zeid Al Hussein of Jordan was in Geneva last week as the convention president’s special envoy on the universalization of the Mine Ban Convention, en route to Washington, DC, where he spent the last week of May meeting with several top US officials.
His task: convince the US and 38 other states to sign the treaty, to which 156 other nations have agreed to be bound since the convention entered into force in 1999. The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention is also known as the Ottawa Convention.
Several countries, including the US, are “coming closer”, he believes. “Having the US would be great. Others would come on board. It would create a media stir.
“There’s not a country we see that doesn’t ask about the US.”
Prince Mired of Jordan in Washington to encourage the US to sign the Ottawa Convention to ban landmines
The US could do enormous good by taking a leadership role and signing, he believes. “This is a walk in the park, compared to Start [the lengthy Start talks with Russia, in Geneva, to reduce nuclear warheads], and a golden opportunity for the US to show the world its goodwill,” he told GenevaLunch during an interview at the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) where the secretariat of the Convention is housed in.
Prince Mired will provide an update on his Washington and other visits when he reports back 21 June in Geneva to the Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the Convention.
Myriad reasons for not signing
The reasons for not signing are specific to each country. But a common thread, he says, is that “leadership is not engaged. There is a lack of awareness, really, of being uninformed. One only has to see and deal with victims to understand the importance of this. People see this less, maybe, in the US” than in other countries.
He had just returned from a visit to Laos before coming to Geneva.
“Laos has taken a leadership role in Asia on cluster munitions and there is widespread hope that it would do the same with respect to anti-personnel mines. The country is enjoying the benefit of being recognized for taking a leading role.” Additional benefits would no doubt flow to Laos should it accede to the AP Mine Ban Convention, he believes.
Step by step means progress
China, like the US, is a large country that has not signed, but “China has taken a number of steps – it has participated and made significant strides.” Russia, with fighting hot spots, is more reluctant, but Prince Mired says “the important thing is to take the next step.”
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.
