This photo provided by the Convention's office in Geneva, shows Tuvalu's Prime Minister Willy Telavi during a meeting with Prince Mired of Jordan, an envoy of the Ottawa Convention
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The island nation of Tuvalu 13 September became the 157th nation to sign the Ottawa Convention, also known as the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention.
It is the first new country to adhere to the convention since 2007, and its accession brings “near universal acceptance of this landmark treaty in the Pacific,” the Convention’s office in Geneva said in a statement Friday 22 September.
In the region, only the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Tonga are not part of the ban.
According to the statement issued in Geneva, Finland, Poland and South Sudan could also join the Convention that prohibits the use, production, stockpile, and transfer of antipersonnel landmines.
The Convention entered into force in 1999 and today 153 of the 157 nations that have ratified or acceded to it no longer have stocks of landmines.
Gontard case friction easing with Swiss, Colombian cooperation; $27 billion victim compensation programme high on Colombian gov’t agenda
Vice President Angelino Garzon listens to questions during a sit-down meeting with the press in Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – “Our goal is that in 15 years, lands can be given back to the farmers exiled from their homes and that social programmes will be in place to help them,” Vice-president Angelino Garzon of Colombia told GenevaLunch during a visit to Geneva Thursday 14 October.
The second highest representative of the new Colombian government elected earlier this year, was in Geneva furthering his government’s agenda with the Swiss government, the United Nations and international organizations.
One of the most-talked about topics on his agenda was the “victim compensation programme” that seeks to give land back to the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by violence in Colombia. The UNHCR estimates that over 3 million people have been internally displaced, which is why land restitution is a top priority for the government.
The $27 billion dollar programme has already put 200,000 hectares in the State’s hands. “We are seeking to confiscate an additional 600,000 hectares from armed groups operating illegally in the country,” he added.
Although the long-awaited plan may still be far in the future, Garzon believes that in Colombia the “political will to make this a priority is on everyone’s agenda.”
Implementing a broad land restitution programme with deep pockets may be viewed with distrust in a country where government agricultural subsidies that were geared to fostering peasant land productivity became linked, in some cases, to shady deals for the rich.
Garzon thinks things will be different now. “The government is counting on additional laws to ensure that [once approved] the programme works well,” he says.
“Priority will be given to women who are heads of households, orphans, people with disabilities and the elderly.”
Colombia to “respect the judicial system” over Gontard affair, bilateral talks to start in January Read more…
Landmine survivors, El Salvador: Central America is now free of landmines, but Ottawa Convention countries agree to help survivors, not just rid their countries of mines
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Central America has become landmine-free, thanks to the elimination of all known landmines in Nicaragua, two representatives of its government told a working session of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention Tuesday 22 June. “After two decades of work, Nicaragua is proud to announce that we have completed clearance of all known anti-personnel mines in our territory, and that all contaminated areas have been deemed safe for normal activity. The last mine was removed and destroyed on 13 April 2010,” the government’s statement notes. Colonel Spiro Bassi of the Nicaraguan Army Corps of Engineering and Juan Umana Loaisiga from the Ministry of Defense addressed the Geneva meeting.
The Convention is also known as the Ottawa Treaty.
The country removed more than 179,000 landmines, planted during its civil war in the 1980s. Nicaragua has 1,200 landmine survivors today.
The country, which signed the convention in 1997, undertook the largest demining operation in Central America. The original estimate in 1997 of 135,000 mines grew over the years as more areas with mines were discovered. Anti-personnel mines were found in 16 out of 17 regions in the country, affecting rural communities and severely impoverished areas.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Three people working to defuse a second world war bomb were killed and another six who were involved in the job in central Germany were injured Tuesday, reports AFP. The news agency says four bombs have been found in Berlin in the past month, pointing to the frequency with which old bombs, still live, are found in the country. The deaths come as Jordan’s Prince Mired has been drawing the attention of world leaders to the dangers of landmines left from old wars, in his role as the Ottawa Convention president’s special envoy on the universalization of the Mine Ban Convention (see GenevaLunch feature interview with Prince Mired, 2 June 2010).
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 provided the first clue to its unchanged landmine treaty policy Tuesday 1 December in Cartagena, Colombia, saying its ongoing review of the policy will take time. The US baffled the world a week ago by first saying it had decided not to sign the Ottawa Convention, then two days later saying the matter was still under review. No explanation was given at the time. The Ottawa Convention, signed by 156 countries and in force since 1999, is also known as the international Mine Ban treaty. The Cartagena Summit in Colombia this week is the second five-year review of the progress made under the treaty.
The US issued a brief statement at the conference, saying that “the Administration’s decision to attend this Review Conference is the result of an on-going comprehensive review of US landmine policy initiated at the direction of President Obama.
