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Africa: Recent Landmines Documents
Africa: Recent Landmines Documents
Date distributed (ymd): 970321
Document reposted by APIC
This posting contains a press statement from the South African Campaign
to Ban Landmines, and the final statement by the 4th International NGO
Conference on Landmines in Maputo, Mozambique.
PRESS STATEMENT
SACBL URGES HILLARY CLINTON TO LOBBY US TO BAN LANDMINES
18 March 1997
The South African Campaign to Ban Landmines today sent faxes to Ms Hillary
Rodham Clinton and to Ms Chelsea Clinton urging them to lobby the US government
to ban anti-personnel landmines.
In December this year a treaty will be signed in Ottawa which will ban
the production, use, stockpiling and export of anti-personnel landmines.
It is the most clear commitment of the international community to a total
ban. Yet the US government does not want to sign the treaty. Nor has it
renounced the use, stockpiling and production of anti-personnel landmines.
The US government has indicated that it wants to pursue a ban in the
Conference on Disarmament. The South African Campaign views this as a retrogressive
position. Negotiations in the CD will be time consuming and will have to
accommodate even the views of those who do not want ban landmines. It will
not move the international community fast enough to a comprehensive ban.
The US Campaign to Ban Landmines has instead urged their government to
not be left behind as the world moves to outlaw these insidious weapons.
SACBL spokesperson Sue Wixley commented, "The failure of the US
to support the Ottawa process calls into question their commitment to a
total ban. We want the US to be at Ottawa and to show that it truly cares
about the 70 people who step on landmines every day, that is why we want
Hillary and Chelsea to lobby their government".
For further information contact Penny Mckenzie at 27-11-614 4866 or
27-11-403 7666, or Noel Stott, at the South African Campaign To Ban Landmines,
P.O. Box 32882, Braamfontein, South Africa 2017 (Tel: 27-11-403-4204; Fax:
27-11-4722380; E-mail: noel@case.wn.apc.org).
# # #
18 March 1997
Dear Ms Rodham-Clinton
A warm welcome from the South African Campaign to Ban Landmines to you
and Chelsea. We trust that you will have a good trip.
We are writing to express our concern at the position of the US government
on the question of anti-personnel landmines. The US has indicated its support
in the long term for a global ban on these insidious weapons yet your government
has been unwilling to commit itself to signing the Ottawa treaty which
is the most clear commitment of the international community to a total
ban. Instead the US government is arguing that the issue of landmines be
negotiated in the Conference on Disarmament. We believe that this route
will not result in unequivocal ban but a watered down treaty which accommodates
even the interests of those who want to retain anti-personnel landmines.
It will be a great tragedy for the 70 people who stand on a landmine a
day if the US is not at Ottawa and signing the treaty.
We know that you have a deep commitment to human rights and we trust
that you will lobby your government to renounce the use, production and
stockpiling of anti-personnel mines and to sign the Ottawa treaty. For
the Ottawa road is the only road to travel to a total ban.
Yours sincerely
Penny Mckenzie for:
The South African Campaign to Ban Landmines
Final Declaration of the
4th International NGO Conference on Landmines: Toward a Mine Free Southern
Africa
Maputo, Mozambique
25-28 February 1997
Remembering the tens of thousands of men, women and children killed
and maimed by landmines each year, and commending the courage and commitment
of the humanitarian deminers who daily risk their lives to remove this
deadly weapon from the ground, the following statement was issued on behalf
of the more than 450 participants from 60 countries attending the 4th International
NGO Conference on Landmines in Maputo, Mozambique:
- recognizing the urgent need for a comprehensive global ban on antipersonnel
landmines and greatly expanded programs for mine clearance and victim assistance;
- noting that a comprehensive ban rests on the pillars of an international
ban treaty, humanitarian mine clearance and victim assistance;
- recognizing the particular importance of this year as the international
community moves toward the signing of a total ban treaty in Ottawa, Canada
in December 1997;
- convinced that the Ottawa process is the most clear expression of the
will of the international community as stated in the 10 December 1996 United
Nations General Assembly resolution calling for the conclusion of an international
ban treaty "as soon as possible" and that other negotiating fora,
such as the Conference on Disarmament, will not fulfill that will in a
timely fashion;
- welcoming the initiative taken by the government of Austria in formulating
a draft ban treaty and in convening the first international meeting in
February of this year to discuss the elements of a comprehensive treaty
to ban antipersonnel landmines;
- welcoming the important roles of the governments of Belgium and Norway
in the Ottawa process in their hosting treaty negotiating sessions in June
and September of this year;
- appreciating the preparatory work for this conference by the regional
steering committee and the Mozambique Campaign against Landmines;
- noting the launching of new landmine ban campaigns in Angola, Kenya,
Somalia, Zambia and Zimbabwe in the run-up to the conference;
- noting the successful pre-conference seminar held by the campaigns
from the South and welcoming recommendations from the South to make consistent
efforts to include southern campaigns in ICBL [International Campaign to
Ban Landmines] planning meetings;
- welcoming the pre-conference announcement by the government of South
Africa of its ban on the use, production, development, trade and stockpiling
of antipersonnel landmines;
- appreciating the opening of the conference by president Joaquim Chissano
of Mozambique as a clear expression of commitment by the government to
a global ban on antipersonnel landmines;
- welcoming the announcement at the conference by the government of Mozambique
of its ban on the use, production, and trade of antipersonnel landmines;
- welcoming the participation in the conference by many regional and
other governmental representatives;
- appreciating the important support for the conference by its patrons
and donors;
- noting the widespread endorsement of the conference by political, religious
and social leaders worldwide; and
- noting the widespread regional and international attention to the landmines
crisis generated by the conference;
The 4th International NGO Conference on Landmines,
Calls on all governments:
- to publicly commit to the objective of signing an international treaty
banning all antipersonnel landmines in December 1997;
- to actively participate during 1997 in the process of negotiating a
simple, clear and unambiguous treaty that bans all antipersonnel landmines
and not just those weapons "primarily" designed or adapted to
be exploded by the presence, porximity or contact of a person;
- to open all meetings of the Ottawa process to participation by an ICBL
delegation, and additionally, to invite ngo representatives to form part
of government delegations to these meetings;
- to take unilateral and regional steps to ban ap mines to continue to
build momentum toward the signing of the Ottawa treaty;
- of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to take all measures
to make the region a mine-free zone;
- in Africa to implement the OAU resolutions urging a continent-wide
ban on antipersonnel landmines, using appropriate fora such as the OAU
landmine meeting in South Africa in May and the OAU Summit in Zimbabwe
in June;
- of mine-affected countries to follow the lead of Mozambique and take
unilateral steps to ban antipersonnel landmines;
- to increase greatly resources for mine clearance for all mine-contaminated
countries, and particularly in those nations and regions that have banned
the weapon in order to encourage other countries to do the same;
- to increase greatly resources for victim assistance for all mine-contaminated
countries;
- who have produced and supplied mines to accept their responsibility
and to assist with clearance and victim assistance programs; and
- for the governments of mine-contaminated countries to develop and implement
national mine clearance policies that are transparent and include the needs
of all sectors of society.
Calls upon members of the ICBL:
- to present this declaration to their governments, at regional and continent-wide
meetings such as upcoming SADC and OAU summits;
- to press governments to participate in the Ottawa process and sign
the ban treaty in December 1997;
- to attend the treaty preparatory conferences in Brussels in June, Oslo
in September and Ottawa in December;
- to increase networking and communication among campaigns in the south
and within regions;
- to take the initiative to help generate and support new campaigns and
pro-ban initiatives throughout their regions;
- to broaden the base of participation by civil society in national campaigns
by including organizations such as student groups, trade unions, women's
organizations, professional groups, disability advocacy groups and others
not yet actively involved in the campaign;
- to make particular effort to empower landmine survivors to participate
actively in national campaigns and speak out for a ban at international
fora;
- to give particular emphasis to the empowerment of landmine survivors
;
- to increase networking and communication between campaigns in the north
and the south, and take measures to ensure that campaigns in the South
can fully participate in the Ottawa process;
- to encourage national campaigns and NGOs to document the socio- economic
impact of apms on their societies to provide critical information to raise
public awareness to strengthen ICBL advocacy efforts for humanitarian mine
clearance and victim assistance;
- to begin strategizing and planning for campaign work beyond the signing
of the comprehensive ban treaty in Ottawa in December 1997 in order to
universalize the treaty, to ensure the complete eradication of landmines
throughout the world and that assistance to mine victims be comprehensive
to ensure their reintegration into society.
For more information on the ban landmines campaign, in the US contact:
Mary Wareham, Coordinator
US Campaign to Ban Landmines, Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation
2001 S St, NW, Ste. 740, Washington, DC 20009
PH: + 202 483 9222 or 1 800 853 9292
FAX: + 202 483 9312 or 483 9314
EMAIL: mary@vi.org or banminesusa@vi.org
WEB: http://www.vvaf.org/htdocs/landmine/us/can_do/index.html
1997: YEAR OF THE INTERNATIONAL BAN
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the Africa
Policy Information Center (APIC), the educational affiliate of the Washington
Office on Africa. APIC's primary objective is to widen the policy debate
in the United States around African issues and the U.S. role in Africa,
by concentrating on providing accessible policy-relevant information and
analysis usable by a wide range of groups and individuals.
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