Brussels, 25/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - One month before the debate on landmines to be held at the European Parliament on 25 October, four MEPs - Emma Bonino (rapporteur on landmines), Luisa Morgantini (own-initiative rapporteur), Marie-Arlette Carlotti (Vice-President of the ACP/EU Joint Assembly) and John Corrie (co-President of the ACP/EU Joint Assembly) - signed, on Thursday in Brussels, a solemn appeal for a world without mines. This symbolic gesture, which took place in the hall of the Parliament in the presence of Jody Williams, joint Nobel Prize winner for Peace 1997, and victims of mines in Bosnia, Cambodia and Senegal (Casamanca), was followed by a conference jointly organised with the International Campaign for Banning Landmines. The four MEPs thus hoped to show that the European Union has a role to play in the fight against landmines, replacing the problem at the heart of debates within European institutions and examining concrete solutions that may be found, after the enforcement of the March 1999 Convention on Anti-Personnel Mines (see below: "Ottawa Convention").
During a press conference, Steve Goose, from Human Rights Watch, stressed the positive effect that this Treaty and the control made of government commitments by general mobilisation of the international civil society would have on the eradication of landmines. Citing the main conclusions of the report 2000 on the Observatory on Landmines, which takes stock of the situation since the coming into force of the Treaty, he welcomed the very encouraging general tendencies, while stressing the road still to be taken in order to eradicate a scourge which is not only a threat for the physical integrity of persons but also a considerable break on the development of countries in which it occurs. Signed by 138 countries and ratified by 107, the Treaty entailed a fall in the use of mines, a considerable reduction in production (which is continued in 16 countries only as opposed to the previous 55), the almost total cessation of exports, the destruction of over 22 million landmines in stocks in 50 countries, the increase of funds allocated to de-mining programmes and the reduction in the number of victims, mainly in the most affected countries (Afghanistan, Cambodia, Mozambique, Bosnia). Nonetheless, 88 countries remain gravely hit by the proliferation of landmines and unexploded devices, new victims have been identified in 71 countries (mainly Afghanistan, Cambodia and Burma, and to a lesser extent in Angola, Chechnya and Kosovo) the majority of which were not in a situation of conflict, mines have been used in 20 conflicts (conducted by 11 governments and at least 30 rebel groups) and signatory countries to the Treaty have, it would seem, violated their commitments (Angola, Burundi, Sudan).
Richard Lloyd, coordinator of Landmine Action UK, insisted on the need to clarify what really is in fact banned. In this respect, he deplored the fact that the anti-vehicle mines equipped with anti-manipulation systems, responsible for accidental explosions, are not covered by the Treaty, that Finland and Greece had not ratified the Treaty, that other countries had not yet adopted national legislation for transposing this, and that joint operations are possible between signatory and non-signatory countries of the Treaty, which, he says, runs counter to the spirit and the letter of the Treaty. The European Commission's pledge to grant funds for de-mining operations is a good thing, but, he says, the European Union and the Member States should do much more. "It comes under their moral and political responsibility", he stressed. Slyvie Brigot for Handicap International concluded by appealing to the Union to take a position more as a political player rather than just a contributor, by truly working towards making the Treaty universal.
On the occasion of the Second Conference last week in Geneva, of the States party to the Ottawa Convention, External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten published a brochure on "The Response of the European Union to the Anti-Personnel Landmines Challenge". A press release recalls that the EU was, in 1999, with EUR 103 million, the main world contributor to the fight against landmines, and that the Commission, in particular: - proposed a framework regulation aimed at ensuring coherence of EU action in this field, currently under discussion in Council; - approved on 14 March a communication on the action against landmines.