Brussels, 22/10/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has adopted its 2003 Annual Work Programme for anti-personnel landmines. The general aim of the programme, which has a budget of EUR 18,150,000 for 2003, is to assist the countries suffering the consequences of antipersonnel landmines to create the conditions necessary for their economic and social development.
The main priorities of the programme are actions to eliminate the threat that antipersonnel landmines/unexploded ordinance represent for the populations affected and to alleviate their dramatic effects. Actions include mine clearance, mine risk education, risk reduction and destruction of landmines in stocks or dumping grounds, as well as actions to build and reinforce local capacity and to increase mine action efficiency and effectiveness such as impact surveys and associated tools. As for geographic priorities, the focus countries - Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Iraq, Laos, Mozambique, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Sudan - have been selected according to four criteria: - accession to the international Mine Ban Treaty (Ottawa Convention) or efforts to comply with it, humanitarian impact of the mine problem, prioritisation of the issue in the national context, and strategic importance for the EU.
The work programme for 2003 provides for implementation of the EUR 18,150,000 budget in the following way: - EUR 13,05 million for direct grants, mostly through UN bodies in countries such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Mozambique, as well as for a targeted action towards the involvement of non-state actors in mine action; - EUR 4.6 million for co-financing operations in Sri Lanka, Laos, Democratic Republic of Congo and Guinea -Bissau through calls for proposals; - and EUR 0.5 million for further technical assistance in Cambodia. The 2003 Work Programme follows the EC Mine Action Strategy and Multiannual Indicative Programming 2002-2004, which amounts to around EUR 48 million. Since 1998, the Commission has spent EUR 30 million on average for this cause.
According to some estimates, 215,000 mines are still stocked in the world. Since the Ottawa Convention took effect, 15 million mines have been destroyed and the number of victims varies between 15,000 and 20,000 per year, as opposed to 26,000 several years ago. One hundred and thirty four countries are party to the Convention, 13 have signed it but not ratified it and 47 countries - including China, the United States and Russia - have not signed it. There now remain 15 countries that produce mines, but in 2003 only Russia and Myanmar still used them.