04/04/2006 (Agence Europe) - During the UN's information day on anti-personnel mines and support for de-mining on 4 April, Rebecca Harms MEP, pointed out that seven years after the Ottawa Convention banned this kind of mine, “more than 300 mines are waiting in warehouses to be used”. As long as the USA, Russia, China and India continue to be the main mine manufacturers, hopes for being free of this scourge that creates around 20,000 victims a year, remain slim, averred the German Green. She urged the EU to organise and immediately “exert diplomatic pressure” so that the next conference examining the Ottawa Convention in 2009 is able to register concrete progress. In this context, Rebecca Harms is encouraging Helsinki to join the Convention: which is even more necessary given that in July Finland takes over the Presidency of the Council of Europe for six months, explained the MEP.