Call for an end to mine warfare

by: Liz Bernstein

Worldwide: A total of 122 countries have ratified and another 20 have signed the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. Although most of Africa, Europe and Latin America, and some countries in Asia have joined the treaty, the following nations are among those that have so far refused to become States Parties: China, Egypt, Finland, India, Israel, North and South Korea, Pakistan, Russia and United States (US).

Delhi and Islamabad will come under pressure this week as campaigners arrange embassy visits and mount a worldwide letter-writing campaign to communicate the ICBL message that mine use cannot be tolerated. Meanwhile, leaders in the Commonwealth have been asked to weigh in and condemn mine use at their meeting this weekend in Queensland, Australia.

The ICBL also voiced its alarm at a possible reversal of US landmine policy, calling on the Bush administration to honor its commitment to ban the weapon and to join the Mine Ban Treaty by a certain date.

Mine threat in India and Pakistan
"Mines will take the lives and limbs of civilians in India and Pakistan today and for years to come", said Faiz Fayyaz who heads the Pakistan Campaign to Ban Landmines. Echoing this statement, coordinator of the Indian Campaign to Ban Landmines Dr Balkrishna Kurvey said, "on top of the deaths and casualties, landmines are also denying farmers the use of large areas of land and clearing them will be expensive and dangerous".

Contact:
International Campaign to Ban Landmines
110 Maryland Ave NE, Box 6, Suite 509, Washington, DC 20002, USA (+1 202 547 2667; fax 547 2687; email banemnow@icbl.org; http://www.icbl.org).

Source: International Campaign to Ban Landmines