GLOBAL: Mine-free world summit opens in Nairobi

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

NAIROBI, 29 Nov 2004 (IRIN) - Hundreds of delegates from around the world gathered on Sunday in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, for the first review meeting of the 1997 treaty that bans the use of anti-personnel mines.

The Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World is intended to review the implementation and status of the Convention on the Prohibition on the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines, create a plan of action to fulfill the convention's aims between 2005 and 2009, and increase acceptance of the treaty.

Speaking during the formal opening ceremony, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said: "Don't relent in the campaign to eradicate this devastating and destructive weapon."

A total of 144 states have ratified the convention, the latest being Ethiopia. This meant all sub-Saharan African states except Somalia had accepted the treaty, the President-Designate of the conference, Wolfgang Petritsch, said.

"Ethiopians can now look forward to a future without the terror of landmines," Petritsch, who is Austria's ambassador to the United Nations, said in a statement. "Other states must now also rise to the challenges of assisting Ethiopia in fulfilling its obligations."

Addis Ababa is now expected to destroy its existing stockpiles of anti-personnel mines within four years, clear mined areas within 10 years and cease the use, production or transfer of the weapon immediately, as required by the convention.

"I have great hope that Somalia will soon join this global movement given as the new Somali prime minister has confirmed that he will attend the Nairobi Summit," he added.

Every state in the Americas except Cuba, Haiti and the United States has ratified the mines convention, as have most European countries. Asia, the Middle East and the Commonwealth of Independent States remain the regions where adherence to the convention is still low.

It is estimated that six states including China, India, Pakistan, the Republic of Korea, Russia and the Unites States, may hold more than 180 million stockpiled anti-personel mines, according to a document prepared by organisers of the Nairobi Summit. Some 83 countries are mine-affected.

The president of the conference, Thailand’s foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai, said that the Landmine Monitor Network had identified more than 8,000 new mine casualties in 65 countries in 2003. Twenty-three percent of the victims were children, he said in a speech delivered at the opening ceremony by his deputy, Sorajak Kasemsuvan.

Sathirathai proposed the setting up of a Global Fund for Humanitarian Mine Action, similar to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in a bid to facilitate efforts to create a mine-free world.

"We must ensure that the United Nations, the World Bank, international financial institutions, and regional organizations integrate mine action into their programmes," said Sathirathai. "We must ensure that efficient resources are mobilized to assist the implementation of the Convention, particularly in capacity building for the poorest mine-affected States."

He said the World Bank had expressed readiness to consider requests for mine action assistance from countries that could derive clear development benefits from demining work.

States that are parties to the convention undertake never to use anti-personnel mines and commit themselves to stop manufacturing, buying, stockpiling or transferring the weapons to anyone. Under the convention, states also undertake never to assist, encourage or induce anyone to engage in any activity prohibited by the treaty.


SEE: IRIN Web Special on Humanitarian Mine Action, (with special focus on the 2004 Nairobi Summit of a Mine Free World)

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