RECORD-BREAKING PROGRESS MADE FOR LANDMINE TREATY - BUT CANADA BOMBING ON
ITS LEADERSHIP

OTTAWA, Nov. 24 /CNW/ - Record-breaking progress in implementing the 1997 Ottawa Convention banning landmines was made in 2009. Use and production of the weapon and casualty rates hit an all time low, while more land was cleared of the weapon than ever before and overall international funding for mine action remained stable despite the global economic downturn—according to Landmine Monitor 2010, released today at the United Nations in Geneva. 

However, Canada's contributions and leadership during this record-breaking year were dismal with significant decreases across the board in sharp contrast to previous years.

Canadian funding for mine action totaled just over C$21 million - a 57% drop from the previous year and its lowest level of funding for mine action since 2002.  This was the largest funding decrease recorded for any donor country by far in 2009.  The next highest decrease was recorded by the Netherlands at 35% (C$10.4 million).  The United States, the European Commission, Japan, Norway, and Germany provided 61% of all international support compared to only 49% in the previous year, and despite a global recession.

"This report clearly demonstrates that the Ottawa Treaty is having a major beneficial impact on tens of thousands of people in thousands of communities around the world" said Paul Hannon, Executive Director of Mines Action Canada. "The Canadian government should be embarrassed for such a huge decrease in funding. CIDA in particular seems to no longer have a strategy for funding efforts to remove these lethal barriers to development." Hannon added, "Until this year Canada was always a top 5 donor in the world and a global leader. This year we are 7^th - just barely ahead of the Netherlands. If this is the start of a trend, we will become known as laggards and our leadership on this issue is in danger of becoming a piece of history only.  We cannot afford to let that happen on this ground-breaking treaty that is named after our great country."

In addition to the overall drop in Canadian funding for mine action, there are also concerns about where and how the few funds made available were allocated. 

"Canada's funding is now only being given to a handful of recipient countries - with 60% of last year's funding going to Afghanistan alone and largely channeled through the UN and other multilateral institutions.  This makes it hard to trace exactly where and how the funds were used," continued Hannon. "The bulk of Canadian funds were spent on mine clearance and land surveys with only 4% spent on assistance to landmine victims.   We need to remind ourselves that people were at the heart of the movement to ban landmines and the resulting Ottawa Convention.  It is also important to remind ourselves that this is first and foremost a humanitarian issue - not a political one - and Canada needs to follow through on its treaty obligations and promises made to landmines survivors and their families."

Eighty percent of the world's states are party to the Mine Ban Treaty. Thirty-nine countries—including China, India, Pakistan, Russia, and the United States—have yet to join the treaty, but most are in de facto compliance with many of the treaty's key provisions. The US is currently engaged in a comprehensive review of its landmine policy.

The Monitor removed Nepal from its list of mine producers, leaving a dozen countries on the list, of which as few as three are believed to continue to actively manufacture antipersonnel mines (India, Myanmar, and Pakistan). For the first time the Monitor did not list Russia as a mine user, leaving Myanmar as the only government confirmed as using mines in 2009-2010. 

In 2009 and 2010, in addition to government forces in Myanmar, non-state armed groups in only six countries (Afghanistan, Colombia, India, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Yemen) continued to use the weapon.  There were disturbing allegations of use of mines by the armed forces of Turkey, a State Party, which the Turkish government is investigating.

In 2009, 3,956 new landmine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties were recorded, the lowest number for any year since the Monitor began reporting in 1999. A 28% reduction in the number of recorded mine and ERW casualties in 2009 is cause for hope, although because of incomplete data collection the actual number of casualties is certainly significantly higher. Some improvement in victim assistance services was noted in 11 countries or other areas in 2009, but declined in nine others.

In 2009, a total of 66 states and seven other areas were confirmed or suspected to be mine-affected. An area over five times the size of Paris was cleared of mine/ERW contamination in 2009. Mine action programs cleared at least 198km² of mined areas in 2009, by far the highest annual total ever recorded by the Monitor, resulting in the destruction of more than 255,000 antipersonnel mines and 37,000 antivehicle mines. At least 359km² of former battle areas were cleared in 2009, disposing of 2.2 million ERW. Eighty percent of recorded clearance occurred in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Croatia, Iraq, and Sri Lanka. In 2009 and 2010 seven countries announced completion of their clearance activities (Albania, China, Greece, Nicaragua, Rwanda, Tunisia, and Zambia).

Landmine Monitor 2010 and related documents are available at http://www.the-monitor.org/lm/2010. 

For further information:

For more information or to schedule an interview, contact:

• Nancy Ingram, Mobile [phone] or email [email protected]
• Jacqueline Hansen, Geneva (GMT+1), Mobile [phone] or [phone], email [email protected]