Their report, presented in Geneva, states that mines and UXO have been removed from many affected areas; however, there remains much more to be done in order to totally free the world from these weapons.
Ten years after the adoption of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Antipersonnel landmines and on their Destruction, known as The Ottawa Treaty, the authors of this latest report informed on the positive balance. The use and production of antipersonnel mines has decreased since 1999, said Steve Goose, a representative of the Human Rights Watch organisation. “In the sixties, seventies, eighties and early nineties millions of pressure mines were used in dozens of countries. But now that has stopped”.
Production is decreasing
The trade in pressure landmines has ceased. During recent years only Myanmar and most probably Russia have used pressure landmines. In 1999 38 states produced antipersonnel mines, whereas today only 13 countries still produce them. In the meantime 80 percent of all countries worldwide have signed the Ottawa Treaty. But 39 countries have still not signed the treaty. These are mainly countries involved in armed conflicts, such as Russia, USA, Pakistan and India. Some countries have launched mine clearance programmes despite not having signed the treaty. Since 1999 a total of two million two hundred thousand (2,200,000) antipersonnel mines have been cleared and destroyed.
BiH does not meet the deadline
Stuart Casey-Maslen, one of the authors of the latest report on pressure landmines, said that 15 countries have not met the deadline for mine clearance: “Even those countries that got permission for an extension of the deadline did not fulfil their obligations. Some of them are Ecuador, Peru and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Despite having sufficient funds Bosnia and Herzegovina only clears three square kilometres annually. That is not acceptable”.
Since the adoption of the Ottawa Treaty the number of victims of pressure landmines has decreased. In 1999 8,000 people were killed because of these weapons whereas today the number of victims is 5,000. Germany has mostly fulfilled the obligations it undertook through signing the Ottawa Treaty and has destroyed its total stock of antipersonnel landmines. However, there is information that states that the German army – Bundeswehr – still possess approximately one million antitank mines.
Source: DEUTCHE WELLE