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"We're going to keep up the pressure to ensure that demined land is restored to civilians"

Jean-Baptiste Richardier, doctor, executive director and cofounder of Handicap International, spoke about the fight against anti-personnel mines to mark the 15th anniversary of the entry into force of the Ottawa Convention, an historic advance in international humanitarian law, in which Handicap International played a decisive role, in aid of the victims of these weapons, their families and communities.

This triumph of law over barbarity has had a huge impact: there has been a fivefold reduction in the number of new victims recorded every year; thousands of square kilometres of land have been “cleared” and tens of millions of mines have been destroyed. However, this anniversary is also a reminder that we need to remain vigilant and keep up the pressure on States which have not yet signed the Convention, such as the United States, and those which, like Syria, make intensive use of these banned weapons with complete disregard for their own populations.

It was in 1982. Handicap International was working in the Cambodian refugee camps on the border with Thailand. New victims of anti-personnel mines, including women and children, were arriving every day. We orthopaedically-fitted them and taught them how to walk again and get their lives back on track. But as time went on, we got tired of making a planned massacre easier for its victims to bear, and of our inability to stop the use of a particularly barbaric weapon. All of us felt that treating and helping these victims recover wasn’t enough anymore.

In November 1992 this revolt against an intolerable scourge led to the founding of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) by six NGOs. The campaign saw Handicap International join forces with the Mines Advisory Group (UK), Medico International (Germany), Human Rights Watch/Arms Project (US), Physicians for Human Rights (US) and Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (US). What followed was an incredible human adventure, an amazing epic, in aid of the silent victims of these weapons.

At the time, more than 20,000 people were killed or maimed by these weapons every year; most of them were civilians and a very large number of them were children. Within just five years, this campaign, organised by civil society groups and supported by the moral authorities, led to the signing of the Ottawa Convention banning the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines in December 1997. A conventional weapon had been banned for the first time in history! A few weeks later, the efforts made by the NGO members of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines were rewarded by the Nobel Peace Prize.

Fifteen years ago, to the day, on 1st March 1999, the mine ban treaty entered into force, marking a huge step forward for the whole of mankind. Now considered to be one of the most effective instruments of international humanitarian law, this treaty opened up lots of new opportunities.

We’ve come a long way since that small group of people decided to make a difference. Through our determination to act on behalf of these victims and our first victory, we earned the legitimacy we needed to combat another type of conventional weapon, with potentially even more terrible consequences for civilians - cluster munitions. And a decade later, in 2008, they also became illegal, following the adoption of the Oslo Convention!

The Ottawa Convention is monitored by the NGO members of the ICBL, whose efforts made it possible, and the impact has been considerable. According to the Landmine Monitor (published in November 2013):

• 161 States Parties to the Convention, more than 80% of the world’s nations;
• More than 4,000 sq. km of land has been demined;
• A fivefold reduction in the number of reported victims since the treaty entered into force: 3,628 new victims were identified in 2012 (a drop of 19% on the previous year), compared with 20,000 in 1999.
• 70 million mines stockpiled by States have been destroyed since 1999.

Today, the illegality of these weapons has become the norm, beyond dispute, and a vast majority of non-States Parties apply the convention. However, we must keep up the pressure to ensure that signatory States do not waive in their efforts to achieve the ultimate goal of restoring demined land to civilians. They need to keep up the pressure because it is unacceptable for a nation like the United States to continue refusing to sign the convention, providing a convenient alibi for the thirty or so States who make up an increasingly implausible united front against it; we’ve lost count of the number of high-ranking military personnel who admit that mines have never changed the course of a conflict.

However, minefields in 71 countries and territories continue to kill and maim. Every two hours, a new victim of these weapons is reported somewhere in the world, more than three quarters of whom are civilians, and almost half are children. When you see the day-to-day reality experienced by people whose lives are at risk from these weapons, there is no possible argument to justify remaining outside the community of nations.

The celebrations marking the 15th anniversary of the entry into force of the Ottawa Convention is an opportunity, for Handicap International and everyone who supports our on-going commitment to this cause,to call on the international community to implement all of the obligations set out under the convention. Efforts must be continued to demine contaminated countries in order to eradicate the threat to civilians from anti-personnel mines, by stepping-up efforts to help survivors and families who fall victim to these “leftovers of war”, and by taking an uncompromising stand against the last non-States Parties to the convention.

For more than 30 years, Handicap International has worked tirelessly to demine contaminated land, make people aware of the dangers around them, provide artificial limbs or assistive devices to victims and foster their inclusion in their communities. Our organisation has become an authoritative witness and advocate on the international scene, helping to ensure that the victims of this human barbarity are neither forgotten nor taken for granted.