Madam, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen First of all I would like - - PDF document

Madam, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen First of all I would like to thank the Royal Higher Institute for Defence for hosting this seminar which gives us an opportunity to address the various aspects of the fight against antipersonnel mines and as far as I’m concerned to focus on the role of Belgium in mine action. 1- Landmines do not belong to another era as many of us could believe. Mines are still killing … and in 2011 alone 4.286 victims were maimed or killed by landmines which correspond to 12 victims every day, most of them civilians. Still, this is a third of the amount of victims hit ten years ago and a fifth of the 20,000 people that were being hurt or killed by landmines every year in the beginning of the 90’s. It is clear that efforts need to continue to ban antipersonnel mines in all countries but I would like to underline that the dramatic reduction of landmines victims is the result of an unprecedented cooperation between NGO’s, the civil society and governments who decided to join their efforts to ban landmines and reached their goal with the signature of the Convention of Ottawa. 2- In comparison with the threat of mass destruction coming from nuclear and chemical weapons, damages caused by anti-personnel mines have long been underestimated. The first international instrument establishing a limitation in the use of anti-personnel mines was the Protocol II to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons signed in October 1980. A Review Conference was called to improve the Protocol and in may 1996 the State Parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons adopted a revised Protocol II that extends the scope

• f the Protocol in particular to cover both international and internal armed conflicts and to prohibit

the use of non-detectable anti-personnel mines. Nevertheless it was obvious at the end of the Review Conference process that the modifications to Protocol II were not substantial enough. Forty governments declared then that they were in favor of a total ban. Belgium, which was the 1st country in the world to adopt a legislation banning anti-personnel mines

• n 9 March 1995, was part of that group of forty states that started a process in Ottawa in October

1996 in close cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, a global network

• f

non-governmental

• rganizations.

Belgium participated actively in the negotiation process that was launched and hosted the Conference of Brussels in June 1997 where the « Declaration of Brussels » was adopted as a starting point for the official negotiations of a treaty banning anti-personnel mines. 3- The Convention was adopted at the Oslo Conference on 18 September 1997 and opened for signature on 3rd December 1997 in Ottawa. It entered into force on 1st March 1999. The NGO International Campaign to Ban Landmines established in 1992 by 6 organizations (Handicap International, Human Rights Watch, Medico International, Mines Advisory Group,

Physicians for Human Rights and Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation) received the Nobel Peace Prize together with Jody Williams coordinator of the campaign for their work for the banning and clearing of anti-personnel mines . The Convention entered into force on 1 march 1999 and has been signed by 161 states. The provisions are based on some fundamental principles:

• State Parties undertake never to use, develop, produce, acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer to

anyone directly or indirectly anti-personnel mines

• State Parties undertake to destroy all of their stockpiled anti-personnel mines and anti-personnel

mines in mined areas under their jurisdiction or control. 4- Besides, it is the 1st Convention on disarmament setting out that State Parties in a position to do so shall provide assistance for the care and rehabilitation, and social and economic integration of mine victims. Humanitarian disarmament seeks to strengthen international humanitarian law and protect civilians from the suffering caused by armed conflict. This humanitarian focus contrasts with traditional disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation initiatives, which have been driven by countries seeking to advance narrower national security interests. The Mine Ban Treaty and its sister treaty, the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, embody the humanitarian disarmament approach by creating distinctive and uncompromising legal regimes aimed at protecting civilians and ending human suffering. The fast-track diplomatic processes that led to the creation of the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions characterize advances in humanitarian disarmament .It came from

• f a group of like-minded countries that united in their common objective of placing the protection
• f civilians above other considerations. Both treaties achieve the clearest and highest legal standards

possible through absolute prohibitions of the weapons rather than regulating them. Another characteristic of these humanitarian disarmament treaties is the genuine cooperation and substantial partnerships between governments, international organisations and civil society. This collaboration was evident both in the processes leading to the creation of the treaties as well as the way they have been carried out. By providing first-hand expertise on the harmful, long-term impact

• f these weapons, civil society representatives including survivors and clearance experts spurred

governments to urgent action. The efficient cooperation between governments and NGO’s is reflected in the composition of the panels of speakers in this seminar where we have all the key actors on the scene of mine action: ICBL, the ICRC, Handicap International who implement the Ban Advocates initiative ,UNMAS and the Implementation Support Unit which is the linchpin of the Ottawa convention. I would like to congratulate and thank them all for their tenacity, efficiency and continued efforts. 5- Since the negotiation of the Convention, Belgium has been very active in mine action.

On diplomatic level, we participated actively, as I mentioned before, in the Ottawa process but we also presided over the 4th Meeting of States Parties that took place in Geneva in September 2002. Also, in 2009, Belgium co-presided together with Thailand over the Permanent Committee for victims’ assistance. Under their chairmanship the Conference adopted ambitious and concrete decisions to improve the situation of the victims of mines. Belgium is currently coordinator of the contact group on universalization of the convention and also acts as coordinator for the contact group on reporting, which aims to improve the transparency measures set out by the Convention. Belgium is also candidate to the Vice Presidency of the 3rd Review Conference that will take place in Maputo in fall 2014 and to the Presidency of the 14th Member State Parties Conference in 2015, which would give us the honor to preside over the first MSP to implement the action plan that will be adopted in Maputo for the next 5 years. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has been interacting with the civil society and the NGOs, via its diplomatic network, to develop a strategy to finance projects and promote the objectives of the Convention of Ottawa. Because beyond the dreadful damage and suffering they inflict upon individuals, landmines are also used to disorganize vast areas. For example, landmines can block access to roads, disorganize communication networks and prevent people from cultivating thousands of otherwise fertile fields. As a consequence they also deeply alter the socio-economic development of areas already badly affected by conflict and where the average income per capita is generally very low. Contributing to demining projects and projects on victim assistance are the two guidelines of Belgium’s mine action. Belgium signed The Geneva Declaration on 7 June 2006 which is the strongest political statement to date that addresses the impact of armed violence within a development context. Understanding that the fight against the global scourge of armed violence and the prospects for sustainable development are closely linked, the signatories recognize that armed violence constitutes a major obstacle to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. They agree to strengthen their efforts to integrate armed violence reduction and conflict prevention programs into national, regional, and multilateral development frameworks and strategies. The rights of victims should also be considered in the wider framework of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities signed by Belgium on 30 March 2007 and ratified it on 2 July 2009. Since 1998 until 2012 Belgium has funded projects for an amount of 57 million euros. 6-Even if 161 countries have ratified it, still 35 countries have to sign it and universalization of the Ottawa Convention remains a challenge The provisions of the action plan adopted at the2nd Review Conference in Cartagena in 2009 are clear and the States Parties have to pursue their efforts, at the ministerial level, to engage States not party to the Convention. Belgium is coordinator of the contact group on universalization and the Minister For Foreign Affairs raises this issue regularly in his bilateral meetings with authorities of countries who still have to join the Convention.

If the Ottawa convention is frequently referred to as a pivotal universal standard in international humanitarian law, we‘re still convinced that accession to a legally binding instrument is indispensable to achieve the objective of a world free of mines. We are especially satisfied that there is now universal acceptance of the Convention by all the Member States of the European Union. This reinforces the legitimacy of the mine action of the EU and fully synchronizes the political commitment of the EU to the Ottawa Convention with the available EU financial instruments. In this regard we welcome the adoption of a European Union Council Decision in November 2012 to support the implementation of the Cartagena Action plan and to provide funding to support a high level panel on universalization, thus expanding the important efforts undertaken by Prince Mired of Jordan in recent years. A lot of efforts have been done these last 20 years to ban landmine and it is essential that these efforts are continued to convince more countries to join the Convention and to keep mine action high on the agenda to reach our goal of a world free of mines. I’m convinced that an initiative like this seminar and the exhibition that will be opened this afternoon contribute to this goal, maintain a great visibility on mine action and raise awareness among young people on this question.

• Finally I‘d like to thank Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid for her personal commitment in mine

action for more than 12. Her personal involvement on this issue has definitely highlighted the action

• f Belgium in mine action.