By Richard Johnson Republished courtesy IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis
GENEVA (IDN) - The Council of Europe's Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg has urged all European states to ratify the Mine Ban Treaty and the new treaty banning cluster munitions.
The six of the 46 Council of Europe member states that have still not ratified the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty in spite of its paramount importance for Europe are: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Finland, Poland and Russia.
The significance of the treaty lies in the fact that there have been more than 3,000 casualties caused by landmines in Europe in the last ten years. Anti-personnel landmines continue to kill or maim indiscriminately long after wars have finished. They are therefore banned under international law. However, this prohibition has not been effectively implemented, writes Hammarberg in his blog.
Today the victims of these remnants of military conflicts are innocent civilians, often children. In certain areas migrants in search of asylum have stepped on mines. They do not see the warning signs when they are trying to cross these contaminated areas during the night.
Hammarberg recalls that in September 2008 four Georgian migrants lost their lives. They were trying to enter northern Greece when they walked into the mined area in Evros, on the border with Turkey.
In Cyprus, in December 2008 an Iraqi family with one child suffered injuries from an anti-personnel mine while trying to cross the buffer zone to seek asylum.
Other European states faced with armed conflicts, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Russia and Turkey, have significant mine casualties every year. From 1999 to 2008 in Russia alone there were a reported 2, 795 casualties caused by mines, the Council of Europe's Human Rights Commissioner adds.
In 2009 the European Human Rights Court in Strasbourg, France, dealt with the case of Alkin concerning an 11-year old Turkish girl whose leg was amputated from the knee after she stepped on a landmine in the area of her village.
The Court considered that the laying of landmines amounts "to intentional use of lethal force", and underlined that breaches of the right to life cannot be remedied only through an award of compensation. It should be accompanied by criminal procedures to identify and punish those responsible.
Hammarberg points out that cluster munitions are another type of vicious weapon whose remnants kill or maim civilians. He hopes the new treaty, adopted in 2008, which entered into force on August 1, 2010, will have wide-ranging effects.
"The groundbreaking Mine Ban Treaty, signed in Ottawa in 1997, is a good example of this," he adds. Following a forceful civil society movement led by the Nobel Peace Prize winner International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), this treaty expressly proscribes anti-personnel mines, that is, mines designed to explode through the presence, proximity or contact of a person.
States are now bound to destroy all their stockpiled anti-personnel mines and to clean all contaminated areas under their control -- a difficult and costly process. They are also obliged to provide social and economic assistance for the care and rehabilitation of mine victims. Mine awareness programmes are another vital part of the treaty.
International cooperation and assistance, for example in the field of mine clearance, is another important provision. In 2007 six European states -- Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK -- were among the top ten contributors to international funding, with the European Commission topping the list.
"The presence of landmines and cluster munitions affects the entire fabric of society. They obstruct countries' development after a conflict. They inhibit the return of displaced persons and hinder the reconstruction of affected areas," writes Hammarberg.
He has highlighted these serious issues in two recent reports dealing, among other things, with the human rights of displaced persons in Turkey and in Croatia.
He adds. "It is regrettable that such inhumane weapons are still used. It is high time that all European states ratify the Mine Ban Treaty and respect its provisions. The same goes for a prompt ratification of the new treaty banning cluster munitions."
As the Convention on Cluster Munitions came into force, thus becoming binding under international law, Nobel Laureate Jody William said on July 29: "The Convention on Cluster Munitions is a strong international instrument and I am confident that with faithful, thorough implementation by states, it will alleviate the suffering caused by those abhorrent weapons."
This is what had become obvious with the treaty banning antipersonnel mines, a weapon that is just as indiscriminate as cluster munitions. The experience in over a decade of Mine Ban Treaty implementation shows that the hard work must start right now if states are to overcome the major humanitarian challenge posed by cluster munitions, said Joy Williams.
"All states should join the convention and forswear use of these weapons forever. We want to see clearance programs effectively resourced and running efficiently. We want to see these cluster munition stockpiles destroyed diligently. We want victim assistance programs based on the needs expressed by survivors themselves," she added.
Since it was opened for signature in Oslo in December 2008, a total of 108 countries have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions and 38 have ratified -- among them are former users, producers and stockpilers of cluster munitions, as well as countries affected by the weapon.
The First Meeting of the States Parties to the convention will take place in Vientiane, Lao PDR, from November 9 to12, 2010.
There are 37 countries or not internationally recognized areas where cluster munitions have been used during armed conflict in post-World War II years: Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Chad, Chechnya, Croatia, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands/Malvinas, Georgia, Grenada, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Kosovo, Kuwait, Lao PDR, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Montenegro, Nagorno-Karabakh, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Uganda, Vietnam, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia.
Seventeen states have used cluster munitions since 1945, end of World War II, during armed conflict: Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Georgia, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sudan, United Kingdom, United States, (former Socialist Republic of) Yugoslavia.
Thirty-four countries have produced or are still producing cluster munitions. Eighty-seven have stockpiled cluster munitions, according to ICBL, 1997 Nobel Peace Laureate, which is a global network in over 90 countries, working for a world free of landmines and cluster munitions. The ICBL is a member of the Steering Committee of the Cluster Munition Coalition, the international civil society campaign that has been instrumental in bringing about the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
