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UNICEF hails milestone on landmines

Wednesday, 16 September 1998: UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy today hailed the achievement of the 40th ratification of the treaty to ban anti-personnel landmines, which is the minimum number required for the treaty to become binding international law. Under the terms of the treaty, the ban formally goes into effect in March 1999.

"We stand at an historic moment in the struggle to end the anguish that these weapons have already inflicted on tens of thousands of the world's children, their families and their communities," she said.

Ms. Bellamy will visit Bosnia, the most heavily mined country in Europe, this week to focus attention on this tremendous achievement. She will visit a mined area, a physical therapy centre for child landmines victims and will also meet with Government officials to discuss ratification follow-up.

Ms Bellamy spoke in New York as Burkina Faso became the 40th country to formally ratify the treaty, which bans the production, sale, stockpiling, export and transfer of mines designed to kill or maim.

She congratulated countries that have ratified the treaty since December, when it was first open for signature in Ottawa. She said that by doing so they had ushered in a new humanitarian and ethical standard to end the indiscriminate cruelty caused by mines, and hasten their elimination. Ms. Bellamy also praised the role of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, a non-governmental organization, for their commitment and perseverance in generating a groundswell of support for the treaty.

"But this is no time to bask in our success," Ms. Bellamy warned. "While this treaty is a hard-won victory, countries that have not yet added their names to the treaty must move swiftly to do so. We need that unanimity in halting the further spread of these horrific weapons."

"Only when every country in the world resolves to rigorously implement the treaty will the world be finally rid of these insidious weapons of war," Ms. Bellamy said.

Some 26,000 people, many of them children, are killed or maimed each year by landmines – a brutal fact of life in nearly 70 countries where most of the world 60 to 100 million unexploded mines lie hidden. Further, landmines destroy livelihood by rendering land unusable.

The 40 state parties which ratified the international treaty are: Andorra, Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, France, Germany, Grenada, Holy See, Hungary, Ireland, Jamaica, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mexico, Mozambique, Niue, Norway, Peru, Samoa, San Marino, South Africa, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkmenistan, United Kingdom, Yemen and Zimbabw.

UNICEF has long advocated a global ban on landmines and in 1995 resolved not to do business with any companies that manufacture or sell anti-personnel mines or their components.

In promoting mine awareness and education, UNICEF and its partners have launched Superman and Wonder Woman comic books to alert children to the dangers of hidden mines. UNICEF has also taken the lead in the creation of dramas, games, puppet shows and songs to teach children around the world how to recognize a mine and what to do when they encounter one.

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