Three countries miss deadline to destroy landmine stockpiles and 15 ask for more time to clear mined areas. posted by MBCBL November 21st, 2008, Geneva: A report, coordinated by Mines Action Canada and released by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines today, states that Greece and Turkey, with a combined stockpile of 4.2 million antipersonnel mines, are in serious violation of the Ottawa Treaty banning landmines after failing to meet their 1 March 2008 deadline to destroy stocks. Belarus also missed its deadline, but is working to secure funding to destroy its stocks.

“This is the first major violation of this treaty obligation,” said Steve Goose of Human Rights Watch. “However, the Ottawa Treaty has led to the destruction of nearly 42 million stockpiled mines, removing the threat these weapons could pose to civilians.”

Twenty-six countries face deadlines to clear all their mined areas by 2009, but 15 have declared they will not meet the deadline and have requested extensions. While some countries do need more time to clear all mined areas, Stuart Casey-Maslen of Norwegian People’s Aid said, “it is not acceptable that countries such as the United Kingdom and Venezuela, both with relatively little mine contamination, have failed to clear a single mined area in the last nine years and expect to be granted extensions to their mine clearance deadlines.”

In 2007, 191,682 antipersonnel mines, 10,003 antivehicle mines and over 2.5 million explosive remnant of war (ERW), including 100,000 cluster submunitions were destroyed worldwide, and at least 122km2 of suspected mined areas were cleared.

New government use of antipersonnel mines was recorded in only two countries, Burma and Russia. Both countries remain outside the Mine Ban Treaty. The use of mines and victim-activated improvised explosive devices by non-state armed groups was reported in nine countries.

Recorded mine/ERW casualties fell by 9% in 2007 over the previous year, with 5,426 reported.”Despite this decrease, casualty data collection remains poor in many countries and we know far more than 5,426 people were killed or injured by mines, cluster munitions and other unexploded ordnance in 2007,” said Katleen Maes of Handicap International. “In addition to new casualties, we know there are hundreds of thousands of mine and ERW survivors around the world and millions of people who cannot farm their land, walk to school or carry out other basic daily activities because of the threat these weapons pose.”

The quality and availability of assistance for survivors continued to be insufficient in 2007, and access to community-based rehabilitation, mental health and economic reintegration programs was limited.

International support for mine action totaled US$431 million in 2007, a $33 million decline from 2006 but the second highest level of annual funding recorded by Landmine Monitor. Of the 20 largest mine action donors, nine provided more funding in 2007 than 2006, while 11 provided less. Canada was the third largest donor (C$49,195,671). “While some other major donors decreased their funding, Canada increased its” said Paul Hannon, Executive Director of Mines Action Canada. “This is the kind of leadership that the world expects of Canada on this issue. We need Canada to remain a top-three donor if we want to finish the job begun in Ottawa in December 1997. This funding is clearly delivering results and having a major impact.”

The Ottawa Treaty, which prohibits the use, production, and trade of antipersonnel landmines, has been ratified by 156 countries. Landmine Monitor Report 2008 is the tenth annual report by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, co-laureate of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. The Landmine Monitor constitutes a sustainable and systematic way for NGOs to monitor and report on the implementation of a disarmament treaty. Since 2005, MAC has served as the lead agency responsible for the coordination and production of this unprecedented civil society monitoring tool.