SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES CONVENTION BANNING LANDMINES AS `LANDMARK STEP IN HISTORY OF DISARMAMENT'
Press Release
SG/SM/6410
DC/2595
SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES CONVENTION BANNING LANDMINES AS `LANDMARK STEP IN HISTORY OF DISARMAMENT'
19971202 ADVANCE RELEASE International Community Must Now Focus on Mine-Clearance, To Prevent `Hollow Victory', He Tells Signing Ceremony in OttawaFollowing is the text of an address by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the signing ceremony of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines, at Ottawa, 3 December:
Je me réjouis tout particulièrement d'être parmi vous aujourd'hui. Lorsque l'on sait combien le gouvernement canadien s'est dépensé pour mettre les mines antipersonnel hors-la-loi, il n'est que justice que la Convention qui marque l'aboutissement de ses efforts soit ouverte à la signature à Ottawa.
L'occasion qui nous réunit ici fera date. L'Histoire retiendra que, le 3 décembre 1997, plus de cent gouvernements se sont formellement engagés à ne plus produire, vendre, ni utiliser ces sinistres engins de mort que sont les mines terrestres.
Vous pouvez être fiers de compter parmi les premiers signataires de cette importante Convention.
We have gathered today in a spirit of celebration, at a time of hope, to mark a historic victory for the weak and vulnerable of our world.
It is they who have suffered from the plague of landmines, year in and year out. It is they who have paid the ultimate price in lives and limbs. It is they and their children who will reap the reward of security and civility that this ban makes possible.
The global alliance that created this Convention is an alliance made up of individuals and governments, of grass-roots movements and global humanitarian organizations.
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It is an alliance that has shamed the world and enlightened it, unmasked its excuses and revealed its potential. It has held up a mirror to us all, revealing the wickedness of human folly and the wisdom of human courage.
It has, for once, made "the international community" a living, thriving reality, and not just the hope of a distant future. Only a living, thriving international community could come together, across borders and beyond regions, to eliminate this universal plague.
Today, as more than 100 nations sign the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines, we reaffirm the promise of the international community.
As Secretary-General of the United Nations, I am proud and privileged to assume the duties of depositary of the Convention and pledge to carry out this responsibility with passion and care.
The international community of the future, as represented in this hall today, is a union of governments, civil society, and international organizations. It is a union of one voice, speaking for all the innocent civilians killed, maimed and threatened by landmines. It is a union whose voice has been heard.
Its voice has been heard not least because of the tireless dedication of the hundreds of non-governmental organizations which make up the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
When the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to this historic coalition of conscience, as well as to its coordinator Jody Williams, the world rejoiced. The promise of individual action against a global evil had been recognized and justly rewarded.
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines was not, however, content with mobilizing public opinion. Its many members also put pressure on governments, who in turn were moved by the groundswell of public opinion. Ultimately, they became partners with those very governments in a remarkable expression of the "new diplomacy".
Allow me, at this point, to salute the leading role played by the Governments of Canada, Norway, Austria, Belgium and South Africa in the achievement of this Convention.
Your success is a welcome reminder that one does not have to be a global super-Power to affect the future of international peace and security.
The Ottawa Convention is a landmark step in the history of disarmament. About this, there can be no doubt. I am confident that it will provide the
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final impetus for a universal ban, encompassing all mine-producing and mine- affected countries.
It marks the reversal of the tide of random violence and destruction that begins when a mine is planted and ends only when it is removed.
We must now turn our energies and our imaginations to the cause of mine- clearance, so that this victory today does not become a hollow one.
We must ensure that the technology and resources needed to rid the world of mines are finally and lastingly made available. That includes providing countries unable to afford the cost of destroying their stockpiles with the means to do so.
With even greater persistence, we must work towards the removal of the millions of mines that plague post-conflict societies, from Bosnia to Angola to Cambodia.
Each mine cleared may mean a life saved. Each mine cleared brings us one step closer to building the conditions for lasting and productive peace. The presence, or even the fear of the presence, of just one landmine can prevent the cultivation of an entire field, robbing a family of its livelihood and an entire village of its sustenance.
Indeed, it can prevent and impede development itself.
Developing countries are too often twice cursed -- with poverty and with war -- landmines being the most permanent, the most destructive wound of war. Without their elimination, refugees will be far less able to return, idle fields will be far less accessible, and peace itself will be elusive.
I understand, Mr. Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Axworthy, that plans are already under way for an Ottawa 2 initiative. It will mobilize international, coordinated support for assistance to mine victims, as well as for mine-clearing. I warmly applaud this initiative and pledge that the United Nations system will mobilize all its resources in its support.
Already, more than 6,000 deminers are employed in United Nations and United Nations-supported mine-clearance programmes in seven countries. These programmes include mine surveys and mine awareness programmes to reduce casualties, the training of local deminers, and the establishment of demining schools.
At Headquarters in New York, I have merged all the landmine functions in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, as part of my reform process.
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This reorganization will enhance the efficiency of our response to humanitarian demining needs, as well as to our partners' requests for cooperation. It will make the United Nations as full and effective a partner in the fight against landmines as we can be.
The mission of the United Nations is to make human security a complete and lasting reality for all. Our work for development, children, health care and the environment, no less than our work in peace and security, are driven by this vision. Disarmament, now more than ever -- this year, more than ever -- is recognized as a vital ingredient in the fulfilment of human security.
With the signing of the Ottawa Convention today, a great advance will have been made, not only in global disarmament but in expanding the promise of human security. I congratulate you and salute you for the achievement of this most noble and righteous of causes. The world is a better and safer place for it.
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