PRESS BRIEFING BY UNICEF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY UNICEF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy, briefed correspondents at Headquarters this afternoon on the joint effort by UNICEF and the Organization of African States (OAU) to accelerate the ratification process, particularly in Africa, of the treaty to ban landmines, and to heighten awareness of the danger those weapons posed, especially to children. Ms. Bellamy said that, in the course of her recent visit to Angola to launch the consolidated appeal on landmines, she reviewed the problem with the Secretary-General of the OAU, Salim A. Salim. Together, they sought ways to strengthen efforts to promote the ratification by African countries of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines. (The treaty was opened for signature in Ottawa in December and remains open at Headquarters in New York.) "I am pleased to report that OAU and UNICEF together will actively pursue ratification activities in Africa", she said. To accelerate ratification of the landmines ban, UNICEF would build on its past experience in seeking ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The OAU indicated its intention to actively pursue early ratification among African States and had placed the issue on the agenda of next week's meeting of the Council of Ministers for Foreign Affairs. So far, 123 countries had signed the treaty, and five had ratified it (Canada, Ireland, Mauritius, Turkmenistan and the Holy See). With 40 ratifications required for its entry into force, "we are one tenth of the way there", she said. Given the widespread mining of Africa, much land was no longer available for living and harvesting, Ms. Bellamy said. The UNICEF had also seen the direct impact of landmines on people, particularly their very devastating impact on children. The UNICEF was, therefore, actively involved in mine- awareness programmes in schools and was working through other educational spheres, including local theatrical troupes working with children and the distribution of games. Asked if she could display and explain the board game she had brought to the briefing, Ms. Bellamy said that the game required children to move their players forward by heeding the signs and refraining from running across the field. The use of inter-active activities to promote mine awareness was proving to be much more useful to children, who would then describe the experience to their parents. The game also illustrated the different kinds of mines a child might encounter. A Portuguese-language version was presently in use in Angola. The UNICEF had used a comic book featuring the Superman character in Bosnia, which would soon be available for use in Spanish-speaking countries, such as El Salvador, where a significant number of mines had been laid. Ms. Bellamy added that there was increasing recognition that it was not possible to remove all the mines, so it was essential to identify their locations.

UNICEF Briefing - 2 - 19 February 1998

Did the ratification efforts in Africa span the continent or focus on certain countries? another correspondent asked. Ms. Bellamy said that, in conjunction with the OAU, those efforts were focused on all African countries, adding that UNICEF's mine-awareness efforts were not limited to Africa.

Asked if there had been an impact yet in Angola as a result of the signing of the treaty, Ms. Bellamy said that much effort had been aimed at containing the problem. There had also been a large shift of Angolans to Luanda, owing to the heavily mined rural areas. The armies of the Angolan movements, South Africa, the African National Congress, the Portuguese Army, and mercenaries were among the many groups that had mined portions of Angola in the past.

Were the mine-awareness programmes a recognition by UNICEF that the enormous cost and time required to clear landmines was beyond the reasonable capacity of what most Member States and non-governmental organizations could handle, and did they reflect a shifting away from mine clearance to an acceptance, requiring more vigilant education programmes? a correspondent asked.

Ms. Bellamy said that it was not "a shifting away", but rather a recognition that "the reality of eliminating landmines from the earth was probably not a possibility". Extensive mine-clearance activities were still under way. The recent Multi-Country Study on the Development of Indigenous Mine-Action Capacities, presented last week at Headquarters, concluded that the issue was no longer just about eliminating, but about containing, those weapons. While mine clearance was needed, mine awareness had become increasingly important.

A correspondent asked if Ms. Bellamy felt any pressure resulting from the "politicization of UNICEF" over the years. She responded that, no, UNICEF was not politicized. Indeed, through her recent experience in Angola, she had seen UNICEF's immunization campaigns covering areas controlled by the Government, as well as by the non-government forces. The UNICEF was able to engage in such campaigns because it did not participate in politics.

She added that UNICEF staff were in Iraq, along with other members of the United Nations family, where they had been actively involved in basic health issues, focused particularly on the question of the growth and development of Iraqi children and the increasingly severe conditions they faced. Indeed, UNICEF had reported on the malnutrition, stunting, and reduced growth of Iraqi children. Most important, from UNICEF's point of view, was that children not be the ones "caught in the political crossfire".

As the Executive Director of UNICEF and as an American, should the United States bomb Iraq? another correspondent asked. Ms. Bellamy said that as an Executive Director of a United Nations agency, she would follow the direction of the Secretary-General in hoping for a non-military solution. Certainly, anyone who cared about children -- regardless of their political persuasion -- should hope they would not face any future harm. She wished the Secretary-General success in Baghdad.

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