PRESS CONFERENCE BY WOLFGANG PETRITSCH, PRESIDENT–DESIGNATE

 

OF NAIROBISUMMIT ON MINE-FREE WORLD

(Issued on 13 October 2004.)

The First Review Conference of the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines, unofficially known as the Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World, is to be held at the Kenyan capital from 29 November to 3 December 2004, it was announced at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

Wolfgang Petritsch, Austria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, who has been designated President of the Summit, told the press that there would be a high-level segment on 2 and 3 December to be attended by heads of State and government.  United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan was expected to attend.

He said a plan of action to be adopted at the Nairobi Summit would call for 67 concrete actions to achieve the four main goals of the Convention, namely, universal acceptance of the instrument; victim assistance; mine clearance; and destruction of stockpiles.

Mr. Petritsch said that, with political commitment and financial support, those goals could be achieved within a reasonable time frame.  That was what the organizers wanted the leaders who would be present to commit themselves to, he added.

He said the Summit would be “a multilateral success story”.  More progress had been made than it was thought possible in 1997 when the Ottawa Conference on landmines took place.  A total of 143 States had joined the Ottawa Convention, including most mine-affected countries such as Afghanistan, Angola, Mozambique, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.  More were expected to join soon.

Armies in 126 countries no longer possessed anti-personnel mines.  The number of new victims of those mines had dropped significantly.  Vast tracks of land had been cleared, although big challenges remained, he said.  Latin America could be a mine-free continent in the very near future, he said.  Nearly all of sub-Saharan Africa had joined, with Ethiopia expected to follow suit.  Similarly, almost all of Europe had joined the Convention.  Greece and Turkey became members last year as part of a confidence-building measure, he said.  There had been regional cooperation on the issue of landmines with respect to the Balkans, and the aim was to achieve a mine-free status by 2009.

He said universal acceptance and implementation of the Convention’s provisions were still a challenge in Asia.  Turkmenistan, which had joined, still had several millions of landmines.  Both sides in the Chechnya conflict were using them.  Jordan and Yemen had made progress in landmine clearance, boosting tourism.

Responding to questions, he said about 50 States had not joined the Convention, including China, Russian Federation and the United States.  He also told a questioner that more than $2 billion had been spent in the last eight years on mine action programmes.  About $100 million would be required for mine clearance projects in Afghanistan, he said.

He praised the role of civil society organizations in disseminating information about the Convention and mine action programmes in general.  He told a questioner that parties to the Convention contributed financially to mine action projects.  Mine-affected countries were also encouraged to contribute.  Croatia, for example, had been financing its own mine clearance projects, he said.

He also referred to meetings of States parties to the Convention, which had been going on in the last few years, the most recent being last September.  Those meetings, and intersessional ones, would continue until the next summit in five years.

Asked about the landmines in the border area between the two Koreas, he said the Convention could be used to promote confidence-building.  He cited the case of Turkey and Greece, which joined the treaty at the same time for that purpose.  Cyprus had joined and had mine clearance programmes in its part of the divided island, he said.

According to the Convention, a review conference should be convened five years after its entry into force, which was 1 March 1999.  The Ottawa Convention prohibits the use of anti-personnel mines, as well as their production, transfer and trade.  In addition, States parties have to clear their mined areas within 10 years.

According to information material on the forthcoming Summit, its objectives included taking stock of the progress made towards the global elimination of anti-personnel mines since the Convention entered into force in 1999.  Another objective was to establish a concrete plan of action to ensure that mined lands are cleared, stockpiled mines are destroyed and mine survivors are cared for in the next five years and beyond.

* *** *