Anti-personnel mines

Total ban on landmines: ICRC contribution to the Ottawa process

In 1997 the ICRC and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement as a whole played a key role in the success of the Ottawa process, which culminated in the total prohibition of anti-personnel mines. In particular, the ICRC hosted or supported a number of important meetings at regional level. These included a seminar in Harare, Zimbabwe, from 20 to 23 April for officials from the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs of the 12 member States of the Southern Africa Development Community. Representatives of the National Societies of these 12 countries had already met in Maputo in February, where they had called upon their governments to support the Ottawa process and to adopt national prohibitions on the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines.  

The ICRC and the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly organized a joint seminar on anti-personnel mines on 7 March in Budapest. This initiative led to a resolution by the Assembly urging all member States to become party to the future international treaty for a comprehensive ban on these weapons and to adopt national measures prohibiting or restricting their use. In July in Manila, with the cooperation of the Philippine government and the Philippine National Red Cross, the ICRC hosted an Asian regional seminar for military and strategic studies experts on anti-personnel mines that focused on the question of their military utility. Experts from 18 countries, including 13 in the region, attended the seminar, which found that the humanitarian consequences of anti-personnel mines far outweighed their military utility.
The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction was adopted on 18 September by 89 States at a Diplomatic Conference convened in Oslo, Norway, and it was signed by 121 States at an official ceremony held from 3 to 4 December in Ottawa, Canada.  

Drafting and adoption of the 1997 Convention banning landmines

It was the Canadian Foreign Minister, Lloyd Axworthy, who had provided the impetus for this treaty in October 1996. Several intergovernmental conferences were subsequently convened: in Vienna in February 1997, where views were exchanged on the content of the treaty; in Bonn in April, where the specific issue of verification was addressed; and in Brussels in June, where a declaration was adopted calling for the conclusion of the treaty at the Oslo Diplomatic Conference and its signature in Ottawa at the end of 1997. The ICRC took an active part in all these conferences, in particular with regard to the drafting of the text.

National measures

By the end of the year 123 States had signed the Ottawa Convention, three had ratified it [5], seven had announced the total destruction of their stockpiles of anti-personnel mines and seven had adopted national legislation prohibiting them. In addition, as a matter of policy rather than law, a further 13 States were already in the process of destroying some or all of their stockpiles, 30 States had ended the production of these weapons and 31 their use.

ICRC work on ratification and implementation

With the adoption of the Ottawa Convention, the ICRC's mines-related work moved into a new  phase during which efforts turned to promoting universal adherence to and implementation of the treaty. The ICRC produced ratification kits in seven languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish), which were distributed to the representatives of the States attending the Treaty Signing Conference and Mine Action Forum in Ottawa. Moreover, a layman's guide to the Convention and the Ottawa process was produced in all official UN languages. [6]


1980 UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons

The number of States party to the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons CCW) [7] rose to 71 with the addition of Cambodia, Cape Verde, the Holy See, Monaco, Panama, Peru, Portugal and Uzbekistan. Of these eight States, all but Monaco and Peru adhered to the Convention's three original Protocols, as have all but seven of its other States Parties. Monaco is party only to Protocol I on non-detectable fragments; Benin, Jordan and Peru are party only to Protocol III on incendiary weapons and to Protocol I; France, Israel and the United States are bound only by Protocol II on mines, booby-traps and other devices and by Protocol I. The ICRC continues to encourage adherence to the CCW's Protocol II as this covers not only anti-personnel mines, but also anti-vehicle mines and other explosive devices.


Blinding laser weapons

The ICRC continued actively to promote ratification by States of Protocol IV prohibiting the use and transfer of blinding laser weapons, which was added to the CCW in 1995. It also encouraged governments, when ratifying it, to declare that they would apply the Protocol's provisions "in all circumstances". This reflected the widespread agreement among the States having negotiated the Protocol that it should apply in both international and internal conflicts and that such weapons should simply not exist. States were furthermore urged to enact additional national measures to ensure that blinding laser weapons were neither developed nor produced. By the end of 1997 the following 16 States had ratified Protocol IV: Australia, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, the Holy See, Ireland, Japan, Liechtenstein, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Sweden and Uzbekistan. It therefore appeared likely that the number of ratifications required for entry into force, namely 20, would be reached in 1998.


Chemical and biological weapons

A major development in 1997 was the entry into force of the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) [8] prohibiting the production, stockpiling, transfer and use of such weapons and requiring the destruction of existing stockpiles. This landmark treaty significantly reinforced earlier provisions of humanitarian law which outlawed only the use of chemical and biological weapons. Upon its entry into force on 29 April 1997, the States Parties formally established a new international body, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which is based in The Hague and is in charge of monitoring relevant chemical industry activities worldwide, overseeing the destruction of existing chemical weapons and investigating situations where doubts arise about compliance. At the first conference of States party to the CWC, the ICRC urged those which had made reservations to the 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons to remove such reservations. By the end of the year 105 States had ratified the CWC.


Other weapons

In 1997 ICRC medical and technical staff continued to monitor technological advances concerning other weapons, both existing and under development, which might be considered to violate the norms of humanitarian law. In particular, attention was given to small-calibre arms and the category of new arms being promoted as "non-lethal". Possible objective criteria for evaluating new weapons based on their health effects were considered and the study of these criteria would continue in 1998.


Arms transfers

The ICRC continued to stress its deep concern about the effects of virtually unrestrained arms transfers, particularly of small-calibre arms, which have caused most of the civilian casualties in recent conflicts. In 1997 work continued on an ICRC study, commissioned by the 26th International Conference, on the relationship between arms availability, violations of humanitarian law and the deterioration of the situation of civilians. Arms transfers were also the subject of a resolution adopted by the Council of Delegates in November.

SIGNATORIES OF THE OTTAWA CONVENTION Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darrussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Fiji, France, Gabon, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Niue, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Senegal, Seychelles, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Notes:

5.  Namely, Canada, Ireland and Mauritius.

6. Banning anti-personnel mines: the Ottawa treaty explained, ICRC, Geneva, 1998, 22 p.

7. For full title, see p. 289.

8. The full title of this treaty, adopted on 13 January 1993, is the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction.