The United States has registered to send a delegation to the upcoming review conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in Cartagena. The world power has been a notable absence from the agreement between nations to disarm the dangerous weapon, and this delegation could be a favorable bellwether.

The news is encouraging to campaigners, who predict that US involvement will reinvigorate international interest in the mine ban movement.

“If the U.S. joins, we’re sure there will be a domino effect on others to follow. It will be a big signal to other major powers,” the ICBL’s Jacqueline Hansen said.

In addition to the United States, China, India, Pakistan and Russia and 34 others countries have not signed the treaty.

Reuters

Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

November 17, 2009, 5:20pm   Comments

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines released their annual report yesterday, November 12.  The report, compiled by a worldwide network of researchers, tracks each country’s progress in eradicating landmine threat, and includes updated numbers such as annual casualties, landmines removed, and risk education recipients.

Overall, the results are encouraging. In the past decade, over 2.2 million anti-personnel mines, 250,000 anti-vehicle mines and 17 million other explosives left over from wars have been removed.  But there is still a long way to go, especially in aiding landmine survivors:

Despite this high level of overall funding, over the past decade victim assistance has made the least progress of all the major sectors of mine action, with funding and action falling far short of what was needed. Most efforts remained focused on medical care and physical rehabilitation, often only when supported by international organizations and funding, rather than on promoting economic self-reliance for survivors, their families, and communities.

Check out the full report here.  And learn how you can help landmine surivors by visiting the Survivor Corps website.

November 13, 2009, 3:59pm   Comments

Photo: Guy Oliver/IRIN

To date, the U.S. has provided Mozambique more than 47 million USD in assistance under its Humanitarian Mine Action program. In related news, a recent IRIN article provides a comprehensive, insider’s look into the work of HALO, Mozambique’s biggest humanitarian deminer:

“The deminer’s world is the square metre that he or she kneels before, which is swept with mine-detectors about 35 times on average, only pausing between each sweep to run a piece of metal across the detector’s head to ensure it is working. Tirebuck expects the terrain will allow for each deminer to clear about 40m of a corridor 1m wide each day.”

November 03, 2009, 1:37pm   Comments