You are in: Home :: News Story

	Nobel Peace Laureate to travel to Kosovo to highlight Landmine Crisis

A press conference will be held at 11:30 on 1 July in Pristina at UNICEF headquarters and Ms. Williams, Amb. Sinclair and UNICEF officials will also be available to the media at other times.

Yugoslav military and security forces, as well as the Kosovo Liberation Army, laid landmines in large numbers. Several dozen returning refugees have already fallen victim to mines, and mines caused the first NATO peacekeeper casualties on 17 June, when two Italian soldiers were injured. Humanitarian organizations are urging refugees to delay their return until the danger from mines has been lessened, but their pleas have been largely unheeded, as thousands pour back into Kosovo. It appears that many mines and booby traps were expressly laid to have an impact on the returning civilian refugee and the internally displaced population.

"The situation in Kosovo exemplifies the humanitarian catastrophe caused by using this indiscriminate weapon anywhere in the world," said Williams. "The terrible costs of this weapon are all too evident, and will continue to grow. Innocent civilians and peacekeeping soldiers are killed and maimed, the return of refugees is impeded, the provision of humanitarian assistance is jeopardized, and post-conflict reconstruction and development is stymied. It will likely take years and tens of millions of dollars to remove the mines planted in this war, and the long-term socio-economic costs are much, much greater," said Williams.

"The focus of the world right now is on the horrific situation in Kosovo -- and rightly so. But we should recognize that there are dozens of countries in the world today living with the similar aftermath of war -- landmines that go on killing and maiming for decades. Mines know no peace accord," said Williams. On behalf of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Williams will call on the Yugoslav government to join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which prohibits all use, production, trade and stockpiling of antipersonnel mines, and on the KLA to pledge to never again use antipersonnel mines and, as a matter of utmost urgency, to share all landmine information and maps with mine clearance teams on the ground.

To date, 135 countries have signed and 82 have ratified the Mine Ban Treaty. The United States has not signed the treaty and insisted on the right (never exercised) to use antipersonnel mines as part of its bombing campaign in Yugoslavia. "Perhaps the experience of Kosovo will convince the U.S. that it is not enough to try to deal with the effect of mines, through demining programs, but instead it must address the cause of the mine problem -- continued use. If the U.S. wants to do all it can to stop further Kosovos, it must join the ban treaty," said Williams.

UNICEF is already working in conjunction with several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to establish mine awareness and risk education programs for refugees on the dangers posed by landmines. Handicap International, Norwegian People's Aid and Mines Advisory Group, humanitarian mine action NGOs and members of the ICBL, have initiated a coordinated response to the urgent landmine and UXO crisis in Kosovo, and established a joint office. Two Cambodian deminers, Huon Sareth and Taing San, who are also landmine survivors, are part of a team set to begin mine clearance in Kosovo with Mines Advisory Group. All humanitarian and mine action organizations want to see sufficient funding available to deal with mine clearance and victim assistance in Kosovo -- at the same time, these organizations call upon governments to maintain, and increase, such funding for other countries dealing with similar landmine crises.

While in the region, Williams will also address a Regional Conference on Antipersonnel Mines in Zagreb 27-29 June 1999. The conference, hosted by the Croatian government, will be opened by the Croatian Foreign Minister Dr. Mate Grani, International Committee of the Red Cross President Cornelio Sommaruga and Williams. Government and non-governmental participants from more than two dozen countries in the region will attend the conference which will examine the status and implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty in the region as well as humanitarian mine action and victim assistance lessons and challenges in the region.
 
story url

WARNING: The Children and Armed Conflict Unit is not responsible for the content of external websites. Links are for informational purposes only. A link does not imply an endorsement of the linked site or its contents.