The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), formally launched in 1992 by six nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), is a broad-based coalition of over 1,400 organizations in 90 countries worldwide. Since its inception, the ICBL has remained focused on its call for a ban on the use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of antipersonnel mines, and for increased resources for mine clearance and victim assistance. A committee of thirteen member organizations and a staff of seven, based in three continents, coordinated the ICBL in 2001 and 2002.^[1]

In 2001 and the first half of 2002, the ICBL engaged in an exhausting number of activities aimed at achieving full universalization and effective implementation of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, and adherence by all to the rapidly-emerging international norm against the antipersonnel mine.^[2] It updated its 2004 Action Plan, adopted at the Third General Meeting of ICBL members in March 2001, which recommits the campaign to accomplish its goals within the 2004 timeframe by setting out detailed plans and priorities to do so.

The ICBL actively participated in numerous major events, including the Third Meeting of States Parties, where it released Landmine Monitor Report 2001, intersessional meetings, and six regional and one global ICBL and Landmine Monitor meetings. In addition, the ICBL participated in several other regional and thematic meetings, undertook several advocacy missions, sent many letters to decision-makers, issued numerous Action Alerts to the network and published a report on ICBL Activities at the Third Meeting of States Parties and another report on Ban Landmines Week, as well as quarterly Landmine Updates. In 2001 and the first half of 2002, more information dissemination than ever was done through the ICBL’s sophisticated system of electronic mail groups and its comprehensive website: www.icbl.org.

THIRD MEETING OF STATES PARTIES

The ICBL took full advantage of opportunities presented by the Third Meeting of States Parties (3MSP) held in Managua, Nicaragua from 18-21 September 2001, as the most important landmine event of the year. Despite the tragic events of 11 September, and ensuing travel difficulties, 97 ICBL campaigners, researchers, deminers and survivors from 42 countries attended in the meeting in which 95 governments participated.^[3]

In the months leading up to the meeting, the ICBL issued numerous ratification alerts and, with Chile’s ratification on 10 September, reached its target of 120 ratifications by the time the meeting opened. During the weekend before the meeting, ICBL campaigners held preparation and orientation meetings, engaged in a series of trainings on lobbying, using the media and e-campaigning, and witnessed the destruction of 20,000 mines by Nicaragua on 17 September. 

Throughout the week of the 3MSP, ICBL members held bilateral meetings with numerous governments, updated each other in daily campaign briefings and met to strategize in thematic and regional Working Groups, in addition to conducting several briefings for delegates and media. The ICBL spoke on numerous occasions throughout the 3MSP itself, including during the opening plenary. The ICBL’s Head of Delegation, Steve Goose of Human Rights Watch, delivered a statement on behalf of the campaign during the general exchange of views and throughout the week representatives of the ICBL Working Groups made numerous interventions. 

The ICBL held a media briefing on the opening day and participated in a closing media briefing with the Foreign Minister of Nicaragua, Francisco Aguirre Sacasa, who was also 3MSP President. The ICBL prepared and distributed news releases and media kits, as well as participant kits for delegates. Outside of Managua, ICBL members and the general public were regularly updated in the lead-up to the meeting and during the week through regular email updates. Several ICBL publications were distributed at the meeting, in addition to Landmine Monitor Report 2001. The ICBL also facilitated a photograph exhibit by Italian photographer Giovanni Diffidenti, sponsored by UNICEF, and entitled, “Legacy of the Perfect Soldier.” The exhibition was located next to the conference center in Managua’s main shopping mall and also made available online. 

INTERSESSIONAL WORK PROGRAM

The ICBL continued its key role in the intersessional work program established in May 1999 at the First Meeting of States Parties to carry the work of the Mine Ban Treaty forward between the annual Meetings of State Parties. The regular intersessional Standing Committees (SC) meetings are uniquely organized in an informal and practical Geneva-based setting to further encourage continuity, transparency, inclusiveness and a cooperative spirit; all key elements in the success of global mine ban movement. The ICBL Intersessional Program Officer’s near constant presence in Geneva contributed greatly to the ICBL’s impact in, and the overall success of, the intersessional work program. 

The 2002 intersessional Standing Committee meetings endeavored to take an integrated global approach and adopt a longer-term vision, with an enhanced focus on the assistance and cooperation matters related to core humanitarian objectives of the Mine Ban Treaty. One key goal remained to provide a clear picture of needs, gaps and available resources, particularly as the first treaty deadlines rapidly approached: 2003 for stockpile destruction and 2009 for clearance of mined areas. These objectives will become increasingly important in the two years leading-up to the first Review Conference in 2004. 

The four Standing Committees -- Victim Assistance and Socio-Economic Reintegration; Mine Clearance, Mine Awareness and Mine Action Technologies; Stockpile Destruction; and General Status and Operation of the Convention -- each met twice during one-week long periods in January and May 2002 at the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD). Participation in these meetings reached record levels in 2002. Approximately 450 persons representing more than 100 countries (73 States Parties and approximately 30 non-States Parties), ICBL members, and international, UN and regional organizations attended both sets of meetings. More than 90 ICBL members attended the January 2002 meetings, while over 70 participated in the May meetings. 

A Coordinating Committee (CC) made up of States Parties also met monthly in 2001 and bi-monthly in 2002, with 3MSP President Nicaragua as its chair. The ICBL and ICRC were regularly invited to participate in these meetings, which addressed practical coordination matters relating to the intersessional work program and preparations for the annual Meetings of State Parties. From September 2001 to September 2002, the CC consisted of the sixteen Co-Chairs and Co-Rapporteurs of the four intersessional Standing Committees (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, France, Germany, Honduras, Kenya, Norway, Peru, Romania, Switzerland, Thailand and Yemen). The need for balance between donor and mine-affected countries, and principles of regional representation and the need for continuity, as well as engagement of experienced and new countries governed selection of these leadership positions. 

In September 2001, the 3MSP agreed to establish an Implementation Support Unit (ISU) to ensure the sustainability of the intersessional work, which the ICBL has worked closely with since its formation. The Mine Ban Treaty deliberately has no Secretariat to provide support functions as negotiating states viewed the delivery of mine action funds to the field as more urgent. The ISU was formed to ensure continuity and sustainability and, in particular, to enable full participation by mine-affected countries and others with limited resources in the continued “Ottawa Process.” The ISU was not established to replace the important efforts of States Parties. 

The ICBL’s Intersessional Program Officer continued to work to promote the intersessional work, bringing together present and past SC co-chairs and co-rapporteurs together with the ICRC, the ISU and ICBL Coordinator and Working Group chairs for meetings of the ICBL’s Intersessional Contact Group (IICG, formerly known as “20 + 2”) in January and May 2002. These meetings proved invaluable participants to substantively prepare for the SC meetings, and also served as informal fora for strategic planning with government partners. The IICG now includes representatives from 29 countries that have served as Co-Chairs and Co-Rapporteurs of the intersessional Standing Committees since their inception in December 1999.

SC on General Status and Operation of the Convention (Co-Chairs: Norway & Thailand; Co-Rapporteurs: Austria & Peru) The ICBL, under the leadership of its Treaty Working Group (TWG), highlighted the following issues, all which were included on the agendas during the January and May meetings: possible antipersonnel mine use by non-signatories in joint military operations with States Parties, as well as foreign stockpiles and transit of mines (Article 1 – interpretation of “assist”); antivehicle mines with antihandling devices (Article 2 - definitions); mines retained for training and development (Article 3); timely destruction of stockpiled antipersonnel mines (Article 4); the need for comprehensive and timely transparency reporting (Article 7); compliance issues (Article 8); and the obligation to enact national implementation measures (Article 9). The ICBL was a key participant in the Universalization Contact Group chaired by Canada, which coordinates efforts to promote universalization by over two dozen governments, along with ICBL, ICRC and other international organizations. The ICBL was also an active participant in the Article 7 Contact Group chaired by Belgium, which expanded in 2002 to include Article 9. 

SC on Stockpile Destruction (Co-Chairs: Australia & Croatia; Co-Rapporteurs: Romania & Switzerland) The Treaty Working Group also led ICBL’s participation in this SC and the TWG Chair provided a global overview in the opening sessions of both meetings. The TWG emphasized the need for States Parties to provide regular progress reports (in addition to timely and comprehensive Article 7 transparency reporting), identified problem areas including resource constraints for stockpile destruction, and warned States Parties to take the rapidly approaching four-year deadline for destruction of stockpiles seriously as this constitutes one of the visible and essential aspects of treaty implementation. The ICBL also urged countries to provide more information on existence, numbers and types of antipersonnel mine stockpiles worldwide.

SC on Mine Clearance, Mine Awareness and Related Technologies (Co-Chairs: Germany & Yemen; Co-Rapporteurs: Belgium & Kenya) The ICBL Mine Action Working Group (MAWG) and its member mine clearance organizations assisted in turning the major focus of this Standing Committee to the 10-year deadline for clearing mined areas as outlined in the Mine Ban Treaty. The MAWG urged States Parties to determine the extent of the mine action work that has been completed, and what remains to be done in order to prioritize needs and assess what will be required to accomplish the clearance obligation laid down by the treaty. The MAWG is leading an ongoing process to gather information that will provide a global picture of the state of mine clearance to date and identify the work remaining to be done prior to 2009, with funding provided by Co-Chair Germany. The 3MSP shifted Mine Awareness discussions to this Standing Committee from the Victim Assistance Standing Committee, as urged by ICBL since 1999. 

SC on Victim Assistance and Socio-Economic Reintegration (Co-Chairs: Canada & Honduras; Co-Rapporteurs: Colombia & France). The ICBL Working Group on Victim Assistance (WGVA) continued to play an important role in setting the agenda for this Standing Committee. In the May meeting, presentations looked at the progress made by a new consultative process to identify medium-term priorities for the Standing Committee, which will hopefully enable the Committee to show measurable progress in mine victim assistance by the time of the Review Conference in 2004. Although not definitive, priorities areas initially identified by the SC included: economic integration, national planning, prosthetics and emergency medical care. Areas supported by the Standing Committee included: “Raising the Voices,” a leadership training for landmine survivor advocates; critical issues and advancements in medical care and psychological, social and physical rehabilitation; human rights and disability issues; and prosthetics and orthotics. “Raising the Voices” continued in its second year, with financial support provided by Canada and Norway, and fourteen mine survivors from Africa (Angola, Chad, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan and Uganda) participated in the intersessional meetings in January and May 2002. 

Updated information and background on the intersessional work program can be found on the ICBL website at http://www.icbl.org and on the GICHD website at http://www.gichd.ch.

OTHER CAMPAIGN ACTIVITIES

ICBL/Landmine Monitor meetings. ICBL staff continued to conduct campaign seminars in conjunction with regional researcher meetings held to prepare Landmine Monitor Report 2002. At each ICBL session, campaigners strategized on their work in the region, discussed campaign priorities, updated the 2004 Action Plan, and engaged in events to raise public awareness. 

In October 2001, Asia-Pacific campaigners met in Seoul, Republic of Korea, following their research meeting. They wrote a joint open letter to Korean President Hon. Kim Dae Jung, which was released in a joint press conference with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jody Williams during an international symposium at Chungbuk University. The campaigners undertook a field trip to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), where they presented an autographed Landmine Monitor Report 2001 to Korean military officers following a briefing on the mine situation along the border with North Korea. Campaigners also met with farmers injured by mines dislocated from the DMZ. 

In early November 2001, ICBL members from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region of the former Soviet Union met in Yerevan, Armenia. In addition to internal research and campaign meetings, the participants took part in a roundtable discussion at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visited the Center of Trauma, Orthopedics and Rehabilitation to discuss mine survivor treatment, and spoke in a roundtable discussion hosted by Armenia’s Deputy Minister of Defense. They made a field trip to the Tavush region in the north of the country along the border with Azerbaijan, where they met with local villagers and the governor of the province to discuss the mine problem. Every evening national television reported on activities of the campaigners. 

Later in November 2001, Landmine Monitor researchers from Africa met in Nairobi, Kenya before their research meeting to discuss advocacy strategies and actions in support of the mine ban in the region. They brainstormed on fundraising strategies, actions to engage non-state actors on the mine ban and updated the ICBL’s 2004 Action Plan. The meeting concluded with a roundtable on the mine problem in the region attended by Nairobi-based diplomats and government officials. 

At the ICBL/LM Americas meeting held in Brasilia, Brazil in early December 2001 campaigners discussed their advocacy plans and targets for 2002. The Human Rights Commission of the Chamber of Deputies hosted a roundtable seminar on implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty in the region, at the National Congress; campaigners and representatives of the Brazilian Campaign to Ban Landmines spoke. 

The regional meetings for Europe and the Middle East/North Africa took place in January 2002 in Geneva during intersessional Standing Committee meetings. Again, the ICBL staff led advocacy discussions on campaigning in these regions and sought to identify specific campaigning challenges in Europe, including interpretation issues related to the Mine Ban Treaty, and in the Middle East, where civil society groups often have less status and freedom to campaign than elsewhere, and government support for the antipersonnel mine ban is lowest. 

Over 90 researchers and campaigners from 75 countries participated in the Global Meeting of Landmine Monitor Report 2002 researchers held in Paris, France in mid-April 2002, as well as representatives of key countries and international agencies. In an integrated ICBL/LM program, participants reviewed their research reports with all the research coordinators in small or individual group sessions, while at the same time participants attended a series of workshops prepared by the ICBL staff and working group chairs on various campaigning tools and topics. Several campaigners met with Paris-based representatives of their governments, as well as with members of the media. 

Other events: In addition to the regional ICBL/Landmine Monitor meetings, the ICBL participated in numerous workshops, seminars and conferences throughout the year. A few of them are cited here. ICBL representatives and Landmine Monitor researchers attended a regional governmental seminar in Warsaw in mid-June 2001, which examined Mine Ban Treaty challenges for signatory state Poland and other countries of Eastern Europe and the Baltic. In late June 2001, the ICBL representatives from Japan and Russia and in-country Landmine Monitor researchers cooperated with Canada and Mongolia to conduct the first ever government seminar on landmines in non-signatory Mongolia. ICBL members from the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand participated a regional government meeting on stockpile destruction hosted by Malaysia and Canada in mid-August in Kuala Lumpur. ICBL members participated in a “Students for a Mine-Free World” Conference held in Sarajevo in late October 2001. In early November 2001, the ICBL attended a regional governmental conference on victim assistance in Bangkok, hosted by Thailand. 

In mid-January 2002, ICBL representatives spoke in a regional seminar on the Mine Ban Treaty, in North Africa, organized by Tunisia and Canada in Tunis. The national campaign in Brazil represented the ICBL at the World Social Forum, held in late January 2002 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. In May 2002, the ICBL participated in a government workshop in Kinshasa on the Mine Ban Treaty and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), during which the DRC deposited its instrument of accession to the ban treaty. Later in May, ICBL members attended a regional governmental conference on the mine problem in Southeast Asia, hosted by Thailand in Bangkok, the location for the Fourth Meeting of States Parties. Campaigners from the region met the day before the event, addressed the conference, and held a press briefing. 

In addition to these events, the ICBL’s Ambassador, 1997 Nobel Laureate Jody Williams, undertook numerous speaking engagements in support of the ICBL in 2001 and the first half of 2002. ICBL members and national campaigns also held national seminars or workshops in many countries worldwide and the ICBL Ambassadors, staff and members undertook a number of advocacy and awareness-building missions. Between May 2001 and May 2002 awareness-raising activities were held in countries including: Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, Egypt, France, Georgia, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritius, Mongolia, New Zealand, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, UK, and the U.S. 

The ICBL sent letters to heads of state, issued media releases and engaged in other advocacy activities to promote the landmine ban at international fora in 2001 and the first half of 2002. ICBL members also participated in donors conferences and other meetings to help address mine action needs. These included: the UN General Assembly in New York, the UNGA’s Special Session on Children, the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the European Union, the Francophonie, the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, the G8 and G6B, NATO, OSCE, Organization of American States, the Organization of African Unity (the African Union since July 2002), the Assembly of African Francophone Parliamentarians, the Rio Group, MERCOSUR, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers, the Arab League, the World Social Forum, the FIFA World Cup and the Centennial of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Coordinated campaign actions: The Mine Ban Treaty anniversaries of 3 December (the opening for signature in 1997) and 1 March (the entry-into-force in 1999) once again galvanized campaigners into action around the globe. The ICBL sent letters to Heads of State on these occasions and others, and issued regular Action Alerts on universalization and ratification targets, as well as denouncements of specific instances of mine-laying by treaty hold-outs and non-state actors. In the US, the US Campaign to Ban Landmines called on ICBL members and pro-ban governments to join its push for a positive outcome to the Bush administration’s landmine policy review. On 1 March 2002, ICBL members called on India and Pakistan to halt their laying mine along their common border. 

In the last quarter of 2001, the ICBL responded to the increased demand for accurate and updated information on landmines in Afghanistan by creating a web page http://www.icbl.org/country/afghanistan/ containing fact sheets, press releases, action alerts, photographs and more. The ICBL circulated several updates and press statements by the Afghan Campaign to Ban Landmines (ACBL) and worked with the ACBL, the Afghan government and United Nations to put together a governmental seminar on landmines in Kabul in late July 2002. 

The ICBL published and updated several campaign tools in 2001 and the first half of 2002, such as its Campaign Kit (now available in Arabic, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian), its quarterly “Landmine Update,” a new booklet on fundraising sources and strategies, and an ICBL Report on Activities at the Third Meeting of States Parties. It produced new brochures, bumper stickers, pins, caps and continued to make documents, photographs, videos and other material available in various languages for different audiences through its Resource Center, member organizations and the web site. The ICBL conducted a membership inventory of resource demand and availability and began the process of scaling down the Yemen-based Resource Center to increase effective and efficient production and dissemination of campaign resources through a decentralized system of regional, linguistic and thematic resource focal points 

On 3 December 2001, the ICBL launched two new youth advocacy tools: a “Youth Campaign Kit” and an extensive Youth section of its website, in cooperation with young campaigners in various countries around the world: http://www.icbl.org.

In 2001 and the first half of 2002, the ICBL Webmaster worked with the ICBL Coordinator to train staff and campaigners in web-based advocacy, in addition to constantly improving and updating information dissemination through electronic mail groups and the ICBL website: www.icbl.org.

As in previous years, ICBL staff and leadership were invited to speak in various fora to NGOs and others on lessons learned both from the ICBL’s campaign experience and the establishment and success of its Landmine Monitor initiative. The ICBL continues to be viewed as one of the world’s most successful examples of an expertly coordinated, creative, systematic and sustained NGO initiative that continues to build on its enormous success. More information on the ICBL’s activities is available at http://www.icbl.organd particularly through the quarterly “Landmine Update.”

[1] The CC membership has not changed since it was approved by the last General Meeting of the ICBL network in March 2001: Afghan Campaign to Ban Landmines, Association for Aid and Relief/Japan, Cambodia Campaign to Ban Landmines, Colombia Campaign Against Mines, German Initiative to Ban Landmines, Kenya Coalition Against Landmines, Handicap International, Human Rights Watch, Landmine Survivors Network, Lutheran World Federation, Mines Action Canada, Norwegian People’s Aid, and South African Campaign to Ban Landmines. The ICBL staff are: Elizabeth Bernstein, Coordinator; Sylvie Brigot, Government Relations Officer; Dalma Føldes, Resource Center Director; Kjell Knudsen, Webmaster; Jackie Hansen, Project Officer; Susan B. Walker, Intersessional Program Officer; Sue Wixley, Advocacy and Communications Officer. Contact icbl@icbl.org.
[2] This chapter focused on the period from June 2001 to June 2002, but includes some information from the first half of 2001 also reported in the ICBL chapter in Landmine Monitor Report 2001.
[3] The 95 government delegations to the 3MSP included 67 States Parties, 17 Signatories and 11 non-signatories.