Throughout 2003 and the first half of 2004, the ICBL undertook an exhaustive array of activities to help accomplish these goals. Central to these were a series of activities taken to promote and prepare for the landmark “Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World,” the Mine Ban Treaty’s First Review Conference, which was scheduled to be held in Nairobi, Kenya from 29 November to 3 December 2004. The ICBL continued to take full advantage of the implementation mechanisms established by the treaty, participating fully in the Fifth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty and in meetings of the intersessional Standing Committees. It organized around and in some instances initiated other key regional and global events, including an ambitious set of ICBL/Landmine Monitor meetings. The ICBL undertook several missions and ensured civil society representation at a number of stockpile destruction events. Landmine Monitor Report 2003 was released, translated and distributed in dozens of countries.

In addition to representing the ICBL at key events, the small team of ICBL staff issued several Action Alerts, lobbied and wrote to key decision-makers, maintained regular contact with dozens of governments, regional and international organizations and the Implementation Support Unit, drafted press releases and engaged media, carried out in capacity-building activities with campaigners, and continued to coordinate the global coalition’s campaigning activities overall. Under staff’s initiative, several ICBL reports on activities, the quarterly Landmine Update, CD ROMs, and other advocacy materials were produced and disseminated in this period and a new and improved ICBL website was launched. Finally, the ICBL Coordinator skillfully led a campaign-wide transition process, following extensive and comprehensive consultations regarding the future of ICBL activities in the post-2004 period.

The Road to Nairobi

For the ICBL, the 2003 and 2004 period was marked by heightened activity and intensive preparations for the Nairobi Summit. This First Review Conference was widely viewed as the most significant event in the life of the Mine Ban Treaty since it was opened for signature in Ottawa, Canada on 3 December 1997. Realizing that the Nairobi Summit will shape the next five years of work related to the treaty, the ICBL used the event to provide new impetus, momentum and advocacy opportunities for its membership.

The ICBL fully participated in preparation for the Nairobi Summit by attending preparatory meetings and events, providing input on draft documentation, presenting in media and diplomatic briefings, undertaking numerous advocacy missions, participating in communications and side events task forces, issuing several Action Alerts, establishing a webpage (www.icbl.org/nairobisummit), and undertaking an array of advocacy activities. This was in addition to the task of planning the full and effective participation of its membership in the Summit and related side events and exhibits.

On 2 December 2003, ICBL Ambassador Jody Williams and ICBL Coordinator Liz Bernstein participated, together with Ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch, President-Designate of the Nairobi Review Conference, in an event in Cyprus to launch the “Road to Nairobi.” The Acting-President of Cyprus hosted the delegation, which included an event initiating the destruction of Cyprus’s stockpiled antipersonnel mines and a seminar on treaty implementation. From 3-4 May 2004, Williams and Petritsch, formerly the UN High Representative in Bosnia, opened a global ICBL/Landmine Monitor meeting in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina where they subsequently led media on a tour of the city's minefields, drawing attention to the continued needs of mine-affected States Parties.

The ICBL convened and participated in several briefings for media and the diplomatic community in Nairobi on the Review Conference on 1 March and 6 July, as well as Geneva and elsewhere. The ICBL printed a series of awareness-raising postcards, stickers, caps and other materials bearing the slogan: “WANTED: a Mine-Free World.” The materials were designed primarily for use at the Nairobi Summit, but the versatile and adaptable message should ensure an ongoing “shelf life” beyond the Summit.

In addition to formal meetings to prepare for the Review Conference in February and June in Geneva, the ICBL participated fully in other governmental events held throughout 2004 to promote the Nairobi Summit. These included conferences in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (28-29 January 2004), Bucharest, Romania (2-3 February), Nairobi, Kenya (2-4 March), Dushanbe, Tajikistan (15-16 April), Amman, Jordan (19-21 April), Vilnius, Lithuania (8-9 June), Quito, Ecuador (12-13 August), and Bangkok, Thailand (30 August–1 September).

Fifth Meeting of States Parties

The Fifth Meeting of States Parties (5MSP) to the Mine Ban Treaty, held in Bangkok, Thailand from 15-19 September 2003, was one of the most productive and successful annual meetings ever held. This was true both because of the work done in the formal sessions and because of the important discussions and activities carried out on the margins, outside of the conference room. This was the third such meeting to be held in a mine-affected country (after Mozambique in 1999 and Nicaragua in 2001). Three strong documents emerged from the meeting – the Bangkok Declaration, the Final Report, and the President’s Action Programme – which set the stage for preparations of the 2004 Nairobi Summit.

A total of 118 countries attended, the second highest number represented in a meeting of States Parties after Geneva in 2002. More than 200 representatives of non-governmental organizations from 65 countries participated in the largest ICBL NGO delegation ever. The diversity of participants—diplomats, campaigners, UN personnel, and, most notably, significant numbers of mine action practitioners, people from the field, and landmine survivors—made it clear that the Mine Ban Treaty has indeed become accepted as the principal framework for addressing all aspects of the antipersonnel mine problem.

In the lead-up to the meeting, the ICBL issued an Action Alert targeting antipersonnel mines users and producers in seven countries in Asia and established a special web page www.icbl.org/5msp The ICBL released its fifth annual report, Landmine Monitor Report 2003: Toward a Mine-Free World, on 9 September 2003, days ahead of the meeting’s opening, with release events in sixteen countries, while campaigners undertook media work in another fifteen countries.

As at previous meetings of States Parties, the ICBL issued statements and made interventions throughout the meeting. Jody Williams, ICBL Ambassador, addressed the meeting’s opening session. Chair of the ICBL Treaty Working Group and Head of Delegation, Stephen Goose, delivered the ICBL’s statement to the meeting during the General Exchange of Views, and ICBL working group chairs and members made statements throughout the meeting. In addition, ICBL members met with at least 70 governmental delegations.

There were numerous side events, including: field visits to Thailand’s mine-affected provinces of Chanthaburi and Sa Kaeo along the border with Cambodia; an interfaith prayer service; a full-day “lessons learned” workshop and a lunchtime discussion on engaging Non-State Actors in the mine ban; and an art and photography exhibition by Italian artist Laura Morelli and photographer Giovanni Diffidenti in the foyer of the World Trade Centre, a popular Bangkok shopping mall.

The Fifth Meeting of States Parties received excellent media coverage in local, international, print and electronic media. The media kit was available online and in hard copy in both English and Thai. For more information on the meeting and ICBL’s participation in it, please see the ICBL Report on Activities.

Fourth ICBL General Meeting

After the 5MSP, the ICBL took advantage of having the campaigners present in Bangkok to hold its Fourth General Meeting, from 20-21 September.^[2] A total of 141 participants from 54 country campaigns and representatives of international organizations, ICBL staff, and nine NGO observers from another nine countries participated in the meeting. The Thailand Campaign to Ban Landmines and ICBL Ambassadors welcomed the campaigners, while ICBL working group representatives and campaigners from each geographical region provided reports on activities since the last General Meeting and Coordinating Committee representatives provided progress updates. Thematic and regional groups explored goals, targets and actions to take in the lead-up to the Nairobi Summit and the meeting adopted the Bangkok-Nairobi Action Plan to guide the ICBL’s work from September 2003 to December 2004.

The bulk of the meeting focused on the future activities and structure of the ICBL. The meeting considered reports from the extensive and comprehensive post-2004 consultation process, dividing into strategy groups to discuss goals and targets for the post-2004 period, the preliminary elements of a post-2004 plan of action, and the structures necessary to achieve these goals post-2004. The meeting adopted a framework for the ICBL post-2004, setting the stage for development of its transition plan. The meeting formally endorsed the concept of the ICBL reaffirming its original goals, and continuing to engage in the same types of activities as in the past, but in a gradually more decentralized fashion post-2004, with national campaigns, organizations and focal points playing an enhanced role where appropriate and possible. As part of this process, the ICBL's Coordinating Committee was entrusted to develop a transition plan, including streamlined staff and leadership structures, and updated elements on the roles of national campaigns and working groups.

Intersessional Work Program

Complementing the ICBL’s advocacy and watchdog role, the Mine Ban Treaty now has an array of structures in place to ensure progress is made in implementing the agreement, including: the intersessional work program and Universalization Contact Group (established in 1999); the States Parties’ Coordinating Committee, the Sponsorship Program, and the Articles 7 & 9 Contact Group (2000); the Implementation Support Unit (2001); and the Resource Mobilization Contact Group (2002).

In 2003 and the first half of 2004, the ICBL continued to participate fully in the twice-yearly Geneva-based intersessional Standing Committees (SC) that carry treaty implementation work forward between the formal meetings of State Parties. The meetings are unique for their informality, inclusiveness and sense of partnership and cooperation. Ambassador Chaiyong Satjipanon of Thailand and the President-Designate of the Nairobi Review Conference, Ambassador Petritsch of Austria, played central roles in ensuring respectively that the fifth year of intersessional work continued to be productive and that preparations for the First Review Conference were actively undertaken. As in previous years, the 2004 intersessional meetings focused on the needs, gaps and resources available for the implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty, especially its mine action and victim assistance components, in the period leading up to the First Review Conference, as well as on deadlines for stockpile destruction, Article 7 reporting and the rapidly approaching 2009 deadlines for clearance of mined areas.

The four Standing Committees — Victim Assistance and Socio-Economic Reintegration; Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies; Stockpile Destruction; and General Status and Operation of the Convention — each met during one-week long periods in February and June 2004 at the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD). Participation in the meetings again reached record levels. Approximately 535 participants representing 120 countries, ICBL members, and international, UN and regional organizations attended both sets of meetings. During the meetings, campaigners met daily in morning briefings to prepare for the official meetings and also met individually with nearly every government attending the intersessional meetings, as well as with the international organizations.

SC on General Status and Operation of the Convention (Co-Chairs: México & the Netherlands; Co-Rapporteurs: New Zealand & South Africa). The ICBL, under the guidance of its Treaty Working Group (TWG) Chair Stephen Goose of Human Rights Watch highlighted the following issues, all of which were included on the agendas during the February and June 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 continued to participate in the Universalization Contact Group chaired by Canada, which coordinates efforts to promote universalization by governments, ICBL, ICRC, and other international organizations. The ICBL was also an active participant in the Article 7 & 9 Contact Group chaired by Belgium, and the Resource Mobilization Contact Group chaired by Norway.

SC on Stockpile Destruction (Co-Chairs: Guatemala & Italy; Co-Rapporteurs: Bangladesh & Canada). 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. Many governments responded to the TWG’s call to provide detailed progress reports and presentations on their destruction efforts. There were significant exchanges of views on technical information, regional cooperation, and donor input. The TWG continued to draw attention to States Parties of concern due to their lack of reporting or activities in fully destroying their stockpiled antipersonnel mines.

SC on Mine Clearance, Mine Awareness and Related Technologies (Co-Chairs: Cambodia & Japan; Co-Rapporteurs: Algeria & Sweden). There was a positive response to the “4P” framework introduced by the co-chairs in 2003, with over two dozen mine-affected States Parties reporting under the “4P” format on their “Plans, Priorities, Progress and Problems.” The ICBL’s Mine Action Working Group (MAWG) continued to draw attention to the ten-year clearance deadline established by Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, which is approaching for many States Parties in 2009. The MAWG also reiterated during discussions on the term “mine-free”, that Article 5 requires clearance and destruction of all mines in known or suspected mined areas, as soon as possible, but no later than ten years.

SC on Victim Assistance and Socio-Economic Reintegration (Co-Chairs: Australia & Croatia; Co-Rapporteurs: Nicaragua & Norway). The 2003 Standing Committee continued to look at strategies to assist States Parties in meeting their obligations under Article 6.3 of the Mine Ban Treaty, with over two dozen mine-affected States Parties providing focused and specific analysis survivor assistance needs under the “4Ps” framework. The leadership training program for landmine survivor advocates, “Raising the Voices,” continued into its fourth year with landmine survivor advocates participating in the intersessional meetings from the regions of Europe and the Middle East in the 2004 Standing Committee meetings.

The ICBL’s Geneva-based Intersessional Program Officer, Susan B. Walker, continued to promote the intersessional work program, especially in the periods between the sessions. She participated in, as well as initiated, meetings related to implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty and maintained regular contact with government missions in Geneva, some capitals, as well as with non-governmental and international organizations. Walker also organized meetings, prior to each intersessional week, of the ICBL’s Intersessional Contact Group (IICG, formerly known as “20 + 2”), which is comprised of present and past SC co-chairs and co-rapporteurs, the Presidents of the annual meetings of States Parties, the ICRC, the ISU and the ICBL Coordinator and staff, and working group chairs. These meetings provide an opportunity to informally discuss and strategize on activities undertaken in the Standing Committees, objectives and preparations for the first Review Conference, as well as substantive matters related to implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. The ICBL also actively participated in the consultations held to discuss the preparatory process leading up to the First Review Conference.

The Coordinating Committee (CC) made up of States Parties also met monthly in 2003 and 2004, chaired by Thailand, the 5MSP President. The CC consists of the Co-Chairs and Co-Rapporteurs of the four intersessional Standing Committees. The chairs of the Universalization (Canada), Articles 7 & 9 (Belgium), and Resource Mobilization Contact Group (Norway), and the Sponsorship Group (UK), also participated, as did the incoming President of the First Review Conference (Austria). The ICBL and ICRC continued to participate on a regular basis. The meetings discussed practical coordination matters relating to the intersessional work program and logistical preparations for the First Review Conference.

The ICBL continued to work closely with the Mine Ban Treaty’s Implementation Support Unit (ISU), established in 2001, which provides much-needed support to all interested States and other organizations participating in the Mine Ban Treaty, in terms of maintaining and developing the system that oversees implementation of the treaty and by providing resources, research and strategic thinking on how to achieve the overall goals of the treaty.

The Sponsorship Program, established in 2000, continued to enable the participation of mine-affected countries with limited resources in the treaty process, by sponsoring an average of 80 representatives from mine-affected and less developed countries to each of the intersessional meetings in 2004.

Updated information and background on the intersessional work program is available on the ICBL website at www.icbl.org/treaty/meetings/intersessional and on the GICHD website at www.gichd.ch.

Other Campaign Activities

ICBL/Landmine Monitor Activities

On Tuesday, 9 September 2003, the ICBL released Landmine Monitor Report 2003 with events held in sixteen countries that day and media outreach by campaigners in another ten countries. Subsequent release events were held in at least another six countries. Campaigners in mine-affected and/or non-States Parties received the best media coverage of the report, in countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, DR Congo, Finland, Lebanon, Pakistan, Senegal, Thailand, and Turkey. On 11 November 2003, ICBL representatives briefed the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council’s Political Committee on the major findings of Landmine Monitor Report 2003 at NATO headquarters, in Brussels.

The ICBL/LM held a series of six regional meetings and a Global Researchers meeting in 2003-2004 to prepare Landmine Monitor Report 2004. As in previous years, the meetings not only enabled researchers to discuss updates prepared for the annual report, but also included campaigning and media activities as well as advocacy training and strategy sessions. The schedule was ambitious, designed to generate momentum on the Road to Nairobi and bring attention to countries of special significance to the ICBL in the post-2004 period. Meetings were held in four heavily mine-affected countries that have joined the Mine Ban Treaty (Afghanistan, Burundi, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Colombia) and in countries that have not yet joined the Mine Ban Treaty in regions where there is little support for the goal of banning antipersonnel mines (Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia and the United Arab Emirates in the Persian Gulf).

The first regional meeting took place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan from 5-7 November 2003, hosted by the Kyrgyz Landmine Monitor researcher, IPPNW-Kyrgyzstan. In addition to internal meetings on research and advocacy, ICBL representatives from the Commonwealth of Independent States and new NGO contacts from Chechnya, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan participated in a series of advocacy activities including meetings with the Kyrgyz Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chair of the Security Council in the President's Office, Vice Minister of Defense, Chair of Frontier Troops, parliamentarians, the Kyrgyz Red Crescent, and university students. The events received good local media coverage and culminated in a one-day conference on landmines in Central Asia organized with the assistance of the Kyrgyz Ministry of Foreign Affairs and attended by government representatives from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. The Bishkek events enabled the ICBL’s membership base to expand significantly to encompass every country in Central Asia except Turkmenistan. The group subsequently held a small meeting on the margins of a seminar held in Tajikistan in April 2004.

From 8-10 December 2003, ICBL members from the Middle East and North Africa met in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, in the first regional meeting on landmines held in the Persian Gulf region since the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty was opened for signature. The campaigners discussed their research and advocacy activities and attended a two-day workshop on the landmines and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW), organized by the Arab Network for Research on Landmines and ERW, in cooperation with the Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services. Over 60 people took part in the workshop, which featured presentations on the mine/ERW problem in the region and attracted good local and regional media attention.

ICBL members and Landmine Monitor researchers from the Americas met in Bogotá, Colombia from 26-30 January 2004, where they engaged in internal discussions on their research and advocacy activities. They met with government and United Nations officials, held a half-day regional roundtable on “the Road to Nairobi,” and undertook a field visit to the mine-affected community of Zaragoza in Antioquia department. This marked the first time that the ICBL has been to Colombia, the most challenging country in the region in terms of adherence to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. Local and regional media covered the events, highlighting in particular the ICBL’s call for an end to antipersonnel mine use in Colombia by rebels and paramilitaries.

On 10 February 2004, members of the Landmine Monitor research network from Europe met in Geneva, Switzerland on the margins of intersessional Standing Committee meetings of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. In addition to internal meetings to prepare the 2004 report and strategize on advocacy activities, participants interacted with officials attending the intersessional meetings.

Researchers from Francophone Africa met in Bujumbura, Burundi from 18-20 February 2004 for the fifth in the series of regional meetings. Landmine Monitor’s Burundi researcher, the Centre d'Alerte et de Prévention de Conflits/CENAP, hosted the visit, which marked the first time the ICBL had come to the war-torn country. In addition to preparing their research and discussion of advocacy activities, participants met with government officials, participated in a half-day roundtable discussion on Burundi’s implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty, and conducted a field visit to the national rehabilitation center in Gitega, which is supported by Handicap International. The roundtable attracted significant national and international print, radio, and television coverage.

Representatives of the ICBL and its Landmine Monitor research network met in Kabul, Afghanistan from 27-29 March 2004 for their annual Asia-wide regional meeting, hosted by the Afghan Campaign to Ban Landmines (ACBL). The Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided the venue for a half-day opening ceremony, followed by a press conference. The participants engaged in several advocacy activities, including a meeting with the “Father of the Nation,” Afghanistan’s former king Zahir Shah, a visit to the ICRC rehabilitation clinic, a rally through the center of Kabul that marked the beginning of the ACBL’s Mine Awareness month, a bicycle rally in Kabul’s central stadium organized by Afghan Amputee Bicyclists for Rehabilitation and Recreation, and a mine action exhibition at the Mine Detection and Dog Center featuring presentations from major mine action agencies.

From 3-5 May 2004, the ICBL held its annual, global Landmine Monitor Researchers meeting in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the first time an ICBL event had been held in the country. Over 70 researchers and 40 campaigners and friends of the ICBL from 70 countries participated in the three-day conference which featured workshops on advocacy and research topics, individual discussions on the Landmine Monitor 2004 country updates, and field visits to mine action and victim assistance projects in and around the capital. The participants also met twice in regional groups to discuss their activities leading up to the Nairobi Summit.

A media delegation visited a demining site in Visoko operated by Norwegian People’s Aid and a community on the hillside above Sarajevo called Hrasno, where demining operations have been successfully completed. The visit received widespread coverage in the Bosnian media and numerous international media.

Other Events, Field Missions, and Advocacy Efforts

The ICBL participated in numerous other regional and international events and advocacy efforts in 2003 and 2004, some of which are cited here.

ICBL Ambassador Jody Williams and the ICBL Coordinator Liz Bernstein participated in the Gorbachev Foundation Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, in Rome in December 2003, presenting lessons learned from the ICBL. The Italian Campaign to Ban Landmines also organized media interviews, a hearing with the human rights committee of the foreign affairs commission of the parliament for increased humanitarian mine action funding, and a presentation at a university department of peacekeeping.

An ICBL delegation met with EU representatives in Brussels from 2-4 December 2003, including members of the European Parliament, European Commission and the Council of European Union. In a parliament session held on 3-4 December, all parties agreed to include a paragraph on landmines (40) in a resolution on preparations for a European Council meeting to be held in Brussels from 12-13 December 2003. The ICBL also met with the European Commission representative to discuss the preparation of its strategy for Mine Action.

From 8-9 December, the ICBL participated in a Mine Ban Treaty implementation seminar in Minsk organized by the Belarus CBL/SCAF in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus.

The ICBL briefed an OSCE workshop on landmines and ERW, held on 8 March 2004 in Vienna. The seminar, organized by Bulgaria and Andorra, was the first such event convened by the OSCE.

Several ICBL members participated in the first landmine-related meeting held in China, from 26-28 April in Kunming. The ICBL Australia Network and China Arms Control and Disarmament Association (CACDA) co-sponsored the workshop on landmines and UXO clearance and cooperation.

In April 2004, an ICBL delegation accepted an invitation by Turkmenistan to witness destruction of some of the government’s 69,000 antipersonnel mine initially retained for training at a military base southwest of Turkmenabad (formerly Charjoh) in the Karakum desert. The delegation also stopped in Astana, Kazakhstan where they met with the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs to encourage the government to accede to the Mine Ban Treaty.

On 6 July 2004, the Senegalese Association for Mine Victims organized its first national anti-mine demonstration, in which mine survivors walked through the streets of Zinguinchor in Casamance, using theater and music to dramatize the dangers of mines. A roundtable on implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty was also held.

From 15-17 September, Mines Action Canada hosted an international symposium on activities of the mine ban movement following the Nairobi Summit in Ottawa, Canada.

The ICBL Ambassadors undertook a number of advocacy and awareness-building missions in 2003 and 2004, and ICBL members represented the campaign in various events worldwide. For example, Zambian campaigner Dr. Robert Mtonga gave a presentation on behalf of the ICBL to the CIVICUS World Assembly in Gaborone, Botswana from 21-26 March 2004. A few ICBL campaigners participated in a conference hosted by the World Health Organization and the Centre for Disease Control on the public health and the prevention of war-related injuries from 3-9 June in Vienna, Austria. ICBL Youth Ambassador Song Kosal participated in an international children's conference on banning landmines, held in Shin-Asahi town, Japan from 21-23 August.

ICBL members also participated in several stockpile destruction events in countries including Colombia, Cyprus, Ecuador, Lithuania, Suriname, Turkmenistan, and Uruguay. Some included destruction of mines previously retained for training.

In 2003 and the first half of 2004, ICBL members held awareness-raising activities in over 75 countries including: Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burma/Myanmar, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Lao PDR, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malawi, Namibia, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Senegal, Serbia and Montenegro, Singapore, Somaliland, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vietnam, Yemen, and Zambia.

The ICBL and member campaigns sent letters to heads of state, issued media releases and engaged in other advocacy activities to highlight the landmines crisis and remaining work to be done at international events and fora including the African Union, Assembly of African Francophone Parliamentarians, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, European Union, Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, Francophonie, Inter-Parliamentary Union, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the Organization of American States.

Coordinated Campaign Actors, Activities, and Resources

The ICBL launched its preparation for the first Review Conference one year beforehand with an Action Alert issued on the sixth anniversary of the 3 December opening for signature of the Mine Ban Treaty in Ottawa, Canada, also the International Day for Persons with Disabilities. Campaigners held events around the globe and ICBL issued a media release and also wrote to Foreign Ministers, enclosing the ICBL’s report on the Fifth Meeting of States Parties.

On 1 March 2004, the campaign celebrated the fifth anniversary of the entry-into-force of the Mine Ban Treaty with events around the world. The ICBL issued a press release condemning the decision by the United States, announced 27 February, to reject the treaty and keep antipersonnel mines indefinitely. Campaigners also encouraged non-signatory countries in the Baltics and the Persian Gulf to accede as quickly as possible. The ICBL also sent letters to India and Pakistan on 1 March and signatures collected by Youth Against War were presented to the Ambassadors of India and Pakistan in Canada, urging them to include the landmines issue in confidence building measures.

In April 2004, the ICBL together with Thai campaign member Nonviolence International launched an initiative to “End mine use in Burma” that also aims over the longer-term to bring Burma (Myanmar) on board the Mine Ban.

The ICBL issued an Action Alert in July 2004 urging Poland to join the Mine Ban Treaty before the Nairobi Summit and encouraging campaigners to write to the Polish Ministry of Defence and embassies as a special Ministry of Defence drafts a new policy on landmines.

On 20 August, the ICBL issued the first of several “Countdown Nairobi!” Action Alerts, 100 days prior to the opening of the Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World, encouraging members to take various actions to prepare for the event. The ICBL also sent letters to the Heads of States Parties outlining the campaign’s expectations for the Summit.

In September, campaigners in Athens and elsewhere took advantage of the Paralympics event in Greece to highlight the achievements of landmine survivors competing in the games from Afghanistan, Bosnia and Lebanon.

An ICBL capacity building and grant making project for members in South Asia continued in cooperation with Landmine Action. This followed from a fundraising training workshop held from 22-23 September 2003 in Bangkok, Thailand.

In 2003 and the first half of 2004, the ICBL issued quarterly “Landmine Updates” and published a Report on Activities at the Fifth Meeting of States Parties, as well as an annual report for 2003. The ICBL also published two CD ROMs. “Take Action for a Landmine-Free World!” provides an overview of the mine problem and landmine campaign, presenting practical advocacy action tools. The other CD Rom houses key historical and archival documents and information such as a full chronology of the mine ban movement and an annotated bibliography. Together with the Landmine Monitor report CD Rom, these resources encompass a full package of the ICBL’s advocacy, educational, and reference materials.

The ICBL worked to further decentralize and integrate youth campaign activities. Young people from five countries participated in a mine action seminar in Bangkok during the 5MSP. The ICBL created advocacy action toolkits that were distributed through the Youth Action Forum website encouraging youth to take actions to promote universalization and implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty on the Road to Nairobi. The Youth Campaign Kit was translated into Russian.

The ICBL collaborated with Mines Action Canada and the Youth Mine Action Ambassador Program on various projects organized in the lead-up to and during the Nairobi Summit. This included the Youth Professionals in Mine Action Program (YPIMAP), under which young Canadian interns were provided to campaigners in Beirut, Brisbane, Geneva, Kampala, Nairobi and Washington DC to help support their activities, as well as their preparations for the Nairobi Summit.

In September, an official ceremony was held in Ottawa, Canada to hand-over campaign materials for the creation of a new ICBL Collection at the National Library and Archives Canada.

The ICBL continued to maintain a sophisticated system of electronic listservs. On 4 August 2004, it unveiled a complete reorganization and redesign of its website, the first since the site was launched in May 1998. The new site includes new and updated pages simplifying access to information and making updates and content revisions much easier. More information on the ICBL’s activities is available at www.icbl.org.

[1] At the Fourth General Meeting held in September 2003, three CC members stepped down (Association for Aid and Relief-Japan, German Initiative to Ban Landmines and South African Campaign to Ban Landmines). The meeting accepted the continuation of the ten remaining CC members (Afghan Campaign to Ban Landmines, Cambodian Campaign to Ban Landmines, Colombian Campaign Against Landmines, DanChurchAid/Lutheran World Federation, Handicap International, Human Rights Watch, Kenya Coalition Against Landmines, Landmine Survivors Network, Mines Action Canada and Norwegian People’s Aid), and three new members joined the CC (Brazil Campaign Against Landmines, the Italian Campaign to Ban Landmines and the Sri Lanka Campaign to Ban Landmines). The ICBL staff are: Elizabeth Bernstein, Coordinator; Sylvie Brigot, Government Relations Officer; Kjell Knudsen, Webmaster; Jackie Hansen, Project Officer; Susan B. Walker, Intersessional Program Officer; Sue Wixley, Advocacy and Communications Officer. Contact: icbl@icbl.org/.

[2] Previous General Meetings were held in Washington DC, USA (March 2001), Maputo, Mozambique (May 1999) and Frankfurt, Germany (February 1998).