I was happy to learn that Minister Milinda Moragoda and his new Sri Lanka National Congress has taken the initiative to request the government to review its position on signing the Ottawa Convention on the banning of Land Mines. Now that the war is over and the clearing of mines is being undertaken on a much bigger scale than before, there is no reason for this country not to become a party to the Ottawa Convention. We will have much to gain by becoming a party to the Convention. Our country would qualify to receive increased international support for humanitarian mine clearing and also for assistance for victims of mines. Yes there would be support for land mine survivors and their families. We need to ensure that land mines would be banned and that the horrendous suffering caused by such anti personal mines is put to an end.

The Ottawa Treaty or the Mine Ban Treaty, formally the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, completely bans all anti-personnel landmines. It would be recalled that the Ottawa Treaty was the brainchild of a number of international NGOs, appalled by the suffering and the horrifying consequences of the use of anti personal mines formally launched the campaign to ban land mines; this campaign was championed by no less a person than Diana, Princess of Wales. She visited Angola in January 1997, and walked through a minefield-twice-to make sure all media present got pictures of her in that area. It was also she that changed the outlook of many around the world toward AIDS when she carried an African child stricken with AIDS. Bless her soul!

The Treaty was signed on 3rd December 1997 and became effective from 1st March 1999. As of May 2009[update], there were 156 States Parties to the treaty. Two states have signed but not yet ratified while thirty-seven states are not party to the Convention. In 2009, Rwanda became the first nation claimed to be landmine free. In terms of the Convention or Treaty a party to the Treaty must destroy all the anti personal mines in its possession within four years and within ten years of signing the Treaty the country should have cleared all of its mined areas.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines as mentioned earlier is led by a coalition of non-governmental organizations whose goal is to abolish the production and use of anti-personnel mines.

The coalition was formed in 1992 when six groups with similar interests, including Human Rights Watch, medico international, Handicap International, Physicians for Human Rights, Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation and the Mines Advisory Group, agreed to cooperate on their common goal. The campaign has since grown and spread to become a network of over 1,400 groups - including groups working on women, children, veterans, religious groups, the environment, human rights, arms control, peace and development -in over 90 countries, working locally, nationally and internationally to eradicate antipersonnel landmines.

The campaign’s greatest success occurred in 1999 when the Ottawa Treaty, which bans the production and use of anti-personnel mines, came into force. Some states, including the United States, Russia and China, have thus far refused to sign. In 2004, the first review conference of the Ottawa Treaty, The Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World was held in Nairobi, Kenya. The Summit produced the Nairobi Action Plan for 2005-2009, a set of 70 action points that member states committed to undertake in the five year period following the Summit.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines, the ICBL and its flexible network of organizations remain committed to an international ban on the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of antipersonnel landmines, and for increased international resources for humanitarian mine clearance and mine victim assistance programs. The ICBL monitors the mine situation in the world (through a network of researchers producing the annual Landmine Monitor Report), and conducts advocacy activities, lobbying for implementation and universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty, humanitarian mine action programs geared toward the needs of mine-affected communities, support for landmine survivors, their families and their communities, and a stop to the production, use and transfer of landmines, including by non-State armed groups. The ICBL participates in the periodical meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty process, urges States not Parties to the Treaty to join and non-State armed groups to respect the mine ban norm, condemns mine use and promotes public awareness and debate on the mine issue, organizing events and generating media attention.

Mine clearing in Sri Lanka began in earnest in 2002 and there have been thousands of anti personal, anti tank, Claymore mines and other improvised explosives that have been found by the de-mining entities and thousands have been resettled in their former habitats and have resumed their livelihoods. Another significant achievement has been that no one who has returned to their areas of domicile have encountered any land mines and life has returned to normal, as stated earlier, for these unfortunate people. However there remains hundreds of acres of land to be cleared before the country could be declared ‘mine free’. More resources are urgently needed for mine action and resettlement of the unfortunate people who have been compelled to leave their habitats due to the war and the mines that have been laid as a consequence of it.

As stated earlier we will have much to gain by becoming a party to the Convention. Our country would qualify to receive increased international support for humanitarian mine clearing and also for assistance for victims of mines. Yes there would be support for land mine survivors and their families. We need to ensure that land mines would be banned and that the horrendous suffering caused by such anti personal mines is put to an end.

I do not think that the government needs to wait till the general election is over to sign this Convention for the country would not only start receiving increased assistance with almost immediate effect but the image of the country would also be enhanced in the eyes of the world.