For immediate release: New Zealand Campaign Against Landmines

US Pressures Pacific Nations Against Mine Ban Treaty
Pacific Support for Landmine Ban Bolstered by Tuvalu

(Wellington: 23 September 2011) –The New Zealand Campaign Against Landmines (CALM) welcomes Tuvalu’s accession to the Mine Ban Treaty and calls on the United States to stop pressuring Pacific nations from supporting the ban on antipersonnel landmines.

“Tuvalu has come through on its long-held promise to ban landmines,” said Mary Wareham, CALM Cooordinator.

The United Nations announced on 22 September 2011 that the Pacific nation of Tuvalu deposited its instrument of accession to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty or “Ottawa Convention” on 13 September. Tuvalu is the 157th State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty and first nation to join since Palau in November 2007. The Mine Ban Treaty’s Eleventh Meeting of States Parties is due to be held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia starting 28 November 2011.

In August 2011, the Mine Ban Treaty’s Implementation Support Unit stated that Tuvalu could join the Mine Ban Treaty “in coming months.” The announcement came after a three-day visit to Tuvalu by Prince Mired Raad Al-Hussein of Jordan, the Mine Ban Treaty’s Special Envoy on Universalization. In June 2011, Tuvalu participated in Mine Ban Treaty meetings in Geneva, its first-ever participation in a meeting related to landmines.

Tuvalu has expressed support for the Mine Ban Treaty on several occasions over the past decade, but limited resources appear to have prevented accession from advancing until now. Since 2006, it has voted in support of the annual UN General Assembly resolution calling for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. Tuvalu has stated several times that it does not use, produce, import, or stockpile antipersonnel mines.

With Tuvalu’s accession, only three Pacific nations remain outside the Mine Ban Treaty: Kingdom of Tonga, Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

“Achieving universal support for the landmine ban across the Pacific requires that the United States back off from pressuring the Marshall Islands and Micronesia against joining the Mine Ban Treaty,” said Wareham. “The US should be championing the landmine ban, not fighting it.”

A US Department of State cable made public by Wikileaks late last month shows how the US worked to convince the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau against joining the Mine Ban Treaty. There is no evidence to suggest that the US has sought to influence other Pacific nations against the landmine ban, such as Tonga or Tuvalu.

According to the diplomatic cable issued by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in September 2009, US officials met representatives from the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau on 2 December 1997, on the eve of the Mine Ban Treaty Signing Conference in Ottawa, “at the latter three's request to discuss their potential signature/ratification.” During the meeting, US officials warned that, “the U.S. would not adhere to the Ottawa Convention and that adherence by the other three states could conflict with defense provisions of the respective bilateral Compacts of Free Association.”

The Marshall Islands signed the Mine Ban Treaty in Ottawa on 4 December 1997, but has not yet ratified. Palau acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 18 November 2007 after, according to the cable, Palau “determined that the Ottawa Convention did not conflict with the Compact of Free Association.”

These nations are affected by unexploded ordnance left over from World War II, as are other Pacific states such as Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. Contamination is generally not understood to include landmines or cluster munitions. In September 2011, Palau requested greater support for efforts to clear unexploded ordnance that contaminates agricultural land, watershed and marine habitats.

“Pacific Leaders agree it’s high time that the long neglected issue of unexploded ordnance be addressed,” said Wareham. “We urge New Zealand, Australia, Japan, the US, and nations that fought in the Pacific campaign to increase their support for clearance of explosive remnants of war across the region.”

The 42nd Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Meeting for the first time acknowledged the need for action on unexploded ordnance in its Communique issued in Auckland on 8 September 2011:

37. Leaders expressed concern at the continuing existence of unexploded WWII ordnance (UXO) which remains a human security problem for many Members, as well as a threat to public health, safety and the environment. They also recognised that UXO poses a serious obstacle to development. Leaders welcomed the development of the Regional UXO Strategy Framework as a practical approach to addressing the challenges of UXO in the region and called on the assistance of relevant international bodies and development partners in addressing this long neglected issue.

The New Zealand Campaign to Ban Landmines is a long-standing member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), 1997 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. In March 2010 and March 2011, CALM met with US embassy officials to discuss the ongoing landmine policy review and the benefits of US accession to the Mine Ban Treaty. CALM is a sister campaign to the Aotearoa New Zealand Cluster Munition Coalition (ANZCMC).

Both CALM and the ANZCMC are governed jointly by a working group comprised of the following groups: Amnesty International Aotearoa NZ, Caritas Aotearoa NZ, Christian World Service, Engineers for Social Responsibility NZ, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War NZ, National Council of Women NZ, National Consultative Committee on Disarmament, Oxfam NZ, Peace Movement Aotearoa, Soroptimist International NZ, United Nations Association NZ, United Nations Youth Association NZ, UNICEF NZ, and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Aotearoa.

Links –
• US Department of State cable 09STATE91952 “Concerns on Marshall Islands Ratification of the Ottawa Convention,” dated 3 September 2009, released by Wikileaks on 26 August 2011 - http://www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=09STATE91952&q=landmines
• Notice of Tuvalu’s accession to the Mine Ban Treaty: bit.ly/e744dd
• Tuvalu’s statement in June 2011: http://bit.ly/nY9hcl + http://bit.ly/nIURtz
• Statement by Mine Ban Treaty ISU - http://www.apminebanconvention.org/fileadmin/pdf/mbc/PressRelease-Tuvalu-5Aug2011.pdf

© Scoop Media