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4 - The call of the ICRC for a global ban on anti-personnel mines, Geneva, Switzerland, 24 February 1994

from PART 2 - THE REVIEW CONFERENCE OF THE 1980 CONVENTION ON CERTAIN CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS: AN INITIAL RESPONSE TO THE LANDMINE CRISIS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 December 2009

Louis Maresca
Affiliation:
International Committee of the Red Cross
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Summary

On 24 February 1994, to the surprise of many, ICRC President Cornelio Sommaruga announced the ICRC's opinion that, from a humanitarian point of view, a worldwide ban on anti-personnel mines was the only truly effective solution. Apart from a growing body of non-governmental organizations, at that time no other major international organization had supported an outright ban on these weapons. President Sommaruga also called for a prohibition on blinding as a method of warfare and for universal adherence to the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.

Statement of Cornelio Sommaruga President, International Committee of the Red Cross Geneva, Switzerland 24 February 1994

ICRC: A Total Ban on Anti-personnel Mines and Blinding Weapons is the Best Option

The first preparatory meeting for the Review Conference on the 1980 United Nations Weapons Convention opens in Geneva on 28 February 1994.

It will be an important milestone in the long-term effort to control the use of the more destructive of modern weapons.

The Convention came into force in 1983 and has been ratified by 41 countries. This is the first opportunity – and the last for at least another 10 years – to review its workings.

It is clear, for all its good intentions, that the Convention has had little impact on restricting the use of the deadly weapons it regulated in 1980 – in particular mines. Mines are now proliferating so fast that there are perhaps as many as 100 million of them in 62 countries. Scattered like deadly seeds, they have turned whole swaths of many countries into deserted, no-go areas.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Banning of Anti-Personnel Landmines
The Legal Contribution of the International Committee of the Red Cross 1955–1999
, pp. 264 - 265
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2000

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