25 / 01 / 2009
An interesting article by Chris Cobb appeared in the Ottawa Citizen, regarding “anti-personnel mine” stockpiling in Greece, Turkey and Belarus.
According to the article, some countries have either destroyed them (at least on paper), or have taken the necessary steps to meet the deadline for eliminating them.
Others, like Great Britain, have “opted”, in their usual manner, [...]
To meet deadlines…ask for an extension
An interesting article by Chris Cobb appeared in the Ottawa Citizen, regarding “anti-personnel mine” stockpiling in Greece, Turkey and Belarus.
According to the article, some countries have either destroyed them (at least on paper), or have taken the necessary steps to meet the deadline for eliminating them.
Others, like Great Britain, have “opted”, in their usual manner, to meet the deadline for removing them by… asking for an extension!
What makes the article interesting is not whether Greece, Turkey and Belarus have jointly over seven million landmines that need to be destroyed, but the choice of countries that the author of the article and the NGO Director, Mr. Hannon, decided to report and write about – why add their individual numbers?
One cannot find Greece, Turkey or Belarus in the top 10 countries where the numbers of stockpiled anti-personnel mines range between 100 and 120million and where Mr. Hannon should be concerned with.
It is also interesting is that those landminesmines have not been manufactured locally in any of those top ten countries, but they are imported-purchased from their western and eastern allies.
Here is then the “top ten” list:
10. Somalia – 1 million
9. Mozambique – 3 million
8. Bosnia-Herzegovina – 3 million
7. Kuwait – 5 million
6. Cambodia 8-10 million
5. Iraq – 10 million
4. Afghanistan – 10 million
3. Angola – 10 to 20 million
2. Iran – 16 million
1. Egypt – 23 million
The most important countries producing and stockpiling landmines such as the People’s Republic of China, India, the United States and Russia, have not signed the Treaty. The United States has not even joined the Ottawa Treaty. Does Mr. Hannon think they should?
Mr. Hannon is not concerned at all that both Canada and the US – being members of the infamous “Coalition of the Willing”, are present militarily in some of the mine infested countries.
Mr. Hannon, anti-personnel mines is one deadly thing that the world community collectively needs to remove and eliminate, Weapons of Mass Deception in the hands of the wrong government-subsidized bureaucrat, or a “professional cut and paste” reporter is another.
It is easy to find scapegoats, especially when one is looking east where the war game is being played, as opposed to right next door to the south of Canada’s border, where the game’s deadly gadgets are designed and manufactured.
It is understood that It is hard to go after the real problem and its players and find and implement a real solution. It is, however, part of the job at hand. The tax payer has paid for it, Canadian values demand it.
One should face and tell the right truth as is and not find scapegoats, like Greece, Turkey or Belarus. And that’s because in the end, truth always finds a way, anyway.
We are waiting.
Photo by Cpl. Jeremy Ross: U.S. Marine Corps Sgts. Ralph A. Cocco, left, and Joel R. Edwards place an M-18A1 Claymore anti-personnel mine during live-fire training in the Middle East, May 25, 2007. The Marines are from Reconnaissance Platoon, Battalion Landing Team 2, 2nd Marine Regiment, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit.U.S. Marine Corps
Here is the article:
By Chris Cobb
OTTAWA, November 25, 2008 – Three countries – Turkey, Greece and Belarus – have failed to meet deadlines to destroy their anti-personnel landmine stockpiles, thus violating an international mine ban treaty signed in Ottawa 11 years ago.
Fifteen other countries, including Great Britain and Venezuela, have asked for 10 more years to meet their mine-clearance obligations under the treaty. The 15, among the first countries to ratify the treaty in 1999, were given 10 years to meet their obligations.
According to the new edition of Landmine Monitor – an annual international report co-ordinated by Ottawa-based NGO Mines Action Canada – Turkey, Greece and Belarus together have more than seven million landmines stockpiled.
Britain is asking for another 10 years to clear mines on the Falkland Islands, dating back to its war with Argentina in 1982. Since signing the treaty, Britain has removed none of the estimated 20,000 landmines on the Falkland coast.
Mozambique and other landmine-infested African nations are also among the 15 that will fail to meet their 2009 deadlines, because international donations for mine-clearing have been reduced significantly, or have dried up altogether.
Since the Ottawa Convention was signed, participating countries have destroyed 42 million stockpiled mines, but tens of millions more are stockpiled or buried in former and current war zones. Last year, an estimated 5,426 military and civilian personnel – many of them children – were killed or injured by landmines or cluster munitions.
There are hundreds of thousands of landmine victims in the world, mostly in the poorest countries. Helping them has become a major focus of aid agencies.aul Hannon, executive director of Mines Action Canada, said despite the failures of some countries, the overall effort to eliminate landmines and get assistance to victims is moving forward.
“But we are still facing major challenges,” said Hannon. “We are very concerned about Greece, Turkey and Belarus and the 15 countries that won’t meet their clearing deadlines. We knew when the treaty was drafted that some countries would be challenged, but Britain is one of the world’s richest countries and certainly has the capacity to deal with this problem.”
Source: To meet deadlines…ask for an extension
Ari Perry | 25 / 01 / 2009 | LEADING OPINION | Tags: Americas, Canada, Hellas Greece, Landmines, War |
