Non-Governmental Organization and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines Report

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Updated: Mar 12th, 2024

Preliminary mapping of the broad topic area

The international community has already realized all the dangers that land mines pose to the world population. Non-governmental organizations are struggling against insuperable odds in order to ban this highly dangerous weapon. It should be pointed out that they have to encounter various types of difficulties such as technical, economic and political. Mostly due to these controversies, the lives of many people remain imperiled. However, it seems that these obstacles can be surmounted, though at first, it is necessary to develop the strategies addressing all the aspects of this problem, for example, the costs of elimination, political debates and most importantly the reluctance of many governments, which are not willing to abolish the landmines.

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Narrowing the focus and the chronology

Landmines are currently concentrated all over the world. These lethal weapons were developed to serve as the antitank weapons. Thus it can be regarded as a defence arm. Presently they are used indiscriminately without following the United Nations treaties which regulates their uses. Landmines usually cause a lot of injuries when they explode accidentally or when they are used as the war devices. Consequently they cause environmental pollution as they are persistent in nature.

The ban on the use of the landmines by the United Nation has proved to be the most difficult task in general. As a response of this incapability of the United Nation to eradicate the use of the landmines, the NGOs started some campaigns aimed at banning the use of this weapon. Most of the countries in the African continent, Asian continent and the American continent have a lot of landmines which have been deposited in soil. The countries with the highest casualties include the United States of America, Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Russia, China and Mozambique. The greatest success of the Non Governmental Organisation campaigns took place in the year of 1999 at Ottawa, which recommended the ban of the production and usage of these landmines (Tim Carstairs,1997, p 34). However some states such as the United States of America, Spain, China and Russia have consequently refused to sign the disarmament act. At the same time in the year of 2004 the review conference was held in Nairobi, Kenya which emphasized on the establishment of the mine free world.

Purpose: Working strategies of NGOS in Landmines Ban

The ICBL has an extensive network which is composed of several organisations which have consequently committed themselves to the international treaty on the ban of the production, their use and subsequent transfer of these landmines from one country to another. For more detailed information refer to the Appendix. At the same time the ICBL provides the international resources so as to solve the humanitarian crisis (Karsten, Ranit, 2000)

Various NGOs have come together to form the ICBL. These NGOs work in alliance with each other and sometime they work in collaboration with the governmental agencies. The ICBL is composed of a coalition of independent NGOs (Bob Lawson, 1997). The NGOs which are currently involved in the campaign on the ban of the landmines includes the Amnesty International, Human rights watch, International federation Terres des Homes, International save the children Alliance, The Jesuit Refugee Service, and Quaker UN office in Geneva (Jean Lavendure, 2008). These Non Governmental Organizations have greatly influenced the ban on the weapons in the world and the landmines in general. These NGOs have three main objectives which include the provision of justice to all, maintenance of human rights in the world and control of the weapons of mass destruction in the world. These NGOs are consequently involved in the international campaigning and at the same time it tries to convince the authorities involved on the importance of maintaining a peaceful environment without the massive arms (D’Arcy Jenish, 1997).

The ICBL, which was initially launched by some six Non Governmental Organisations in the year of 1992, has influenced many countries to adhere to these norms. These organisations have constantly carried out several campaigns by the use of the media groups and seminars to educate the involved countries. Consequently these organisations have tried to promote the humanitarian aid to the involved civilians. Thus, it is vital to develop the strategies enabling to solve this problem

Research question

Activities of the NGOs

The involved NGOs have subsequently held several campaigns which are aimed at promoting the international measures of landmines ban. At the same time these NGOs have tried to ensure that the involved countries comply with the treaty of Ottawa. Constant communication between the involved organisations is vital since these coalition members are distributed all over the world. At the same capacity these organisations have tried to share their success in trying to ban the use of the landmines. The NGOs at the same time have consequently developed the working relationship with the government which has created a lot of confidence between the NGOs and the government. The NGOs carries their campaigns through the use of the media to spread the awareness among the involved countries.

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At the same time the NGOs have tried to conduct seminars all over the world. Moreover the roles of the NGOs have changed at the recent times by starting to offer the humanitarian help to the affected causalities of the landmines. The ICBL coordinates the information between these NGOs by the use of the communication technology.At the same time the ICBL was able to give the reports to the countries which have landmines. Moreover they addressed this issue by using the media and the parliaments of some countries. The NGOs pressured the policymakers to facilitate the total eradication of the landmines by using the street protests by the public (Norma Greenway, 1997). Procedures

The research procedure involved two main steps which included the following.

Identification of special terms

Landmines

These are explosives which have been planted by some countries inn the soil so as to prevent the movement of some individuals during the war time. They are explosive in nature and persistent in nature, hence can explode at any time.

NGOs

These are the non governmental organization mostly they are concerned with the landmine ban campaigns. They include the Amnesty International, Human rights Watch. Save the Child organization, Organization of African Unity.

ICBL

This is the International council of banning landmines body which coordinates the activities of the non governmental organization in the banning of the landmines. It provides the communication programs and meetings to the involved NGOs.

Arms Trade Treaty

Treaty which was enacted in Ottawa to prevent the production, use and trading of the landmine weapons, It prevents the member countries from embarking on the mass destructive weapons.

Land mined countries

These are the countries which have the heavily mined landmines. These countries include Iraq, USA, Somalia, Angola, Cambodia and the USSR.

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Landmine policies

Some laws which have been enacted by governments aiming at controlling the use of the landmines for example the USA landmine policies

Research methodology

They are the methods used in the collection of information such as the interviews, questionnaires and the direct observations and the procedures used in the research work

Procedures and methods used to collect information and data

The data collection was done by the use of the primary methods and secondary methods. The primary methods included the use of the questionnaires and interviews. During the use of the questionnaires I prepared some questionnaires which I sent to six NGOs which included Amnesty international, Human rights watch, International federation Terre des homes, international save the children alliance, Jesuit refugee service, and the Quaker UN office. The questions were answered by the involved authorities and sent back to me for analysis. Consequently I used the personal interviewing of the involved authorities of the NGOs. The answers given were recorded by use of the electronic devices and sometimes they were stored in the form of the manuscripts.

Secondary data collection methods were also used in the collection of the information in regard to the functioning of the NGOs in the ban of landmines. The secondary techniques used included the use of the scholarly books, journals and the government publications. In this section, it is necessary illustrate the major aspects that were explored

Analysis and project execution

The information which was collected was analyzed by the use of the sampling techniques such as the random sampling techniques and the stratified methods. Analysis was done by determining the percentages of analysis.

Countries with Landmines

Many countries in the world have a lot of landmines which have been left in the soils for a long time, The countries with most of the land mines includes Somalia, Mozambique, Bosnia, Kuwait, USA, Cambodia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Angola, Iran, and Egypt(Carey Goldberg,1997). These landmines have become a controversial element as they remain dangerous after the end of the conflict which catalysed their deployment, thus leading to the consequent killing and injuring the civilians.

Historical Developments of the Landmine Debate in the United States of America

The United States of America which is one of the countries with a lot of land mines has one of the historical developments in the landmine control. In the year of 1990s, the united states of America become the world champion of the landmine eliminations by controlling their production and uses (Taylor, 1988). Consequently the landmine ban treaty entered into force in the year of 1999 without the entrance of the United States of America. This has been in question as most of the less powerful nations feel that the United States of America was discouraging other nations from complying with that treaty. The central player who was behind the United States of America debate on the landmine issue was generally the senator of the congress known as Senator Patrick Leahy. In the year of 1995 Leahy brought the bill which was aimed at the legislation of the law which would restrict the use of the land mine by the United States of America (J.B, Baylis & S. Smith, 2001).

The mixed reactions of the United states of America on regard to this issue of the landmine control dates back to the UN protocol of the 1980.This protocol was only ratified by 32 members with the exception of the United states of America(Paul Wapner,1997). Thus it can be seen that over the last decade the United States of America failed to establish policies which were governing this issue.

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United States of America Landmine Policy

The United States of America established a new land mine policy in the year of 2004, February 27(J.W, Foster, 1999).This policy served as one of the important movement from the past to the present problems of the land mines. This policy gives the protection to the military personals and the normal civilians. At the same time it ensures that the government of the United States of America gives the humanitarian support to those affected by the land mine explosions.

Costs of controlling landmines

The cost of controlling landmines in the world is considered to be at the peak. This has hindered the steps which are undertaken by the non-governmental organization. It is approximated that for one landmine to be eliminated from the environment the government must spend about $1000. Moreover this is attributed by the fact that most of the landmines are persistent in nature as they are not decomposed. The people who lose from the use of the landmines are generally the common civilians and the non-government Organizations which have embarked on the activities of trying to control the landmines without the support of the involved governments. The involved armies who use them are not affected at all since most of the landmines explode at the later times when the wars have been finished.

Findings and Analysis

It has been found that in the world of today, at least in every two minutes somebody is killed by the explosion of the landmine. Most of the affected are the women and the younger children who belong to the civilian group. It has been approximated that at least 110 million land mines are in place in at least in 64 countries (J.Vogler, 1996) and in each year more than one million are put in place. The Ottawa treaty which was aimed at the disarmament of the landmines has been seen as one of the achievable approach which can be used in the urgent elimination of the land mines in the international arena. During the Maputo conference, nearly 800 NGOs, who were considered as a strong ICBL established their commitments to adhere to the Ottawa procedures (Suter, 1997).

The United States of America policy on regard to the landmines has consequently exceeded the land mine bans which were initiated by the Ottawa conventions, which was signed by the member states. The Ottawa treaty which was formerly known as the convention of the prohibition of production, use and transfer of the land mines has consequently tried to differentiate between the anti vehicle and the anti personnel land mines. But the Ottawa treaty allows the anti vehicle land mines which have been found to cause a great danger to the civilians who may be innocent (United Nations University conference, 1990).Since the United states of America has the armed forces who are deployed all over the world, it has refused to sign the Ottawa treaty since it fears that its troops may not be secure in the foreign lands. According to the September 21 media note the United States of America needs the anti-personnel mines so as to ensure security to their troops.

The United States of America through its state department says that it is highly committed in trying to eliminate the humanitarian problems which have been created by the land mines which are persistent in nature, and at the same time it argues that it is committed to adhere to the Ottawa treaty (Leon Gordenker, 1997). The government goes to say that the civilians who are innocent are the most affected when the military forces use this land mines as their means of defence.

Summaries

The thorough investigation of the roles which the Non Governmental Organizations were carrying out to prevent the dangers of the land mines can be summarized as follows. The landmines have been found to be distributed around the world with much concentration in the countries which have experienced a lot of wars such as Somalia, Iraq and USA. The Ottawa treaty was used as a milestone agreement which could have helped to reduce the landmines in the world however, the USA has not fully complied with the treaty. The Non Governmental Organizations such as Human Watch, United Nations, Amnesty international, Human rights watch and the Organization of African Unity are in the frontline in the process of removing these persistent landmines from the environments. The persistent landmines can be lethal for a long time in the soil. The persistent land mines in the environment can cause a lot of the dangers to the human beings and animals ones they explode. The most affected are the civilians but not the military that uses these land mines. Many countries are unable to clean up these land mines since the cost is too high.

Recommendations

After a thorough study on regard to the land mines and the role of the Non Governmental in preventing the dangers of the land mines, the following recommendations were made for the long term solutions. The United States of America should sign the Ottawa treaty and fully comply with its regulations. The missile tests on the soils where some people are residing should be avoided at all cost. The existing landmines shall be eradicated from the environment regardless of the expense involved as they have proved to be so dangerous to the civilians. The governmental and the non governmental bodies should be involved in the awareness about the dangers of the land mines. All landmines campaigns should be supported by the government to secure funds.

Those who are the victims of the landmines should be given many chances in the campaigns. Those countries which are involved in the use of the landmines should face sanctions. The governments of the involved countries should be in the frontline in trying to eradicate the landmines. Moreover the involved governments should provide the financial support to the Non governmental organizations. The landmines trade in the world should be banned since some of the countries have embarked on such a business without analyzing the side effects it may have. Consequently the landmine civilians who have been affected by the landmines should be allowed to participate in the landmine prevention campaign and at the same time they should get the financial assistance from the government.

Conclusions

To conclude, the non-governmental organizations have to address several aspects of this problems. First and foremost, we should focus on the unwillingness of many governments to ban landmines, for instance the United States, Russia, or China. Consequently, NGOs should attach primary importance to media coverage, because even now many people are not aware of the fact that their countries are pursuing such inflexible and even cruel policies toward this issue. As it has been noted before, the abolition of landmines gives rise to certain financial difficulties because in the overwhelming majority of cases, the defusing of such device is rather expensive. Thus, it is of the crucial importance that NGOs should join their forces at they moment they are still continuing to operate separately as a result their efforts do not fully achieve the assigned task.

References

Baylis, J. B. and Smith (2001) Trans- national actors and global politics, Oxford: Oxford University press.

Bob Lawson, (1997) Prevention of persistent weapons on Earth, Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Carey Goldberg, (1997) “Peace Prize Goes to Land Mine Opponents,” New York Times, Oct. 10, A 6.

Christopher, Hurst (1996) The conscience of the world: The influence of the NGO in the UN system, Washington: Brookings institution press.

D’Arcy Jenish (1997) “Landing the Prize: Peace Activist Share in the 1997 Nobel Prize,” MacLean’s Magazine, p. 33.

Foster, J. W. (1999) The rules of the game, United Nations, Canada.

Francis, Pinter (1982) Pressure groups in the global systems, the transnational relations, London: New York press.

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Groom, J. R. (1990) Transactional networks and systems, London: Pinter press.

ICBL, (1999) [Online]. Web.

ICBL, (2009) Statement on progress towards the Second Review Conference, Retrieved from [Online], Web.

ISA, (2004) Seismic sensor detects land mines [Online]. Web.

Jeon Gordenker, (1997) “Pluralizing global governance: Analytical approaches and dimensions in global governance,” Toronto University Press.

Jody, Williams (1995) “Landmines and Measures to Eliminate Them,” International Review of the Red Cross, vol. 35, no. 307.

Karsten, Ranit (2001) Representation of private organizations in the global diplomacy U.S.A: Routledge.

Laverdure, J. (2008) “Learning from the Lessons of the Ottawa Process,” Canada’s guide to the Global Ban on Landmines, Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade [Online], Web.

Mitchel, J. V. (1998) Political globalization and the impact of NGOs: Companies in a World of Conflict, London: Earthscan.

Norma Greenway (1997) “Anatomy of a Landmines Agreement,” Vancouver Sun, Nov. 29, 1997, H 6.

Paul Wapner (1997) “Politics Beyond the State: Environmental Activism and World Civic Politics,” in Activism and World Civil Politics, Toronto: Macmillan Press.

Suter, K. (1997) An international law of Guerilla warfare, London: Pinter press.

Taylor, P. (1998) The united nations as a political system, London: Pinter press.

Tim Carstairs, (1997) “Diplomacy, International Law and the Civic Campaign against Landmines,” International Peacekeeping, vol. 14, no.3.

Tolmein, (2000) “Die NGOs representatives, United Nations Mine Action [Online], Web.

United Nations University conference, (1992) Transnational Actors and Changing World Order, Yokohama, Japan: International Peace Research Institute Meigaku.

Vogler, J. (1996) Who cares a bout the environment, USA: Rout ledge research center.

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