EU Presidency Statement - Assistance in mine action

Mr. Chairman,

I have the honour of speaking on behalf of the countries of the European Union, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe associated with the European Union - Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic - and the associated countries Cyprus and Malta as well as Iceland, an EFTA country which is a member of the European Economic Area.

This item on the agenda, support for mine action, refers to a scourge which continues, day after day, to claim innocent lives all over the world. The tragedy of anti-personnel mines, which particularly affects the civilian populations of countries already suffering as a result of past or current armed conflict, continues unabated despite the efforts of the international community.

A large number of countries are however devoting substantial resources to mine action such as mine clearance programmes and landmine victim assistance operations. The amount spent on this effort in 1999 is estimated at 219 million dollars. This is clearly not sufficient, however, to eliminate the unfortunately often-irreversible effects of the use of this cowardly and cruel weapon. We must therefore continue the parallel diplomatic endeavour to convince an ever-growing number of countries to join us in this fight.

The focus today should be on the responsibility of those who are still using these mines, which kill and mutilate every day. The international community must unremittingly urge them to stop using these arms and encourage them to become involved in mine action.

In the area of anti-personnel mines control, substantial changes have occurred over the last year. The number of States parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines, and on Their Destruction continues to grow. The Meeting of States Parties to this convention, which met last September in Geneva, adopted several reforms, which will, we hope, further enhance the effectiveness of mine action.

The European Union is anxious that the combat be waged in every area where it is possible to achieve results. As a priority, it is pushing for comprehensive and speedy implementation of the Ottawa Convention by which an international standard was unquestionably set.

We wish particularly to commend the work done by non-governmental organizations whose energetic efforts to further the combat against land mines are an indispensable contribution to progress. Results achieved so far are very broadly due to this beneficial action. In the area of mine clearance, the Union also supports the crucial role of single United Nations coordinator vested in UNMAS within the peacekeeping operations department.

We cannot confine our efforts to policy statements. In the more concrete field of demining and victim assistance programmes, which since 1997 have been part of a Common Action adopted by the European Union, the European Commission and the Member States spent more than 103 million euros on operational programmes last year, making the Union the largest contributor to these activities. Its aid will continue to be focused, on a priority basis, on those countries, which have acceded to the Ottawa Convention. We call on those countries able to do so to follow us in this approach and we welcome the efforts of all the other countries in support of action in the fight against anti-personnel mines.

The report of the Secretary General again shows the scope of the task remaining to be accomplished if we are to continue and enhance the efforts of the international community to combat the scourge of anti-personnel mines. We have pledged to rapidly win this fight and it is in this spirit that the European Union is presenting a resolution this year devoted to mine action. We hope that it will receive very broad support and that it can be adopted by consensus.

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