Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Cornelio Sommaruga, President, International Committee of the Red Cross
- Foreword by Ambassador Jacob S. Selebi, South Africa
- Foreword by Ambassador Johan Molander, Sweden
- Introduction
- PART 1 FROM PRINCIPLES TO RULES: REGULATING MINES UP TO THE 1980 CONVENTION ON CERTAIN CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS
- PART 2 THE REVIEW CONFERENCE OF THE 1980 CONVENTION ON CERTAIN CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS: AN INITIAL RESPONSE TO THE LANDMINE CRISIS
- 1 Introduction
- 2 ICRC Symposium on Anti-Personnel Mines (Montreux Symposium),Montreux, Switzerland, 21–23 April 1993
- 3 Mines: A Perverse Use of Technology, May 1993
- 4 The call of the ICRC for a global ban on anti-personnel mines, Geneva, Switzerland, 24 February 1994
- 5 Meetings of governmental experts to prepare the Review Conference, 1994–1995
- 6 ICRC Position Paper No. 1 – February 1995, Landmines and Blinding Weapons: From Expert Group to the Review Conference
- 7 United Nations General Assembly, 1994
- 8 Regional meetings in Africa, 1995
- 9 United Nations International Meeting on Mine Clearance, Geneva, Switzerland, 6 July 1995
- 10 First Session of the Review Conference of the States Parties to the 1980 Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects, Vienna, Austria, 26 September–13 October 1995
- 11 ICRC Position Paper No. 2 – Landmine Negotiations: Impasse in Vienna Highlights Urgency of National and Regional Measures, November 1995
- 12 United Nations General Assembly, 1995
- 13 Launching of the International Media Campaign against Antipersonnel Landmines by the ICRC and National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Geneva, Switzerland, 22 November 1995
- 14 The 26th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, 1995
- 15 Second Session of the Review Conference of the States Parties to the 1980 Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects, January 1996
- 16 Anti-personnel Landmines: Friend or Foe? A Study of the Military Use and Effectiveness of Anti-personnel Mines, commissioned by the ICRC, March 1996
- 17 Third Session of the Review Conference of the States Parties to the 1980 Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects, April–May 1996
- 18 ICRC Position Paper No. 3 – July 1996, Stopping the Landmines Epidemic: From Negotiation to Action
- 19 Making Central America a Mine-free Zone. ICRC Seminar in Managua,Nicaragua, 28–29 May 1996
- PART 3 THE OTTAWA PROCESS FROM REGIONAL INITIATIVES TO AN INTERNATIONAL PROHIBITION OF ANTI-PERSONNEL MINES
- Index
1 - Introduction
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
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Cornelio Sommaruga, President, International Committee of the Red Cross
- Foreword by Ambassador Jacob S. Selebi, South Africa
- Foreword by Ambassador Johan Molander, Sweden
- Introduction
- PART 1 FROM PRINCIPLES TO RULES: REGULATING MINES UP TO THE 1980 CONVENTION ON CERTAIN CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS
- PART 2 THE REVIEW CONFERENCE OF THE 1980 CONVENTION ON CERTAIN CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS: AN INITIAL RESPONSE TO THE LANDMINE CRISIS
- 1 Introduction
- 2 ICRC Symposium on Anti-Personnel Mines (Montreux Symposium),Montreux, Switzerland, 21–23 April 1993
- 3 Mines: A Perverse Use of Technology, May 1993
- 4 The call of the ICRC for a global ban on anti-personnel mines, Geneva, Switzerland, 24 February 1994
- 5 Meetings of governmental experts to prepare the Review Conference, 1994–1995
- 6 ICRC Position Paper No. 1 – February 1995, Landmines and Blinding Weapons: From Expert Group to the Review Conference
- 7 United Nations General Assembly, 1994
- 8 Regional meetings in Africa, 1995
- 9 United Nations International Meeting on Mine Clearance, Geneva, Switzerland, 6 July 1995
- 10 First Session of the Review Conference of the States Parties to the 1980 Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects, Vienna, Austria, 26 September–13 October 1995
- 11 ICRC Position Paper No. 2 – Landmine Negotiations: Impasse in Vienna Highlights Urgency of National and Regional Measures, November 1995
- 12 United Nations General Assembly, 1995
- 13 Launching of the International Media Campaign against Antipersonnel Landmines by the ICRC and National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Geneva, Switzerland, 22 November 1995
- 14 The 26th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, 1995
- 15 Second Session of the Review Conference of the States Parties to the 1980 Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects, January 1996
- 16 Anti-personnel Landmines: Friend or Foe? A Study of the Military Use and Effectiveness of Anti-personnel Mines, commissioned by the ICRC, March 1996
- 17 Third Session of the Review Conference of the States Parties to the 1980 Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects, April–May 1996
- 18 ICRC Position Paper No. 3 – July 1996, Stopping the Landmines Epidemic: From Negotiation to Action
- 19 Making Central America a Mine-free Zone. ICRC Seminar in Managua,Nicaragua, 28–29 May 1996
- PART 3 THE OTTAWA PROCESS FROM REGIONAL INITIATIVES TO AN INTERNATIONAL PROHIBITION OF ANTI-PERSONNEL MINES
- Index
Summary
During the negotiation of the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, relatively little attention was paid to the question of mines, as the international community concentrated their efforts on trying to control incendiary weapons. By the beginning of the 1990s, however, it was clear that the use of landmines, especially anti-personnel mines, was escalating dramatically and was causing a major humanitarian crisis. The alarm was first sounded by surgeons of the ICRC and the staff of non-governmental organizations working in war-torn areas. Their call for action to end the increasing number of civilian casualties led to the convening of the Montreux Symposium in 1993. Later that same year, France called formally for the first Review Conference of the 1980 Convention, in particular to study the possibility of strengthening the provisions of international humanitarian law governing landmines.
In accordance with a request from States Parties, a series of three meetings of a group of governmental experts to prepare proposals for the Review Conference was scheduled to take place in Geneva from early 1994. In February 1994, just before the first of these meetings, the President of the ICRC, Cornelio Sommaruga, declared that a total prohibition on anti- personnel mines was the only effective solution to the humanitarian emergency created by landmines. At that time, few believed that such a measure was feasible.
States Parties also invited the ICRC to take part as an expert observer, both in meetings of the group of experts and in the Review Conference itself, and to prepare documentation and proposals for these meetings on the basis of its field experience and expertise in the sphere of international humanitarian law.
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- The Banning of Anti-Personnel LandminesThe Legal Contribution of the International Committee of the Red Cross 1955–1999, pp. 127 - 128Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000