CARTAGENA, Colombia — World powers signed a five-year plan Friday to assist victims of anti-personnel landmines and discourage use of the weapons, which claimed the lives of over 5,000 people last year alone.
Representatives of over 100 nations gathered in Cartagena on Colombia's northern coast formally adopted the document on Thursday.
The text, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, says participants are determined to assist the estimated 500,000 people maimed by the weaponry worldwide, with a focus on providing them specialized care with improved access, quality and lower costs.
The Cartagena summit, which began on Sunday, was the second conference reviewing the 1997 Ottawa Treaty that came into force in March 1999 after pressure from victims.
Some 156 nations are signatories to the ban, but three world powers -- the United States, China and Russia -- have declined to join the treaty, which bans the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines, and calls on countries to destroy their existing arsenals.
The three countries attended as observers, along with delegates from the International Committee of the Red Cross, various UN agencies and some 400 representatives from civil society.
Representatives signing on to the document on the closing day of the conference reiterated their commitment to the treaty and vowed to seek its ratification by the 39 non-participating countries -- a goal prioritized by Norway, which presided over the meeting.
The text also recognized care for mine victims as a right, and charged each signatory state with designating a representative responsible to establish and coordinate the new policy.
Since the Ottawa Treaty, also known as the Mine Ban Treaty, came into force, 86 countries have eliminated their stockpiles of landmines and only two governments -- Russia and Burma -- still use them, compared to 15 in 1999.
Another 13 non-governmental armed groups have also declined to renounce the use of mines, but that figure is down significantly from the dozens of groups using the weaponry a decade ago.
It is no accident that Colombia is hosting the second review conference of the treaty, five years after the first review in Nairobi.
Colombia has a large number of landmine victims, second globally only to Afghanistan, with more than 8,000 amputees as a result since 1990.
It is also home to the FARC guerrilla movement (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), considered one of the biggest users of the deadly mines among rebel groups.
Source: CARTAGENA, Colombia — World powers signed a five-year plan Friday to assist victims of anti-personnel landmines and discourage use of the weapons, which claimed the lives of over 5,000 people last year alone.
Representatives of over 100 nations gathered in Cartagena on Colombia's northern coast formally adopted the document on Thursday.
The text, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, says participants are determined to assist the estimated 500,000 people maimed by the weaponry worldwide, with a focus on providing them specialized care with improved access, quality and lower costs.
The Cartagena summit, which began on Sunday, was the second conference reviewing the 1997 Ottawa Treaty that came into force in March 1999 after pressure from victims.
Some 156 nations are signatories to the ban, but three world powers -- the United States, China and Russia -- have declined to join the treaty, which bans the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines, and calls on countries to destroy their existing arsenals.
The three countries attended as observers, along with delegates from the International Committee of the Red Cross, various UN agencies and some 400 representatives from civil society.
Representatives signing on to the document on the closing day of the conference reiterated their commitment to the treaty and vowed to seek its ratification by the 39 non-participating countries -- a goal prioritized by Norway, which presided over the meeting.
The text also recognized care for mine victims as a right, and charged each signatory state with designating a representative responsible to establish and coordinate the new policy.
Since the Ottawa Treaty, also known as the Mine Ban Treaty, came into force, 86 countries have eliminated their stockpiles of landmines and only two governments -- Russia and Burma -- still use them, compared to 15 in 1999.
Another 13 non-governmental armed groups have also declined to renounce the use of mines, but that figure is down significantly from the dozens of groups using the weaponry a decade ago.
It is no accident that Colombia is hosting the second review conference of the treaty, five years after the first review in Nairobi.
Colombia has a large number of landmine victims, second globally only to Afghanistan, with more than 8,000 amputees as a result since 1990.
It is also home to the FARC guerrilla movement (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), considered one of the biggest users of the deadly mines among rebel groups.
Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j2ODXpgigFsK1W0fwJDCXs-FMgTg
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