U.S. land mine policy a `slap in face'

Land mines are a blight that keep on maiming, destroying the lives and limbs of the world's poorest people.

But while another 5,000 fell victim to the deadly explosives last year alone, the United States – the world's third-largest stockpiler of land mines – won't sign the treaty to ban them as officials from more than 150 countries meet in Colombia this week to review the progress of the accord.

"President (Barack) Obama's decision to cling to anti-personnel mines keeps the U.S. on the wrong side of history and the wrong side of humanity," said Steve Goose, arms division director for Human Rights Watch.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Obama had not rejected signing the treaty, but was keeping the current land mine policy in place while conducting a review that "was going to take some time."

Ironically, the talks in the Colombian city of Cartagena, which started Sunday and run through Friday, come before Obama is to receive a Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo Dec. 10 – an award given partly for his commitment to disarmament.

"Very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the Nobel committee said in its citation.

The 1997 convention, known as the Ottawa Treaty, was hailed as a triumph for Canadian leadership on humanitarian issues. It bars the use, stockpiling, production or transfer of anti-personnel mines, and has been endorsed by 156 countries. But former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy, an architect of the treaty, said it was time for Canada to join other countries that backed it and persuade Washington to sign.

"As Canada works its way up to (running for) a seat in the UN Security Council, it's a positive reminder that it can, and does, play a positive role in agreements that protect innocent people," he said in a phone interview from Winnipeg.

However, he said Obama's failure to reverse a 12-year American boycott of the pact was understandable "with the kind of agenda he has, including health care, climate change and the economy."

And Axworthy added, although the U.S. is a treaty holdout, it is one of the most active supporters of demining efforts, and has not used land mines for almost two decades.

But it still stores 7.5 million anti-personnel mines and 7.5 million anti-vehicular mines, ranking behind only China and Russia for the size of its stockpile.

There are signs the Obama administration is taking the treaty more seriously than George W. Bush, who opposed it.

Observers from four government branches, including the state and defence departments, will attend the land mine conference for the first time.

But Jody Williams, a Nobel laureate for her campaign against land mines, said the decision not to sign the treaty was "a slap in the face to land mine survivors, their families and affected communities everywhere."

Others that have refused to endorse the treaty include China, Russia, Iran, India and Pakistan. Many argue that mines are a vital part of their national security, because they take the place of badly stretched troops in protecting their territory.

Source: thestar.com/