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<html> <head> <meta name="Generator" content="Corel WordPerfect 8"> <title>MINISTER AXWORTHY - ADDRESS TO A NEWSMAKERS BREAKFAST</title> </head> <body text="#000000" link="#0000ff" vlink="#551a8b" alink="#ff0000" bgcolor="#c0c0c0"> 99/61 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE LLOYD AXWORTHY, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS TO A NEWSMAKERS BREAKFAST OTTAWA, Ontario December 3, 1999 (9:15 a.m. EST) Two weeks ago, I was in Kosovo. It was a sobering visit. The legacy of destruction caused by Serb forces is pervasive; ethnic hatred runs deep, and the suffering of ordinary civilians is an ongoing reality. Plainly, it will not be easy for the people of Kosovo to overcome the trauma of their recent experience nor to build a stable, peaceful society. However, the last event of my stay gave me a measure of encouragement. And it involved Canadians. I was brought to a grade school at Glogovac, an unremarkable village in an undistinguished region. The school was practically destroyed and surrounded by landmines. A centre of learning had been turned into a deathtrap by hate and prejudice. As a result of the combined efforts of Canadian military peacekeepers, a Canadian demining team, and Canadian civilian NGOs -- working with the local population -- this school is now being restored, and with it the hope for a more tolerant future. I came away firmly convinced of the value of Canada's contribution in Kosovo. The experience also reinforced for me the new face of peacekeeping -- multifaceted, more civilian-oriented, based more directly on ensuring the long-term safety and security of ordinary people. The change in peacekeeping is in response to a change in the nature of war, with the majority of armed conflicts now occurring within rather than between states. As one analyst recently observed, "war has not so much disappeared but turned inward." The result has been to make civilians more vulnerable as victims, targets and instruments of war. This new reality, in turn, relates directly to the anniversary we mark today. The impetus behind the campaign to ban landmines and the signature of the Ottawa Convention was the desire to eliminate a weapon whose principal object is to put human security at risk. As such, the Ottawa Process is a response to the new global circumstances that put human safety and welfare at the forefront of global concern. But it is more than a response. The Ottawa Process has served as a catalyst for moving the human security agenda forward. The overwhelming, positive response to the Ottawa Process -- with its focus on human security -- underlined that a human-centred approach to peace and security has clear resonance in the international community. By focussing on one significant, direct threat to civilians, it put the spotlight on the vulnerability of people's safety from a variety of sources -- as a result creating awareness and momentum for action. It provided, for example, the genesis of Canada's agenda at the UN Security Council where we are working to integrate humanitarian and human rights concerns into the Council's deliberations and decisions -- an approach with considerable support and one where we have achieved a measure of success. And two years after the Ottawa Convention, it is not unusual to hear world leaders in various global councils -- Secretary-General Annan among them -- citing the promotion of human security as a priority for the international community. The Ottawa Process also brought new energy and expanded the scope of the international legal framework that advances human rights and holds individuals accountable for their actions. Two years after the Ottawa Convention, it is no coincidence that the international community has adopted the statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and is now working to make the Court a reality. The Ottawa Process underscored the fact that in a globalized world, governments are no longer the only actors in the world arena. Civil society and the private sector have a growing and positive role to play. The success of the Ottawa Process is due in large part to creative coalitions with NGOs and concerned individuals. Two years after the Ottawa Convention, these creative coalitions are reflected in other partnerships: in the effort to create the ICC, to stop the proliferation and abuse of small arms and light military weapons, and to address the plight of war-affected children. The Ottawa Process also illuminated the darker role that non-state actors -- militias, warlords, unscrupulous commercial interests -- play in perpetuating human insecurity in conflict zones and beyond -- and the need to find ways to address the challenges they raise. Two years after the Ottawa Convention, the role of these non-state actors, as participants in armed conflict or in perpetuating the new war economies, is the subject of growing scrutiny from the G-8 to the UN. In these ways, the Ottawa Process has clearly contributed to a new dynamic emerging around the world that places the individual -- individual rights, dignity and well-being -- at the centre of global affairs. Certainly this is the case for Canada where this year's Speech from the Throne affirmed the prominence of human security in our foreign policy. But if the Ottawa Convention has helped inscribe human security on the global agenda, what has it done to eliminate landmines? Two years after it was first signed and only nine months since it became binding under international law, there are several clear signs that it is making an impact. Use of these insidious weapons has declined dramatically. Once taken for granted as an inevitability of war, use of AP [anti-personnel] mines is now so isolated and rare that it makes headline news when it occurs. The shocking effects of these weapons on civilians are widely recognized, and their use in conflicts provokes rapid international condemnation. The production and export of AP mines have both dropped dramatically as the ban has gathered momentum. The total number of producing nations has dropped from 54 to just 16, and according to an independent monitoring agency, not a single shipment of anti-personnel mines from one nation to another was recorded in 1998 and early 1999. Victim rates are declining in some of the world's worst affected countries. In both Afghanistan and Cambodia the rate of new casualties fell by almost half between 1993 and 1998. New incidents are also down dramatically in Bosnia and Mozambique. Progress is also being made in reducing global stockpiles of landmines, with over 14 million mines destroyed in 20 countries in the last three years. This number will grow substantially in the near future as Canada and other donor nations help Ukraine meet its treaty obligations to destroy its stockpiles. Plans are underway for the elimination of Ukraine's estimated 10 million stockpiled mines. These include some of the world's most toxic. And, while there are some prominent holdout states that have not yet signed the Convention, there are signs that a new norm is taking hold. The United States currently has a total ban in place on export of AP mines and has announced that it hopes to embrace the Convention by 2006. In May 1998, Russia announced a halt to the production of blast AP mines. Both Russia and the United States have begun to destroy mines. These are encouraging signs. But we are still far from our ultimate goal of a world without landmines. Not only do we have to deal with the vast number of mines put in the ground in past decades -- and assisting the thousands of victims -- we are also confronted with new mines being deployed in conflict zones such as Angola and Kosovo. That is why, using the $100 million Canadian Landmine Fund, Canada is taking action on a number of fronts: • Dealing with the deployment of new landmines in Kosovo. Past experience has shown that it is imperative to act quickly, where conditions allow, to prevent new landmine casualties as refugees return after conflicts end. That is why in Kosovo, Canada and its partners moved rapidly. We co-sponsored the first UN mine assessment mission; supported the establishment of the UN Mine Action Co-ordination Centre in Pristina; are providing Canadian demining expertise -- six teams are now on the ground in Kosovo; and have contributed to mine awareness among the Kosovo population -- even before hostilities ended. As a result, the number of mine victims has been kept low. • Ongoing mine action programs worldwide. Canada supported mine action programs in 19 countries. Among these are some of the world's most mine-infested areas -- Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mozambique, Cambodia, Yemen, and several Central American countries. • Continuing to assist victims and their communities. And here we are broadening our approach. For example in Cambodia, victims are not just treated for their injuries but Canada also supports a programme that teaches them welding and small engine repair and includes credit to help them start their own business. • Contribution to research and development of new mine action technologies and in the treatment of victims. Supported partly by the Canadian government, the Canadian Centre for Mine Action Technologies, established in 1998, is involved in promising work that may soon make a dramatic difference to the speed, safety and efficiency of demining in the field. • They are also looking at research into tissue injury from mine blasts. That should lead to better emergency treatment of victims and make rehabilitation faster, easier and more effective. We also support research to make orthotics cheaper, as well as more effective, so that rehabilitation is affordable. • Generating ongoing funding. Sustaining funding and attention to the landmines issue is difficult but essential. That is behind the initiative to create the Canadian Landmine Foundation. The Foundation -- a private sector, non-profit charity -- is raising funds from businesses and individuals for mine action. We have contributed seed money to the Foundation to enable it to multiply these funds through its outreach to the private sector. • Promoting public awareness. The need to inform and involve the public in this critical issue is behind a unique exhibition underway at the moment here in Ottawa. Ban Landmines 99 is a joint effort of the Canadian Red Cross, Mines Action Canada, and the Department of Foreign Affairs. It provides an opportunity for people to come out and see for themselves what we mean by mine action. The struggle against landmines is no small undertaking. They are a plague that has been with us for much of this century. Many thought they would be with us forever -- but some dared to believe otherwise. Since the Ottawa Convention was opened for signature two years ago, there has been progress in putting this weapon where it belongs, as part of the world's brutal past, rather than giving it a hold in humanity's hopeful future. This is cause for encouragement. The legacy of the Ottawa Process, its spirit, focus and partnerships, goes well beyond the elimination of this heinous weapon. It has raised the profile of threats to human safety, helped give expression to the human dimension in world affairs, and showed how to advance human security. On this second anniversary of the Ottawa Convention, this is cause for celebration. Thank you </body> </html>

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