Action alliance Landmine.de

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The action alliance Landmine.de (Actiongroup Landmine.de) was until its dissolution at the end of 2010 an association of development organizations founded under the name Deutscher Initiativkreis for the ban of landmines and was part of the international campaign for the ban on landmines (International Campaign to Ban Landmines, ICBL). The alliance was in Germany under the leadership of Thomas Küchenmeister as head / director in Berlin.

Press work should be used to exert pressure on political decision-makers. Together with prominent artists and politicians, the action alliance campaigned worldwide against the manufacture, sale and trade and the ban on the use of all landmines and mine-like weapons . These endanger and massively limit the everyday life of the civilian population, especially after the end of fighting .

Global military background

36 states, including the three permanent UN Security Council members China , Russia and the USA, have not signed the Ottawa Treaty . According to Landmine & Cluster Munition Monitor, 12 states continue to manufacture and store anti-personnel mines (APM); and Non-State Actors (NSAs) as insurgents and rebel groups set APM in many wars and armed conflicts continue to be a so in Chechnya , Kashmir , Sri Lanka and the Sudan . 200–215 million APM are said to be stored in arsenals worldwide , 190–205 million of them with non-contracting parties. 66 countries and 7 internationally not recognized areas are now burdened with over 100 million uncleared landmines and mine-like weapons (duds, cluster bombs ). In 2009, 3956 casualty cases were recorded, but it is estimated that more than 20,000 casualties of these "weapons of mass destruction in slow motion" annually.

history

After the establishment of the International Campaign for the Ban on Landmines (ICBL) in 1992, it achieved success relatively quickly in public and in the media. As part of this international campaign succeeded the German Initiative to Ban Landmines ( German Initiative to Ban Landmines , GIBL) shortly after its founding in 1995 to collect 450,000 signatures in Germany, thus the five demands of the initiative group for a ban on all Landmines attached. In the spring of 2004, the German Initiative Group for the Ban on Landmines was renamed Action Alliance Landmine.de. However, the five demands remained the same and are now supported by over a million citizens. In 2007, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the ban on anti-personnel mines and the negotiations on the ban on cluster munitions, over a million signatures for a ban on landmines and cluster munitions were handed over to the federal government. At the end of 2010 the action alliance Landmine.de disbanded in a politically conscious and long-prepared decision. At the same time, the sponsoring organizations emphasized that the content-related work will continue to be carried out by some of the sponsoring organizations, and that the project work in particular in countries affected by landmines will be continued and the full implementation of the bans reached will be politically supported.

Since 2011, the Landmine.de website has been continued as an information portal by some members of the sponsoring group - Handicap International, medico international, Misereor and SODI - Solidarity Service International. It is intended to document the political work for the full implementation of the bans on anti-personnel mines and cluster bombs and the aid projects for comprehensive mine clearance and victim rehabilitation and make them available to the public. The campaign was celebrated and praised by many as the most successful citizens' initiative to date and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 . Never before has it been possible to ban a weapon that is in use all over the world. The Nobel Prize Committee also highlighted that the campaign had not only played an important role in achieving a treaty but also advanced a new form of international diplomacy. Despite resistance from the major military powers and outside the usual UN structures, medium-sized and small states in alliance with "organized civil society" have achieved successes that they would never have achieved alone.

Basics

Over 100 million landmines that have not yet been cleared and more than 20,000 mine victims annually will make humanitarian aid necessary for decades to come. Enormous efforts are required to meet the Ottawa Convention's goal of clearing all mines within ten years and the obligation to provide extensive victim assistance. It was not to be tolerated that the federal government in the 1998 federal budget was still making more money available for mine and mine clearing technology for military use than for humanitarian mine clearing.

At the beginning of 2008, Germany was still one of the states that had double-digit millions of cluster munitions available and spent billions on procurement and modernization. As before, German companies produced and exported cluster munitions. The German government did not want to forego the use of cluster munitions in principle and has spoken out against a complete ban on these weapons. In a press release from December 7, 2007, at the end of the Vienna Conference on the Ban on Cluster Munitions, Thomas Küchenmeister pointed out that the Federal Government was obviously more concerned with protecting its weapons stocks and the interests of the Germans when it came to redeclaring weapon functions and modernizing them Defense industry is more about protecting civilians in war and combat zones around the world.

With the Ottawa Convention of 2008, Germany undertook to ban the production, storage, sale and use of cluster bombs. By 2015 the Bundeswehr plans to destroy its entire arsenal of cluster munitions of around 200,000 artillery rounds and 26,000 MLRS-M26 rockets.

In contrast, at least 17 countries, including China, Israel, the USA and Russia, continue to produce cluster bombs in large quantities.

Demands of the action alliance

The alliance has formulated the following demands in its program:

  1. A worldwide ban on the development, production, export (including technology transfer) and use of all types of landmines and mine-like weapons
  2. Disclosure of all research objects and exports, all military deployment plans and all mine stocks and deposits, including those of armies on ex-territorial soil.
  3. The demonstrable destruction of all existing mines
  4. The reallocation of funds allocated for the development of mines and mine laying systems for the benefit of rehabilitation and compensation for mine victims.
  5. Comprehensive support for worldwide mine clearance and victim assistance under the supervision of the UN and the humanitarian aid organizations through funding e.g. B. a mine clearance fund.

Achievements so far

The alliance made a major contribution to Germany unilaterally renouncing anti-personnel mines (APM) in 1996 and thus having a not insignificant influence on the process to ban APM.

The action alliance Landmine.de was also a driving and critical force in Germany in the process of banning cluster bombs. On October 3, 2008, in a solemn ceremony in Oslo, 94 countries signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans the use, manufacture and distribution of certain types of conventional cluster munitions. Six months after its 30th ratification, the treaty entered into force on August 1, 2010. As of September 2013, the agreement has been ratified by 82 states and the Holy See, and 29 other states have signed.

Management

The action alliance Landmine.de / Actiongroup Landmine.de was in Germany under the direction of Thomas Küchenmeister as head / director in Berlin.

Member organizations of the action alliance

The following organizations were member organizations of the Landmine.de action alliance :

Members

The following people and associations are publicly committed to the landmine.de action alliance :

Web links