01.01.2007

International Campaign To Ban Landmines

When Medico International and its partner organisations founded the International Campaign To Ban Landmines, no one had expected that it will trigger one of the first global civil society campaigns. In 1997 the initiative received the Peace Nobel Prize for its engagement. The big success of the campaign was the adoption of the so called Ottawa Agreement, which was put to force in 1999. It forbids the production, storing, deployment and dissemination of anti-personnel landmines. It regulates the clearance of mines-contaminated areas and allocates funds for mine victims. Yet, many countries, such as the USA, China and Russia, have not even signed the Agreement. Million of landmines still put peoples life at risk. Medico International demands extending the Agreement to all mines and mines-like weapons and increasing of the funds for mine clearance and rehabilitation of victims.