Anti-Personnel Mines - Ottawa Convention
The "Ottawa Convention", which is essentially based on an Austrian draft text, was adopted in 1997 in Ottawa (Canada) and entered into force in 1999. It prohibits the use of anti-personnel mines as well as their production, transfer and trade. Additionally, states parties are obliged to clear mined territories within a period of ten years, to destroy their stockpiles within a period of four years, and to provide assistance to landmine victims.
In 2004, the First Review Conference of the "Ottawa Convention" took place in Nairobi (Kenya) under Austrian chairmanship. The conference took a largely positive stock on the implementation of the categorical ban of anti-personnel mines since 1999, and passed the Nairobi Action Plan for the period from 2005 to 2009. The Second Review Conference of the “Ottawa-Convention” took place in Cartagena (Columbia) in November 2009. The Cartagena Action Plan 2010-2014 places particular attention on victim assistance provisions.
156 states have acceded to the Convention since 1997. This rapid universalisation constitutes a record number of member states for an international treaty concluded outside the framework of the United Nations. The majority of states most heavily affected by anti-personnel mines, such as Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Mozambique, Bosnia and Herzegovina or Nicaragua, have joined the Ottawa Convention.
Austria has had its own national mine action budget since 1998, mostly used for mine clearance activities, de-mining training, awareness programmes for mine risk education and projects on the rehabilitation of mine victims. In 2010 alone, Austria has financed projects related to anti-personnel mines worth a total of about 1.5 million Euros, placing a regional focus on Africa and the SEE countries (South-Eastern Europe), as well as Afghanistan and Lao P.D.R.
