Post-war Sri Lanka to Finish the Job Before 2025.
Today is the International Mine Action Day
By Vidya Abhayagunawardena-April 3, 2018, 8:42 pm
The 2018 International Mine Action Day is a special day for Sri Lanka, which acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty (MBT) known as the Ottawa Treaty on 13th December 2017. This will be the first International Mine Action Day that Sri Lanka celebrates as a State Party to the MBT. Sri Lanka may be the first country to accede to the MBT and Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) on 1st March 2018 and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) on 8th February 2016, in a row in three consecutive years not only in the South Asian region but also in the Asian region and perhaps in the world. Last year the MBT celebrated its 20th Anniversary and this year the CCM celebrates its 10th anniversary. Sri Lanka gave fitting birthday gifts with accession to both the Conventions on their 20th and 10th anniversaries.
Five Pillars of Sri Lanka’s National Mine Action Programme
Sri Lanka now as a State Party to the MBT will have several obligations to meet timelines under the Treaty implementation in the country. The National Mine Action Center which comes under the Ministry of Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs coordinates mine-action in Sri Lanka. Mine-action has five pillars which are universal to any mine-action programme in the world. They are; 1) Demining; 2) Mine Risk Education; 3) Victim Assistance; 4) Stockpile Destruction and 5) Advocacy.
1. Demining
With regard to Demining, Sri Lanka has yet to demine around 23sqkm in the north and east regions and this includes the Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Ampara districts. The National Mine Action Center has mentioned that Sri Lanka will be able to achieve mine threat-free status before 2020. We see this as a daunting task in terms of resource availability, political will and other factors. The international mine action community’s global agenda is set for a mine-free world by 2025. If Sri Lanka is able to achieve mine threat-free status before 2020 it will be a remarkable achievement and an example to the mine-action programmes of other mine affected countries. Currently Sri Lanka’s demining work is carried out by the Army Humanitarian Demining Unit, HALO Trust, MAG, DASH and SHARP with the support of the Government and the international donor community.
2. Mine Risk Education (MRE)
There is no doubt that Sri Lanka is at the top of the list in the world with regard to the least number of landmine victims reported in recent years. In 2017, there were only two mine-related incidents reported in Sri Lanka which compared to other mine-affected countries with hundreds of casualties reported every month. This is mainly due to the fact that better integrated Mine-Risk Education has been carried out by the local NGOs supported by the Unicef and the Humanitarian Demining Unit of the Sri Lanka Army. They conducted various mine-risk education activities for people living near mine-affected land areas. Further, the Ministry of Education has incorporated Mine-Risk Education into the school curriculum in schools in the North and East.
3. Victim Assistance (VA)
Victim Assistance is not satisfactory in Sri Lanka. Not only the mine-victims but also the entire disabled communities in Sri Lanka are facing severe difficulties with regard to their socioeconomic and political rights. Even though Sri Lanka ratified the UNCRPD more than two years ago, it is still struggling to have the UNCRPD principles incorporated into local legislations to implement accepted Convention norms and provisions to promote and protect disability rights. This we can further elaborate as justice delayed is justice denied.
4. Stockpile Destruction
Sri Lanka’s accession to the MBT showed its commitment towards the Treaty’s obligations and its implementation. Now Sri Lanka as a State Party needs to destroy all stockpiles of landmines in their stocks within four years. Sri Lanka should be able to achieve this target well before the set target of a four-year time period.
5. Advocacy
After several years’ relentless campaigning, the Sri Lanka Campaign to Ban Landmines (SLCBL) achieved and successfully completed the first phase of its mission. Sri Lanka ratified the UN CRPD in 2016, acceded to the MBT in 2017 and CCM in 2018. The second phase of SLCBL will be closely monitored and supportive of the implementation of the MBT, CCM and UN CRPD in Sri Lanka. The SLCBL vision will be a mine-free, peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka, which fulfills all requirements of the disabled community.
HRH Prince Mired visit to Sri Lanka
The MBT Special Envoy His Royal Highness Prince Mired of Jordan visited Sri Lanka from 5th to 7th March this year. His visit was historical not only for Sri Lanka but also for the South Asian region as it was the Special Envoy to the MBT’s first visit to the region. He mentioned in his speech in Colombo that Sri Lanka now stands strongly in the region and should become the universalization ambassador for the Treaty in the region. Prince Mired’s visit to Sri Lanka gave a huge boost to Sri Lanka’s National Mine-Action Programme. He encouraged international donors to support the ongoing mine-action programme in Sri Lanka and he emphasized that Sri Lanka should have a comprehensive victim assistance programme.
The way forward
With the National Mine-Action Strategy (2016-2020) Mid-Term Strategy (will be discussed and finalized soon) Sri Lanka should be able to achieve its set targets well before its deadlines. It is of paramount importance that all the relevant stakeholders (relevant Government institutes, NGOs, INGOs, Donor community and International organizations) need to be consulted before it is finalized. The Corporate sector can be consulted as a new donor for the mine-action programme. The National Mine-Action Programme should become a matter of high priority in the Government’s development agenda. The National Mine Action Strategy should be available in local languages of Sinhala and Tamil due to various good reasons.
Under the new Mid-term Mine Action Strategy the SLCBL encourages the GoSL to ratify Protocol (V) of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) on Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) without delay. This will complement the last year’s accession to the MBT by Sri Lanka. The CCW Protocol (V) is the first multilateral agreement to deal with the range of unexploded and abandoned ordnance (UXO) that regularly threatens civilians, peacekeepers and humanitarian workers after the end of an armed conflict. Sri Lanka has already ratified its Protocols I to IV in 2004.
Sri Lanka should be able to host the next available Meeting of the State Parties (MSP) of either MBT or CCM. Sri Lanka’s mine-action achievements should be shared with other mine-affected nations without delay. Hosting a MSP is one way to invite the international mine- action community to Sri Lanka and share with them its success story.
The SLCBL would like to encourage Sri Lanka to bring back the past glory of being a champion of disarmament and at the same time to become a regional hub for disarmament discussions in South Asia. Sri Lanka is yet to accede to the CCW Protocol (V), Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and Nuclear Ban Treaty (NBT). Sri Lanka should be the leader of the disarmament in the region and is the only country that has the necessary background to be the leader. This will bring many opportunities for Sri Lanka in terms of political, socioeconomic, environmental and other factors.
(The writer is the Coordinator for Sri Lanka Campaign to Ban Landmines and Country Researcher Sri Lanka for Landmine and Cluster Munitions Monitor.)
