The US Campaign to Ban Landmines (USCBL) recently urged the governments of the United States and Vietnam to sign the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, assuming a commitment to eradicate antipersonnel landmines.

On the eve of US President Bill Clinton's historic visit to Vietnam on November 14, Andrew Wells-Dang of the Asia Pacific Center for Justice and Peace, which is a member of USCBL, applauded the $1.7 million that the United States is donating for mine-clearance equipment in Vietnam. He added, however, that "both the United States and Vietnam should go one step further and immediately sign the Mine Ban Treaty."

In an op-ed article published on November 16 in the San Diego Union-Tribune, Wells-Dang wrote: "The United States used more than 15 million tons of bombs, shells, and landmines on Vietnam (as well as neighboring Cambodia and Laos) more than all armies used on all fronts in World War II. As much as 10 percent of these explosives still remain in the soil. [The explosives] kill and maim children and adults on a weekly basis." Wells-Dang is the researcher for the Vietnam section of the recently released Landmine Monitor 2000.

Gina Coplon-Newfield, coordinator of the USCBL, urged that action be taken to address what she called the root cause of the problem. "Both the United States and Vietnam have used, produced, and exported antipersonnel mines," she explained. "They both bear responsibility for the mine problem not only in Vietnam but in other countries of the world as well. They both can become part of the global solution not only by engaging in mine clearance and mine-victim assistance but by banning this indiscriminate weapon entirely."

According to the USCBL, 139 countries have signed the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, and 107 have ratified it. The United States and Vietnam are among the 54 countries that have refused to sign the treaty. According to a USCBL news release, "the Clinton Administration has said that the United States will join the treaty in 2006 only if a search for alternatives to antipersonnel mines has been successful. In Vietnam, government officials view acceptance of the Mine Ban Treaty as a matter of time, not principle."

The USCBL is a coalition of more than 500 medical, religious, human-rights, veterans', peace, and other organizations. It is a part of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), which was a corecipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.

In May, the 2000 General Conference of The United Methodist Church passed a resolution urging the President of the United States to endorse the Mine Ban Treaty. According to this resolution, "antipersonnel landmines are weapons of mass destruction that claim the life or limb of another innocent victim every 20 minutes....[They] are a growing threat to the human community and the environment, kill or maim hundreds of people every week, bring untold suffering and casualties to mostly innocent and defenseless civilians especially children, obstruct economic development and reconstruction, inhibit the repatriation of refugees and internally displaced persons, and have other severe consequences for years after emplacement."

The resolution calls upon US citizens and the US government to increase resources for humanitarian de-mining, mine-awareness programs, and landmine victim rehabilitation and assistance.

In pursuit of this goal, the General Board of Global Ministries, at its annual meeting in October, committed $1 million to complete a landmine removal project in Mozambique. According to a United Methodist News Service report on October 16, mines will be removed from United Methodist property in Mozambique and from at least an equal number of acres of other land. The project aims to return agricultural land, transportation routes, and the grounds of social institutions to full productivity.

December 4, 2000

For further information, see:

New World Outlook's Landmine Information and Action Page
United Methodists To Spend $1 Million on Landmine Removal, UMNS
Watch Your Step!!! Upfront with Youth by Faye Wilson