4 March 2004

Rhianna Tyson, Project Associate

Today in the CD, only the United States and the Malaysian CD president delivered statements.

The new US ambassador to the CD, Jackie W. Sanders, delivered a statement regarding the United States' new policy on landmines.

While the United States is not a Party to the Ottawa Convention, AmbassadorSanders declared that the US is "the first major military power to commit to giving up all non-detectable landmines and all persistent landmines." The new US policy is intended to be a supplement to the Anti-Vehicle Mine
Proposal Protocol sponsored by 30 nations in the CCW, which meets again in Geneva next week.

The "Fact Sheet on New United States Policy on Landmines" was submitted as an official document to the CD, and can be found alongside Ambassador Sanders' statement.

While the fact sheet declares that "The United States is committed to eliminating the humanitarian risks posed by landmines," it continues to say that "the military capabilities provided by landmines remain necessary for the United States military to protect our forces and save lives."

According to the fact sheet, the United States has allocated $70 million in FY04 for landmine clearance, mine risk education, and victim assistance; this amount is up 50% from 2003.

The US will also be seeking a worldwide ban on the sale or export of all persistent landmines.

The Malaysian president of the CD also briefly commented on the "formal selection process" that will "consider requests from NGOs to address the CD," as detailed in paragraph 5 of the draft decision on the enhancement of civil society participation in the work of the CD. The draft decision states that, "requests from NGOs will be made to the President through the CD secretariat. These requests will be considered at Presidential Consultations and thereafter at a formal Plenary Meeting of the Conference."

A background paper for this selection process was prepared by the CD Secretariat, and will be available on the RCW website shortly.