Norway and the Mine Ban Convention

Norway’s commitment to humanitarian ideals has been the basis for its participation in the development and implementation of the Mine Ban Convention. Norway was one of the first countries to sign the Convention in 1997, and has played a leading role in its implementation since then. Norway has also been one of the largest donors, providing an average of NOK 200 million a year since 1997. This has mainly been used to support mine clearance and victim assistance. At the same time, Norway has continued its political efforts to ensure global acceptance for the provisions of the Convention. Mine clearance and other efforts have also been part of Norway’s peace and reconciliation efforts in countries such as Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Sudan. Norwegian NGOs have also been heavily involved. Norwegian People’s Aid is one of the largest mine clearance operators, and its expertise and experience have been of key importance in this field. The Norwegian Red Cross works particularly with mine victims, in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Tromsø Mine Victim Resource Centre. Norway also supports the efforts of UN humanitarian organisations and UNDP, and NGOs such as the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and the Landmine Survivors Network. Support goes both to policy efforts and to practical programmes and projects.

The Norwegian Government is taking an active part in efforts at both national and international level to use the 10th anniversary of the Mine Ban Convention to maintain the focus on implementation of the Convention and step up this work. The Government also intends to use this opportunity to look at how states and civil society can cooperate to maintain the humanitarian approach underlying the Convention, and how this approach can be used to meet other humanitarian challenges. An important example is Norway’s initiative for a ban on cluster munitions that have unacceptable humanitarian consequences.