Norway has given high priority since the mid-1990s to the efforts to reduce the humanitarian problems caused by landmines, or anti-personnel mines. Norway played a leading role in the process that resulted in the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (the Mine Ban Convention) and the negotiations on the actual convention took place in Oslo in September 1997.
Norway continues to enjoy international recognition for its work under the Mine Ban Convention and in connection with humanitarian mine action in general. Norway has in this connection provided a great deal of expertise and financial support to mine action at the international level. The country has allocated a total of USD 130 million to mine action during the period 1997 to August 2003. Norway also plays an active part in mobilising resources at the international level to support mine action and in ensuring that existing resources are used more efficiently.
Norwegian NGOs also play an important role in the efforts to implement the Mine Ban Convention and in other humanitarian mine action. Norwegian People’s Aid is one of the leading actors in humanitarian mine clearance, and the organisation’s expertise is one of the main reasons why Norway has such a leading position in this area.
The ban on landmines is an important norm of international humanitarian law. Landmines may no longer be used in warfare, and countries that have no residue of landmines after a war have better conditions for socio-economic development. Clearing minefields after a war is important for building confidence between the parties and means that the land can be used for other purposes. Thus Norway’s support for peace processes in which it is closely involved includes humanitarian mine action, for example in Sri Lanka and Sudan.
The Mine Ban Convention was opened for signature on 3 December 1997, and entered into force on 1 March 1999. It has created a completely new norm as regards landmines. Since the entry into force of the convention there has been a marked decrease in the use of these mines, a sharp drop in their production, an almost complete halt to their sale, rapid destruction of stocks, clearance of larger numbers of minefields and, not least, a considerable reduction in the numbers of new mine victims. As of 15 August 136 countries have ratified the convention, but the convention has been widely recognised as an international norm. For example, many countries that have not ratified the convention have adjusted their landmine policy in keeping with its provisions.
By the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs