Meeting on Humanitarian Demining

Each year, thousands of people step on anti-personnel mines and lose legs, arms, and even their life.

In the fight against anti-personnel mines, the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction is a key element in the efforts to be provided in order to end the sufferings and human losses linked to this scourge.

Ratified on 18 September 1997, the Convention came into force on 1st May 1999.

It includes the prohibition of anti-personnel mines and an action plan aiming to counteract the humanitarian impact of mines. This legal framework strengthens the mechanisms for cooperation for the implementation of the Convention. On 1st March 2007, 153 States had signed it.

Since 1999, the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) has supported the implementation of the Convention, mainly by organizing meetings of Permanent Committees held by the States Parties to the Convention.

The GICHD, in partnership with others, offers operational support for actions to be carried out, collects and distributes knowledge, improves the quality of the management and standards of work, and contributes to supplying legal tools of international law, all in order to ensure performance and professionalism.
The meetings organized by the GIHCD offered the opportunity to take stock of the third year of the enforcement of the Nairobi Action Plan 2005-2009 adopted on 3 December 2004 during the First Review Conference.

They also allow the States Parties to ensure a follow-up of the priorities established in the intermediate work report of Geneva presented on 22 December 2006 during the Seventh Meeting of the States Parties (7MSP).