Mozambique to host the Third Review Conference of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention in 2014

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Geneva, Maputo – The countdown to the Third Review Conference of the landmark Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention to be held in Maputo from 23 to 27 June 2014, under the name Maputo Review Conference has begun, with a Preparatory Meeting on 6 December at the United Nations in Geneva.  

“We are honored and proud to host and preside over this important global event and we will do everything in our power to make the Maputo Review Conference on a Mine-Free World a success,” said Mozambique’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Henrique Banze, who will serve as the conference’s President.

“Mozambique symbolises this particular time in the life of the anti-landmines movement,” added Deputy Minister Banze. “In the early 1990s, Mozambique was one of the countries where the tragedy caused by anti-personnel mines was the greatest. The suffering we experienced, helped give birth to this movement. Much has been achieved since that time in Mozambique and around the world.”

“When the Convention was adopted, the clearance of all mined areas in Mozambique was a distant prospect and perhaps to some, unachievable,” said Deputy Minister Banze. “However, Mozambique expects to finalize all mine clearance operations, only a few months after the Maputo Review Conference ends.”

“The Maputo Review Conference should give hope to others still addressing a landmine problem that an end is within sight. We invite all States Parties to participate at the highest possible level to again shine a spotlight on the Convention and secure the political commitments necessary to pursue the aims of the Convention beyond 2014.”

With the Maputo Review Conference, the international community will be returning to where efforts to implement the Convention began. Mozambique hosted and presided over the Convention’s First Meeting of the States Parties in 1999.

Since that time, the Convention’s membership has quadrupled, with 161 states now bound by the Convention. The number of casualties has dramatically decreased, over 44.5 million of stockpiled anti-personnel mines have been destroyed, and 29 of the Convention’s parties have completed implementation of their mine clearance obligation, including 11 states in Africa.

Over 1,000 participants representing governments and international and non-governmental organizations are exp

 

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For press inquiries, contact: Laila Rodriguez press(at)apminebanconvention.org or +41 (0) 22 730 9350. Find the Convention on Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.