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Prime Minister Chrétien Welcomes Landmine Milestone
September 16, 1998
Ottawa, Ontario
Prime Minister Chrétien expressed his deep satisfaction today on the news that Burkina Faso became the 40th nation to ratify the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel (AP) Mines and on their Destruction - commonly known as the Ottawa Convention. This is the number needed to start the countdown that will bring the Convention officially into force on March 1, 1999.
"I am, indeed, delighted that forty nations have now come on board and that the Landmine Ban Treaty can now come into effect next March," said the Prime Minister. "Such swift action is testimony to the depth of international will to get rid of these terrible silent killers. I am proud of the leadership role that Canada - and especially Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy - took in making this treaty a reality. Now that the clock is ticking, we are anxious to see progress on the next stage: seeing countries destroy their stockpiles of mines, working seriously on removing mines from the ground and providing sustained assistance to mine victims."
Canada hosted the signing conference for the Ottawa Convention last December, at which 122 countries signed the treaty. A total of 130 countries have now signed. At that conference Canada became the first country to ratify when Prime Minister Chrétien presented Canada's instrument of ratification to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.
At the same time, the Prime Minister also announced a $100 million Canadian Landmine Fund to support a range of projects aimed at ensuring universal international adherence to the Convention, and providing support to mine clearance and victim assistance projects. Last November, even before the Convention opened for signature, Canada met one of the treaty's key provisions by destroying all Canadian stockpiles of anti-personnel mines.
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PMO Press Office (613) 957-5555
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