Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-04-22-Speech-4-239"
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"en.20040422.7.4-239"2
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".
Mr President, I am pleased to say that on this occasion I totally agree with Mr Posselt, which is not always the case.
In reply to Mr Tannock, it is true that there is a big difference between antitank mines and antipersonnel mines. However, they too can be used in a perverse manner: an antipersonnel mine can be stacked on top of an antitank mine, which is extremely dangerous. There are all kinds of perverse ways of stacking and combining these mines. I do not mean that we should move beyond the scope of the Ottawa Treaty. We should use it forcefully and constructively and then consider how we can move on.
The problem of increasing the number of countries actually complying with and ratifying the Treaty is still a real problem. As a Danish government minister I signed the Ottowa Treaty on behalf of my country. Immediately after signing, the Canadian Government gave us all a nice ballpoint pen. I subsequently had a meeting with the roaming US ambassador. I felt sorry for him and gave him the pen I had just used to sign, saying that at least his government would have a pen that knew how to sign the Treaty. We still need to exert pressure on those countries that are not on board, including the EU Member State named during the debate.
The most important and effective thing way of proceeding in post-conflict situations is, if possible, to have the two sides in a conflict join together in demining mapping. Nicaragua was a good example of this, even though that was never a dirty guerrilla war. It was well-organised and both sides had mapped what they had done. In Nicaragua, working together became in itself part of the reconciliation and confidence-building process. In this case it was possible, but in many cases it is not. This is part of the problem. Having said that, local communities were mobilised in a fantastic way in Cambodia to provide intelligence for mapping, and a long-term broad participatory approach was taken to moving things forward.
We have to use our global presence not only to provide money but also to act as a catalyst for the use of best practice. We should probably also be doing more in terms of research and development in the field of detection technologies. This is all part of what we intend to do in the coming years.
Let me conclude by thanking Members for their very positive contributions."@en1
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