Taking up the challenge: banning landmines globally and in Myanmar was organized on the 25th Anniversary of the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and the 25th Anniversary of the 1997 Ottawa Convention and held on 8 December 2022 at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand.
Panelists included:
Tom Andrews, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar
Tun Chanareth, International Campaign to Ban Land Mine (ICBL) ambassador, and landmine survivor who accepted the Nobel for the ICBL in Oslo in 1997
Kasia Derlicka-Rosenbauer, government liaison and policy manager of the ICBL.
Marion Guillaumont, Disarmament and Protection of Civilians Advocacy Officer, Humanity & Inclusion (formerly Handicap International)
Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan, research coordinator for Asia and the Pacific, Landmine monitor.
Introductory remarks were offered by Ambassador Sarah Taylor, Canadian Ambassador to Thailand
Event was moderated by Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director, Human Rights Watch, and FCCT board member
Panelists discussed the achievements and continuing challenges to what UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called a “near universal convention” brought about by what Dr. Moser-Puangsuwan calls “the most successful social movement of our time.”
In November 2022, the Mine Ban Treaty saw a further increase in governments affirming the landmine ban, even from those which have yet to formally join the treaty. The highest number of UN member states to date voted in favor of the convention and its activities at the most recent meeting of the UN First Committee on Disarmament and International Security.
Event can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVpiFCRCDVU