This speech was held by ambassador Stub at the opening of the “Halfway – Bosnia 10 years after the war” exhibition in Athens February 2007.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends of human dignity and human security:
On behalf of the embassies of Australia, Canada and Norway, I welcome you to this land-mine photo exhibition.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Ottawa Convention than bans production, transfer and all use of anti-personnel mines. The treaty has so far been ratified by 153 countries. Through the support and action by the international community there have been some encouraging accomplishments the past ten years.
The number of landmine victims has decreased. Thousands of landmine survivors have been rehabilitated. States have destroyed more than 38 million landmines. Yet tens of millions of land-mines remain in communities in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Cambodia and many other places.
There continues to be between 15-20,000 human casualties each year - mostly civilians, many of them children. Modern landmines continue to cause death and human suffering long after a conflict ends. Beyond the human suffering, landmines represent a major obstacle to economic recovery by blocking development of tourism and farming and other uses of the land. Landmines deprive populations of basic needs such as access to water and markets to sell their produce. Landmines place considerable strain on local health care systems.Survivors are affected physically and psychologically. Many lose their ability to make a living. Physical and psychological rehabilitation takes a long time. Children who lose limbs require frequent replacement prosthesis as they grow. Landmines are a disaster which we must continue to tackle.
Through this exhibition and other related activities, the embassies of Australia, Canada and Norway together with Hellenic Aid wish to inform of the importance of de-mining in post-conflict regions and the prohibition of the use of anti-personnel mines. Mine action is an important part of the four countries’ foreign aid programs. Our efforts include advocacy work, survivor assistance support, mine risk education and funding of partnerships with multilateral agencies and community groups.
The photos have been taken by Australian photographer John Rodsted, as part of a Norwegian People’s Aid project in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Norwegian People’s Aid is one of the leading NGO actors in the humanitarian mine clearance field. The exhibition shows the progress made in the ten years after the war in Bosnia, with the human tragedy of war and the devastating impact of landmines on people and communities. John Rodsted’s pictures show that clearing mines and rebuilding countries after a war is possible but remains a time- and resource-consuming task.
In Bosnia’s case 670.000 landmines remained in the ground after the fighting, and posed an enormous humanitarian challenge.
Greece has been one of the countries actively involved in de-mining in Bosnia. I would like to thank Secretary General Skylakakis of the Foreign Ministry for being here. Together we hope to raise awareness and support in the Greek public for further efforts. Obviously the successful dissemination of the humanitarian message we are trying to convey through this exhibition rests on its easy accessibility to the general public.
As such, on behalf of my Australian, Canadian and Greek colleagues, I would like to express our gratitude to ATTIKO METRO OPERATION COMPANY for its kind support of this project through the provision of this exhibition space at the Syntagma Metro Station – which allows this important message to reach an unprecedented number of the Greek public. Also, we would like to express our gratitude to the Hotel Grande Bretagne for its support by hosting the public discussion on the Mine Ban Convention next Wednesday, 14 February at 7 pm.
We thank the Hellenic Foundation for European And Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) for their support in the organisation of the public discussion, and also the Hellenic Ministry of Defence for their support and participation.
Last but not least, our gratitude is extended to our communication sponsors, ERT and NET 105.8 and the newspaper ELEFTHEROTYPIA for their support in the promotion of this initiative to the wider public.
Thank you.