| Poland Free from Mines! |
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Over seven hundreds teenagers took part in the actions of writing letters to the Polish parliament members, regarding the ratification of the Ottawa Treaty (Mine Ban Treaty) by Poland, in the framework of the campaign "Poland Free from the Landmines!" The campaign activities were organized by EIYN in partnership with 3 local (Polish) organizations, that is: Polish Red Cross, Club of Catholic Intelligentsia, Jewish Association Czulent. Campaign was finished with a conference attended by representatives of Polish army, Polish Ministry of Foreign Affaris, Polish Ministry od Defense, academic experts in the field of humanitarian law. The Ottawa Treaty aims at eliminating anti - personnel landmines (AP-mines) around the world and 158 countries are the state parties so far. Poland is the only member of the EU and the only country in the region, which has not ratified the Ottawa Convention, even though Poland was one of the first countries to sign the Treaty in 1997. Anti-personnel landmines are tricky weapons that kill and injures primarily civilians , not soldiers. 15.000-20.000 people every year, worldwide, fall as victims of the landmines. 90% of landmine’s victims are civilians, of which 50% are teenagers and children. Children are particularly vulnerable to the tragic encounter with the landmine, as- the youngest children - can not read the warnings, the older ones - cannot refrain from the temptation of playing with the dud. Most mined countries in the world are: Cambodia, Angola, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Every year in Poland there are people being killed or injured in the result of the explosion of unexploded ordnance and mines: in 2006, 21 people (in 2005: 29 people). The vast majority of Polish neighbors, including Belarus and Ukraine are Parties to the Convention. Young people in Poland want the ask politicians the question: Why Poland has not yet ratified the Convention? In the framework of the campaign, several schools in Warsaw and Krakow, youth and student organizations, youth clubs, participated in workshops about anti-personnel landmines and about the huge humanitarian problem caused by the landmines to civilians around the world. At the end of the workshop, students were encouraged to express their opinions about the fact that Poland has not yet ratified the Mine Ban Treaty by writing a short letter "from the heart" to the Polish parliament members. Each of the letters contained a personalized content, and even drawings and each of the students addressed the letter to a different parliamentary member. The content of the letters was very moving. Click here to see more photos from the workshops
 Click here to see scans of some of the letters The letters collected during the workshops in schools were delivered to the parliament building in Warsaw. We were assured, by the special department of Polish parliament, that the letters will be delivered to the post boxes of the parliament members in the parliament building. Please see the video documenting transmission of the letters to the parliament: The final event of the campaign took place on 28 November, the same day, that Eleventh Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of Landmines starts in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and 4 days before the 11th anniversary of the first signing of the Treaty. The event consisted of a small conference (panel discussion, presentations, discussion), movie screening. The panelists were: Colonel Romuald Ratajczak, director of the Director of the Department of Military Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defence Cezary Zarzycki, I Secretary of the Legal-Treaty Departament, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Colonel Krzysztof Siwek, Deputy Commander of Polish Land Forces Agnieszka Bieńczyk-Missala, PHD, Institute of International Relations, Warsaw University  The discussion was led by Julia Maria Koszewska (EIYN Core Group) and Daniela Malec (EIYN Consultant). The representatives of the ministries and the Polish Army, spoke about the Ottawa Treaty ratification process, how it is going in Poland, why it takes so long, and will the ratification take place. The panelists discussed also the mine problem in the world, evaluation of the Mine Ban Treaty in the global scale, the goals and development of the humanitarian law. The panel discussion was very interesting, the representatives of the ministries explained why the ratification process of the Mine Ban Treaty takes so long time, but they assured the ratification will take place soon (some time in 2012), that at the moment the process of preparing all the documents for ratification and assuring that the Polish law is changed according to the Treaty’s requirements, is a complicated process, as the Foreign Ministry wants to be sure all is perfectly prepared, because if there would be a small mistake in documents or something not clear, it will make the ratification more difficult in parliament. Unfortunately representatives of both ministries said Poland is not going to accept the Convention on Cluster Munition, as “cluster munition is a weapon that is militarily very useful and effective.” They also claimed cluster munitions do not pose a real humanitarian threat. EIYN representative showed presentation providing data on cluster munitions opposite to what the officers of the ministries and spoke about the Religions for Peace’s involvement against the cluster munitions performed on the global scene. The panelists answered many questions from the public and from the journalists. Gazeta Wyborcza - a leading daily newspaper in Poland - published a commentary to our conference-meeting, you can read it here: http://wyborcza.pl/1,75478,10729105,Biedny_swiat_na_minie.html WE ARE WAITING FOR THE BAN OF THE LANDMINES, POLAND! |