Hon. Elizabeth Hubley:

Honourable senators, anti-personnel land mines and cluster munitions are indiscriminate weapons that injure and kill civilians in every corner of the globe every day. Long after the end of a conflict, innocent men, women and children continue to fall victim to this weapon that lies dormant underneath the soil. They are a barrier to development and the result is enormous social and economic suffering as poor, rural, post-conflict societies can be overwhelmed by the challenges of repairing infrastructure and replacing lost agricultural production.

Land mines and cluster munitions disrupt trade and commerce, produce food shortages and inflation, perpetuate poverty and are a major obstacle to sustainable development.

It has been 14 years since the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production, and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and Their Destruction, better known as the Mine Ban Treaty, was signed on December 3, 1997. Canada played an important leadership role in the development of the Mine Ban Treaty. In fact, Canada has had a longstanding and strong commitment to the elimination of land mines, having ceased export of land mines in 1987 and production in 1992.

In October 1996, 75 governments met in Ottawa to discuss the problems of anti-personnel land mines. Then Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy, in wrapping up the conference, made a surprise announcement, challenging the world to return to Ottawa in one year to sign a comprehensive treaty banning land mines. Through this announcement, Canada gave notice to the world that we believed that international cooperation was possible on this issue, and that it was finally time to take action. This announcement kicked off what has become known as the "Ottawa Process."

Over the next 14 months, a series of gatherings and consultations occurred, culminating in Oslo in September 1997, where an international agreement was reached to eliminate anti-personnel land mines. Canada's stockpile of 90,000 anti-personnel mines was destroyed in November 1997, before the Mine Ban Treaty was opened for signature, and the legislation to enforce the prohibition on land mines was also enacted in November 1997, before the treaty was opened for signature. On December 3, 1997, 122 countries signed the Mine Ban Treaty in Ottawa. After ratification by 40 nations, it came into effect in 1999.

In the past 14 years, much has been accomplished by the Mine Ban Treaty. Now, 158 countries have joined the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty — 80 per cent of the world's nations — and over 45 million stockpiled anti-personnel mines have been destroyed by state parties. The treaty is one of the great success stories of international humanitarian efforts and broad disarmament. However, a total of 72 states and 7 disputed areas are confirmed or suspected to be mine-affected. Furthermore, there were 4,191 new casualties of anti-personnel land mines recorded in 2010, and this number may well be much higher in reality due to under-reporting in severely affected areas. Of these casualties, 30 per cent were children. Regrettably, recent use of land mines by government forces has been reported in Israel, Libya and Myanmar and by non-state armed groups in Afghanistan, Colombia, Myanmar and Pakistan.

De-mining efforts continue, as does support for victim assistance. The Landmines Monitor Report released last week reported donors and affected states contributed approximately $637 million in international and national support for mine action in 2010 in 57 affected states and areas, with Afghanistan, Angola, Iraq, Sudan, Sri Lanka and Cambodia receiving 55 per cent of all international mine action contributions. Canada remained one of the top five mine action donors in 2010.

Honourable senators, the Ottawa treaty is a success story, yet one where there is still work to be done. There are 39 states not party to the Treaty. Efforts in de-mining, victim assistance and in the elimination of the use, production and stockpiles of anti-personnel land mines must continue to eradicate this indiscriminate and inhumane weapon. However, as I mentioned, land mines are not the only unexploded ordnance that cause problems for civilians post-conflict.

Following on the success of the Ottawa Treaty, in November 2003, the Cluster Munition Coalition was created by uniting more than 250 civil society organizations in 70 countries to support a ban on cluster munitions. Cluster munitions are bombs that separate in the air over a target and disperse into hundreds or thousands of smaller bomblets. These weapons cause two problems for non-combatants. First, at the time of use, the large area — up to a kilometre square — covered by these weapons put nearby civilians at risk. Second, although these munitions are designed to explode on impact, not all do. This leaves a significant number of unexploded munitions after the military action has finished, threatening civilians when they return to the area at a later date. Ninety-eight per cent of all known cluster munition casualties have been civilian.

In 2007, when the international community was unable to negotiate a legally binding instrument on cluster munitions in the traditional UN forum for such discussions, the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, Norway, with strong support from five other states, led a process outside of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, much like Canada had done with the Ottawa process 10 years earlier. The February 2007 meeting in Oslo began what is now referred to as the "Oslo Process."

The Oslo Process, endorsed by 46 countries, championed a treaty that would prohibit the use, transfer and production of cluster munitions, require the destruction of existing stockpiles, and provide adequate resources to assist survivors and clear contaminated areas. After 18 months of work between civil society groups and participating states to hammer out the terms, states gathered in Oslo on December 3, 2008 for the signing of the UN Convention on Cluster Munitions. The convention came into effect on August 1, 2010. There are now 111 states that have signed, and 66 state parties that have ratified it.

The convention is already having an impact. Nearly 600,000 stockpiled cluster munitions containing more than 64.5 million sub-munitions have been destroyed. According to the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor, in 2010 at least 59,978 unexploded sub-munitions were destroyed during clearance operations around the world and more than 18.5 square kilometres of cluster munition-contaminated land was cleared. The Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor estimates that there have been at least 16,921 casualties of cluster munitions.

Although Canada was not among the six states that led the Oslo process, we did participate actively and were among the first states to sign the Convention on Cluster Muntions in 2008. As the Leader of the Government has informed this chamber on several occasions in answer to my questions, Canada has never produced or used cluster munitions and is in the process of destroying its complete stockpile. However, Canada has still not ratified the convention or introduced in Parliament the necessary legislation to do so.

When that legislation is finally introduced, I will be most interested in examining how article 21 of the convention, known as the interoperability provision, is interpreted. Article 21 ensures Canada and participating allies can engage in combined military operations with allies who are not party to the convention. The article makes explicit provision for continued military interoperability with non-party states while at the same time making it clear state parties cannot develop, produce or otherwise acquire cluster munitions; stockpile or transfer cluster munitions; use cluster munitions; or expressly request the use of cluster munitions in cases where the choice of munitions used is within its exclusive control. It is critical that the legislation uphold the purpose and intent of the convention and not weaken it.

Honourable senators, there have been other recent initiatives that, if adopted, might have served to weaken the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The Oslo process came about in 2007, since the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, known as the CCW, was unable to come to a consensus on banning cluster munitions.

However, over the past four years, despite the Convention on Cluster Munitions, a group of government experts established under the CCW has been working on a new protocol regarding cluster munitions. Non-signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, such as China, India, Israel, Russia, Turkey and the U.S., have been among the most vocal supporters of this continued work by the CCW.

Last week in Geneva, at the Fourth Review Conference of the CCW, 50 states refused on humanitarian grounds to support the text of a new protocol that was being pushed by the United States, as they felt it was weaker than the Convention on Cluster Munitions. This would lead to fragmentation in international law and was not sufficiently strong on humanitarian grounds.

In conclusion, it is clear the international community has made progress in the eradication of anti-personnel land mines and cluster munitions. The Convention on Cluster Munitions withstood attempts to weaken it last week at the Fourth Review Conference of the CCW, affirming a commitment at the international level to eradicate these inhumane weapons. However, there is still work to be done in obtaining universal adoption of both the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Here in Canada, I urge the government to reiterate its commitment to human security and humanitarianism by introducing the legislation necessary to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions, legislation that maintains international standards and respects the intent and purpose of the convention.

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