(a) whether the two day conference being organized by `Switzerland Campaign to ban landmines` has extended an invitation to militants from India;
(b) if so, the details thereof; and
(c) the reaction of the Government thereto?
(a) whether the two day conference being organized by `Switzerland Campaign to ban landmines` has extended an invitation to militants from India;
(b) if so, the details thereof; and
(c) the reaction of the Government thereto?
MINISTER OF STATE FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
(SHRI AJIT KUMAR PANJA)
(a)&(b) Government is aware that a two day conference `Engaging Non-State Actors in a Landmine Ban`, organized by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), was held at the Geneva International Centre on March 24-25, 2000. The campaign was convened by the `Working Group on Non-State Actors of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL)` and directly organized by six NGOs including the Swiss Campaign to Ban Landmines. The objective of the Conference was to complement the Ottawa Treaty entitled `Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Production, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction`, which covers state parties, by trying to bring in non-state actors also into the process. Two representatives of Indian NGOs, namely, the Indian Institute for Peace, Disarmament and Environmental Protection, Nagpur and the Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi, attended the Conference.
(c) Government has consistently highlighted the need for greater vigilance by States so that anti-personnel-landmines are not transferred to non-State actors. Government has also drawn attention of the international community to the indiscriminate use of anti-personnel landmines and improvised explosive devices by non-State actors operating in India and has called for a ban on all transfers of such weapons to non-State actors.