wfn.org | Nobel Peace Laureate honors churches contribution

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

       to land mines campaign
Ecumenical leaders pledge continued support

GENEVA, 5 March 1999 (lwi) The 1997 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate
Jody Williams has thanked churches and their representative
organizations for their sustained support for the International
Campaign to Ban Land mines (ICBL).

During a visit to the Ecumenical Center here, (the headquarters of
leading ecumenical bodies) on 3 March 1999, Williams who is one of
the two ICBL international ambassadors dedicated "the honor of the
peace prize to all of us," as she congratulated the leading
ecumenical bodies for the role they have played in sensitizing the
public and national leadership about the dangers of anti-personnel
land mines.

The visiting peace prize co-laureate was received by the general
secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Ishmael Noko, the
World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) general secretary, Milan
Opocensky and Konrad Raiser, the general secretary of the World
Council of Churches (WCC).

Many churches and church related organizations including the LWF, WCC
and WARC have been involved in the ICBL. Noting that the task ahead
for the churches is to continue to work towards the goal of total
elimination of land mines, the 1998 LWF Council voted among other
issues, continued stigmatization of anti-personnel land mines and
their humanitarian effects through education and awareness building.

Welcoming the peace co-laureate, Ishmael Noko said: "Your coming here 
is a manifestation of that which we are, and that if we begin to work
together we can bring about significant changes."

In her address to staff about the main concerns, achievements and
focus of the ICBL, Williams who was accompanied by ICBL co-
coordinator Susan Walker, underscored that churches, church-related
organizations and other religious groups have made a very significant
contribution to the international campaign to ban land mines. "We
should feel proud that the choices we have made make a difference,"
she added in her vote of thanks. More than one-third of the over
1,300 non-governmental organizations which have joined the ICBL are
church related.

Williams' visit came only two days after the ICBL's worldwide events
celebrating the 1 March 1999 entry-into-force of the 1997 Mine Ban
Treaty, which was marked with prayers and ceremonies of bell-ringing
in churches and other places of worship as a way of remembering
victims of anti-personnel mines and supporting  the destruction of
mines already in the ground for ten years.

Officially referred to as the Convention on the Use, Stockpiling,
Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and On their
Destruction, the treaty has been ratified by 66 countries and signed
by 135. It therefore becomes binding international law for the first
40 ratifiers whereas entry into force will occur for others in six
months after their individual dates of ratification.

It is significant too that the entry-into-force comes before the
first meeting of states/parties to the ban which will take place in
Maputo, Mozambique from 3 to 7 May 1999. The ICBL will attend the
meeting as an official observer, as will governments that have not
signed or ratified the treaty.

Responding to questions, Williams expressed disappointment about
governments/states that continue to resist by not signing, especially
the United States, Russia and China. Angola too, is of concern to
ICBL as it signed the ban treaty in December 1997 only to resort to
the use of mines in its renewed conflict with the Union for the Total
Independence of Angola (UNITA), which has also renewed its use of
anti-personnel mines.

Giving a vote of thanks, Konrad Raiser reiterated the churches'
continued commitment to the ICBL, and pointed out that it matters to
try to work towards an international treaty even if not all countries
accompany such a process.

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Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/