On the Decision to Assist Various Mine-related Projects to be Implemented by the International Organizations
(First Meeting of States Parties to the Ottawa Convention against Anti-Personnel Landmines)

May 3, 1999

1. The Government of Japan has decided to contribute a total of 2.1 million dollars, through the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Action, for the various mine-related projects to be implemented by the international organizations. This decision was announced in Maputo, Mozambique, by State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Keizo Takemi on May 3 as he represented the Government of Japan at the First Meeting of States Parties to the Ottawa Convention against Anti-Personnel Landmines.
   
   (1) Mine Clearance
   
   1. Capacity Building to Support Mine Action in Thailand       400,000 dollars
   2. Initiation of a Mine Action Programme in Chad       400,000 dollars
      These projects are mainly intended to improve the local system by, for instance, establishing mine action centers, conducting surveys, and building a data base on landmines.
   3. Emergency Mine Clearance Assistance in Nicaragua       250,000 dollars
      This project is intended to remove landmines which were revealed by Hurricane Mitch, the storm that ravaged Central American countries from the end of October to early November last year.
   (2) Victim Assistance and Mine Awareness Education
   
   1. Mine Action, Mine Victim Assistance and Rehabilitation in Mine Affected Communities in Cambodia       600,000 dollars
   2. Mine Victim Assistance in Guatemala       200,000 dollars
   3. UXO Safety Programme - Capacity Building for UXO Lao       200,000 dollars
   4. Child to Child Prevention in Nicaragua       50,000 dollars
      These projects are intended to assist the rehabilitation, vocational training, and social rehabilitation of landmine victims, or to support educational programs for avoiding landmines in these countries.
   
   
   
2. At the signing ceremony of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, held in December 1997, Japan advocated a "Zero Victims Program" as its effort for demining and victim assistance, and decided that it would contribute some 10 billion yen over about five years, starting from 1998, Japan has been assisting various anti-mine activities, based on the ownership, to be implemented by the countries where mines are still buried and is therefore actively engaged in mine-related measures. Japan expects that it will be able to contribute to those countries' mine-related activities through financial contributions to various mine-related projects of the above-mentioned international organizations.
   
   

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