Japan's Official Development Assistance White Paper 2008
Next PageMain Text > Part III Official Development Assistance in FY2007 > Chapter 2 Details about Japan's Official Development Assistance > Section 2. Measures for Each of the Priority Issues > 4. Peacebuilding > (4) Anti-Personnel Landmines and Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW)
<Current Situation>
Anti-personnel landmines buried in regions once in conflict and small arms and light weapons (SALW) illicitly spread in such regions indiscriminately kill and injure even non-combatants including children. They are a grave humanitarian issue, sometimes hinder reconstruction and development activities by citizens, and can cause the recurrence of conflicts. Assistance with special consideration given to domestic stability and security, such as the removal of landmines, the collection and destruction of SALW, and capacity building for landmine victims, is required from the perspective of peacebuilding.
<Japan's Efforts>
• Assistance for Mine Action Projects
Since the first Review Conference of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (Ottawa Convention) held in 2004, Japan has been providing assistance for mine action, with an emphasis on Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The assistance follows three principles: (1) contribution to peacebuilding; (2) valuing the perspective of human security; and (3) close cooperation with the government, civil societies, the private sector, and academia, to promote technological development.
In March 2008, Japan decided to assist with a survey on areas with buried mines, mine removal in residential areas, and mine risk education, with a view to promoting the safety of residents and the reconstruction of regions in the three countries of Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Chad, located in central or east Africa, by providing approximately US$9.24 million from the Grant Aid for Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding. Japan is also working on mine detection and removal technology that utilizes Japan's advanced technology in order to improve the safety and effectiveness of demining activities. In Angola, Japanese companies and NGOs are cooperating in the demining endeavor. In FY2007, Japan supported the Cambodian Mine Action Center in its certification test on mine clearance devices that utilized Japanese advanced technology.69 This assistance is expected to develop mine clearance devices suitable for the circumstances in which mines are buried in Cambodia, thereby drastically reducing risks associated with manual demining work and realizing more swift and extensive mine clearance activities.
• Support for Measures against Small Arms and Light Weapons
In terms of locally-based efforts aimed at curtailing illicitly traded SALW, Japan has supported projects to facilitate the collection of weapons with development, in which Japan provides the repair and construction of infrastructure such as roads, wells, and schools to communities that have totally surrendered weapons. For example, in Cambodia, more than 28,000 SALW had been collected during the period from 2003 to the end of September 2007. In addition, Japan decided to donate more than US$300 million of the Grant Aid for Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding through the UNDP to the training program of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center in Ghana in February 2008, reinforcing assistance to Africa where SALW problems were particularly serious.
Additionally, as for measures against SALW, Japan also provides assistance for developing legal structures and capacity building of law enforcement organizations, which secures the effectiveness of regulations on the detection and prevention of the illegal inflow of weapons; implements projects for disarmament and reintegration of ex-combatants and child soldiers; and conducts seminars held by SALW specialists. In FY2007, Japan extended assistance for dismissed soldiers with disabilities in Rwanda, which had experienced civil wars for many years, with a project to facilitate their economic and social independence as well as reintegration to a community through the acquisition of skills, and to strengthen skill training centers.70 Japan' s contribution to efforts to tackle SALW totaled approximately ¥41.1 billion by the end of 2007.