The ‘Ottawa Process’. Ten years of ‘humanitarian disarmament’

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Abstract

Ten years after 122 States signed the Convention on the Prohibition of Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction on December 3rd and 4th, 1997, in Ottawa, it might be relevant to assess what is related to a kind of “humanitarian disarmament”. First, it appears that the “Ottawa Process”, which is characterized by the intrusion of civil society within the realm of international negotiations, embodies the emergence of a new type of diplomatic method. Second, the Ottawa Convention, to which 176 countries are participating more or less directly at the beginning of 2008, has proved to be a success; yet, at the same time, defaults remain in the fight against anti-personnel mines, as the double ghost of international terrorism and weapons of mass destruction proliferation / dissemination gives disarmament new challenges.

AFRI 2008 Summary