In connection with tomorrow’s International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action (4 April), Minister of State and Member of the German Bundestag Werner Hoyer issued the following statement:

”With the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines and the Convention on Cluster Munitions which will enter into force on 1 August 2010, we have achieved two important milestones in the battle against mines and cluster munitions. We have demonstrated that progress on disarmament is possible also where conventional weapons are concerned. Germany will continue to campaign for even more countries to ratify the Conventions banning these inhumane weapons.“

Germany is a party to the Ottawa Convention of 1997 banning the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of anti-personnel mines. Former German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel played a prominent role in the campaign for this Convention, which is considered one of the most successful arms control agreements. The German Government is pressing for the Convention to be rigorously implemented and become universal in scope.

It is also one of the strongest supporters of humanitarian mine action, an area in which it has been active since 1992. By the end of 2010 some 200 million euro (including 16.9 million euro for 2010 alone) will have been allocated from the Federal Foreign Office budget for mine action projects in 42 different countries.

The German Government is also active in the battle against cluster munitions. On 29 May 2008 Germany renounced the use of cluster munitions with immediate effect and on 8 July 2009 it ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The 30th instrument of ratification was deposited with the UN Secretary-General in February 2010, which means the Convention will enter into force on 1 August 2010.

More information on this is available on the Federal Foreign Office website: