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Why a campaign to eliminate landmines and cluster munitions?
Landmines and cluster munitions are inhumane and indiscriminate weapons. They are banned under international law.
Landmines, cluster munitions, and other explosive remnants of war kill and maim people going about their everyday activities. The vast majority of victims are civilians. Mine action is about protecting lives and livelihoods.
Landmines, cluster munitions, and other explosive remnants of war hinder development growth and deny access to food, water, and other basic needs in more than 60 countries and territories.
We work for a world free of landmines, cluster munitions, and other explosive remnants of war.
A world where contaminated land is cleared and returned to local population for productive use.
A world where the needs of affected communities and survivors are met and their human rights guaranteed.
ICBL-CMC milestones
1992
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) was established in October 1992 to urgently address the humanitarian devastation caused by antipersonnel landmines and to call for a total ban on the weapons. The six founding non-governmental organizations are: Handicap International, Human Rights Watch, Medico International, Mines Advisory Group, Physicians for Human Rights, and the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation.
1997
The Mine Ban Treaty is adopted in September 1997, a month later the ICBL and its then-coordinator Jody Williams are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their crucial role in starting a process that “in a space of a few years changed a ban on antipersonnel mines from a vision to a feasible reality.”
1999
Seven years after the creation of the ICBL, the Mine Ban Treaty enters into force in March 1999. The first annual Landmine Monitor report was launched in Maputo, Mozambique, during the first Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty. The Landmine Monitor was created to document progress and challenges in eliminating landmines through coordinated and systematic research and monitoring of implementation of and compliance with the disarmament treaty. It has since become a benchmark for the concept of civil society-based verification.
2003
The Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) was established by non-governmental organizations in November 2003 in response to the suffering caused by cluster munitions and to lead civil society action in favor of the ban on cluster munitions.
2008
Working in partnership with United Nations agencies, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and civil society organizations grouped under the CMC, the fast-track Oslo Process (the series of meetings to mobilize international support for a total ban on cluster bombs that cause unacceptable harm to civilians) resulted in the adoption of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in May 2008. That same year, Landmine Monitor became the research and monitoring arm of the CMC.
2010-2011
In 2010, the Landmine Monitor changed its name to Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor (now also known as the Monitor) to reflect its increased reporting on the cluster munition issue. In 2011, the ICBL merged with the CMC to become the ICBL-CMC – one organization with two distinct and strong campaigns on landmines and on cluster munitions.
