Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Jody Williams and Shirin Ebadi will be among those visiting Oslo on 18 September 2007 to attend the events organised by the Norwegian Government to mark the 10-year anniversary of the Mine Ban Convention.
19/09/2007 :: Norway was a driving force in the process that led to the adoption of the Mine Ban Convention, which has now been signed by 155 countries. Forty million landmines have been destroyed in the last 10 years, and the Convention has been a key factor in reducing the humanitarian suffering caused by landmines.
Country representatives, UN organisations, international researchers, politicians and humanitarian actors from civil society have been invited to a conference in Oslo on 18 September. The theme will be cooperation between states and civil society, and how such cooperation can help to put pressing humanitarian issues on the international agenda.
An important example is Norway’s initiative against cluster munitions. The conference is being organised by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo. Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Jody Williams and Shirin Ebadi will open the conference in Oslo and State Secretary Raymond Johansen will chair the conference.
The anniversary programme will conclude with an anniversary event, hosted by Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre. His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon will also be attending.
Civil society representatives will be marking the 10-year anniversary of the Mine Ban Convention with a landmine week in Oslo from 15 to 19 September. The programme includes mine clearance in downtown Oslo, a concert, films and an international conference.
Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs