Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-12-10-Speech-1-179"
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"en.20071210.22.1-179"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I thank the Commissioner for the comprehensive and exhaustive speech she made, effectively explaining what has already happened in this area. This is a subject, however, that I believe should continue to engage us and others – as the Commissioner has already said, and I have noted it – because the numbers are terrifying.
Earlier we were given figures for the safety of hotels and other types of safety and, though every human life is very important, these were quite low numbers. Here we are talking about a very different situation: 10 000 to 20 000 people affected each year. There are probably more than half a million people who have been maimed in countries outside the EU, and therefore this is a very topical matter and it is no accident, in fact, that it is being discussed ten years on from the Ottawa Convention, but that in this Chamber it is being dealt with again after only two years. We dealt with it in a resolution in 2005 and we are discussing it again now. We are discussing it again now because there is a danger that people will stop talking about it.
The Commissioner – and once again, I thank her for what she said – highlighted a few channels for finance with which we can continue to fight anti-personnel mines, and I mean specifically anti-personnel mines. I believe, however, that there much more should be done. Too many of the world’s countries have not yet signed the Ottawa Convention, too many countries still have arsenals of these implements of war, too many countries and too much land are still covered with these mines and therefore we need to take mine clearance very seriously.
I should mention, to add to what the Commissioner said, that 34% – those are the data, but it remains to be seen whether the statistics are realistic or not – anyway, in principle 34% of victims of anti-personnel mines left in land where wars have been fought are children, making this matter even more serious. I therefore believe, Commissioner, that we should not only continue with the programme, but that it should be financed better and for longer.
The Commission has already done a great deal; the European Union has already done a great deal: 335 million over the last ten years, 33 million in 2007 alone; however, I think that the Council, the Commission and the Member States should call a meeting to review the Ottawa Convention and should do more to ensure all the countries in the world act on this matter and to bring about mine clearance and the total abolition of anti-personnel mines in the immediate future, as quickly as possible."@en1
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