IOPL International Conference

Conferences, visits and other bilateral or multilateral meetings.

IOPL International Conference

Postby Wu Han » Mon Oct 16, 2017 5:14 am

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IOPL International Conference 4288 - Kaizhou

Founder and Chairman Wu Hán delivers keynote address to the International Organization for the Prohibition of Landmines
Good evening everyone. When the International Organization for the Prohibition of Landmines was formally launched in December of 4260, few imagined that the grassroots movement would capture the public imagination and build political pressure to such a degree that, within five years, the organization became one of the largest party organizations in the world. While I was Chancellor of Indrala, I spoke with many world leaders across the planet and they often told me that a ban on anti-personal landmines couldn't be done. One year after founding the organization, we drafted the International Treaty on the Prohibition of Land Mines (ITPL) and ratified it in March of 4261.

*Applause*

...But to this date, only one other nation, Lourenne, has ratified this crucial agreement, despite 21 nations being in compliance. Why is this, when our organization has the membership of 5 parties who are the largest in their respective governments? Were the cynics correct in their assessment that our dream was too big? No. We must never let that be true...

*Applause*

...We must ensure that our organization continues to grow and demand change so that can once and for all rid Terra of the horrors of anti-personnel landmines which maim, mutilate and murder innocent non-combative people wherever they are deployed. To achieve these aims the organization will continue to expand our activities and develop new national campaigns, particularly in countries which have not signed the treaty. We open our arms to new members who support our aims, particularly those from mined countries and from mine-producing states. Let's be clear: Our movement is not an attempt to vilify selected nations – it is a plea for civil society to demand transparency from the arms industry, the military and from their governments.

*Applause*

It is the indiscriminate nature of the anti-personnel landmine, the fact that it is triggered by its victim, that it remains active indefinitely after conflicts cease, which make it different from any other weapon. Freedom is so often the justification for war. But where is the sense in fighting for the freedom of a people employing a weapon which will deny those same people, in peacetime, freedom to live without fear, freedom to farm their land, freedom merely to walk in safety from place to place – deny them the freedom to let their children play without being torn apart by a landmine? That is no freedom. Anti-personnel mines do not only sever limbs, they can break the human spirit.

...I am an old man. I cannot continue this work forever and soon I will have to pass the torch to someone who can grow our movement. But until that time comes, we must all commit ourselves to pressuring governments around the world into ratifying the International Treaty on the Prohibition of Land Mines (ITPL) as soon as possible!

*Standing ovation*
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