MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Pope Benedict calls for total global ban on landmines

Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday called for a total global ban on the use of landmines at his weekly Angelus blessing in Saint Peter's square.

"These weapons, which continue to cause victims, including many children, should be completely banned" said Pope Benedict, openly supporting the meeting in Jordan of the states signatories of the Mine Ban Convention. The meeting was opened Sunday by King Abdullah II and will extend until next November 22. Eighty percent of states have signed the 1997 convention banning antipersonnel mines. However, the United States, China and Russia are among 38 nations that have not signed the Ottawa treaty, which was the first global accord against landmines. Eight hundred delegates from 155 countries and non governmental organizations are participating of the 8th meeting of the states signatories to the Mine Ban Convention. In the opening address, King Abdullah II described the work to ban mines and eradicate their threat in the Middle East as a "humanitarian imperative." "As Jordanians, we have witnessed firsthand the shattering of lives and communities and know the national burden of these decade-old threats," the monarch said. "We must send a message to the survivors of landmines that we are committed to helping them build futures of opportunity and hope," he added. The convention groups the 155 states that have accepted the 1997 convention on the destruction and prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mine The main delegation from Latinamerica is Colombia's which has the highest rate of new victims of antipersonnel mines: over 1.100 per year. According to Colombian authorities in 686 of the country's 1.099 counties, mines fields exist, particularly in rural areas under guerrilla control, with 11.742 explosions causing 6.548 victims since 1990.