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New Zealand's Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control, Minister Georgina te Heuheu, attended the ‘Ten Year Review’ of the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty in Cartagena, Colombia in early December 2009. More than 1000 delegates from government, international organizations and civil society were there to review progress towards reaching the goals of the Mine Ban Treaty.
New Zealand has been a strong supporter of the Mine Ban Treaty and has built a good reputation through the work of NZAID and the NZ Defence Force. Through development funding NZAID has primarily focused on projects and funding in South East Asia around clearance and victim assistance. NZDF has been involved in clearance efforts around the world including deployments in Lebanon, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Laos and Mozambique.
Minister te Heuheu gave a statement to the Conference underlining New Zealand’s strong commitment to eliminating the use, anywhere, of landmines and to supporting those countries who still have mines on their territory to clear them, and also to help landmine victims.
At the invitation of Colombian Vice-President Francisco Santos, the Minister visited a small village in the Colombian jungle to view at first-hand Colombia’s extensive mine action efforts. This experience illustrated the enormous security and economic development challenges facing mine-affected communities.
New Zealand's Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control, Georgina te Heuheu, signing the Cartagena Declaration on behalf of the New Zealand Government, in Colombia. Representatives of more than 120 other countries signed the Declaration. 