25 years ago the Ottawa Convention to Ban Landmines came into force. To commemorate the anniversary, Amaya Valcárcel, JRS International Advocacy Officer, wrote the article “Unorthodox and historic: the Ottawa process and the Mine Ban Treaty. 25 years of a success story of multilateralism,” published in the Comillas Journal of International Relations.

The article explains the process that led to the 1999 Landmines Ban Convention, from the lens of the survivors, Jesuits and courageous religious sisters who were involved since the early stages of International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL).

The Ottawa process was a freestanding process of treaty negotiation outside a United Nations-facilitated forum with the aim of outlawing anti-personnel mines. But it was also a product of an unusually cohesive and strategic partnership between governments, international organisations, and civil society, represented by the ICBL.

Echoing Pope Francis in his recent Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum, the article sets this process as an example for reconfiguring multilateralism. It also aims to be a renewed call for the banning of landmines worldwide and its clearance in places like Myanmar, Ukraine or Iraq, so that displaced people can go back safely to their lands one day.

Read the full article here.