A conference titled the Ottawa Process Twenty Years Later took place last week in Toronto to mark the anniversary of one of Canada’s most important achievements of the 20th century. Former activists, negotiators and former foreign affairs ministers of Canada gathered at the conference to discuss the history behind the treaty as well as some of the most significant humanitarian issues currently facing the world.
It has been 20 years since representatives from 75 countries gathered in Ottawa to begin negotiations that led to the Ottawa Treaty (Mine Ban Treaty), which bans the production and use of landmines. Today, 162 countries have signed the treaty and 30 countries once contaminated with the deadly devices are now officially mine-free.
While difficult to provide precise numbers, recent studies have confirmed that tens of thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of crippling injuries have been averted as a result of the Ottawa Treaty to ban landmines.
For more details on the events in Toronto last week, please click here to be redirected to CBC News.
Or click here to read the event program: The Ottawa Process Twenty Years Later
