Taipei, Aug. 27 (CNA) Taiwan was urged Monday by anti-landmine activists to completely destroy all of its recovered mines.
Visiting Denise Coghlan, who represents the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) , said Taiwan has shown its determination to fully comply with the Ottawa Treaty, as its legislature already passed the Statute for Anti-personnel Landmine Control last year and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) signed a declaration Monday reassuring the support of the treaty.
However, she went on, the most important thing for Taiwan is to destroy all its stockpiles, which she claimed is something Taiwan has been reluctant to do. She added that Taiwan's government has also not yet declared that it will ban the use of landmines in war.
She encouraged Taiwan to destroy its mine stockpiles since it has committed to the Ottawa Treaty, even though Taiwan was not allowed to officially sign the treaty because it is not a U.N. member.
The Statute for Anti-personnel Landmine Control, which requires the removal of anti-personnel mines from Taiwan's outlying islands of Kinmen, Matsu and Dong Yin within seven years, was enacted in the legislature last year, and the Ministry of National Defense (MND) has earmarked NT$4.2 billion to remove minefields.
Approximately 100,000 landmines are still in the ground on Taiwan's outlying islands, said Robert Lin, vice chief executive officer of the Eden Social Welfare Foundation, which has been an ICBL member working on Taiwan's anti-landmine campaign for 10 years.
Coghlan, who is based in Cambodia working on the anti-landmine campaign, has played an important role in pushing for the establishment of the Ottawa Treaty, which was initiated in 1997 and has been signed by 154 countries with the objectives of banning the use of and clearing all landmines, as well as helping landmine victims.
Coghlan said the Taiwan government "is one of the leading governments in compensating landmine victims."
The ICBL delegation is scheduled to visit the MND Tuesday before making an inspection trip to the island of Kinmen.