Team:Edinburgh/mapxmlnewzealand



New Zealand <![CDATA[New Zealand’s Minister of Youth Affairs and Associate Minister of Women’s Affairs, the Honourable Deborah Morris, signed the Mine Ban Treaty in Ottawa, Canada on 3 December 1997. In a statement to the signing conference, she noted,“In a sense landmines is not just a matter of foreign policy or defense: it is a youth issue and a women’s issue.”

New Zealand is completely clear of minefields and unexploded ordnance. There have been New Zealand civilian, military and peacekeeping casualties from landmines but no detailed data is available on these individuals. One recent case involved a New Zealand nurse, Maggie Bryson, who was injured when the vehicle she was traveling in hit an antitank mine in Kosovo, killing an ICRC doctor and injuring two others.

New Zealand’s involvement in humanitarian mine action dates back to the end of the Cold War when it sent military personnel to assist the United Nations in establishing an indigenous mine action program in Afghanistan. Since then, New Zealand has assisted the United Nations in mine action in countries including Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, Croatia, Laos, Mozambique and Namibia, and for the last few years has seconded two personnel to UN Headquarters in New York to assist in the management of these mine action programs. The assistance provided by New Zealand Defence Force personnel has included training, mine clearance and destruction, logistics support, planning demining operations and survey operations. New Zealand’s contribution to mine action is a matter of considerable pride for the government and its citizens.

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