Getting down to business: on 31 January 1997, the Canadian Conference on Humanitarian Demining and Landmine Victim Assistance ... took place in Winnipeg.

On 31 January 1997, the Canadian Conference on Humanitarian Demining and Landmine Victim Assistance -- organized by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade as part of the Canadian government effort to build support for an international ban on anti-personnel landmines -- took place in Winnipeg. Project Peacemakers staffperson Karen Schlichting attended the conference and sends this report.

Demining: humanitarian imperative or business opportunity? The approach taken at the Canadian Conference on Humanitarian Demining and Landmine Victim Assistance might be described as a little bit of both, and it may be the case that both motivations are needed to deal more effectively with the global landmines crisis.

There are more than 110-million anti-personnel mines in the ground around the world. In Cambodia alone there are 4.6-million. In Angola an estimated 70,000 men, women, and children have lost limbs to mines.

It takes 50 people a year to clear a single square hectare of land in Angola. Yet, for every mine taken out of the ground in demining operations, 20 more are being planted around the world. The indiscriminate use of anti-personnel mines in some 69 countries has resulted in social and economic upheaval and a human tragedy of immeasurable proportions.

The Winnipeg conference was unique in bringing NGOs and businesses together to work on the landmines crisis. Henry Enns, the executive director of the Canadian Centre on Disability Studies, chaired the part of the conference that focused on assistance to landmine victims and other victims of conflict. Calling the conference an historic event, Enns noted that it was "the first federally sponsored conference that focused on landmine survivors so significantly."

Business opportunities

Complementing the humanitarian assistance portion of the conference was a demining portion, which met separately with a focus on business opportunities in demining technology and services. Topics covered included the severity of landmine proliferation, the latest technology available for demining, and the efforts of the Department of National Defence (DND) and others in the field.

Charles Hatzipanavis of the International Trade Centre told the conference that the World Bank (among others) will be spending a lot of money on demining in the future, and Canadian companies have the technology to be key players in the demining process.

For companies like Bristol Aerospace, demining presents a real opportunity to convert a part of their technological expertise to more humane uses. Bristol is working with DND's Defence Research Establishment Suffield to develop a teleoperated metal detector system called JINGOSS that will be able to scan roads or tracks for metal-cased mines while its human operator stays a safe distance away from the mined area.

Systems on display at the conference ranged from large, high-tech machines like JINGOSS to the inexpensive Instrumented Prodder, a hand-held prod that is able to identify the type of material it contacts. Rocks, for example, can be distinguished from mines without excavation, improving the efficiency of mine clearing operations.

Med-Eng Systems displayed their Mine Clearance Suit and Helmet, the newest generation of total body protection gear for mine clearing. Designed for the Canadian Armed Forces, this suit offers protection against the effects of overpressure, fragmentation, and impact from detonating mines. The cost, a mere $16,000.

Cost is a concern for perpetually underfunded demining efforts. Will companies produce small and affordable tools like the Instrumented Prodder for practical use or will they prefer to design and build highly technical and enormously expensive machines that will soak up countries' development assistance monies? In an area where humanitarian and commercial motives are, at best, mixed, there is a clear role for government and public leadership in setting demining technology research priorities.