1997 Nobel Peace Prize

Faced with the scourge of antipersonnel mines and the growing number of victims in many countries, in October 1992, Handicap International organized a meeting of six non-governmental organizations (NGO) to launch the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL ).
A five year campaign leading up to an impressive citizen mobilization that amassed thousands of people around the world to the cause, resulted in the signing of The Ottawa Treaty or the Mine Ban Treaty, (formally the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction) That same year (1997) Handicap International and the five other founding members of the ICBL were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Today, over 150 countries have signed the Ottawa Treaty. However, the mines continue to claim lives and several key countries still refuse to sign the Treaty, including China, the United States and Russia.
In addition to the devastation caused by landmines, cluster munitions also cause horrifying casualties. As we did in the process that led to the banning of landmines, Handicap International is mobilizing a new campaign instigated by the International Coalition to Ban Cluster Munitions (CMC), an international civil society campaign working to prohibit cluster munitions, prevent further casualties from these weapons and put an end to the suffering they cause for all time.
In Canada, the ICBL and CMC are represented by Mines Action Canada, a coalition of NGOs involved in the fight against landmines and cluster bombs of which Handicap International Canada is a member.

For more information on our fight against CLUSTER BOMBS