From Cambodia to South Africa, from Norway to Australia, the campaign against landmines is growing. Five years ago it was possible to count national campaigns on one hand. Today, more than 350 organizations are working to ban landmines, with coalitions active in more than 20 countries. In June, over 450 people from 42 countries gathered in Phnom Penh for an international conference on landmines, sponsored by the NGO Forum on Cambodia and the Cambodia Campaign to Ban Landmines. Delegates represented a spectrum of groups and organizations, including the United Nations, national governments, non-governmental organizations, victims of landmines, mine clearing organizations, and local and international media.

The conference sought to focus on three topics: increased funding for demining efforts; preparations for advocating a global landmines ban at the September Review Conference of the 1980 UN Inhumane Weapons Convention; and formation of new national and regional campaigns. The conference was also the first of its kind to be held in a heavily mined country. This meant that for many participants it was a first opportunity to visit a mined area, to see mine clearance first hand, to visit hospitals and rehabilitation centres, and to meet mine victims and see the obstacles they face. Victims of landmines, particularly those from Cambodia, were able to take active roles in the conference and to tell the world about their experience.

Estimates of the number of mines in Cambodia range from four to ten million, in a country with about nine million people. The result is that Cambodia has a higher percentage of amputees than any other country, and it is not difficult to see evidence of this as one walks the streets of Phnom Penh and visits its markets. Most mine victims are injured while performing what should be ordinary-and safe - activities. At Kompong Speu hospital, about an hour's drive west of Phnom Penh, a teenage monk who had lost part of a leg only three weeks before was recovering in one of the wards, surrounded by his family. He had stepped on a mine while returning home on a well-travelled road.

Over the course of the conference participants heard many other stories and learned first hand of the human and socio-economic impact of mines. We heard about the terrible physical trauma of a mine injury, the difficulty of dealing with the psychological effects of mine injuries when many residents of the same village may be dealing with similar traumas, the particular effects of mines on women and children, and the arduous and slow work of demining. We learned of the challenge of social re-integration of mine victims, how development projects are derailed by the presence of mines, and the difficulty of advancing mine clearance when both remaining combatants in the Cambodian conflict, the Khmer Rouge guerrillas and government forces, are still laying mines.

Two sessions focused on the landmine policies of several countries, Western and Asian. In these, some diplomats argued that a total ban was not feasible and that landmines were a legitimate weapon, in spite of the overwhelming evidence elsewhere at the conference - from the speeches to the photo displays - demonstrating the obvious need for a ban. The Cambodian government, meanwhile, expressed good intentions. At the conference's opening ceremony, National Assembly president Chea Sim said the government wanted to pass a law banning mines in Cambodia. In the closing session, Defence Minister Tea Banh said that government soldiers had been ordered not to use landmines as combat weapons. The session chairperson, Denise Coghlan of the Jesuit Refugee Service (Cambodia) responded: "We know it is difficult, but we urge you to please implement your words." Knowing that as long as the Khmer Rouge continue to use mines, the government forces will do likewise, delegates wrote an open letter to Khmer Rouge leaders urging them to stop laying mines.

Several workshops were designed to encourage regional and national groups to become more involved in the international campaign, to encourage new groups to join, and to provide both information and inspiration for them to do so. There were workshops on starting a campaign, networking and advocacy, and using the media. Six new national campaigns were launched after the conference as a direct result.

The Landmines Conference brought home to participants the complexities of the landmines problem, and the obstacles in the way of a total ban. Many speakers also noted that it is public opinion that will make a difference on this issue, and that all involved should build on the campaign and the momentum of the conference. Some participants clearly lost no time in doing that. On June 29 the Afghan Campaign to Ban Landmines held its first meeting, followed less than a month later by the launching of the South African Landmines Campaign. In Maputo, Mozambique, 100 representatives of local and international NGOs attended a one-day conference on landmines. In Kenya, People for Peace in Africa, a group of local NGOs, are sponsoring a one-day conference on landmines.

As Jody Williams, co-ordinator of the international campaign, stated in her address to the conference, the campaign is a matter of precedent. Armies do not want to be denied the use of landmines for fear they would be denied other weapons as well. But the campaign against landmines is about setting just such a precedent. It argues that armed forces must listen to the larger society, and that the short-term military perspective must not dominate the mines discussion to the exclusion of the long-term consequences.

The campaign also raises a question of ethics. As Eddy Jadot, a Belgian Jesuit, said in a panel presentation, the question is whether we, the global community, are ready to consider the consequences of our actions. Can we finally agree that this weapon should not be allowed, because its effects are too indiscriminate and the damage it causes is too excessive? These are some of the points we must urge governments to consider for the September review conference and beyond.

Without the pressure exerted by NGOs and their supporters it is likely the landmines crisis would still be low on government agendas. It was only after the International Campaign to Ban Landmines began that the UN General Assembly was asked, in December 1993, to review the Inhumane Weapons Convention. Earlier this year, the UN also established the mine clearing Trust Fund, seeking to raise $75-million from volunteer pledges. In Geneva, at the International Mine Clearing Conference, $20-million was pledged to the fund, including $200,000 from Canada. An additional $7-million in in-kind contributions was pledged to establish "standby capacity" for UN demining activities.

Under pressure from domestic NGOs, several countries have adopted a range of measures to limit the spread of mines. Some, including most recently Austria and Romania, have enacted partial or comprehensive unilateral moratoria on the export and trade of anti-personnel landmines. Others have voiced their support for a global ban on landmines. Canada, having stated it does not plan to export landmines, has not adopted legislation prohibiting their export. Only Belgium has unilaterally banned the use, production, stockpiling, and trade of anti-personnel mines.

Although Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has called for a total ban on anti-personnel mines, the United Nations is only as strong as its member states. The international landmines campaign has demonstrated that governments respond to public pressure and many are moving their policies towards the Secretary-General's position. Indeed, as the Phnom Penh conference made clear, the landmines campaign has shown that the grassroots, the people, can make change possible.

Celina Tuttle is the coordinator of Mines Action Canada and Joanne Epp is assistant to the director of Mennonite Central Committee Canada, Ottawa office.