Landmine Victim Compensation
Global
Global
This Nonlinear strategy involved complementing ongoing diplomatic and political global efforts to ban landmines (the Ottawa Treaty), by using U.S. legal action to place financial liability on producers of landmines; treating landmines as products that cause grievous injuries to innocent victims.
Goals
Developing funding to compensate the 300,000 innocent victims of landmines, while reducing the manufacture, sale and use of landmines.
Challenges
The issues are global, spanning many countries and jurisdictions as producers, users and affected areas. Meanwhile the largest producers – U.S., Russia, China (the majority of the UN Security Council permanent members) – resisted all diplomatic and political efforts to ban landmines. Further, the international arms industry is deeply entrenched in the very lucrative business of arms manufacture and export.
Results
With support from the Government of Canada, and cooperation from Human Rights Watch, Landmine Survivors Network, and other NGOs active in the global efforts to ban landmine use and care for the innocent victims, we worked for five years to conduct field research, apply legal analysis, and create the case and campaign strategy for a $5 billion fund. We then drafted and published the plan (Seton Hall Law Review), presented our work in numerous forums, and briefed involved NGOs, diplomats and international media.