Opening HLS COP1 Minamata
Bern, 28.09.2017 - Speech by Doris Leuthard, President of the Swiss Confederation, Geneva, 28.09.2017
Excellencies,
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to Geneva to the High-Level Segment of the First Conference of the parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
We are here today to celebrate a global solution to a Global challenge, an agreement to make mercury history, a success of multilateralism. For Switzerland it is an honor that this celebration takes place here in Geneva with ministers, delegates, intergovernmental organizations and civil society from around the World.
Some of you may remember trying as a child to collect the mercury from a broken thermometer: the fascinating glimmering substance always rolled away and it was difficult to capture it. Back then, it was funny to play with these beautiful mercury drops.
How different was the catastrophic mercury pollution that shocked the international community in the late 1950s. In Minamata, it became necessary to capture mercury not as a joyful game, but to mitigate most severe damage to human health and the environment. The pictures of Minamata of the children born with disabilities and of children and adults suffering from neurological disorders showed the bitter truth and are so different from the picture of a child playing with the mercury from a broken thermometer!
The global mercury assessment conducted by UNEP in 2002 was clear: When mercury is released into the environment or traded across boarders in products and as wastes, it can create terrible harm to human health and the environment. Mercury is a global problem that needs a global response.
The international community has responded to this challenge: Based on UNEP’s mercury assessment, Switzerland and Norway proposed in 2003 a legally binding instrument on mercury. In 2009, the UNEP Governing Council adopted a negotiation mandate. 4 years ago, the negotiations of the Minamata Convention were concluded here in Geneva, the center for international negotiations in the field of international chemicals and waste policy, and it was adopted the same year in Kumamoto, near Minamata in Japan.
There were many moments, where the solutions which we tried to find during the negotiations, seemed to slip out of our hands like liquid mercury. And, it may well be that some of the ideas and elements to collect are still rolling around and not yet captured fully in the convention: the support of national units in poor countries may be one example, or addressing other heavy metals than mercury is another. However, the negotiations were able to find solutions and forward looking compromises.
From now on, the name Minamata will no longer only be associated with a problem, but with a solution. The Minamata Convention is the first multilateral environmental agreement negotiated in the the21st century and mirrors that spirit:
- it builds on tools of existing conventions such as the Prior-Informed-Consent-Procedure (PIC) of the Basel and Rotterdam Conventions, or the approach of best available technologies / best environmental practices of the Stockholm Convention;
- it addresses mercury throughout its life cycle from mining to trade, use, emission and waste;
- it combines binding and voluntary approaches; and
- it obliges all parties to contribute – within their capacities – to the solution, also financially, while providing a support mechanism for those who need support. This is probably one of the biggest evolution as compared to the typical environmental agreements of the 20th century: the outdated distinction in developing and developed countries is replaced by a more equitable approach to call all parties who have the capacity to support those who need such support – an approach which was followed later by the Paris Agreement.
While celebrating the entry into force of the convention, we have to think about its implementation. We have this convention because Governments want to act and change the situation, not because Governments wanted to sign a new treaty without obligations. Treaties not containing obligations are redundant, treaties that do not motivate Parties to do more than already foreseen in their national legislation don’t bring us forward. The Minamata Convention will make a difference.
Switzerland is now adjusting its legislation on restrictions of the import, export and use of mercury in accordance with the requirements of the Minamata Convention. The revised regulation shall ensure that all mercury, in particular mercury that is recovered from mercury-containing waste, is either stabilized and disposed of by underground storage in an environmentally sound manner or placed on the market or exported only for some specific time-limited uses that are allowed by the Minamata Convention.
Excellencies, We all know: implementation requires resources. Therefore, the Convention calls all Parties, within their capabilities, to contribute to its Financial Mechanism. Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to inform you, that if a good solution for the Secretariat of the Minamata Convention can be found, Switzerland will make a financial contribution of USD 1 million to the Specific International Programme for the Minamata Convention.
Ladies and Gentlemen, dear friends: while rightfully celebrating the success of this convention, we also have to bear in mind: There are still many challenges that need a global response, there are others chemicals that need an internationally coordinated approach; Minamata is focusing on one substance only. During the negotiations, several of us have suggested to build into the convention an open door that would allow us, if needed, to add later additional chemicals to the convention. This idea was not taken up by the Minamata Convention. However, we should not forget that UNEP is the open door that allows us to address further gaps and needs and to develop further international instruments to address global challenges. And, by anchoring these instruments, by providing support through a competent and strong integrated secretariat, we will also be able to ensure the coherence, comprehensiveness, effectiveness and efficiency needed for the safety of the planet, for the wellbeing of the poorest, and for the future of our children. We want all present and future generations to be safe from toxicity.
Before concluding, let me thank wholeheartedly all the countries and all the individuals involved in the Minamata convention process. Without their, without your commitment, we would not be here to celebrate. I would like to thank specifically the chair of the intergovernmental negotiating committee, ambassador Fernando Lugris from Uruguay, and the members of the INC Bureau, who together did an brilliant job to guide the negotiation process, UNEP and the interim Minamata Secretariat, and also the Basel Rotterdam Stockholm (BRS) secretariat, who has provided throughout the negotiations process both logistic and substantive support to the negotiations. I would also like to thank the NGOs who actively participated in and stimulated the negotiations. And let me also give a special thanks to Norway, with whom Switzerland had the privilege to propose a legally binding instrument on mercury 14 years ago, and to Japan, who has hosted the diplomatic conference adopting the Minamata Convention and given the name to this important convention.
Finally, my thanks go to all of you. Thank you for the support you have provided to your delegations and to this process. Let us continue to work together for a safer and better planet!
Thank you!
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