Article 8 provides for fact-finding missions to investigate potential violations of the treaty. During the Oslo negotiations, most delegations were clear that an overly intrusive arms control-type verification and compliance regime was unnecessary in the case of antipersonnel mines. Article 8 is therefore modeled more after international humanitarian law model of fact-finding.
The ICBL has stressed the need for States Parties to urgently put in place the structures and methodology necessary to carry out Article 8 on compliance. The ICBL also believes that it is necessary and urgent for the United Nations Secretary-General to delineate steps he has or will take to fulfill his treaty-mandated role regarding Article 8.
The ICBL has also stressed that, in the effort to effectively establish a new international norm against antipersonnel mines, it is important for States Parties to consider compliance in a broader perspective than Article 8. The ICBL believes that a mechanism or body is needed to facilitate attempts to address compliance concerns short of formally invoking Article 8 and its official requests for clarification and possible fact-finding missions.
