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The GICHD has a relationship with the AP Mine Ban Convention which even predates the commencement of operations of the GICHD! It was at the Convention's signing ceremony in Ottawa in December 1997 when Switzerland chose to announce that it would establish an international centre for humanitarian demining in order "to facilitate cooperation between specialists, to gather practical information and to propose new methods and techniques of mine-clearing." Soon after the Convention entered into force, the GICHD started to actively support the implementation of the Convention, with the States Parties accepting the invitation of the GICHD to provide "the necessary organization and venue" for the Intersessional Work Programme established in 1999. In 2001, the GICHD's support to the Convention reached a new level when the States Parties formally mandated the GICHD to establish the Convention's Implementation Support Unit (ISU) through the endorsement of the President's Paper on the Establishment of an Implementation Support Unit. An Agreement between the States Parties and the GICHD on the implementation support for the Convention was signed on 7 November 2001 and amended on 6 September 2011. In addition to providing implementation support to the Convention and its States Parties, the GICHD actively participates in the work of the Convention as an observer delegation at Meetings of the States Parties and meetings of the Standing Committees. It also supports the implementation of the Convention by providing strategic, operational and information management advice to States Parties. Background documents
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