Living and working in Geneva, alumnus Kerry Brinkert meets with governments and royalty while trying to make the world a safer place by eliminating land mines. 

By Nicole Davis

Kerry Brinkert, BA’92, is travelling the world, meeting with heads of state and saving lives, thanks to his career in international public service.

As manager of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention Implementation Support Unit based in Geneva, Switzerland, Brinkert says that sometimes great job opportunities have to do with being in the right place at the right time.

“It’s important to always position yourself in a way that gets you noticed,” says Brinkert. “Become involved in whatever you can get your hands on and doors will open.”

Since 2002, the past-president (1990-’91) of the Students’ Union has served as the head of the de facto secretariat of the 1997 Ottawa Treaty, or the convention prohibiting the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines.

“This is a solvable humanitarian problem,” says Brinkert. “We’ve made a lot of progress since the convention was established in 1997 and we have much work left to do.”

According to a November 2007 report on the Ottawa Convention implementation, of the 156 countries that have joined the treaty (known as “States Parties”), 145 have eliminated their stockpiles by destroying approximately 40 million stockpiled mines. However, 11 countries, including Greece, Turkey and Indonesia, must still destroy their inventory with some of these stocks numbering into the millions.

Another 44 countries (among them are Chile, Thailand and Zimbabwe) still need to carry out their obligation to clear mined areas and the international community, Brinkert says, must fulfil its promise to provide for the care, rehabilitation and reintegration of landmine survivors. This is a daunting challenge. The United Nations estimates, for instance, that in Angola, between 10 and 20 million landmines, or roughly one for every man, woman and child in a country the size of Texas, are responsible for approximately 70,000 amputee victims.

Among his areas of responsibility, Brinkert advises the States Parties on the Convention’s obligations and processes and communicates the status and operations of the Convention.

He also serves as a liaison with the people central to the operation of the Convention, including the UN, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate International Campaign to Ban Landmines, and the International Committee of the Red Cross; and, his unit maintains the Convention’s documentation centre.

Brinkert recently advised Prince Mired Raad Al-Hussein of Jordan, who in November was elected as the Convention’s president and who led his country’s effort to host Eighth Meeting of the States Parties to the Convention the same month.

“Working with Prince Mired was really very interesting. I learn so much from these experiences and I am grateful for that,” says Brinkert. “I feel at this stage in my career I have something to offer representatives of states and as I support them, I learn much from them; each country brings something different to the table.”

“This is a very interesting community. You work with all different kinds of people in dozens of countries, different cultures.”

When Brinkert travels to these countries, he often participates in national and regional workshops, most recently in places like Swaziland, Mozambique and Tunisia to provide specific advice on a countries’ mine clearance, survivor assistance and other obligations.

Following his U of C graduation, Brinkert earned an MA in international affairs at Carleton University. The Vancouver native then worked in the Office of the B.C. Premier and for the Leader of the Official Opposition in Alberta.

Brinkert’s first involvement in the land mine issue was in 1988 when he joined the Mine Action Team of Canada, part of the federal department of foreign affairs and international trade, where he served as the section head of research, policy and communications.

Brinkert says the best part of his job is that he is still learning and discovering.

“International public service is in my blood. If you keep an open mind and take advantage of the tens of thousands of jobs out there related to humanitarian aid, you’ll find yourself in a very rewarding, action-oriented career.”