Intersessional Daily Update 4

(Friday 16 May 2003 Geneva, Switzerland) The Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction met for one full day

The session commenced with opening remarks by Co-Chairs Switzerland (Mr. Rene Haug) and Romania (Mr. Radu Horumba). The two Co-Rapporteurs are Guatemala and Italy. The focus of the session was progress toward meeting upcoming deadlines for States Parties to fulfill their Article 4 obligation to destroy stockpiled antipersonnel mines within four years of entry into force of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty for them.

Steve Goose of the ICBL made a presentation on the status of stockpile destruction at the beginning of the session. He noted that 30 million antipersonnel mines have been destroyed so far by States Parties, 48 States Parties have completed the destruction of their stockpiles, and that 46 States Parties have officially declared in their Article 7 report that they do not have antipersonnel mine stockpiles. A total of 10 States Parties are in the process of destroying their stockpiles and eight other have yet to commence their programs. Disturbingly, 15 States Parties have yet to officially confirm the presence or absence of stockpiles by failing to submit an initial transparency measures report. The deadline for stockpile destruction has passed for seven of these countries. For one State Party with a deadline of March 2003, Guinea, there is contradictory information whether is has a mine stockpile.

The most recent States Parties to complete destruction include Chad, Djibouti, Jordan, Macedonia FYR, Mozambique, Portugal, Slovenia, and Thailand. Goose also pointed out that while Turkmenistan has seemingly fulfilled its stockpile destruction obligation, its retention of 69,200 antipersonnel mines for training was quite problematic and could constitute the first breach of one the Mine Ban Treaty’s core obligations. On the positive side, new initial Article 7 transparency reports were submitted by Comoros and Malawi, who both confirmed that they do not stockpile antipersonnel mines.

As with the agenda during the February 2003 meeting, the Co-Chairs proceeded in a chronological order of deadlines. States Parties that recently completed destruction of their stockpiles were first given an opportunity to make presentations. Croatia showed a video of its final destruction event and also reported destroying additional antipersonnel mine fuzes. Djibouti reported that it finished the destruction of its stockpile one day past its deadline on 2 March 2003. Japan reported that the Prime Minister and other high-ranking officials attended its final stockpile destruction event on 8 February 2003. Mozambique, Macedonia FYR, Portugal, Jordan, Slovenia, and Thailand each provided the dates of their final destruction events and summary statistics.

The next group of States Parties making presentations were those who have their stockpile destruction deadline during the rest of 2003. El Salvador was the first to speak and reported that it completed the destruction of 5,248 antipersonnel mines on 20 February 2003, becoming the 49^th State Party to complete their obligations under Article 4. It will retain 96 mines for research and training purposes. Uganda provided an update on its activities and raised the number of mines its needs to destroy to 5,592 reflecting its decision to destroy mines captured from non-state actors. It does not anticipate any problems and announced that a UNDP technical team will arrive later in May 2003 to assist in beginning the destruction program. Venezuela announced that it has increased the total number of mine in its stockpile to 46,176 and it stockpile destruction program will be completed on 22 May 2003.

States Parties with stockpile destruction deadlines beyond 2004 spoke next. The commander of the engineering corps of Afghanistan provided a detailed intervention on the government’s plan to destroy antipersonnel mine stockpiles. Stockpiled antipersonnel mines were destroyed in five locations across the country on 12 May 2003 to mark the beginning of the intersessional meetings. The destruction program in Afghanistan will consist of training personnel, assessing stockpile locations, followed by destruction. The representative stated that Afghanistan could finish its stockpile destruction if assistance is received. A representative of Argentina provided details on its national destruction plan and its intention to complete stockpile destruction at a ceremony on 4 December 2003. Bangladesh also provided details on its three-phase national stockpile destruction plan. Chile reported that it had destroyed 100,000 antipersonnel mines on 8-9 May 2003 and it aims to complete its destruction program in August 2003. Chile also drastically reduced the number of mines it retains for research and training purposes to 6,245. Initially, Chile was proposing to retain in excess of 28,000 mines.

Colombia and DR Congo both made presentations on the commencement of stockpile destruction programs. Guinea-Bissau is aiming to complete the destruction of its stockpile of 3,997 antipersonnel mines before the 5MSP in Bangkok if it receives assistance. Romania reported that it has destroyed 616,774 mines and is on target to complete its program on 1 March 2004. Tanzania announced that its four-phase stockpile destruction program commenced on 27 March 2003 and it aims to complete stockpile destruction on September 2004. Uruguay, Zambia, and non State Party Belarus all made short interventions on progress to date on destroying their stockpiles

A representative of Geneva Call and a leader of an armed group in Somalia that has begun to destroy its mine stockpiles made the next presentation. The process of engaging no-state actors in banning antipersonnel mines and the general situation on the impact of mines in Somalia were also discussed.

The next part of the meeting was dedicated to cooperation and assistance in destroying antipersonnel mine stockpiles. Bangladesh reiterated its request for assistance and Italy affirmed their willingness to provide assistance. After this discussion, the subject of the challenges of destroying PFM type scatterable antipersonnel mines was discussed in great technical detail. Representatives of the GICHD, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and the European Commission made presentations on PFM mines. The remaining time of the meeting was spent discussing aspects of the ‘food for thought’ paper distributed by the Co-Chairs in February. Representatives of the GICHD, UNMAS, UN DDA, and the ICBL all made interventions and suggestions.