Author(s):
Site Admin <webmaster2@icbl.org> .
Saturday 07 June 2008
While government officials continue to repeat that Poland’s ratification of the Mine Ban Treaty is conditional upon the emplacement of “alternative means of defence”, for which a deadline is set in 2015, the ICBL believes that accession is possible even before the set date.
During meetings with representatives from the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs in Warsaw in March 2008, ICBL delegates were informed that landmines do not feature in Poland’s defence doctrine – with no plans to use them to defend either the national territory or Polish bases abroad - and that the armed forces are planning to destroy over three-quarters of existing stockpiles in the next three-four years, as these weapons are not needed for national defence. Poland already has a moratorium on the use, production and transfer of antipersonnel mines, and is abiding de facto by the treaty’s obligations, including that of submitting annual transparency reports.
In this light, Poland appears to be in the process of identifying the most appropriate means for its defence, but not necessarily “alternatives” to a weapon system that it has already discarded in practice. Therefore, there seems to be no obvious link between completion of this process and ratification of the Mine Ban Treaty, which would have no concrete adverse effect on Poland’s national security.
The ICBL is encouraging Poland to ratify in time for the treaty’s Second Review Conference, scheduled to take place at the end of 2009. This would prove the sincerity of Poland’s commitment to ratification announced at the First Review Conference, five years earlier, in 2004, and would finally allow the country to enjoy international recognition for the good practices it is already following.
The Polish Red Cross has launched a special website with an on-line petition to support ratification
