States Parties 161 States Not Party 36
Please click on the PDF icon above to download in PDF
Statement on Transparency Reporting 11th Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty Phnom Penh, Cambodia2 December 2011
Thank you Mr. Chair and thanks also to Belgium for chairing the Article 7 Contact Group.
Submitting annual Article 7 transparency reports is a legal obligation, and one that is necessary to help measure the successful implementation of the treaty and the Cartagena Action Plan. We would like to commend those States Parties that have submitted regular, detailed reports, as well as those states not party that have provided voluntary transparency reports.
As of today, only 52% of States Parties submitted reports for calendar year 2010. This is the lowest annual compliance rate in the past decade, undercutting the previous low of 56% for calendar year 2009. Of the 74 States Parties that had not submitted a report for 2010, most failed to submit an annual transparency report for two or more years. Among the States Parties that did not submit reports for 2010 are nine States Parties with mine clearance obligations: Afghanistan, Angola, Burundi, Chad, Chile, Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Uganda. The only State Party to have never submitted an initial transparency report is Equatorial Guinea; it was due on 28 August 1999. On a positive note, five States Parties submitted an annual transparency report after not turning in a report for two or more years. These are the Cook Islands, Ghana, Lesotho, Palau, and Zimbabwe.
Of the reports submitted, many contain insufficient detail, including on key treaty obligations that are still being implemented. Some are missing entire forms. Few states utilize Expanded Form D to report on mines retained for training and research purposes, and yet fewer use Form J to report on progress in implementing victim assistance or the provision of international cooperation and assistance.
We call on all States Parties with outstanding reports, especially those with major treaty requirements, to submit them to the United Nations without delay.
We also encourage States Parties to consider amending several of the reporting forms and perhaps adding new ones on victim assistance and cooperation and assistance, using the Convention on Cluster Munitions transparency reporting forms as a template. We support Belgium’s efforts in this regard.
Initial Article 7 transparency reports are due 180 days after the entry into force of the treaty for each country. We look forward to reading detailed reports from the treaty’s newest States Parties, by 27 August 2012 for Tuvalu and by 4 January 2012 for South Sudan.
Thank you.
