States Parties 161 States Not Party 36
While the close link between politics and the use of weapons is apparent there has been very little study conducted into the politics of the clearance process itself.
The report "Bosnia's political landmines" also analyses the performance of private, profit-orientated companies competing for market share with charitable and non-profit demining groups and suggests that in Bosnia, non-profit based organizations demined difficult areas more effectively with fewer casualties than local and international actors from the private sector.
The report, released on 18 September in Geneva at the Seventh Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, calls for greater understanding of the political and economic consequences of internationally-funded demining operations in conflict and post-conflict zones. It provides examples of how local companies belonging to individuals later arrested for money-laundering and blacklisted by the United States and European Union over their support for one of Europe's most wanted men, indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic, were trained, equipped and sub-contracted by international private demining companies with US, World Bank and European funding.
Martin Bell, former BBC war reporter in the Balkans, author of the foreword for the report, and chair of the launch event commented:
"This report suggests that the ends cannot simply justify the means. Getting mines out of the ground is vital in countries recovering from conflict - but if the money for that work is falling into the wrong hands then this funding might be doing more harm than good."
