Printed from: www.icbl.org/Treaty/MBT/Annual-Meetings/10MSP/summary-clearance
The 10MSP reviewed and granted mine clearance deadline extensions to six States Parties: Chad (1 January 2014), Colombia (1 March 2021), Denmark (1 July 2012), Guinea Bissau (1 January 2012), Mauritania (1 January 2016) and Zimbabwe (1 January 2013). Each state first presented their request, followed by a presentation of the analysis of each requests by the President of the Second Review Conference, and by comments from several states. The ICBL expressed concern that requests for extensions are becoming the norm rather than the exception, and encouraged all States Parties to actively take part in the review process since their comments and questions could help ensure that mine-affected states plan better and complete clearance in the shortest possible timeframe. Specific comments by the ICBL on the six extension requests are available at www.icbl.org/10msp/extension-requests
States that were granted clearance deadline extensions in 2008 and 2009 reported on the status of clearance. Jordan, Tajikistan and Uganda indicated they would be able to meet their extended deadlines for clearance if sufficient resources were made available, and Cambodia reported it had met its goals for 2010. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Senegal reported they were behind on their goals laid out in their extension requests. Ecuador and Peru both reported learning of new mined areas through an information exchange between the two militaries. Thailand reported that though it was behind its goals, it was trying to get back on track, including by getting more funding from the national budget to implement the 2010-2014 strategy. Venezuela announced it has started clearance of its military bases, after failing to do so for the last eleven years, and that it would reduce the time needed for completion from five to four years. The United Kingdom made a worrying step back as it did not provide a plan for clearing the remaining mined areas in the Falkland Islands/Malvinas, and indicated that it would favor providing funding for demining in other affected countries. The ICRC commented that the UK's position was creating "a new situation" for the treaty as a whole, which could be considered by the Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the Convention, while the ICBL expressed serious disappointment and called on the UK to respect the States Parties' decision on the extension request made in 2008, which called on the UK to pursue demining without further delay. Canada and Norway also expressed concerns.
Based on progress to date, it appears the following States Parties with deadlines after 2011 are not on track to comply with their mine clearance obligations by their deadlines (in parenthesis): Afghanistan (2013), Algeria (2012), Chile (2012), DR Congo (2012), Eritrea (2012), Sudan (2014), and Turkey (2014). Cyprus (2013) plans to finish clearance of all areas under its control, but claims jurisdiction over additional mined areas outside its control that will not be cleared by the deadline.
An encouraging announcement was made by Ethiopia, which stated it should meet its 2015 deadline using a significant percentage of its own resources. In addition The Gambia clarified that there are no mined areas on its territory, and Nigeria announced that it had no more mined areas and that it would now draft its official declaration of compliance with Article 5 with help from the Implementation Support Unit. The Nicaraguan Minister of Defence confirmed Nicaragua's compliance with its Article 5 obligations, as notified at the June 2010 intersessional Standing Committee meetings. Colombia announced that a law had been adopted the previous day to allow demining to be conducted by civilian organisations.