Landmine Stockpile and Transparency Factsheets released

(Friday 31 May 2002 ) Update on the Standing Committee Meeting on Stockpile Destruction held in Geneva 30 May 2002. A Landmine Monitor Factsheet on Stockpiles was also presented to this Standing Committee.

Steering Committee on Stockpile Destruction
(Thursday, 30 May 2002)
Co-chairs: Australia & Croatia
Co-rapporteurs: Romania & Switzerland

The first session consisted of an overview of the status of implementation which included presentations from two of the most recent States Parties (SPs) to complete destruction (Albania and Yemen), as well as two prospective SPs (Greece & Turkey). First, ICBL provided an overview from its Landmine Monitor Report 2002 research.

Steve Goose, HRW, on behalf of the ICBL. Goose presented a fact sheet that HRW prepared on stockpile destruction progress for the Standing Committee and provided an overview of the current situation. 84 (SPs) have no stockpiled AP mines. Some 14 have not reported A further 38 have stocks totaling approximately 6 to 8 million AP mines. He described the situation as a “success story” but also noted the ICBL’s concern that a small number of SPs may not be able to meet the deadlines that are fast approaching. Nonetheless he said the obstacles for those SPs that are late can be overcome. The Fact Sheet Antipersonnel Mine Stockpile Destruction is available here.

Albania. Albania gave a presentation on the recent completion of their stockpile destruction in which 1,607,420 AP mines from 132 storage facilities in 57 different locations were destroyed in the period from 15 January 2001 to 4 April 2002, with the assistance of NAMSA and Canada.

Yemen. Yemen gave a presentation and showed a film on their 27 April 2002 completion of stockpile destruction.

Greece. Greece gave a presentation on their stockpiled AP mines, which are made up of four types: M2, M14 and M16 (all US-manufactured), and DM 31 (Germany). He also discussed Greece’s efforts in mine clearance. Euro 6 million is needed to destroy the stockpile and assistance is sought, including from NAMSA.

Turkey. Turkey gave a presentation on its mine problem which consists of 900,000 mines planted along its border which it claimed were in areas marked, fenced and sign-posted). It described its achievement in mine clearance, including along its borders, and did not speak on its stockpile or its destruction.

General Statements from the floor.

Belarus. Belarus repeated the plea that it has made before for international assistance in destroying its 3.7 million PFM mines so that it can accede to the ban treaty.

Italy. Italy thanks LM for the FS and stated that it has 380,000 AP mines to be destroyed by the time of the 4MSP in September 2002. They indicated their willingness to participate in a contact group of donors interested in stock destruction..

Ukraine. Ukraine gave an update on progress toward initiating destruction of its 400,000 PMN AP mines and 5.9 million PFM AP mines. A contract has been signed with NATO for $561,000 to start the destruction of its PMN AP mines but more funds will be required to complete the task.

Congo Brazzaville. C-B said their Army had conducted a study that showed a stockpile of 5,092 AP mines of all types which will be destroyed except for 400 AP mines retained for training. Assistance is needed for this destruction.

Romania. Romania gave an update on its stockpile destruction, noting that it has destroyed 918,000 AP mines (of types MAI 68, MAI 6 and MAI 2) and has more than 250,000 left to destroy by March 2004, one year ahead of deadline.

Colombia. Colombia gave a presentation on its landmine problem and the Army’s achievements in mine clearance, and not one on stockpiles or their destruction.

Slovenia. Slovenia said that as of22 May 2002, it had destroyed 121,919 AP mines including all PMA2 and PMA3 with the exception of 1,000 retained for training. Destruction will be completed by the end of 2002.

Tunisia. Tunisia stated that its stockpile destruction started on 1 January 1999, a further destruction was made on January 2002 and the remaining 16,055 AP mines will be destroyed by 2004.

Uganda. Uganda said it has 6,782 AP mines, of which 2,400 will be retained for training in time for the deadline of August 2003. Most of the stocks have been transferred from field units to a central location to await destruction.

Japan. By March 2002, Japan reported it had destroyed 609,000 of its one million stockpiled AP mines. The rest is on schedule for completion with a deadline of February 2003.

CAR. CAR said it has never produced nor exported and has found no evidence of transit of AP mines through its territory. The country is not affected by uncleared mines. There were no mines left when the French departed. A bill to ratify the ban treaty is currently before General Assembly.

Indonesia. Indonesia said that ratification has been delayed not because of lack of political will to ban AP mines but because of competing governmental priorities. It has established a national working group that will complete the ratification, draft domestic legislation and establish a database on stock destruction. The stockpile is mostly compiled of “old” AP mines imported in 1963 from the US, USSR and Yugoslavia and they have already started destruction including destroying 6,000 mines from a total of 22,000.

Croatia. Croatia said it has 192,782 AP mines, which are being destroyed in three phases. The first 56,028 were destroyed in 2001, while the second phase was completed in May 2002 and the remainder will be destroyed by the October 2002.

The next session was devoted to the safety and security of stockpiles.

Two experts from Switzerland and the UK presented on the munitions and on the humanitarian aspects of the munitions warehouse explosion in Lagos earlier this year, which saw some 800 people killed, mainly civilians and most by the subsequent panic and not the initial explosion. The incident was described as the result of a hazardous location, in this case a weapons storage facility, becoming engulfed by suburban sprawl. One photo in the presentation clearly showed that AP mines were included in the warehouse in Lagos.

France presented on the safe storage of small stockpiles retained for training, giving its perspective on the storage of its 4,456 AP mines for training.

Thailand gave an update on its stockpile destruction program in which 111,557 AP mines have been destroyed to date and also spoke on an explosion in which 7 EOD experts were killed during an explosion at a munitions facility which TMAC was called on to clean-up.

Later, Nigeria, Honduras and the GICHD made comments on the session and the presentations.

After lunch, the floor was opened for country statement and interventions left over from the morning session.

Nicaragua announced that 10,000 more AP mines will be destroyed on 20 June 2002, and the entire stockpile destruction will be completed by the time of the 4MSP. 15,000 AP mines were destroyed in April 2002.

Peru reminded SPs that it completed its destruction of 322,656 AP mines in September 2001, including a further 1,218 AP mines found, and offered its assistance to other SPs requiring help in the destruction task.

Chad said that the Army has conducted an inventory of the country’s stockpiled AP mines and found that the mines are held in 7 of 23 different sites. Destruction started a long time ago and 4,063 AP mines have been destroyed, witnessed by UN technical advisors and invited diplomats. The Minister of Foreign Affairs indicated in their Article 7 report that Chad hopes to complete its stockpile destruction by the end of the year.

Jordan stated that its stockpile destruction plan includes 11 phases, of which six have been completed with 46,552 AP mines destroyed. 30,000 AP mines will be destroyed in June, September and December of 2002 and the remaining 15,790 will be destroyed in February and finally April 2003.

Yugoslavia stated that while it is not yet a SP, the Army has decided to destroy 90,000 stockpiled mines immediately as a gesture of goodwill and political will.

Kenya said it plans to destroy 38,774 AP mines by the end of 2003, and it will retain 3,000 for training and research. Specific destruction dates will be included in the next Art. 7 report. Destruction will take place in a remote, arid part of the country.

Solomon Islands confirmed the country has no stockpile of AP mines and this will be made official when it submits its initial Art. 7 report, hopefully before the 4MSP.

Chile said that 50% of its stockpile will be destroyed in August 2002 and the remaining % of its stockpile will be destroyed in August 2002 and the remaining 50% before the end of 2003. It noted that it has already destroyed 16,000 AP mines including 2,000 in the year 2000 and 14,000 in 2001.

Guinea-Bissau stated that it has not been able to destroy its entire stock to date but the Army has conducted an inventory, which indicated a stockpile of 4,968 AP mines of different types and origin. They hope to complete destruction by the 4MSP.

Nigeria stated that it has no production or export of AP mines.

In the next session on assistance and cooperation, donor countries made statements and interventions.

The co-chair described other efforts include the stockpile database on the web (www.stockpile.org) and described the Art. 7 reports, especially Form J as a good place for Ss to express their needs in stockpile destruction. The co-chair suggested the formation of a contact group of SPs to facilitate and encourage stockpile destruction in light of rapidly approaching deadlines.

Croatia made a presentation on the work of the Reay Group, established in 1999 under the Stability Pact, which focuses on items other than mine clearance, including stockpile destruction.

Germany expressed its willingness to assist and cooperate in stockpile destruction and expressed an interest in participating in the informal contact group.

Switzerland announced that its next technical experts seminar on demining and stockpile destruction will take pace next week with participation expected by some twenty countries, including non SPs Angola, Burundi, Iran, Lebanon, Lithuania, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Ukraine.

Belgium noted its concern that over 90% of stockpiled mines in the world are in the hands of non-SPs.

The OAS stated the importance of international observers in ensuring additional transparency and said that 4 countries of the Americas region have approached them for assistance in stockpile destruction.

In the final session, NATO provided an update on its plans for industrial scale stockpile destruction of the problematic PFM AP mines.

GICHD gave a “refresher” presentation on basic rules and techniques of stockpile destruction, noting that a National Planning Guide on Standards for Stockpile Destruction is available from the GICHD (IMAS 11.30).

The Fact Sheet is available as an Adobe Acrobat Reader PDF document.