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The Slovak Republic signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified (“approved”) it on 25 February 1999. Slovakia took part in all of the Ottawa Process treaty preparatory meetings, endorsed the pro-treaty Brussels Declaration in June 1997, and was a full participant in the treaty negotiations in Oslo in September. It also voted in favor of United Nations General Assembly resolutions supporting a ban on landmines in 1996, 1997, and 1998.
At the Regional Conference on Landmines in Budapest, Hungary on 26-28 March 1998, a Foreign Ministry official stated that Slovakia was committed never to produce, export, stockpile, or use antipersonnel landmines.[1]
Slovakia is a state party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (28 May 1993), but has not ratified 1996 amended Protocol II on mines. A member of the Conference on Disarmament, Slovakia was one of 22 countries that endorsed a statement in February 1999 advocating the negotiation of a ban on transfers of antipersonnel landmines through the CD.[2]
The former Czechoslovakia was a significant producer and exporter of arms, including landmines. However, when the country divided, Slovakia did not inherit any of Czechoslovakia’s landmine production facilities.[3] Speaking at the Mine Ban Treaty signing ceremony, the head of Slovakia’s delegation said that “from the very first day of its independent existence, Slovakia does not produce any antipersonnel landmines.”[4] Slovakia has had a moratorium on exports in place since 1994. The status of Slovakia’s antipersonnel mine stockpile is unclear.
Slovakia is not mine-affected. Slovakia has donated $10,000 to the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Clearance, and Slovak engineers have helped to check and demine more than 3 million square meters of land in the former Yugoslavia since 1993.[5] Slovakia has also engaged in demining and victim assistance in Western Sahara, and produces demining equipment and mine awareness and education materials.[6] Pursuant to the provisions of Article 6 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Slovakia has expressed a readiness to provide assistance in mine awareness programs, mine clearance and mine clearance training, and stockpile destruction. Slovakia has also been active in developing new mine clearance technology - the Bozena and Belarty demining machines.[7]
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[1]Statement at Budapest Conference by Mr. Marcel Babicz, Arms Control and Disarmament Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Slovak Republic, in International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Report: Regional Conference on Landmines, Budapest, Hungary, 26-28 March 1998, p. 26.
[2]Statement by Ambassador Petko Draganov, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Bulgaria to the United Nations Office and the other International Organisations in Geneva, (undated) February 1999.
[3]This was told to ICBL delegates to the CCW negotiations in 1994-1996 by both Czech and Slovak officials.
[4]The Address of the Head of Delegation of the Slovak Republic to the International Conference on Antipersonnel Landmines, Ottawa, 2-4 December 1997.
[5]UN General Assembly, “Report of the Secretary-General: Assistance in Mine Clearance,” A/53/496, 14 October 1998, p. 29; Slovak Republic Non-Paper, issued at signing ceremony for Mine Ban Treaty, Ottawa, 2-4 December 1997.
[6]United States Department of State, Hidden Killers, September 1998, pp. C-1, C-3. Also see Statement at Budapest Conference by Mr. Marcel Babicz.
[7]Slovak Republic Non-Paper, issued at signing ceremony for Mine Ban Treaty, Ottawa, 2-4 December 1997.
