Key developments since March 1999: Denmark completed destruction of its stockpile of 266,517 AP mines on 14 December 1999. From the beginning of 1999 through the end of May 2000, it contributed approximately $15.2 million for mine action programs. Denmark has established a humanitarian demining training center for NGOs.
Denmark was an active supporter of the “Ottawa Process” leading to the Mine Ban Treaty (MBT), which it signed on 4 December 1997 and ratified on 8 June 1998. With regard to additional implementing legislation, Denmark states, “No legal, administrative and other measures in addition to the legal, administrative and other measures already in force have been deemed necessary to comply with the Convention.”[1]
The government participated in the First Meeting of States Parties to the MBT in Maputo in May 1999. It has attended at least one meeting of each of the five intersessional Standing Committees of Experts.
Denmark voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 54/54 promoting the MBT in December 1999, as it had with previous pro-ban UNGA resolutions. The government sees the MBT as the main instrument for achieving a mine-free world. The treaty provides a policy-framework for Danish contributions to mine action.
Denmark submitted its initial Article 7 report to the United Nations on 27 August 1999. It is comprehensive, with detailed information on mines in stockpiles, plans for their destruction and the situation on the mine-contaminated peninsula of Skallingen. The second Article 7 report, for the calendar year 1999, due by 30 April 2000, had not been submitted by the end of June 2000.
Denmark is a State Party to CCW Amended Protocol II (1996). It attended the First Annual Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II in Geneva in December 1999, but had not submitted its report as required under Article 13 by that time. Denmark is not a member of the Conference on Disarmament, but “supports all efforts to ban anti-personnel landmines, including efforts in the Conference on Disarmament.”[2]
The government of Denmark has stated that no antipersonnel mines have been produced since the1950s.[3] Denmark has not exported AP mines in the past. It imported AP mines from the United States, Germany and perhaps other nations.[4]
According to Minister of Defense Hans Hækkerup, Denmark completed destruction of its 266,517 antipersonnel mines on 14 December 1999.[5] The quantities of each type destroyed were reported as: 97,095 Type M/47; 102,372 Type M/56; 54,280 Type M/58; 12,770 Type M/66.[6] The destruction was carried out at the Ammunition Arsenal, Elling, and at Entsorghungs-Betriebsgesellschaft mbH, Leipzig in Germany, by disassembling, burning and chemical destruction, following national, NATO and European Union safety and environmental standards.[7]
Denmark has retained a total of 4,991 AP mines for training purposes (60 Type M/56 and 4,931 Type M/58), which are under the control of the Chief of Defense, the Army Material and Operational Commands.[8] Half of these AP mines will be used for development and testing of mine detection equipment, and half will be used for training in mine detection.[9] The Article 7 report does not include mention of 1,000 Claymore-type M18A1 mines acknowledged to be in stocks, which the government states have been modified for use only in command-detonated mode.[10]
Denmark is slightly mine-affected, but this is limited to the Skallingen peninsula on western Jutland, dating from World War II. The area is marked, and there are no reports of accidents caused by the mines there in recent years. Skallingen is a protected natural reserve, and the Danish government has gradually acquired almost all of the mine-infested territory. The area is currently being mapped, and a plan to clear the area will be developed. Denmark has reported, “According to the judgement of the Danish Ministry of Defense most of the mines are ineffective today, but there still is a small risk of some being effective.”[11]
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for funding mine action programs. Denmark is a member of the Mine Action Support Group, a group of major mine action donors that meets in New York to coordinate their support for such programs.
Denmark has contributed a total of DKK 189,836,797 (US$24 million) to a broad range of mine action programs from 1996 to 1999.[12] It provided DKK 49.9 (US$7 million) in 1999, and a total of DKK 64.9 (US$8.2 million) from January-May 2000. Funding totalled DKK 57 in 1996, DKK 38.6 in 1997, and DKK 44.3 in 1998.
In its draft strategy document for international assistance, Denmark states that the eradication of AP mines is a political, humanitarian and development task, and has to be worked on from all three approaches.[13] According to the Danish International Development Agency, mine clearance will continue to have high priority in the years to come.[14] The government has used the MBT as a framework for governing allocations for mine action, aiming at supporting countries that are members of the MBT. Denmark is reviewing its support for mine action programs in Angola, due to the new use of AP mines by the government. However, support is also given to non-MBT parties such as Laos and to programs in areas that cannot be state parties, such as Chechnya and Kosovo.
A new development in Denmark is the establishment of a training center for non-governmental organizations in humanitarian demining, aimed at reinforcing the capacity for humanitarian mine clearance. The first course started on 25 April 2000, with sixteen participants. This is also funded by a mine action grant.[15]
Activity
US$
An additional DKK 5,000,000 is granted for the UNDP/CMAC mine clearance program in Cambodia, but not yet allocated, due to Danish dissatisfaction with Cambodia Mine Action Center management. Denmark will not disburse this grant until adequate guarantees for changes at CMAC are received.[18]
The main R&D initiative is the Nordic Demining Research Forum (NDRF).[19] The Danish machine manufacturer Hydrema has produced a civilian version of its mine clearance vehicle Hydrema MCV 910, which is used by Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA) in Angola and by DanChurchAid in Kosovo. Hydrema cooperates with these agencies to improve the design based on field experience.
Two NGOs in Denmark are involved in humanitarian mine action programs: DanChurchAid,[20] a humanitarian NGO connected to the Danish Church, and Danish Demining Group,[21] a cooperative agency involving the Danish Refugee Council and Danish People’s Aid. DanChurchAid is also the focal point for mine action in Action by Churches Together, a global cooperation of church organizations involved in humanitarian work. Both these NGOs receive a major part of official Danish mine action funds. A new NGO, Fonden Danmark mod Landminer, advocating the need to support mine action and the ban, is in the process of being established.[22]
Although some Danish peacekeepers have been injured by mines, it has not been possible to establish the exact number. Denmark has all modern medical and rehabilitation facilities.
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[1] Denmark’s Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form A, submitted 27 August 1999. Landmine Monitor is unaware of what penal sanctions are currently in place for violations of the treaty.
[2] Denmark’s Report to the OSCE on the Questionnaire on Anti-Personnel Landmines, 25 January 2000.
[3] This has been contested by a group of Danish NGOs who claim that Danish companies were involved in production of components until 1983. For details, see Landmine Monitor Report 1999, pp. 581-582.
[4] See Landmine Monitor Report 1999, p. 582.
[5] Letter to Fonden Danmark mod Landminer from Hans Hækkerup, Minister of Defense, 15 May 2000. The was confirmed by the Danish delegation in remarks to the meeting of the Standing Committee of Experts on General Status of the Convention, Geneva, 30 May 2000.
[6] Article 7 Report, Form D, 27 August 1999.
[7] Ibid, Form E.
[8] Ibid, Form D.
[9] Ibid. Also, remarks by the Danish delegation at the meeting of the Standing Committee of Experts on General Status of the Convention, Geneva, 30 May 2000.
[10] Landmine Monitor Report 1999, p. 583.
[11] Article 7 Report, Annex to Form E; see also, Landmine Monitor Report 1999, p. 584.
[12] Ministry of Foreign Affairs (US$ conversion by Landmine Monitor/Denmark).
[13] Partnership 2000, Danish Development policy, draft edition, 14 June 2000, available at: http://www.um.dk/danida/partnerskab2000/analyse.asp.
[14] DANIDA Five Year Plan 2000 – 2004, available at: http://www.um.dk/danida/5aarsplan2000-2004/index.asp.
[15] Telephone interview with Ole Neustrup, Bureau Chief S3, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 July 2000. Also, remarks by Danish delegation at the meeting of the Standing Committee of Experts on General Status of the Convention, Geneva, 30 May 2000.
[16] Data supplied by Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Conversion to U.S. dollars by Landmine Monitor researcher. Abbreviations -- UNOCHA: UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance, ADP: Accelerated Demining Program, UNDP: UN Development Program, OHR: Office of the High Representative, Bosnia – Herzegovina.
[17] Ibid. Abbreviations -- IPPNW: International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, OAS: Organization of American States, IND: National Demining Institute, UNOPS: UN Office for Project Services.
[18] Telephone interview with Ole Neustrup, Bureau Chief S3, Ministery of Foreign Affairs, 10 July 2000.
[19] For details see report on Norway in this edition of the Landmine Monitor Report 2000.
[20] DanChurchAid: www.dca.dk.
[21] Telephone interview with Arne Vågen, Danish Demining Group. See also: arvc@drc.dk.
[22] Information available at: www.fmn.dk