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Key developments since May 2000: Kuwait has reportedly agreed to provide $50 million for development projects, including mine clearance assistance, in South Lebanon. In Kuwait, it is estimated that some 250 antipersonnel and antivehicle mines were cleared in the year 2000. There were at least forty-four recorded and reported mine casualties between March 2000 and February 2001. A new mine victim database has been established which shows there have been more than 1,500 civilian mine/UXO victims in Kuwait since August 1990.
Kuwait has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. In August 2000, Kuwait’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Sabah said that Kuwait intended to join the treaty “soon,” but the current status of accession is unknown.[1] The government apparently does not consider antipersonnel landmines as vital to its defense or security purposes. For example, Kuwait recently established a security fence 212 kilometers in length along its border with Iraq, in addition to a deep trench dug along the border. Kuwait did not emplace antipersonnel mines along the fence or trench. However, mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) remain in the UN-patrolled demilitarized zone, which extends five kilometers into Kuwait behind the security fence.[2]
Kuwait did not attend the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in September 2000 or any intersessional meetings. It was absent from the vote on the November 2000 pro-ban UN General Assembly resolution, but it has voted in support of similar resolutions in previous years. While Kuwait is not a State Party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), a representative of Kuwait’s Permanent Mission to the UN attended the Second Annual Conference of State Parties to CCW Amended Protocol II (Landmines) in December 2000.
Kuwait is not known to have used, produced, or exported antipersonnel mines. The status of the 45,000 antipersonnel mines “stored” by Kuwait after their recovery during mine clearance operations after the war is not known. It is believed that the US Army continues to stockpile some 8,896 antipersonnel mines in Kuwait.[3]
As a result of the Iraqi occupation and subsequent liberation in 1990-1991, landmines still lie in the desert of Kuwait, especially in rough sandy areas and terrain with vegetation. A total of 1,646,926 landmines were cleared by September 2000, including 1,078,966 antipersonnel mines and 567,960 antivehicle mines. The Kuwait Environmental Information System is now available in the Ministry of Planning. This tool provides decision makers and organizations with details about numbers, types, and geographic distribution of landmines in Kuwait.[4]
In January 2001, Kuwait reportedly pledged $50 million for development projects, including mine clearance assistance, in South Lebanon.[5] This is the first known Kuwaiti contribution to international mine action programs.
The Defense Ministry is responsible for survey, assessment, and quality assurance of landmines and UXO while the Ministry of the Interior deals with mines and UXO only on an emergency basis. It is estimated that less than 250 antipersonnel and antivehicle mines were cleared in the year 2000.[6]
There are currently approximately 600 army deminers working in the field. Their work is concentrated in the northeastern sector (3,000 square kilometers), northwestern sector (3,285 square kilometers) and in the western sector (1,750 square kilometers). The Ministry of Defense and foreign contractors have signed contracts for the period 1997-2002 to conduct quality assurance in an area covering 8,035 square kilometers.
Most demining activities in 2000 and 2001 were focused on quality assurance including: emergency response (after receiving notice from individuals or organizations), quality assurance in strategic minefields and around military facilities, and quality assurance around residential areas (Jahra City) and recreation areas (at the base of Jal Azour hills). Some mines and UXO were found in 2000 in areas already cleared. Examples include Al Abraq (southwestern part near the border with Iraq), Wafra (southeastern part), and the outskirts of Jahra City (west of Kuwait City).[7]
The public education activities described in the Landmine Monitor Report 2000 continue. Government, corporate, NGO, media, and charitable organizations publicize mine incidents and distribute landmine and UXO recognition guides.
There were forty-four reported and recorded mine casualties between March 2000 and May 2001.[8] In the period from 18 June to 27 July 2000, one of the main government hospitals, Al-Adan, recorded five men between the ages of 20 and 53 wounded by landmines from incidents which occurred in desert areas in the south of the country. All the victims survived and none of them underwent amputation or required assistive devices.[9] On 8 August 2000 a landmine incident was reported in the Abraq area in the southwest of the country. On 13 September 2000, a mine incident took place at the outskirts of Jahra City in the center of Kuwait and the victim was placed in intensive care in Jahra hospital. Two mine incidents were recorded in the period from October 2000 to May 2001, in which two men aged between 23 to 25 years were wounded. On 3 February 2001, one person was killed in Wafra area in the southeast of Kuwait.[10]
The UN Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission (UNIKOM) conducted 17 casualty evacuations resulting from exploding mines in the demilitarized zone between Kuwait and Iraq between 31 March 2000 and 22 September 2000.[11] Between 22 September 2000 and 27 March 2001, UNIKOM reported performing “a number of similar casualty evacuations of Iraqi civilians injured by mine explosions.”[12] It is not known how many of these incidents occurred on Kuwaiti territory.
In January 2001, the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) established a landmine casualty database covering the period from August 1990 to January 2001.[13] A team of physicians collected information for this database from government hospitals and the data entered includes the hospital name; the sex, age, nationality, residence, and occupation of the victims; the date and location of the accident; any medical treatments; and the part of the body affected by the accident. A team of physicians is currently analyzing the collected data and they plan to continue data collection after January 2001.
Civilian mine and UXO casualties (August 1990 to January 2001)[14]
|
Hospital
|
Number of Casualties
|
|---|---|
|
Amiri
|
536
|
|
Sabah
|
379
|
|
Mubarak
|
98
|
|
Adan
|
190
|
|
Al Razi
|
330
|
|
Total
|
1,533
|
Rehabilitation, social and economic reintegration facilities, and services for landmine victims continue to be provided by the Kuwait Red Crescent (KRC) to any civilian in Kuwait, including foreigners. Military victims are treated separately by military hospitals. While military and civilian victims are generally treated separately, military forces provide services for civilians on an emergency basis.
Ninety-five percent of medical services are provided by governmental organizations while the remaining portion is covered by private hospitals. These clinics and general hospitals are the source of information for landmine victims about rehabilitative and social services provided by the KRC. The KRC is the only charitable organization in Kuwait that promotes the awareness of the disabled in the country.
The disabled in Kuwait are entitled to a pension. Qualified persons must contact the Ministry of Social Affairs, submit a medical report detailing their disability, and wait three to four weeks to begin receiving their monthly pensions. These pensions serve as household income for victims.
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[1] Sheikh Sabah said, “The State of Kuwait will soon join signatories to this important international agreement,” and that Kuwait would attend “the coming meeting of signatories which will take place in September in Geneva.” Letter from Sheikh Sabah, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kuwait to Lloyd Axworthy, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, August 2000. Kuwait did not attend the September meeting of States Parties.
[2] Information on the border obstacle provided by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Defense, January 2001.
[3] See Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 939-940.
[4] All information in this section was collected by the Center for Research and Studies on Kuwait, February 2001.
[5] Al-Qabas newspaper, 22 January 2001; interview with Habbouba Aoun, Landmines Resource Center, Beirut, 11 January 2001.
[6] Interview with Army Demining Officer, 30 January 2001.
[7] All information in this section collected by the Center for Research and Studies on Kuwait. Some information was provided by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Defense.
[8] This figure is derived from the ten recorded casualties and thirty-four reported casualty evacuations by the UN Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission (UNIKOM).
[9] Mine incident data from Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research landmine casualty database.
[10] Al Raa Al Aam newspaper, 4 February 2001.
[11] UN Security Council, “Report of The UN Secretary General on the UN Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission,” S/2000/914, 27 September 2000, p. 2.
[12] UN Security Council, “Report of The UN Secretary General on the UN Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission,” S/2001/287, 28 March 2001, p. 2.
[13] Interview with Dr. M. Desouky, project leader and manager of landmine database, 24 January 2001.[14] This table is based on information from five major hospitals provided to Landmine Monitor from the KISR database.
