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LM Report 2001

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LITHUANIA

Mine Ban Policy

When Lithuania signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 26 February 1999, the Ministry of Defense was tasked with preparation for ratification “as soon as relevant conditions relating to effective implementation of the provisions of the Treaty are fulfilled.”^[1] In January 2000, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, “The pace of ratification has to do with the need to review national defense plans...[and] find suitable and affordable alternatives or a combination of alternatives to antipersonnel landmines.... Preparations for ratification of the Ottawa Treaty require sufficient funding from national resources and, most notably, international assistance and advice. The ratification procedure may be well advanced and completed in the coming years.”^[2]

This is Lithuania’s most recent official statement on the subject.^[3] According to the Ministry of Defense, there have been no changes to this policy, and ratification would be possible if it would not endanger national security.^[4]

As an observer, Lithuania attended the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in September 2000. Lithuania also attended, for the first time, the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional Standing Committee meetings in December 2000, but did not attend the meetings in May 2001.

At the United Nations General Assembly in November 2000 Lithuania voted in favor of Resolution 55/33V, which calls on signatory States to ratify the Mine Ban Treaty without delay. Lithuania has voted for similar UN resolutions in previous years.

Lithuania is a State Party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines. It attended the Second Annual Conference of States Parties in December 2000. Lithuania has not yet submitted its annual report for 2000 as required by Article 13 of the Amended Protocol.

The First Secretary of the Lithuanian Mission to the UN in New York praised Landmine Monitor, and hoped that “the third Report will be as excellent as previous ones.”^[5]

Production, Transfer, Stockpiling, Use

There has been no apparent production or importation of antipersonnel mines since at least the early 1990s. ^[6] In April 2001, the Ministry of Defense declared that transfer without Lithuanian consent of antipersonnel mines to and from the Russian enclave in Kaliningrad was only possible by air, not by road or rail.^[7] There have been no reports of new use of mines in Lithuania in 2000 or 2001.

The size of the Lithuanian antipersonnel mine stockpile has not been disclosed, but officials have said that it is a minimal number, and that antipersonnel mines are used only for training purposes.^[8] The Ministry of Defense has said that Lithuania lacks the financial resources for stockpile destruction or modification of its mines.^[9]

Landmine Problem and Mine Clearance

Old mines and munitions are commonly found in some areas. Clearance efforts and research projects into mine detection and clearance were reviewed in Landmine Monitor Report 2000.^[10] The Ministry of Defense was unaware of any casualties from mine incidents in 2000 or 2001. No Lithuanian personnel engaged in peacekeeping operations have been killed since 1998.^[11]

There are about sixty professional deminers and 150 other people able to assist in demining operations. By 2002, the military engineering school in Kaunas will provide another platoon-size group of professional deminers, with the assistance of Denmark. At Kaunas, Danish specialists also provided a training course in which Estonian and Latvian deminers participated.^[12]

^[1] Interview with Dainius Baublys, Political Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vilnius, 18 February 2000.
^[2] “Lithuania: Steps Towards Implementation of the Ottawa Treaty,” Aide Mémoire, Multilateral Relations Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, January 2000.
^[3] Email from Garzvydas Jasutis, Assistant, Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe and Arms Control Division, Multilateral Relations Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 15 May 2001.
^[4] Interview with Andrius Krivas, Director, Department of International Relations, Ministry of Defense, Vilnius, 11 April 2001.
^[5] Email from Dainius Baublys, First Secretary, Lithuanian Mission to the UN, New York, 14 February 2001.
^[6] See Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp. 771-772.
^[7] Interview with Andrius Krivas, Ministry of Defense, Vilnius, 11 April 2001. See also Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 772.
^[8] Letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 12 January 2000.
^[9] Interview with Andrius Krivas, Ministry of Defense, Vilnius, 11 April 2001.
^[10] See Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp. 772-773.
^[11] Interview with Andrius Krivas, Ministry of Defense, Vilnius, 11 April 2001.
^[12] Ibid.

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