| <Previous | Next> |
| <Previous | Next> |
Key developments since May 2000: Poland established an interagency working group in 2000 to develop a plan and time line for Poland’s ratification of the Mine Ban Treaty, but officials continue to insist on a variety of pre-conditions. Poland and Canada co-sponsored a landmines seminar in Warsaw on 18-19 June 2001. Landmine Monitor has been told that Poland has between one and two million antipersonnel mines in stockpile. In 2000, 2,091 landmines were cleared, as well as 770 aviation bombs, 28,724 artillery and mortar shells, 5,892 grenades and 649,960 pieces of other ammunition, nearly all left from World War II.
Poland signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997, but indicated that ratification might not be achieved in the foreseeable future. Subsequently, this position has been elaborated on several occasions.[1] In early 2001, the Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs declared that the position remains unchanged:[2]
We endorse the ideals on which the Ottawa process is founded and signed the Ottawa Convention as early as December 1997. At the same time, however, Poland–taking into account national security requirements–declared that it could ratify the convention once it became fully universal, meaning that it was endorsed by the main producers and the permanent members of the UN Security Council, and, more importantly, that it was acceded to by neighboring states and that the armed forces were supplied with mine alternatives. So far, none of these conditions has been fulfilled. Also, the restructuring of the Polish armed forces, involving certain reduction of conventional armaments and necessitating high expenditures, means that landmines remain an important component of the national defense system. It should be pointed out, however, that Poland regards mines as a typically defensive weapon, which would be applied in a way reducing as much as possible any undesirable effects (in accordance with the provisions of Amended Protocol II). We believe that the most important way of combating landmine hazards is to eliminate the possibility of their transfers to high-risk and armed-conflict areas.[3]
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs regards signing the Mine Ban Treaty, and the fact that Poland no longer produces antipersonnel mines and has imposed an export moratorium, as clear signals to the international community of the government’s support for the aims of the treaty.[4]
While all the stated pre-conditions must be met before ratification, “The supply of armed forces with landmine alternatives could strongly accelerate the decision of ratifying of Ottawa Convention.... The cost of developing, producing and supplying mine alternatives is very high, and requires time and international cooperation. As a result, it is not possible at present to set a date for ratification by Poland of the Ottawa Convention. The matter will be subject of further work by an interministerial working group.”[5]
The interagency working group, initially set up in 2000 and consisting of representatives from Ministries of Defense, Foreign Affairs, and Finance, and other ministries and experts, has the task of establishing a plan and time line for Poland’s ratification of the Mine Ban Treaty.[6] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that the process towards possible ratification will take time.[7]
In 2000 and 2001, the Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs have had bilateral discussions on issues connected with ratification of the Mine Ban Treaty and Amended Protocol II of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).[8] Issues discussed include destruction of mine dumps (discussed with Bulgarian and Czech forces), development of alternative weapons, and demining. The Foreign Ministry states, “The issue of ratification is also being raised with states that have not signed the convention–e.g. Finland. These exchanges provide information on the position of those states, particularly the role of mines in their defense systems.... The conclusions stemming from these meetings find their reflection in numerous publications and provide valuable data–particularly regarding alternative weapons.... [O]fficial Polish-Canadian consultations were held in Warsaw on 19 February 2001. The meeting concerned the ratification of the Ottawa Convention and possibility of mutual cooperation in the field of scientific researches of alternatives means to landmines.”[9] This Polish-Canadian consultation was initiated by Poland.
Poland and Canada also co-sponsored a regional seminar, “Understanding the Ottawa Convention,” in Warsaw on 18-19 June 2001. It was attended by 19 countries, as well as representatives from the European Commission, NATO, International Committee of the Red Cross, UN Mine Action Service, Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. The opening statement by Stefan Meller, Undersecretary of State for International Security, repeated that, “Our particular defence requirements do not permit us—so far—to take such steps [ratify the ban treaty].... Poland has always regarded mines as a typically defensive weapon, which would be applied in a way reducing as much as possible any undesirable effects.”[10] However, at the end of the seminar, co-chair Mariusz Handzlik read out a joint statement recognizing that several multilateral fora in Europe provide “opportunities for addressing security concerns in peaceful and cooperative ways,” and agreeing to “hold discussions with neighbouring countries...and invite the views of any country concerned....” The statement also noted that seminar participants recognized the need to work with “the international donor community on a plan for destruction of stockpiles.”[11]
During 2000, Poland participated in meetings concerning demining, including those in Minsk, Thessaloniki, and Ljubljana. Also in 2000, issues relating to ratification, treaty provisions and work on alternative weapons were presented at training courses for military engineers.[12] During the annual meeting convened by the Chief of Engineering Troops in December 2000, the top officers of the Engineering Troops were acquainted with the current state of ratification of the Mine Ban Treaty, reviewed on the basis of the Landmine Monitor Report, Poland’s involvement in ratification of Amended Protocol II, and developments in alternative weapons.[13]
Poland attended the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in September 2000, as well as the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in December 2000 and May 2001. In November 2000, Poland voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 55/33V, which calls for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. It has voted for similar resolutions in previous years.
Poland has not ratified Amended Protocol II of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs states it intends to complete ratification by the end of 2001.[14] Previously, it was stated that Amended Protocol II would be ratified in 2000,[15] but this was delayed because Polish law requires a separate legal act for ratification of international agreements.[16] Poland attended the Second Annual Conference of States Parties to CCW Amended Protocol II in December 2000. According to the Polish authorities’ understanding of Amended Protocol II, its provisions oblige States Parties “to modernize the mines remaining within its Army Forces equipment. The Ministry of Defense had to analyze all the options available–whether to purchase the new-generation mines or to start from the beginning the process of modernization of the mines in the Polish army stockpiles.”[17]
Poland continued to view the UN Conference on Disarmament as the appropriate forum for dealing with landmines.[18]
The Foreign Ministry has said that it regards the Landmine Monitor Report as a very important and useful publication:
“The message the Report delivers is a clear evidence of the countries’ activities to comply the conditions of the Ottawa Convention and the Amended Protocol II to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW). The annual updating enables [word missing] to follow actions of different countries in the field of the world demining process. In Landmine Monitor Report 2000 the Polish activities concerning compliance of both conventions’ provisions were presented in a comprehensive and proper manner. However, we would be grateful to see more stress on the historical background (which is the example of long-term experience and involvement of our country in demining issues) in the next edition.”[19]
There is no national landmine campaign in Poland, though there are a number of NGOs working in, or related to, war-affected countries. On 26 January 2001, Gazeta Wyborcza, the largest daily newspaper in Poland, reported an event in Warsaw where artist Alma Suljevic from Bosnia and Herzegovina arranged a symbolic protest, selling plastic bags of soil from demined areas in Sarajevo, to protest that Poland has not yet ratified the Mine Ban Treaty.[20]
According to the Polish delegation’s statement to the First Meeting of States Parties in May 1999, Poland ceased production of antipersonnel mines in the mid-1980s.[21] The Ministry of Defense has declared that production of the PMD-6 ceased in 1957 and of the MON-100 in 1988.[22] In response to a US report[23] that Poland produced the PSM-1 antipersonnel mine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on 17 April 2001, “Poland has never produced PSM-1, however it does not mean that Poland has no such mines in its stockpiles.”[24]
The Ministry does not want to give further information about quantities or other types of antipersonnel mines, but stated, “At present Poland is not producing and is not planning to produce or import any antipersonnel landmines.” The Ministry also stated that the Military Institute of Technical Engineering has researched alternatives to landmines since 1999 and the Engineering Troops Command closely follows all developments in alternatives to antipersonnel mines.[25]
The export ban first enacted in 1995 has been extended indefinitely. The Polish penal code imposes imprisonment of one to ten years for violations of this regulation.[26]
The size of Poland’s antipersonnel mine stockpile remains uncertain. Asked about this, a military representative in September 2000 said the stockpile is “some one to two million.”[27] The Ministry of Defense declined to comment on this figure, but declared: “Transparency in armaments has an extremely important role in cooperation, security and confidence-building process and, moreover, in regional scale and between neighboring countries. Poland attaches great importance to exchange of information about conventional forces.... The process of opening access to the information...requires decisions on the level of the Ministry of Defense, Chief of General Staff and the Defense Affairs Committee of the Council of Ministers (KSORM). These issues will be on the agenda of the interagency task force group. It is not decided yet whether the exact amount of landmines will be or will not be revealed, taking into account proper mutuality of the neighboring countries. It is not possible now, but it could be possible in the future.”[28]
Authorities have confirmed that Poland possesses Claymore-type mines, but note that “this type of mine is meant exclusively for wire-controlled detonation, meaning that initiation of the explosion depends on the conscious decision of the soldier observing the battlefield. This excludes the possibility of accidental detonation.”[29] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asserted that there are no PFM (“Butterfly”) mines in the stockpiles of the Polish Armed Forces.[30]
In addition to antipersonnel mines, Human Rights Watch has identified several antivehicle mines produced and stockpiled by Poland that may have antipersonnel capabilities, and thus may be prohibited by the Mine Ban Treaty. These include the MN-111, MN-121, MN-123 and MPP-B varieties of antivehicle mines.[31]
Among the countries affected by World War II, Poland probably has the highest number of landmines and other unexploded ordnance (UXO) on its territory even decades afterwards, according to the Ministry of Defense. The area subject to mine clearance constituted 271,840 square kilometers, or eighty-seven percent of the landmass.[32] By 1985, Poland had disposed of over 88 million items of UXO, including 15 million mines.[33]
Following the withdrawal of Russian forces, Polish Engineering Troops started clearance of the former Soviet facilities on 23 September 1991. Between 1991 and 1993 the troops cleared 2,512 mines, 1,039 aviation bombs, 921 artillery and mortar shells, 65 grenades and 18,278 pieces of other ammunition. Currently, there are thirty-seven special units (each made up of six deminers) responsible for mine- and UXO-clearance, plus two troops specialized in the clearance of sea-mines. In 2000, 2,091 landmines were cleared, as well as 770 aviation bombs, 28,724 artillery and mortar shells, 5,892 grenades and 649,960 pieces of other ammunition. The average cost of all clearance operations within Poland in 2000 was 26.5 million Zloty (approximately US$6.4 million).[34]
The Military Institute of Technical Engineering conducts research and development on landmine detection and clearance technology, as well as on antipersonnel mine alternatives. This is supervised by the Armament Policy Department of the Ministry of National Defense, and has been limited by modest financial resources, which the authorities plan to increase. The research is focused on the following areas: equipment for rapid, effective and safe detection and neutralization of mines, and upgrading of remote mine-detection capacity (prioritizing detection of mines containing low or zero metal content).[35]
No new Polish funding of, or participation in, international mine action activities took place in 2000. The International Cooperation Section of the Land Forces Command stated that specialists are ready to participate in humanitarian demining if funding is available.[36] Poland has not contributed to the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Mine Action, and is not recorded in the UN Mine Action Investments Database.
Within Poland, 658 soldiers were killed and several thousand injured in clearance operations between 1944 and 1994. Between 1945 and 1973, mines and UXO killed 3,833 civilians (including 3,189 children) and injured 8,221 (including 6,656 children).[37] In 1999, during NATO peacekeeping operations in the Former Yugoslavia one Polish senior officer was killed in a mine-related accident.[38]
Victims of landmines and UXO are covered by the standard social healthcare system, which provides hospital care and some rehabilitative measures.[39]
| <Previous | Next> |
[1] See Landmine Monitor Report 1999, p. 753, and Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 778.
[2] Meeting with representatives from the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the Export Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Warsaw, 30 January 2001; meeting with Mariusz Handzlik, Director of the Export Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Warsaw, 23 February 2001.
[3] Letter from Mariusz Handzlik, Director of the Export Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Warsaw, 28 February 2001.
[4] Interview with Mariusz Handzlik, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Warsaw, 29 January 2001.
[5] Letter from Mariusz Handzlik, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 February 2001.
[6] Interview with Mariusz Handzlik, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 23 February 2001.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Letter from Mariusz Handzlik, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 February 2001.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Statement by Stefan Meller, Undersecretary of State for International Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the seminar “Understanding the Ottawa Convention”, Warsaw, 18-19 June 2001.
[11] Statement from the Chairs of the seminar “Understanding the Ottawa Convention”, Warsaw, 18-19 June 2001.
[12] Information from Ministry of Defense, contained in letter from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 February 2001.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Letter from Mariusz Handzlik, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 February 2001.
[15] Report of the Permanent Mission of Poland to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, 14 December 1999.
[16] Letter from Mariusz Handzlik, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 February 2001.
[17] Ibid; it is not known if the decision has been taken to replace stocks or modernize in compliance with CCW Amended Protocol II.
[18] Letter from Mariusz Handzlik, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 February 2001.
[19] Ibid.
[20] “Co kryje ziemia?” [“What is hiding under the ground?”], Gazeta Wyborcza, 26 January 2001.
[21] Statement by Zbigniew Szymanski, Director of UN Political Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, First Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, Maputo, Mozambique, May 1999.
[22] Information from Ministry of Defense, contained in letter from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 February 2001.
[23] United States Department of Defense, ”Mine Facts,” CD-Rom, Washington DC.
[24] Fax from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 17 April 2001.
[25] Information from Ministry of Defense, contained in letter from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 February 2001.
[26] Dz.U.98.52.321, Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland, No. 52, Warsaw, 27 April 1998, on a ban on transfer of antipersonnel landmines from Polish customs area.
[27] Discussion with Lt. Col. Adam Wilczynski, Senior Military Advisor, Polish Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva, Second Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 15 September 2000.
[28] Information from Ministry of Defense, contained in letter from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 February 2001.
[29] Ibid.
[30] Irena Juszcyk, Export Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Warsaw, 23 February 2001.
[31] Mark Hiznay and Stephen Goose, “Antivehicle Mines with Antihandling Devices,” Fact Sheet prepared for SC meeting, Human Rights Watch, 2000.
[32] Information from Ministry of Defense, contained in letter from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 February 2001.
[33] Arthur H. Westing, “Explosive Remnants of War: an Overview,” in Arthur H. Westing (ed.), Explosive Remnants of War: Mitigating the Environmental Effects (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and UN Environment Program, 1985), p. 6.
[34] Information from Ministry of Defense, contained in letter from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 February 2001.
[35] Ibid.
[36] Ibid.
[37] Letter from Mariusz Handzlik, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 February 2001.
[38] Ibid.
[39] Ibid.
