| <Previous | Next> |
| <Previous | Next> |
Key developments since May 2000: The Slovak Republic has reported the complete destruction of its stockpile of 180,000 antipersonnel mines, with only 1,500 retained for permitted training and development purposes. Since the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in September 2000, Slovakia has acted as co-chair of the intersessional Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction. The Slovak Ambassador to the United Nations chaired the Second Annual Conference of States Parties of Amended Protocol II to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
The Slovak Republic (Slovakia) signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, ratified it on 25 February 1999 and became a State Party on 1 August 1999.
Slovakia participated in the Second Meeting of State Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in September 2000, with a delegation headed by Minister for Foreign Affairs Jan Figel. He announced that destruction of Slovak antipersonnel mine stockpiles had been completed two weeks previously, with only 1,500 retained for permitted training and development purposes. The Slovak Foreign Minister encouraged other countries “to follow this example and join the exclusive, although small, ‘club’ of countries that have already destroyed their stockpiled antipersonnel mines. In Slovakia the destruction of more than 180,000 mines, originally planned for two years, was completed within one year.”[1]
After the First Meeting of States Parties in May 1999, Slovakia served as co-rapporteur of the Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction. At the Second Meeting of States Parties Slovakia then became co-chair of this Standing Committee. Slovakia participated in the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional Standing Committee meetings in December 2000 and May 2001. At the UN General Assembly in November 2000 Slovakia voted in favor of Resolution 55/33V, which calls for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty.
Slovakia’s initial transparency report required by Article 7 of the Mine Ban Treaty was submitted to the UN on 9 December 1999 and the second report on 12 June 2000, covering the period 1 December 1999-30 April 2000. Its third Article 7 report was submitted on 25 July 2001.
Slovakia is a State Party to Amended Protocol II of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), and attended the Second Annual Conferences of States Parties to Amended Protocol II in December 2000. The Slovakian Ambassador to the UN Kálmán Petöcz served as President-elect of that conference. He recommended that the reporting requirements and other work of the CCW on antipersonnel mines should be closely coordinated with the intersessional activities of the Mine Ban Treaty. Ambassador Petöcz added that States Parties that had not provided the annual report under Article 13 of the CCW should do so as soon as possible.[2] Slovakia’s own annual CCW Article 13 report was submitted on 18 October 2000, and gave details of the completion of its stockpile destruction program.
During the Second Annual Conference Slovakia aligned itself with proposals to engage in structured discussion of the issue of explosive remnants of a war, in preparation for consideration of the issue at the Second CCW Review Conference in December 2001. These proposals were contained in a “non-paper” presented by the Netherlands and co-sponsored by a large group of countries.
Slovakia supports attempts to negotiate a ban on transfers of antipersonnel mines within the Conference on Disarmament, which “would be a precious contribution to our final goal – the universality of all bans incorporated in the Ottawa Convention.”[3]
Slovakia did not inherit any of former Czechoslovakia’s mine production facilities when the country divided into two. An export moratorium on antipersonnel mines was enforced in 1994.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that Slovakia regards its obligations to international treaties as superior to any other (e.g. bilateral) agreement, and therefore Slovakia would not agree to transfers of antipersonnel mines through its territory by a non-state party to the Mine Ban Treaty as in, for example, the case of a joint military operation.[4]
Slovakia had a total of 187,060 antipersonnel mines when it began destroying them in August 1999.[5] None of the stockpiled antipersonnel mines were of the Claymore directional fragmentation type.[6] In its Amended Protocol II Article 13 report of 18 October 2000 Slovakia reported that it had completed destruction of 185,560 antipersonnel mines (163,501 type PP-Mi-Sr and 22,059 type PP-Mi-Na1. The balance of 1,500 mines (1,000 PP-Mi-Sr and 500 PP-Mi-Na1) will be retained for the development of demining technology, as permitted by the Mine Ban Treaty.[7]
At the meeting of the Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction in December 2000, Lt.-Col. Frantisek Zak of the Verification Center of the Ministry of Defense presented further details: the PP-Mi-Sr were fifty years old and the PP-Mi-Na1 mines were ten years old, but in “acceptable conditions” for handling. Transportation to the destruction site at the Military Repair Enterprise in Nováky cost approximately US$2,000 and the destruction itself cost Sk35,000,000 (US$700,000). By this accelerated effort Lieutenant-Colonel Zak said that Slovakia has “fulfilled one of the most significant obligations of the Ottawa Convention and became the 23rd State Party that completed the destruction of their own antipersonnel mines stockpile.”[8] The Foreign Ministry had stated previously that the Slovak Army has not replaced its antipersonnel mines with other alternatives.[9]
Regarding mines retained for permitted purposes, the original intention was to retain 7,000 antipersonnel mines.[10] In December 2000, a member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the subsequent reduction to 1,500 mines as evidence of Slovakia’s commitment to eradicate antipersonnel mines and their attendant problems.[11]
It was reported in Landmine Monitor Report 2000 that stocks of the PT-Mi-K antivehicle mine with antilift firing mechanisms were destroyed,[12] and that other antivehicle mines that may function as antipersonnel mines would be considered after completing destruction of antipersonnel mine stockpiles.[13] In January 2001, an official at the Ministry of Defense stated, “Slovakia is not obliged to provide information on antivehicle landmines and antihandling devices, since no nation has done so, moreover there is no obligation emanating from the Ottawa Treaty that requires it or any other State to do so. However, Slovakia has interest and unreservedly supports the destruction of antivehicle landmines and antihandling devices on a world-wide basis.”[14] Slovakia did not attend the special consultation on antivehicle mines with sensitive fuzes or antihandling devices convened by the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva in March 2001.
Slovakia has been active in urging other States Parties to complete their antipersonnel landmine destruction programs, encouraging cooperation between countries and offering the use of its own “environment-friendly technology for destruction of stockpiled mines.... These capacities are fully available and can be used...[to] help some countries with huge stockpiles to expedite their own plans in fulfilling their obligations.”[15] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed in January 2001 that this willingness to provide assistance has taken the form of consultation between Slovakia and Peru on technical assistance for the destruction of Peru’s stockpiles of landmines.[16] Slovakia and Canada have signed an agreement to jointly provide technical assistance to Ukraine for its stockpile destruction.[17] Slovakia attended a technical seminar of the destruction of the PFM-1 “Butterfly” mines in Budapest on 1-2 February 2001. Slovakia also intends to participate in the EU research program to assist mine-affected countries in destroying their mine stockpiles.[18]
In 2000-2001 no financial assistance to mine-affected countries has been reported, and victim assistance is not reported separately from other mine action funding.[19] However, Slovakia has expressed a readiness to provide assistance in mine clearance, training, and stockpile destruction, and has been active in developing new mine clearance technology.[20] Since 1999, Slovakia has contributed an engineering platoon to demining operations in Kosovo.[21] On 5 January 2001, Slovakia dispatched a contingent of 157 men to join the UN Mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia to assist in a joint demining operation with Canada, the Netherlands, Jordan, and Kenya.[22]
Private enterprises in Slovakia have carried out research aimed at improving the efficiency of the mine clearing machines “Bozena” and “Belarty,” resulting in improvements in their technological capacity.[23]
| <Previous | Next> |
[1] Statement of Jan Figel, Second Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 11-15 September 2000.
[2] Statement of Kálmán Petöcz, Second Annual Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II to the CCW, Geneva, 11 December 2000.
[3] Statement of Jan Figel, Second Meeting of States Parties, 11-15 September 2000.
[4] Letter from Ambassador Maria Krasnohorská, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 16 March 2000; interview with Maria Krasnohorská and Marcel Jesenský, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bratislava, 27 April 2000.
[5] Article 7 report, 9 December 1999, for the period 3 December 1997-30 November 1999.
[6] Letter from Ambassador Krasnohorská, 16 March 2000.
[7] CCW Amended Protocol II, Article 13 report, 18 October 2000, Form C.
[8] “Destruction of Slovak Antipersonnel Mines in Stockpiles,” Presentation by Lt.-Col. Frantisek Zak, Verification Center, Ministry of Defense, at the Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Geneva, 8 December 2000.
[9] Letter from Ambassador Krasnohorská, 16 March 2000.
[10] Article 7 report, submitted 9 December 1999, Form D.
[11] Interview with Milos Koterec, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Geneva, 8 December 2000.
[12] Letter from Ambassador Krasnohorská, 19 May 2000.
[13] Interview with Ambassador Krasnohorská and Marcel Jesenský, Bratislava, 27 April 2000.
[14] Interview with Lt. Martin Sabo, Senior Leading Officer, Verification Center, Ministry of Defense, Bratislava, 29 January 2001.
[15] Statement of Jan Figel, Second Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 11-15 September 2000.
[16] Email from Peter Kormuth, Desk Officer, Arms Control and Disarmament, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bratislava, 6 April 2001.
[17] Interview with Milos Koterec, Director, Disarmament Division, Milan Ciganik, Head of Department, Section of Disarmament and Arms Control, and Marcel Jesensky, Desk Officer, Arms Control and Disarmament, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bratislava, 11 January 2001.
[18] Interview with Milos Koterec, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bratislava, 11 January 2001.
[19] Interview with Milos Koterec, Milan Ciganik and Marcel Jesensky, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bratislava, 11 January 2001.
[20] Interview with Milos Koterec, Milan Ciganik and Marcel Jesensky, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bratislava, 11 January 2001; Statement of Jan Figel, Second Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 11-15 September 2000; see also Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 714.
[21] CCW Amended Protocol II, Article 13 report, 18 October 2000, Form E.
[22] Interview with Col. Jaroslav Tomas, Director, Verification Center, Col. Ing. Vladimir Valusek, Deputy Director, Verification Center and Head of International Analysis Section, and Lt. Sabo, Senior Leading Officer, Section of Unconventional Weapons Treaties, Verification Center, Ministry of Defense, Bratislava, 29 January 2001.
[23] Interview with Milos Koterec, Milan Ciganik and Marcel Jesensky, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bratislava, 11 January 2001.
