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Key developments since May 2000: Switzerland hosted the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in September 2000. In 2000, Switzerland provided US$8.5 million for mine action programs, a significant increase from the previous year.
Switzerland signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, ratified it on 24 March 1998 and became a State Party on 1 March 1999. For national implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty as required by Article 9, Switzerland relied on prior, more general legislation on war materiel, which entered into force on 1 April 1998. One of the sections specific to antipersonnel mines imposes penal sanctions[1] and includes a ban on devices adapted to function as antipersonnel mines. The legislation reflects the Mine Ban Treaty’s definition of an antipersonnel mine but authorizes exceptions “as a protection or in order to fight their effects.”[2] An official Swiss report in November 2000 stated that when the Mine Ban Treaty entered into force the Swiss law was modified.[3]
However, the Swiss Campaign suggests that significant differences remain between the national law and the Mine Ban Treaty, notably whereby “[m]ines that are equipped with anti-handling devices, are not considered anti-personnel mines.”[4] According to Article 8 of the new Federal Law, mines designed to detonate upon the presence, proximity or contact of a vehicle as opposed to a person and that are equipped with antihandling devices are not considered to constitute antipersonnel mines by reason of the presence of such a device.[5] The Swiss Campaign to Ban Landmines (Swiss CBL) considers that the national law should be amended on this point to accord fully with the Mine Ban Treaty, under which antivehicle mines with antihandling devices that can explode from the unintentional act of person are prohibited. On 4 December 2000–the third anniversary of the treaty–the Swiss CBL tabled a proposal to this effect before the Swiss parliament, which was championed by a Deputy. The parliamentary process is still ongoing, however the Parliamentary Commission considering the proposal has voted in its favor; the draft will be submitted to the parliament during autumn 2001.
At the Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the Convention in May 2001, Switzerland thanked the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for its initiative on antivehicle mines with sensitive fuzes or sensitive antihandling devices, but remarked that it is “aware that new ways of interpretation are dangerous for universalization.”[6]
Switzerland in September 2000 hosted the Second Meeting of States Parties (SMSP) to the Mine Ban Treaty. The Swiss CBL suggested the conference theme, “Every minute counts,” in order to highlight the urgency of achieving universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty, of demining affected areas and of helping victims. Switzerland’s delegation to the SMSP included high-level diplomats from both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense. Ambassador Kunz of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke of the success of the Mine Ban Treaty, which “could never have been achieved without the co-operation of civil actors and of States... Nevertheless, there is still much to be done. Major States have not signed.... We must keep up the political pressure by combining forces.” Commenting on implementation, Ambassador Kunz noted that the “problem of mines has already diminished visibly as a result of the Treaty.... Significantly fewer mines have been laid, produced or traded, and the number of casualties has fallen. Millions of square meters of mined land were cleared last year alone. And the available resources for mine-clearing actions have increased correspondingly. But the problem of mines is still far from eliminated.... Some States Parties have reneged on their commitment. Non-signatory States still reserve the right to the use of mines in their defense strategies.”[7]
The Swiss delegation spoke of its special commitment to victim assistance, and the need to develop “an integrated, non-discriminatory approach to victim assistance, which will allow us to treat all victims of violence and trauma equally both in the health-care and social-reintegration processes.... [This] should be integrated into the wider context of post-conflict reconstruction and into strategies of long-term development co-operation.” Also, in the area of mine clearing, Switzerland has adopted an approach that “gives clear priority to socio-economic factors and can therefore be easily reintegrated into the reconstruction, development and peace maintenance programs of the war-affected country concerned.” Switzerland provides UN Mine Action Centers with resources, supports the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), and is about to establish a pool of 40 mine experts for international operations. Switzerland has also supported activities involving non-state actors (NSAs) in order to gain their observance of the mine ban.[8]
Before the Second Meeting of States Parties, Switzerland co-chaired the intersessional Standing Committee on Victim Assistance, and has continued to participate in the Standing Committee meetings, including in December 2000 and May 2001.
Switzerland has submitted three transparency reports to the United Nations as required under Mine Ban Treaty Article 7—on 4 August 1999, 11 April 2000 and 28 March 2001.[9] The reports are brief, since the country is not mine-affected, has destroyed its mine stockpiles, and has retained no mines for training purposes.
Switzerland is a State Party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II. It attended the Second Annual Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II in December 2000, where it described Protocol II as indispensable and complementary to the Mine Ban Treaty, and an intermediate stage towards the mine ban. The Swiss delegation, led by Swiss representative to the Conference on Disarmament, Ambassador Christian Faessler, also announced that it was prepared to discuss a new protocol on cluster bombs with other interested States, and to deal with the issue of other unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the context of the Second CCW Review Conference in December 2001. Swiss proposals were also put forward to regulate small caliber munitions.[10]
The Swiss report in accordance with Article 13 of CCW Amended Protocol II was submitted on 15 November 2000. This includes details of the national legal position, the GICHD and Swiss mine action assistance.[11]
Switzerland is not a member of the UN and therefore does not vote on UN resolutions. Regarding the Conference on Disarmament, Switzerland has repeated for several years that it is ready to discuss ways toward solving the problems caused by antipersonnel mines in any appropriate forum, but “would oppose the creation of new international norms short of or contradicting the prohibitions and obligations imposed by the [Mine Ban Treaty].”[12]
The Swiss CBL initiative to involve non-state actors (NSA) in the mine ban has progressed since a first conference held in March 2000. In May 2000, a meeting on human security organized by the Swiss government in Lucerne and attended by various governments, included the question of NSAs and how to include them in international humanitarian treaties. At the SMSP in September 2000 the Swiss government expressed for perhaps the first time in an intergovernmental conference the necessity of finding solutions with regard to NSAs:
A major objective of Switzerland is to engage NSAs, in particular rebel groups, to respect humanitarian norms. This implies as well that armed groups are willing to renounce the use of anti-personnel mines.... We must devote ourselves to extend to non-state armed actors the field of application of the norm of a total ban on landmines, in order to give substance to the idea which is the root of the Convention.... In this field, like in others, there are no ready-made solutions. This is why we invite the States interested and NGOs to look with us into this issue.[14]
The Swiss CBL and other campaigns intend to build on these developments and take further steps to engage NSAs in the mine ban process, in partnership with Geneva Call, which is now very active in this field.[15]
In 2000, Swiss CBL also devoted considerable efforts towards globalizing the Mine Ban Treaty. It supported the Nepalese Campaign, to enable it to hold many events and seminars, with financial support thanks to the Swiss Confederation, and supported the launch of the campaign “For a Turkey without mines.” Given the difficulty of launching the campaign directly inside Turkey, the first stage–launch, fundraising, preparation of material and data gathering–was organized from Geneva with the financial and logistic support of the Swiss Campaign. In a second phase, the work was picked up within Turkey by a coalition of associations led by the Turkish Human Rights Defense Organization. The Swiss CBL will continue to support this new campaign.
On 1 March 2001, the anniversary of the Mine Ban Treaty’s entry into force, the Swiss CBL undertook a week of public awareness-raising, under the slogan “Lutte contre les mines: mars et ça repart.”[16] Events included an exhibition, mine clearance demonstration, conferences, a question-and-answer evening, a musical evening, and a play held at the University of Geneva.
Swiss companies produced bounding mines from 1967 to 1969, and components for antipersonnel mines more recently.[17] The export of antipersonnel mines and components was banned completely in December 1996. However, the export of explosives does not require authorization and does not appear to be affected by the Mine Ban Treaty as implemented in Switzerland by the 1996 law. Imports of various antipersonnel mines were recorded up to 1965. Transit of antipersonnel mines through Switzerland is forbidden for any purpose, including by any peacekeeping forces and the UN.
Destruction of stockpiled antipersonnel mines was completed by 15 March 1999, with none retained for permitted training and development purposes.[18] The total stockpile was said to be 3.85 million mines.[19] In its Article 7 reporting, Switzerland did not include Claymore-type mines, which have been altered to prevent activation by tripwire.[20] The Swiss CBL provided the government with two legal opinions on the legality of Claymore mines, which concluded that Claymore-type mines should be banned under Swiss law. The Ministry of Defense responded on 7 March 2001, disagreeing with the legal opinions and stating that “since the element of indiscriminate effect has been eliminated, the conditions qualifying them as antipersonnel mines (APMs) are not fulfilled.”[21]
The Swiss government has acknowledged owning antivehicle mines fitted with antihandling devices,[22] and attended the International Committee of the Red Cross consultation on this subject in March 2001.
The Swiss Department of Defense has proposed an international regulation of cluster munitions with the aim of ensuring that at least 98% of the non-exploded cluster munitions self-destruct or deactivate, but does not support a general ban because of their importance in modern antitank strategies. The Department of Defense argued that post-conflict impact can be reduced by using submunitions equipped with modern self-deactivating or self-destruction mechanisms. The Swiss CBL called for an international moratorium on the use of cluster munitions, and urged Switzerland to be the first nation to sign the moratorium in view of its humanitarian tradition.
At the beginning of February 2001, Switzerland sent representatives to a technical seminar in Budapest on destruction methodologies for the PFM-1 “Butterfly” mine. These mines have not been part of Swiss antipersonnel mine stockpiles.
Switzerland provided approximately US$8.5 million for mine action and related activities in 2000. This included US$4,134,000 for mine action programs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chad, Mozambique, Sudan, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Kosovo); US$799,000 for a variety of advocacy and outreach projects; about US$2.3 million for the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining; and about US$1.3 million for the provision of Swiss experts and material. This is a substantial increase from mine action funding of US$5.8 million in 1999.[23]
|
Program Expenditure (US$)
|
Activity Type
|
Program Description |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Bosnia and Herzegovina
|
333,000
|
Integrated Mine Action
|
Support of local NGO Akcija Protiv Mina (APM) (Action Against Mines)
|
Handicap International (HI)
|
|
|
Chad
|
140,000
|
Coordination:
General / Unspecified |
Technical Advisor to the National Demining Program
|
UNDP
|
|
|
Mozambique
|
411,000
|
Mine Clearance:
General / Unspecified |
Demining in Cabo Delgado
|
HALO Trust
|
|
|
Mozambique
|
167,000
|
Coordination: Mine Action Centre Core Support
|
IND branch in the North, Material and Training
|
National Demining Institut (IND)
|
|
|
Mozambique
|
133,000
|
Integrated Mine Action
|
Demining in the center of the Country
|
Accelerated Demining Programme
|
|
|
Mozambique
|
413,000
|
Mine Clearance:
General / Unspecified |
Demining of Police School through local NGO Afrovita
|
IND
|
|
|
Mozambique Total
|
1,124,000
|
||||
|
Sudan
|
267,000
|
Integrated Mine Action
|
Demining of Southern Sudan by (OSIL)
|
Basler Mission
|
|
|
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY)
|
670,000
|
Coordination: Mine Action Center Core Support
|
Mine action coordination in Kosovo
|
MACC
|
|
|
FRY
|
280,000
|
Integrated Mine Action
|
Demining Djakova District
|
HALO Trust
|
|
|
FRY
|
333,000
|
Integrated Mine Action
|
Demining in southern Kosovo
|
HI
|
|
|
FRY
|
387,000
|
Integrated Mine Action
|
Explosive ordnance disposal in support to ICRC
|
Swiss Federation for Mine Clearance
|
|
|
FRY
|
600,000
|
Mine Clearance:
General / Unspecified |
Demining in eastern Kosovo
|
Emercom
|
|
|
FRY Total
|
2,270,000
|
||||
|
Country/Area Total
|
US$4,134,000
|
||||
|
Program Expenditure (US$)
|
Activity Type
|
Program Description
|
Funding Channel/
Implementing Agency |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Asia/Pacific
(not country specific) |
34,000
|
Advocacy & Prevention: Campaign Support
|
Promotion of the Nepalese Campaign to Ban Landmines
|
Swiss CBL
|
|
Coordination (Not Country or Region Specific)
|
300,000
(in-kind) |
Coordination: Mine Action Center Core Support
|
Personal and Material Support for UN Mine Action Centers
|
Mostly UN
|
|
International Advocacy and Outreach (Not Country or Region Specific)
|
217,000
|
Advocacy & Prevention: Conference Support
|
Side Events of the Second Meeting of State Parties (SMSP) in Geneva
|
Swiss Mission in Geneva and NGOs
|
|
International Advocacy and Outreach (Not Country or Region Specific)
|
67,000
|
Advocacy & Prevention: General/ Unspecified
|
Trips and per diem of Southern Delegates to the SMSP and the Expert
meetings
|
GICHD
|
|
International Advocacy and Outreach (Not Country or Region Specific)
|
34,000
|
Advocacy & Prevention: Campaign Support
|
Conference on how to engage with armed non-state actors for a worldwide ban
of landmines
|
Swiss CBL
|
|
Mine Action Information (Not Country or Region Specific)
|
50,000
|
Information: Assessments
|
Sponsoring of Landmine Monitor
|
ICBL
|
|
Mine Action Information (Not Country or Region Specific)
|
63,000
|
Information: General/ Unspecified
|
Film on Swiss activities in mine action
|
Dipro AG
|
|
Mine Action Information (Not Country or Region Specific)
|
34,000
|
Information: General/ Unspecified
|
Film on Swiss activities in mine action
|
Dipro AG
|
|
Regional/Thematic Total
|
799,000
|
|||
Total: US$4,933,000
In 2000, Switzerland also contributed SF4 million (approximately US$2.3 million) to the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining, an independent foundation supported by 18 governments, which aims to promote cooperation in the field of mine action, by studying the actual problems in the field as identified by practitioners and donors, providing specific operational support (for example the IMSMA[25] database system), and by supporting implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty.[26]
In addition to financial assistance, Switzerland provides in-kind support. There are Swiss experts, both military and civilian, working within the UN mine action structure in Kosovo, Yemen, Somaliland, Chad and Azerbaijan,[27] and in Bosnia-Herzegovina.[28] Training courses in stockpile destruction have been offered, including one in Thun near the Swiss capital, Bern, in June 2001.[29] By the end of 2002, Switzerland will have established a pool of 40 trained specialists who can be deployed internationally to mine action programs.[30]
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has selection criteria for assistance to demining projects, which include proven need, the political situation in recipient and donor state, the structural basis in the field, and implementing partners. These criteria have been detailed as follows:[31]
Proven need: high concentration of mines; socio-economic importance of mined area; number of (civilian) victims; limited resources for mine clearance.
Political environment in recipient and donor state: will of the state concerned to clear mines; State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty; political situation in the country concerned (security, good prospects for lasting effect, human rights situation); focal country for Swiss development policy/reconstruction; focal country for Swiss peace promotion; partner in Swiss bilateral and/or multilateral cooperation; attitude of other donor states.
Structural basis in the field: mine action policy, planning (including priority setting) and coordination by national or international institutions, oriented to local needs; potential for capacity-building; reliability of the national and international partners.
Implementing partners: experience (the experience of the partner and our experience with the partner); high proportion of local capacities; price, quality; transparency and quality management: project applications, reporting and self-evaluation; sustainability, exit strategy; critical mass, low overheads.
Switzerland is on the Support Committee of the Regional Workshop on Victim Assistance in Southeast Asia, due to take place from 6-8 November 2001 in Thailand.
Various Swiss-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are also engaged in mine action. Co-Operaid, Entraide Protestante (Cambodge) and Pro-Victimis have donated US$40,100 for a demining project run by Halo Trust in Abkhazia. The Swiss Foundation for Aid to the Victims of Landmines has donated around US$100,000 for Pakistan in the Fata region. Handicap International Switzerland supported various mine action programs in 2000: mine clearance in Bosnia and Herzegovina (US$333,043) and Kosovo (US$559,835), mine awareness in Angola (US$47,468) and Ethiopia (US$17,397), and victim assistance programs in Algeria (US$43,233), Albania (US$89,002), Cambodia (US$181,254), Mozambique (US$206,075), Nicaragua (US$53,401), Rwanda (US$70,916), Senegal (US$77,135) and Somaliland (US$93,506).[32]
The Swiss Demining Federation (FSD) was involved in several mine action projects in 2000. In Kosovo, the FSD made three rapid response teams available to address the urgent needs identified by the ICRC mine awareness teams, at a cost of US$28,000. In March 2001, the decision to entirely recast the project was taken jointly by the Mine Action Coordination Center, ICRC and the FSD, in view of the progress made. In Pakistan, the FSD and the Swiss Foundation for Aid to the Victims of Landmines carried out an evaluation of the threat of mines and UXO to the civilian population in the Fata border zone with Afghanistan. In northern Albania, the ICRC funded (at US$37,500) the FSD to evaluate the situation following the Kosovo conflict. This resulted in an intervention financed (at US$1,250,000) by the Swiss Disaster Relief Corps and the International Trust Fund (ITF) which started early in 2001. The study has been completed and the demining program has been initiated. The World Food Program (WFP) requested the FSD to set up a rapid response capacity in cases where WFP operations confront mine-related problems.[33]
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[1] La Loi Fédérale sur le Matériel de Guerre, 13 December 1996, Article 35. Article 8 is specific to antipersonnel mines. See also Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp. 734-735.
[2] La Loi Fédérale sur le Matériel de Guerre, Article 8.2b. In May 2000 the Department for Defense gave, as an example of what this is intended to permit, the need to use mines for training dogs in mine detection.
[3] Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), Amended Protocol II, Article 13 report, Form D, 15 November 2000, and Report of the Swiss Delegation to the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe (OSCE), 15 December 2000, pp. 1-2. This modification of the Swiss law involved removing the word “primarily” from the definition of an antipersonnel mine.
[4] CCW Amended Protocol II Article 13 report, Form D, 15 November 2000. See discussion on this issue in Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 737.
[5] La Loi Fédérale sur le Matériel de Guerre, 13 December 1996.
[6] Statement of the Delegation of Switzerland, Standing Committee on General Status and Operation of the Convention, Geneva, 11 May 2001.
[7] Ambassador Raimund Kunz, Declaration by Switzerland, Second Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 12 September 2000.
[8] Declaration by Switzerland, Second Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 12 September 2000, and Landmine Monitor notes of interventions.
[9] Article 7 reports, submitted 4 August 1999 covering the period 1 March-20 August 1999; 11 April 2000 for the calendar year 1999; and 28 March 2001 for calendar year 2000.
[10] Statement of Ambassador Christian Faessler, Second Annual Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II to the CCW, Geneva, 14 December 2000, and Landmine Monitor notes of plenary interventions, 12 December 2000.
[11] Article 13 report, 15 November 2000.
[12] Report to the OSCE, 15 December 2000, p. 1.
[13] See also Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp. 736-737.
[14] Declaration by Switzerland, Second Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 12 September 2000.
[15] Geneva.Call@worldcom.ch.
[16] Roughly translated as “March comes and the struggle against landmines continues!”
[17] Landmine Monitor Report 1999, pp. 668-669.
[18] Article 7 report, 4 August 1999; see also Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp. 738-739. However, an earlier incorrect statement that stockpile destruction was completed by the end of 1997 is repeated in the most recent Swiss Report to the OSCE, 15 December 2000, p. 2.
[19] Oral statement to Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Geneva, 9 December 1999.
[20] Interview with the Department for Defense, 5 May 2000.
[21] Letter from the Department for Defense, 7 March 2001.
[22] Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp. 738-739.
[23] The $5.8 million total for 1999 apparently did not include a sum for the provision of Swiss experts and material.
[24] Annual Donor Report 2000, Switzerland, Mine Action Investments Database; available at:
<webapps.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/mai/Main.aspun.org/mineaction>.
[25] Information Management System for Mine Action.
[26] Article 13 report, 15 November 2000, Form F.
[27] Report to the OSCE, 15 December 2000, p. 2.
[28] Article 13 report, 15 November 2000, Form E.
[29] Report to the OSCE, 15 December 2000, p. 2.
[30] Ambassador Raimund Kunz, Declaration by Switzerland, Second Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 12 September 2000.
[31] Selection Criteria for Demining Projects, Political Directorate, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, November 2000.
[32] Email from Paul Vermuelen, Handicap International – Switzerland, 6 April 2001.
[33] Information provided by the Swiss Demining Federation.
