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Key developments since May 2001: Since September 2001, Australia has co-chaired the Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction. It has helped other States Parties destroy stockpiled antipersonnel mines. The Australian government and the Australian Network of the ICBL continued to work collaboratively to promote universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty, particularly in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Australia provided A$12 million (US$6.4 million) in mine action funding for financial year 2001-2002.
Australia signed the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified on 14 January 1999. The treaty entered into force for Australia on 1 July 1999. National implementation legislation, the Anti-personnel Mines Convention Act 1998, was enacted on 10 December 1998.
Australia participated in the Third Meeting of States Parties in September 2001.[1] In its statement to the plenary, Australia encouraged countries identified by Landmine Monitor Report 2001 with respect to allegations of mine use to “clarify their government’s position in relation to the concerns which have been raised, in keeping with the letter and spirit of Article 8.”[2] Australia also contributed A$75,000 (US$39,750) to the Managua Challenge Fund.[3]
Australia continued to take a leading role at the intersessional Standing Committee meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty. Following the Third Meeting of States Parties, Australia became co-chair, together with Croatia, of the Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction.[4] The ICBL and other States Parties have praised the co-chairs for their very pro-active approach in identifying potential problems and solutions regarding stockpile destruction, with a focus on the looming four-year deadlines for many countries. Australia is also an active member of the informal “Universalization Contact Group.”
Australia cosponsored and voted in favor of pro-ban UN General Assembly Resolution 56/24M in November 2001. During the First Committee debate on the resolution, Australia again reiterated its support for efforts to universalize the Mine Ban Treaty.[5] To this aim, Australia funded and participated in a regional governmental seminar on landmines held in Bangkok from 13-15 May 2002. It also made a series of demarches jointly with Japan and countries of the Asia-Pacific region urging holdout states in the region to join the treaty without delay.[6] Australia also participated in the regional seminar on stockpile destruction held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in August 2001.
Australia submitted its fourth Article 7 transparency report covering the calendar year 2001 on 30 April 2002. The report includes information on mines retained for training and utilizes “Form J” for the second time, to report on contributions to mine action.
The Australian government supported the ICBL’s Landmine Monitor initiative for the third year in a row, with a contribution of A$210,000 for Landmine Monitor Report 2002.
In January 2002, the Hon. Christine Gallus MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, replaced Senator Kay Patterson as Australia’s Special Representative on Mine Action.
Australia's Ambassador for Disarmament, Les Luck, was elected President of the Second Review Conference of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), held in Geneva from 11-21 December 2001. In its address to the plenary, Australia supported measures to amend the scope of the Convention to allow all protocols to apply to internal conflicts, to strengthen provisions on antivehicle mines, and to strengthen compliance provisions. Australia also called on states that have not yet acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty, to do so.[7]
After the Review Conference, Alexander Downer, Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs said Australia strongly supported the establishment of a group of governmental experts to examine humanitarian problems caused by explosive remnants of war (ERW), as well as antivehicle mines.[8] Prior to the meeting, Downer wrote to 104 Foreign Ministers of non-CCW States Parties urging them to join the CCW.[9]
During the first 2002 session of the Conference on Disarmament (CD), Australia expressed its disappointment that participating countries had been unable to agree on a program of work for several years and urged all countries that had not yet done so to accede to the Mine Ban Treaty as soon as possible and “in the interim to refrain from the laying of anti-personnel landmines, given the risks to civilian populations.”[10]
In October 2001, the Australian Network of the ICBL made a display on landmines for the Commonwealth People’s Festival in Brisbane, which was held despite postponement of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) due to security concerns. In February 2002, prior to the CHOGM held in Coolum, the Australian Network sent a “Report Card” to governments, outlining the position of Commonwealth members with respect to the Mine Ban Treaty. The Australian Network has been particularly active in promoting awareness of the landmine situation in Sri Lanka and the need for a landmine ban there.[11]
World Vision Australia continues to manage the government-NGO initiative, “Destroy-a-Minefield - Rebuild Lives,” in which the government provides one dollar for every two dollars raised by the public. The program will continue under World Vision management until December 2002. World Vision educated young Australians on landmines during its major annual fundraising initiative, the 40 Hour Famine.
Three Vietnam veterans who cleared landmines during that conflict established the MIVAC Trust (Mines, Victims, and Clearance) Veterans and Services Humanitarian Aid Foundation. The organization aims to provide funding for mine action projects.[12]
The Department of Defence clarified to Landmine Monitor that live and practice antipersonnel landmines previously reported as “manufactured” at St. Mary's Ammunition factory were not manufactured, but assembled at the factory.[13] Information is still pending as to whether the components for these mines were manufactured in Australia or imported from overseas. According to Australia’s Department of Defence, the antipersonnel mines assembled were M-14s, a US mine.[14] This assembling at St. Mary's ceased in the early 1980s.[15]
Australia destroyed its entire known stockpile of 128,161 antipersonnel mines in five days in September and October 1999.[16] Australia’s May 2001 Article 7 Report revealed that 6,460 mines were inadvertently omitted from the initial transparency report and subsequently destroyed in October and November 2000.[17] Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel have shared their destruction technology with other countries and have trained stockpile destruction Project Managers in Peru in 2000 and Switzerland and Malaysia in 2001.[18]
In its Article 7 Report submitted in May 2001, Australia reported a reduction in the number of antipersonnel mines retained for training purposes as permitted under Article 3 of the treaty, from a total of 10,000 to 7,845.[19] In the subsequent May 2002 Article 7 Report, Australia reported retaining 7,726 antipersonnel mines for training (3,952 M14 and 3,774 M16), a depletion of 119 mines since the previous Article 7 Report.[20] According to the 2002 report, the training stockpile is centralized, but small numbers of mines are located in ammunition depots throughout the country for regional training. The School of Military Engineering in Sydney conducts training using these live mines. Stockpile levels will be regularly reviewed and assessed with a “realistic” training quantity held which will be depleted over time.[21]
As noted above, in September 2001 Australia became co-chair of the Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, which met twice in 2002; on 31 January and 30 May. Its term will end at the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in September 2002.
Australia retains a stockpile of command-detonated Claymore mines for operational use. ADF indicated to Landmine Monitor that it views Claymore mines in tripwire mode as prohibited by the Mine Ban Treaty so it has “no equipment or training to operate these devices in other than command-detonated mode.” It also said a permanent ban on their use in tripwire mode has been incorporated into Australian Army doctrine.[22]
The Australian government, through its international development agency AusAID, has committed or spent approximately A$73 million (US$43 million) on humanitarian mine action programs from January 1996 to the end of the fiscal year 2001-02.[23] This includes A$12 million (US$6.4 million) in FY2001-02. The FY2001-02 total has A$1.5 million (US$795,000) committed for mine action in Afghanistan.[24]
Cambodia and Laos have been the main recipients of Australian mine action funding, but in 2001/2002 others include Afghanistan, Angola, Burma, Lebanon, Mozambique, and Sri Lanka.[25]
Australia is a member of the Mine Action Support Group, which helps to coordinate international responses to mine action issues.
As seen in the chart below, the Australian government is well advanced to meet its commitment to spend A$100 million on mine action activities in the decade ending December 2005.[26]
(1 July 2001 to 30 June 2002)
Australian NGOs and agencies that operate or actively promote and raise funds for mine action activities include AUSTCARE, World Vision Australia, CARE Australia, and UNICEF.
AUSTCARE is supporting the following programs in the 2001/2002.[29]
World Vision Australia is supporting the following programs in Cambodia in 2001/2002.[30]
The joint “Destroy-a-Minefield” initiative has raised US$265,000 to date for 2001/2002 toward a goal of US$424,000 (A$800,000) by the end of 2002. For every A$400,000 that is raised by World Vision, A$200,000 is contributed by the government.[32] Six sites in Cambodia have received the mine clearance funds since the program’s inception in November 1999. Chirgwin Services Group, an Australian mine clearance company, cleared 49,200 square meters at the Sunrise Orphanage site, 17 kilometers southeast of Phnom Penh. The UK NGO Mines Advisory Group (MAG) cleared 38,763 square meters of land at five sites in Samlot district, Battambang province, to make way for a fruit orchard, a district health center, housing, subsistence crops, and safe access to the community pagoda. As of March 2002, another twelve sites in Battambang were being demined.[33]
Elsewhere, in Laos, through AusAID and supplemental private donations, World Vision Australia has provided US$600,000 [A$1.1 million] for the National Rehabilitation Centre and the Integrated UXO Clearance Project for the period from March 2001-February 2002.[34] AusAID funding for World Vision's landmine awareness program in Angola was not renewed after mid-2001 due to shifting AusAID priorities.[35]
CARE Australia obtained partial funding from AusAID for CARE International to work in conjunction with the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) on a segment of the Integrated Demining and Development Program. CARE Australia was responsible for development-related activities while CMAC carried out demining work. The project was divided into two phases (Phase I = US$430,223 [A$811,741] and phase II = US$496,440 [A$936,679]) for the period from 1 September 2000-30 June 2002.[36]
Minelab Electronics Pty. Ltd., a South Australian Company, is developing a “Handheld Standoff Mine Detection System,” in conjunction with US contractor CyTerra, for the US Department of Defense.[37] The system combines a ground penetration radar system with Minelab's metal detection technology into a hand-held mine detector. Another Minelab initiative under development is the “Rapid Route and Area Mine Neutralisation System,” combining ground penetration radar, metal detection and thermal imagery onto a vehicle platform.[38] This project is being supported by the ADF. The F3 hand-held mine detector is also under development by Minelab.[39]
The primary research and development section of the Australian Department of Defence, the Defence Science & Technology Organisation (DSTO), is evaluating the performance of an Area Denial Weapon System (ADWS) produced by Queensland ballistics company, Metal Storm Pty. Ltd. The grenade-pod based technology is touted by Metal Storm as a viable alternative to antipersonnel landmines without the threat of unexploded ordnance.[40] In response to ICBL Australian Network inquiries on the potential for the weapon to result in UXO, the Department of Defence stated, “Projectiles employed in the ADWS incorporate a high reliability dual self-destruct and make-safe/deactivation capability that is designed to minimise the potential for projectiles employed in the ADWS to become UXO.”[41] An estimated US$50 million in funding for continued research and development of Metal Storm is provided by DSTO and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).[42]
In late 2001, the Australian Army conducted field trials of the South African Chubby Mine Clearing System in the heat of the Northern Territory.[43] Redpath Technical Services in South Australia has developed an infrared imager, the “LCII,” to detect landmines (plastic or ceramic, with or without metal components). The LCII is made under license to the ADF.[44] A private organization named Australian Detection Dog Services, in Townsville, northern Queensland, has commenced training dogs for use in mine detection work.[45]
On 18 January 2002, an Australian SAS soldier lost two toes after stepping on a landmine in Afghanistan.[46] On 16 February 2002, an Australian soldier was killed when the vehicle he was traveling in hit a landmine in Afghanistan. He was the first Australian to die in combat since the Vietnam War.[47]
According to a 1988 report recently uncovered by Landmine Monitor, of the 500 Australian military personnel killed during the Vietnam conflict, at least 110 died from landmine injuries, and another eight were killed by booby-traps.[48] Several more died from fragmentation wounds, which, according to one Vietnam veteran, may also have involved landmines.[49] The Australian War Memorial (AWM) and National Archives have indicated that further information on landmine deaths amongst ADF personnel is difficult to determine as the records kept do not reveal a breakdown of injury types or causes of death in this manner.[50]
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[1] The delegation was led by Bernard Lynch, Director Conventional & Nuclear Disarmament Section, International Security Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. A representative of the Australian Network of the ICBL invited to participate on the Australian government delegation was unable to attend the meeting due to travel difficulties following 11 September.
[2] Bernard Lynch, Director Conventional & Nuclear Disarmament Section, International Security Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Statement to the Third Meeting of States Parties, Managua, Nicaragua, 18-21 September 2001, p. 4. Australia also provided funding assistance to the governments of Laos and Vietnam to participate in the 3MSP, but travel difficulties prevented Vietnam from attending.
[3] The Managua Challenge Fund was established to assist governments to meet the goals of completing destruction of stockpiles and ratification during the lead-up to the 3MSP. Interview with Todd Mercer, Executive Officer, Conventional & Nuclear Disarmament Section, Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, Canberra, 5 November 2001.
[4] The role of co-chair was filled by Peter Truswell, Third Secretary, Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Geneva, in the January and May 2002 meetings.
[5] H.E. John Dauth LVO, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations, Statement to the General Debate, First Committee 56th Session, 11 October 2001.
[6] Letter to Liz Bernstein, ICBL Coordinator, from Peter Tesch, Assistant Secretary, Arms Control and Disarmament Branch, Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, 1 May 2002. Australia reported on these demarches at the May meeting of the Standing Committee on General Status and Operation of the Convention, noting that Bhutan and Indonesia had been particularly receptive.
[7] Peter Tesch, Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, “Australia's National Statement to the Second Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons,” Geneva, 12 December 2001, pp. 2-3.
[8] Alexander Downer, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Media Release, 24 December 2001. http://www.dfat.gov.au/media/releases/foreign/2001/fa189_01.html.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ambassador Les Luck, “Statement to the first session of the Conference on Disarmament,” January 2002; email from Todd Mercer, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 26 March 2002.
[11] Much of the work has been done under the auspices of the Sri Lanka Peace Project of the Australian Council for Overseas Aid (ACFOA). On 1 March 2002, Australian NGOs lobbied for accession to the treaty when they met with Sri Lanka’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tyronne Fernando, just prior to CHOGM.
[12] Email from Merle Woolley, MIVAC Tasmania, 28 March 2002. The three founders are Rob Woolley, Sandy MacGregor and Jack Miller.
[13] Email from Strategic International Policy Division, United Nations Peace Keeping & Arms Control, Department of Defence, 14 March 2002; see also, letter from Richard Maude, A/g Assistant Secretary, Arms Control and Disarmament Branch, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, to Mary Wareham, Human Rights Watch (Landmine Monitor Coordinator), 7 September 2000.
[14] Email from Strategic International Policy Division, United Nations Peace Keeping & Arms Control, Department of Defence, 14 March 2002.
[15] Letter from Richard Maude, A/g Assistant Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to Mary Wareham, Human Rights Watch (Landmine Monitor Coordinator), 7 September 2000.
[16] For more details see Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 375.
[17] Article 7 Report, Form G, 21 May 2001.
[18] Interview with two officers, Australian Defence Force, Army Headquarters, Canberra, 5 November 2001.
[19] Article 7 Report, Form D, 21 May 2001.
[20] Article 7 Report, 30 April 2002.
[21] Ibid.
[22] ADF refers to Claymore mines as “anti-personnel weapons system Claymores,” email from Department of Defence, 18 February 2002. Response by Department of Defence to Questions from Landmine Monitor Australia, received by email 6 February 2002.
[23] See Mine Action Expenditure - Notional cash flow and commitments. January 1996 to December 2005, AusAID reports 5 November 2001, 27 March 2002 and 3 April 2002; Article 7 Report, Form J (Mine Action Programs Summary of Expenditure and Commitments for 2002/2002), 30 April 2002; email from Derek Taylor, Humanitarian & Emergencies Section, AUSAID, 22 July 2002. Exchange rate of A$ = US$ 0.53 used throughout.
[24] Kevin Rudd, MP, the opposition party’s shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs has called on the Howard Government to increase its mine action funding for Afghanistan by an additional US$2 million. “Rudd meeting with UN High Commissioner for refugees,” Australian Labour Party News Statement, 15 January 2002. http://www.alp.org.au/print.html?link+media/0102/krmsun150102.html. Accessed 29 March 2002.
[25] Bernard Lynch, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Statement to the Third Meeting of States Parties, Managua, Nicaragua, 18-21 September 2001; email from Derek Taylor, Humanitarian & Emergencies Section, AUSAID, 22 July 2002.
[26] Email from Derek Taylor, Humanitarian & Emergencies Section, AusAID, 22 July 2002.
[27] Australian dollar amounts from “Mine Action Expenditure - Notional Cash Flow and Commitments, AusAID Assistance for Mine Action Programs, January 1996 to December 2005,” 5 November 2001 and 27 March 2002; email from Derek Taylor, Humanitarian & Emergencies Section, AUSAID, 22 July 2002. US$ amounts are from Landmine Monitor Report 2001, Executive Summary, p. 45, except year 2001/2002, which is calculated at A$=US$0.53.
[28] Australian dollar amount from “Mine Action Expenditure - Notional Cash Flow and Commitments, AusAID Assistance for Mine Action Programs, January 1996 to December 2005,” 5 November 2001 and 27 March 2002; email from Derek Taylor, Humanitarian & Emergencies Section, AUSAID, 22 July 2002. US$ amounts calculated by Landmine Monitor at A$=US$0.53.
[29] Email from Corinne Stroppolo, Mine Action Officer, AUSTCARE, 12 February 2002.
[30] Email from Kerrie-Anne McKenzie, World Vision Australia, 13 February 2002.
[31] Email from Heather Elliott, World Vision Australia, 11 February 2002.
[32] Email from Diane Shelton, World Vision Australia, 25 March 2002.
[33] Ibid.
[34] Email from Heather Elliott, World Vision Australia, 11 February 2002.
[35] Reported by representative of ICBL Australian Network following AusAID Mine Action Consultation, Melbourne, March 2002.
[36] Email from Grace Nicholas, Program Officer, CARE Australia, 30 January 2002.
[37] Product Development, Countermine Division, Minelab Electronics Pty. Ltd., http://www.countermine.minelab.com/ accessed 10 February 2002.
[38] Ibid.
[39] Ibid.
[40] Metal Storm website, http://www.metalstorm.com, accessed 11 November 2001. See also “Metal Storm secures Australian Army support,” 7 July 2000.
[41] Response by Department of Defence to Questions from Landmine Monitor Australia, received by email 6 February 2002.
[42] Hiroko Kawasakiya, “Weapon Breakthrough,” Herald Sun (Melbourne), 19 March 2002, p. 27.
[43] ICBL-Australian Network Weekly Bulletin # 4c, “Australian army evaluates Chubby Mine Clearing System in the heat,” 3 December 2001. http://defence-data.com/current/page12919.htm.
[44] Email from Lynda Walsh, Redpath Technical Services, 2 April 2002.
[45] Telephone interview with Mike Storey, Director, Australian Detection Dog Services, 18 March 2002.
[46] Mark Forbes, “SAS destroys weapons stashes,” The Age (Melbourne), 23 January 2002; “Aussie soldier's toes blown off. Inside Camp Cuba,” Herald Sun, 19 January 2002. p. 3.
[47] Christine Jackman, “Digger Dies. Afghan mine kills new dad,” Herald Sun (Melbourne), 18 February 2002; “First Australian troops who served in Afghanistan return home,” Associated Press (Perth), 3 April 2002.
[48] Some of the types of mines that killed or wounded Australian military personnel included US M16 antipersonnel mines, Claymore mines, and antitank mines. These mines were specifically mentioned in individual stories of the deaths of each soldier who died as a result of landmine injuries. “500-The Australians who died in Vietnam,” The Australian (Special Edition), 18 August 1988, pp. 1-19.
[49] Emails from Sandy MacGregor, C.A.L.M. Pty. Ltd., 29 January 2002 and 5 February 2002.
[50] The Military History section of the AWM indicated that difficulties existed in determining the definition of 'landmine' in the context of the recordkeeping of past conflicts. Email from David Jolliffe, Information Services, Research Centre, Australian War Memorial, 8 March 2002.
