| <FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA | MOROCCO > |
Key developments since May 2001: The President of Mongolia expressed support for the process to join the Mine Ban Treaty.
Mongolia has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. According to an official press release, during a meeting with the new Canadian Ambassador in January 2002, the President of Mongolia spoke of “a research process to join the Ottawa Convention and noted that Mongolia would support Canadian efforts and international joint societies to ban landmines.”[1] The President’s statement represents the highest-level expression of support for accession made to date.
Also in early 2002, a Ministry of Defense official stated that Mongolia “pursues a step-by-step approach towards the prohibition of APL use, stockpiling and their destruction and fully supports the global movement on banning landmines around the world.”[2] A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official confirmed that Mongolia continues to fully share the aspirations to ban antipersonnel landmines and welcomes the entry into force of the Mine Ban Treaty.[3]
Mongolia voted in favor of the November 2001 UN General Assembly resolution supporting the Mine Ban Treaty. A delegation including officials from the Ministry of Defense and Parliament planned to attend the Third Meeting of States Parties in Managua in September 2001. However, participation was cancelled due to the 11 September events in the United States.[4] Mongolia participated in the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional Standing Committee meetings in January 2002, but not in May 2002. Mongolia attended the regional seminar on landmine stockpile destruction held in Malaysia in August 2001.
Mongolia is a State Party to the original Protocol II on landmines of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), but it has not yet ratified the 1996 Amended Protocol II. Mongolia participated in the Second Review Conference of the CCW, but not the Annual Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II, both in Geneva in December 2001.
On 27-28 June 2001, the government of Mongolia, with the support of the Canadian government and the Landmine Monitor research team in Mongolia, organized the conference on “Sharing our Future in a Mine Free World.”[5] The conference was the first event in Mongolia specifically addressing the issue of landmines. At the conference, Colonel L. Gantumur, Head of the Ministry of Defense’s Engineering Department, stated that while Mongolia’s military supports joining the Mine Ban Treaty eventually, accession will not be possible until alternatives to antipersonnel mines are found. He said that Mongolia has to consider the position of its neighbors, particularly China and Russia, on the Mine Ban Treaty, and has to consider the continued use of landmines in situations of domestic unrest and terrorism within the region. He also stated that Mongolia’s economic constraints limit availability of resources to purchase modern military arms and machinery, and that the destruction of landmine stockpiles would not be possible at present due to budgetary constraints.[6]
Since the conference, the General Staff of the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense have held informal exchanges of views on the Mine Ban Treaty and landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) issues.[7]
A Seminar on International Humanitarian Law was held in October 2001, financed by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and hosted by the Mongolian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of Defense, Parliamentarians, the Department of Law at the Mongolian State University, and the School of Humanities participated in the seminar. Among other subjects, participants briefly discussed the matter of antipersonnel landmines in Mongolia.[8]
Mongolia states that it has not and does not produce or transfer antipersonnel mines.[9] There is no specific domestic regulation prohibiting production, import, export, or transportation of antipersonnel mines through Mongolian territory. A Ministry of Defense official told Landmine Monitor that it is possible for the Mongolian Armed Forces to adopt certain resolutions concerning non-transfer and/or non-manufacture of antipersonnel mines.[10] Colonel L. Gantumur echoed this possibility in a later meeting.[11]
Mongolian defense officials have acknowledged that Mongolia has a large operational stockpile of antipersonnel mines.[12] The number of antipersonnel mines in stockpile is confidential. Mongolia has revealed that it has eleven types of antivehicle and antipersonnel mines, all purchased from the former USSR between 1960 and 1985; 73.2 percent of the total are antipersonnel mines.[13] The mines include models PMN, OZM-3, and POMZ.[14]
Defense officials state that Mongolia has never deployed and will never deploy antipersonnel mines on its territory except for self-defense purposes, and that in the event of armed conflict, landmines would be used only to protect borders and strategic state assets.[15]
In 1998, a team from the United States Defense Department and their Mongolian counterparts from the Ministry of Defense concluded that Mongolia is not a mine-affected country, though other UXO are present.[16] Ministry of Defense officials have advised Landmine Monitor researchers that eighteen areas in the country contain UXO resulting from World War II and the presence of the former Soviet Army bases in Mongolia between 1960 and 1992.[17] One official has stated that clearance operations are still not complete because Mongolian authorities do not posess detailed data on the former Soviet Army bases.[18] No signs or fences demarcating contaminated areas have been placed to protect local residents and animals. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there is no intention to conduct additional mine/UXO surveys.[19] To date, no research or other related initiatives have been planned to ascertain the degree of danger at the areas, or on necessary clearance technology.[20]
No new landmine or UXO casualties were reported in 2001. Incidents related to landmines and UXO around the country are to be reported to the police department of the relevant province, and it is then the responsibility of the police to report the incident to the Ministry of Defense’s Engineering Department. But, the police department often fails to report to the Engineering Department, and this precludes accurate data collection on people injured or killed by landmines and UXO.[21]
On average the Engineering Department receives three calls a year related to suspected UXO/landmine issues. In 2001, in Baganuur, Tov aimag, the Engineering Department destroyed explosives, including three TM-52 antivehicle mines, which were found in the basement of a building used by the former Soviet Army prior to 1991. A 100 square kilometer radius was searched for landmines and UXO.[22]
Emergency and continuing medical care, physical rehabilitation, other types of social services and assistance to people injured by UXO is provided in accordance with legislation such as the “Mongolian Law on Social Welfare” and the “Law on Social Assistance for People with Disabilities.”[23] These laws do not include specific provisions for people with disabilities caused by landmines or UXO.[24]
There are thirty-six non-governmental and six state organizations working with and providing services for people with disabilities in Mongolia today. Some of these organizations collect data on people with disabilities. However, neither the State Statistical Office nor independent research units have any data on people disabled as the result of UXO or landmine incidents.[25]
Two cases have been reported. In 1999, in Tov aimag province, a seven-year-old boy was killed by a piece of unexploded ordnance. No compensation or any other support was given to the family by military or state authorities. Also in 1999 in Tov aimag, a man lost one eye from an explosion while he separated scrap metal at a recycling plant. The Ministry of Defense provided no assistance.
| <FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA | MOROCCO > |
[1] Press and Information Department of the Presidency, Press Release # 17, Ulaanbaatar, January 2002, p.
2.
[2] Interview with Colonel L. Gantumur, Ministry of Defense, Ulaanbaatar, 26 January 2001; Meeting with Col. Y. Chiojamts, Director of Strategic Management and Planning Directorate, Ministry of Defense, Ulaanbaatar, 7 February 2002. In June 2000, former Minister of Foreign Affairs N. Tuya had proposed a step-by-step approach to the Ministry of Defense, in which Mongolia would ratify Amended Protocol II to the CCW in 2001, and accede to the Mine Ban Treaty in the second half of 2003, before the first review conference in 2004. See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 558.
[3] Meeting with G. Nemuun, Attache, Department of Multilateral Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 29 March 2002.
[4] Meeting with Col. Y. Chiojamts, Ulaanbaatar, 7 February 2002.
[5] For more details on the conference, see Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 559.
[6] Statement by Col. Gantumur Lhagva representing the Ministry of Defense, International Conference on “Sharing Our Future in a Mine-Free World,” Ulaanbaatar, 27-28 June 2001.
[7] Meeting with Col. Y. Choijamts, Ministry of Defense, 7 February 2002.
[8] Meeting with Ms. Altantsetseg, Red Cross Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, 8 January 2002.
[9] Interview with S. Bold, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ulaanbaatar, 7 February 2001. Interview with N. Ouyndar, Head of Department of Foreign Relations, Ministry of Environment, Ulaanbaatar, 6 February 2001. Meeting with Col. Y. Choijamts, Ministry of Defense, 7 February 2002.
[10] Meeting with Col. Y. Choijamts, Ministry of Defense, 7 February 2002.
[11] Interview with Col. L. Gantumur, Ministry of Defense, Ulaanbaatar, 26 January 2001.
[12] Meeting with Col. Y. Choijamts, Ministry of Defense, 7 February 2002.
[13] Handout provided by Col. Gantumur Lhagva at meeting between Mongolian delegation, Canada’s DFAIT Mine Action Team, and the NGO Mines Action Canada, Ottawa, 17 May 2001. The mines were described as two types: fougasse and fragmentation antipersonnel mines.
[14] Interview with Col. L. Gantumur, Ministry of Defense, Ulaanbaatar, 26 January 2001. Interview with Col. Y. Choijamts, Ministry of Defence, 7 February 2002.
[15] Interview with Colonel L. Gantumur, Ministry of Defense, Ulaanbaatar, 26 January 2001.
[16] See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 560.
[17] Interview with Col. L. Gantumur, Ministry of Defense, Ulaanbaatar, 26 January 2001.
[18] Meeting with Col. Y. Choijamts, Ministry of Defense, 7 February 2002.
[19] Meeting with G. Nemuun, Attache, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 29 March 2002.
[20] Meeting with Col. Y. Choijamts, Ministry of Defense, 7 February 2002.
[21] Interview with Colonel L. Gantumur, Ministry of Defense, Ulaanbaatar, 26 January 2001.
[22] Ibid.
[23] Meeting with Colonel L. Gantumur, General Staff of Armed Forces of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, 7 January 2002.
[24] 1998 Mongolian Law on Social Welfare; 1998 Amended Mongolian Law on Social Assistance for People with Disabilities.
[25] Meetings with the following NGOs: B. Zinaamider, National Committee of People with Disabilities, Ulaanbaatar, 21 January 2002; Z. Boldsaikhan, Mongolian Association of Blind People, Ulaanbaatar, 30 January 2002; D. Adilbish, Mongolian Society of Invalids with Orthopedic Disabilities, Ulaanbaatar, 31 January 2002; S. Sainbayar, Mongolian Association of Disabled, Ulaanbaatar, 1 February 2002; O. Selenge, Mongolian Association of Disabled Women, Ulaanbaatar, 4 February 2002.
