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Papua New Guinea has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty and the status of accession efforts continues to remains uncertain. In June 2001, a government representative told Landmine Monitor that it "supports the aim of this treaty" and "is already in the process of formalising documents” for accession.[1]
In May 2002, for the first time, a representative of Papua New Guinea attended the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva. He stated that Papua New Guinea was in the process of considering accession, and would join “very soon.” He said that Papua New Guinea had no problem with mines and had no stockpiles; the only reason it had not yet acceded was a matter of prioritization.[2]
Papua New Guinea voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 56/24M in November 2001, calling for universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty, as it had done on similar pro-ban resolutions in previous years. In March 2001, a government representative told Landmine Monitor that Papua New Guinea has never used, produced, transferred or stockpiled antipersonnel mines.[3] Yet in October 2001, the Commander of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force, Colonel Peter Ilau, told a small arms researcher that the country does maintain a stockpile of mines, which he described as not “major” and “probably very small amounts in the inventory for training and there if we ever need it.”[4] These are likely to be the command-detonated Claymore mines imported from Australia twenty years ago.[5]
Papua New Guinea has a problem with unexploded ordnance dating from World War II. While the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) may have manufactured and used improvised explosive devices during the armed insurgency of the 1990s, the island of Bougainville is not believed to be mine affected.
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[1] Letter from Joseph K. Assaigo, Director Multilateral, Legal and Treaties Branch, Department of Foreign Affairs, Papua New Guinea, to Neil Mander, Convenor, New Zealand Campaign Against Landmines, 2 June 2000.
[2] Oral remarks of Mr. Jimmy Ure Ovia, Minister Counsellor, Embassy of Papua New Guinea to the United Nations, New York, to the Standing Committee on General Status and Operation of the Convention, Geneva, 31 May 2002. Notes taken by Landmine Monitor (HRW).
[3] Interview with David Anere, Politics and Security Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Papua New Guinea, Wellington, 27 March 2001.
[4] Interview by David Capie, small arms researcher, with Colonel Peter Ilau, Papua New Guinea Defence Force, Port Moresby, 9 October 2001. Capie provided the information in email to Landmine Monitor (HRW), 12 December 2001.
[5] Interview with Colonel Takendu, Chief of Staff, Papua New Guinea Defense Force, Port Moresby, 24 November 1998. See Landmine Monitor Report 1999, pp. 500-501.
