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Key developments since May 2001: Slovakia served as the co-chair of the Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction until September 2001. Six mine clearance teams from Slovakia are operating with the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea.
The Slovak Republic (Slovakia) signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 25 February 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 August 1999. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reiterated previous statements that national implementation legislation was not needed and that the existing penal codes cover violations of the treaty.[1] Slovakia submitted its initial Article 7 Report on 9 December 1999 and subsequent annual reports on 12 June 2000, 25 July 2001, and 30 April 2002.[2] The most recent report utilized voluntary Form J to report on mine action activities.
Slovakia participated in the Third Meeting of States Parties in September 2001 in Managua, Nicaragua.[3] Slovakia associated itself with the statement delivered by Belgium on behalf of the European Union. As the outgoing co-chair of the Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Slovakia offered its assistance to other States in stockpile destruction: “Slovakia, with its expertise, wants to take its share and contribute to international assistance.... Slovakia possesses technical and personal capacities for destruction of stockpiled landmines... Our capacities in this regard are fully available and can be used to help other countries to deal with the mine problem.”[4]
Slovakia also participated in the Standing Committee meetings in January and May 2002. On 29 November 2001, Slovakia cosponsored and voted in favor of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 56/24M in support of the Mine Ban Treaty.
Slovakia is a party to Amended Protocol II of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), and on 22 October 2001, submitted the annual report required by Article 13, offering technical cooperation for ammunition and mine destruction.[5] It attended the Third Annual Conference of State Parties to the protocol as well as the Second CCW Review Conference in December 2001. At the Review Conference Slovakia cosponsored the US-Danish proposal to increase the technical requirements for antivehicle mines and supported a strongly-mandated expert working group on explosive remnants of war. Slovakia associated itself with the statement made by Belgium on behalf of the European Union.[6]
Slovakia completed the destruction of its antipersonnel mine stockpile on 31 August 2000, destroying 185,560 out of the original stockpile of 187,060 mines.[8] It has retained 1,500 mines (1,000 PP-Mi-Šr II and 500 PP-Mi-Na 1) in accordance with Article 3 of the Mine Ban Treaty.
The Ministry of Defense stated that, as of March 2002, none of these mines have been consumed.[9] While the latest Article 7 Report states the retained mines are for the “development of demining technology and for training in mine destruction,”[10] the Ministry of Defense told Landmine Monitor that the Slovak armed forces did not need mines for training, but only for testing new demining equipment.[11] Slovakia reports that Guidelines for the use of the APMs retained for development of demining technology and mine detection training were issued after the completion of stockpile destruction.[12]
In March 2002, the Ministry of Defense stated that an inventory has been made of antivehicle mines in stock and under development to identify which may be considered prohibited or permissible by the Mine Ban Treaty, and will consider any measures necessary to prevent antivehicle mines with antihandling devices or sensitive fuzes from functioning as antipersonnel mines. When the financial resources and technical capacity are ready, details of measures to be taken and the time-frame will be announced.[13] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs clarified that it had not attended the special consultation on antivehicle mines convened by the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva in March 2001, because it had not been invited.[14]
In 2001-2002, Slovakia has not reported providing financial assistance to mine-affected countries. Consultations on assistance in stockpile destruction have continued with Peru, and with Canada regarding Ukraine.[15] Since December 2000, Slovakia has participated in the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) with 198 engineering troops engaged in demining activities. In 2002, Slovakia has six mine clearance teams (totaling about 60 deminers) with UNMEE.[16]
From September 1999 to March 2002, Slovakia contributed an engineering unit of 43 troops to the Kosovo Protection Force (KFOR) mission in Kosovo; within this unit, ten deminers have been involved in mine clearance activities.[17]
The Amended Protocol II Article 13 Report and the latest Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report include details of the Slovak mine clearing machines Bozena and Belarty.[18] Slovak military forces use both machines as a complement to manual demining in international missions. In Kosovo, Slovak deminers used one machine of each type, and in Eritrea they are using one Belarty and two Bozena machines.[19]
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports that, in rare instances, items of unexploded ordnance (UXO) from Second World War are found. The procedure is to report this to the police who fence off the area and call in an explosive ordnance disposal specialist.[20]
On 20 July 2001, a Slovak military observer with the European Union monitoring mission in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was killed along with a Norwegian colleague and their Albanian interpreter when their car hit an antivehicle mine.[21] There were no other serious accidents involving landmines during Slovak participation in international missions in 2001.[22]
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[1] Interview with Peter Kormúth, Director, and Igor Kucer, Department of OSCE, Disarmament and Council of Europe, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bratislava, 5 March 2002. Regulations on landmines are also included in Law 179/1998, which covers trade with all kind of military equipment, and Law 246/1993 on the use of a number of weapons and ammunition. Amendments on penal sanctions for violations of these laws remain under revision, as reported previously.
[2] Article 7 Reports, submitted on 9 December 1999 for the period 3 December 1997-30 November 1999; submitted on 12 June 2000 for the period 1 December 1999-30 April 2000; submitted on 25 July 2001 for calendar year 2000; and submitted on 30 April 2002 for calendar year 2001.
[3] Its delegation was led by Ivan Korcok, Director General of the Directorate of International Organizations and Security Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Karol Mistrík, Second Secretary of the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva. Correction: Landmine Monitor Report 2001 incorrectly identified the title of the head of delegation at the Second Meeting of States Parties in September 2000. It was Ján Figel, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
[4] Statement by Ivan Korcok, Director General of the Directorate of International Organizations and Security Policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the Third Meeting of States Parties, Managua, Nicaragua, 18 September 2001.
[5] Amended Protocol II Article 13 Report, Form E, submitted on 22 October 2001.
[6] Letter from Peter Kormúth, Director of Department of OSCE, Disarmament and Council of Europe, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 21 February 2002.
[7] For previous information on these issues, see Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 772.
[8] Article 7 Report, Form B, 25 July 2001; however, the total destroyed is incorrectly reported as 186,560.
[9] Interview held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with Vladimír Valusek, Director, Lt.-Col. Frantisek Zák, and Capt. Martin Sabo, Verification Center, Ministry of Defense, Bratislava, 5 March 2002.
[10] Article 7 Report, Form D, 30 April 2002.
[11] Interview with Vladimír Valusek, Director, Lt.-Col. Frantisek Zák, and Capt. Martin Sabo, Verification Center, Ministry of Defense, Bratislava, 5 March 2002.
[12] Article 7 Report, Form A, 30 April 2002.
[13] Interview with Vladimír Valusek, Director, Lt.-Col. Frantisek Zák, and Capt. Martin Sabo, Verification Center, Ministry of Defense, Bratislava, 5 March 2002. It was previously announced in April 2000 that the PT-Mi-K antivehicle mine with antilift firing mechanisms had been destroyed and that the status of other antivehicle mines that may function as antipersonnel mines would be considered after completing the destruction of antipersonnel mine stockpiles. See Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 714, and Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 773.
[14] Letter from Peter Kormúth, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 21 February 2002.
[15] Interview with Peter Kormúth and Igor Kucer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Vladimír Valusek, Lt.-Col. Frantisek Zák, and Capt. Martin Sabo, Verification Center, Ministry of Defense, Bratislava, 5 March 2002.
[16] Interview with Lt.-Col. Frantisek Zák, Verification Center, Ministry of Defense, at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bratislava, 5 March 2002.
[17] Amended Protocol II Article 13 Report, Form E, 18 October 2000; and email from Peter Kormúth, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 March 2002.
[18] See Amended Protocol II Article 13 Report, Form G, 18 October 2000, and Article 7 Report, Form J, 30 April 2002.
[19] Interview with Lt.-Col. Frantisek Zák, Verification Center, Ministry of Defense, Bratislava, 5 March 2002.
[20] Email from Peter Kormúth, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 March 2002.
[21] Interview with Vladimír Valusek, Lt.-Col. Frantisek Zák, and Capt. Martin Sabo, Verification Center, Ministry of Defense, Bratislava, 5 March 2002.
[22] Interview with Peter Kormúth and Igor Kucer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Vladimír Valusek, Lt.-Col. Frantisek Zák, and Capt. Martin Sabo, Verification Center, Ministry of Defense, Bratislava, 5 March 2002.
