The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. The UAE has previously stated that it supports “the international effort to ban antipersonnel landmines.”[1] The UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) conducted an advocacy mission to the UAE in September 2004 and senior officials said there were no serious reservations about joining the treaty, but that it had not been a priority issue.[2] The UAE has voted in favor of every pro-ban UN General Assembly resolution since 1996, including UNGA Resolution 60/80 on 8 December 2005, calling for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty.
The UAE sent a three-person delegation of military officials to the Sixth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Zagreb, Croatia in November-December 2005. The UAE sent a military legal advisor to the June 2005 intersessional Standing Committee meetings and a Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative to the May 2006 meetings.
The UAE has stated that it has not produced or exported antipersonnel mines. In December 2003, an army representative said that there were no landmines stockpiled in the country.[3] This was repeated by the defense secretary in September 2004.[4] However, Landmine Monitor has received more recent information which has not yet been confirmed indicating that the UAE may have a stockpile of antipersonnel mines.
The UAE is not party to Amended Protocol II of the Convention on Conventional Weapons or its Amended Protocol II on landmines, but it attended the annual meeting of States Parties to the protocol in November 2005.
In 2005, the UAE contributed US$310,000 to mine action in Lebanon, via the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Clearance for follow-up activities to the Operation Emirates Solidarity (OES) demining program.[5] In 2004, UAE had provided $520,910 for coordination and quality assurance for OES.[6] From its total multiyear contribution of approximately $50 million, UAE dispersed $3,332,751 for Lebanon through the UN Voluntary Trust Fund in 2002-2005.[7] The greater part of the contribution was dispersed bilaterally:
In 2005, the UAE Red Crescent Society contributed CHF11,610 to the ICRC Special Appeal for Mine Action.[9] The UAE Red Crescent Society supported several Iraqi hospitals and centers with technical or financial support, and assists children with war-related disabilities through rehabilitation centers in Jerusalem, Nablis and Beit Lahya.[10]
In 2004-2005, the Arab Gulf Council provided $62,000 to the Sudanese Association for the Care and Rehabilitation of War Victims for a development center for landmine survivors and other war-affected people and their families, especially women and children; the center was in one of the camps for internally displaced persons south of Khartoum. Assistance includes micro-credit and medical care for 100 families, including some mine survivors. The project was scheduled to finish at the end of 2005, but was ongoing with the same funds as of April 2006.[11]
[1] Letter to Landmine Monitor (HRW) from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 5 October 2000. Translated by UAE Embassy, Washington DC.
[2] Amb. Satnam Jit Singh, UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) consultant, “UNMAS Advocacy Visits,” 16 December 2004 (reporting on his trips to five countries); email from Amb. Jit Satnam Singh, 7 October 2004.
[3] Presentation by Ali Al-Hosni, UAE military officer, Workshop on the Risks of Landmines and Explosive Remnants of War, Sharjah, 8-9 December 2003, organized by the Arab Net for Research on Landmines & ERW.
[4] Email from Amb. Satnam Jit Singh, 7 October 2004.
[5] National Demining Office, Lebanon Mine Action Program, “Annual Report 2005,” Annex A; MACC SL, “Annual Report 2005,” 14 February 2006.
[6] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 808; UNMAS, “Annual Report 2004,” p. 33. Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 902, reported UAE as contributing over $6 million in 2004, however this amount went to Phase III of OES, implemented between June 2003 and November 2003; see Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 1058; Mine Action Investment database, www.mineaction.org, accessed 4 August 2005.
[7] Email from Christopher Clark, UN Chief Technical Advisor/Programme Manager, MACC SL, 22 May 2006; see Landmine Monitor Report 2005, pp. 901-902.
[8] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, pp. 901- 902; Mine Action Investment database, www.mineaction.org, accessed 4 August 2005; email from Christopher Clark, MACC SL, 22 May 2006.
[9] ICRC, “Special Report: Mine Action 2005,” p. 29.
[10] Interview with Head of Board, Red Crescent Society, Sharjah, 8-9 December 2003; “Landmines continue to claim a staggering 15,000 lives ever year,” Khaleej Times, 9 December 2003.
[11] Email from Shaza Nagm Eldin, Victim Assistance Coordinator, UNMAO, Khartoum, Sudan, 25 April 2006. See report on Sudan in this edition of Landmine Monitor.