Geneva, Switzerland
Thank you, Mr. President, for allowing my delegation to make a few observations at this meeting.
Amended Protocol II of the 1980 UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) regulates the production, transfer, and use of mines, booby-traps, and other explosive devices and also contains provisions related to post conflict measures.
A total of 92 states are party to Amended Protocol II at the 10th Meeting of States Parties. This number of parties increased by four in the past year with Guinea-Bissau, Iceland, Jamaica, and Madagascar joining; all are party to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.
Just 10 of the 92 have not joined the Mine Ban Treaty: China, Finland, India, Israel, Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and the United States. Thus, for antipersonnel mines, the protocol is only relevant for those 10 countries.
Another interesting way to view the universalization of the amended protocol is to note the number of states which remain outside of it and still stockpile and retain the right to use antipersonnel mines: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Singapore, and Syria. Additionally, CCW signatories Egypt and Vietnam stockpile antipersonnel mines. In fact, the last state not a party to the Mine Ban Treaty with stockpiles of antipersonnel mines to join Amended Protocol II was the Russian Federation, over three years ago.
The nine-year deadline for states that chose to defer compliance with the requirements of the Technical Annex passed on 3 December 2007. China, Latvia, Pakistan, and Russia deferred on detectability, while Belarus, China, Pakistan, Russia, and Ukraine deferred on self-destruction and self-deactivation.
The Mine Ban Treaty requires that Belarus and Ukraine to destroy their antipersonnel mines and efforts to fulfill the stockpile destruction obligation continue. Latvia informed states parties that its deferral ceased to have effect on 19 July 2007.
We are concerned that the deferral period deadline passed with so little transparency on whether and how states met the obligation and with no inquiries from other States Parties. We call on all States Parties show greater transparency through timely and more detailed reporting. We do not believe it is sufficient for a state to claim compliance without providing additional details. This practice should not be sufficient for all States Parties either.
We urge greater discussion among States Parties about how those who continue to use, produce, and stockpile the weapon are doing so in compliance with Amended Protocol II. Some concrete examples from the past year include:
- We believe Russia continued to use antipersonnel mines in 2008 (in Chechnya and also some allegations about use in Georgia), but we would welcome confirmation or denial and any details.
- There were the most serious allegations of use by Sri Lankan armed forces since the 2002 ceasefire, allegations denied by the Sri Lankan army to Landmine Monitor, but we would welcome a public statement.
- Can India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka provide details on how they are fulfilling Amended Protocol II obligations with respect to use of antipersonnel mines by non-state armed groups?
- On production, can Pakistan confirm that it is now producing for the first time a remotely-delivered antipersonnel mines system with self-destruct and self-deactivating features and provide any details?
- Can India confirm that it is actively producing detectable M14s and provide any details?
- Landmine Monitor has received information that Chinese production facilities are no longer active due to a variety of factors. Can they confirm or deny this?
- The Republic of Korea has reported to Landmine Monitor that the private company Hanwha has produced self-destructing KM-74 antipersonnel mines the last two years. Can it share details with States Parties?
Let me close by congratulating the United States of America and Israel for extending their comprehensive export moratoria and asking others to provide updates on the status of their export policies and laws.
Thank you, Mr. President.
