Mine ban policy overview

Policy

The Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. 

In October 2009, in explaining its decision to abstain on the annual pro-ban UN General Assembly resolution, Libya said that the treaty did not address the mine problem in an objective fashion, did not take into account the concerns of a large number of UN member states, and prohibited the use of mines by the most impoverished countries, which were subject to occupation and aggression. It urged a review of the treaty and a reconsideration of its text, calling for a ban on the laying of mines in the territories of third countries, but allowing poor countries to use mines to defend their borders. It called for countries to withdraw from the treaty if such changes were not made.^[1]

Libya also called for revision of the treaty in November 2008, and said that a key reason it has not joined is because the treaty does not require states that have planted mines in the past to pay for the clearance and compensate for damages.^[2]

Libya has also stated that it would require too much money and human resources to fulfill the treaty’s clearance obligations. More generally, it has said that it has the legal right to defend itself and to protect the security of its vast borders, sometimes declaring that mines are important obstacles to infiltration and illegal immigration.^[3]

Libya has stated that it has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines, and that it no longer has a stockpile.^[4] Libya imported mines from the former Soviet Union, including POMZ-2 and POMZ-2M antipersonnel fragmentation mines, as well as from the former Yugoslavia, including PMA-3 blast mines.^[5] Libya is not known to have used antipersonnel mines since its war with Chad from 1980–1987.

Libya is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Policy

The Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It has not made a clear statement of its cluster munition policy.

Libya did not participate in any of the international preparatory meetings to develop the text of the convention, but did attend two regional conferences promoting it and endorsed declarations supporting the ban convention.[1] Libya chose to attend the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008 only as an observer, and thus did not join the 107 full participants in adopting the convention.

Libya attended the Africa Regional Conference on the Universalization and Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Pretoria, South Africa in March 2010, but did not attend the International Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Santiago, Chile in June 2010.

Libya is not a party to the Mine Ban Treaty or the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Libya has used cluster munitions in the past and is believed to possess a stockpile, although the current status and composition of the stockpile are unknown.  Libya is not thought to have produced or exported cluster munitions.

Libyan forces used aerial cluster bombs, likely RBK bombs of Soviet/Russian origin, containing AO-1SCh and PTAB-2.5 submunitions at various locations during its intervention in Chad during the 1986–1987 conflict.[2] Jane’s Information Group lists Libya as possessing KMG-U dispensers (which deploy submunitions) and RBK-500 aerial cluster bombs, again presumably of Soviet/Russian origin.[3]

On 27 November 2009, a commercial oil company survey crew in Libya found remnants of a German World War II-era “butterfly bomb” (an early version of a cluster bomb).  Subsequently, an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) expert identified six more such cluster munition remnants.[4]

On 25 March 1986, United States Navy aircraft attacked Libyan ships using Mk-20 Rockeye cluster bombs in the Gulf of Sidra. On the night of 14–15April 1986, US Navy aircraft dropped 60 Rockeye bombs on the airfield at Benina.[5]

Contamination and Impact

Mines

Libya is contaminated with mines as a result of fighting during World War II in North Africa, as well as conflicts with Egypt in 1977 and Chad in 1980–1987. The borders with Chad, Egypt, and Tunisia are said to be affected by mines, as are areas in the north and south of the country. The precise extent and impact of the problem are, however, not known as no nationwide survey has been conducted.^[1]

Cluster munition remnants

Contamination may include cluster munition remnants.^[2] On 27 November 2009, a German World War II-era “butterfly bomb” was found by an oil company survey crew in Libya. Subsequent survey by an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) expert identified six more such unexploded submunitions.^[3]

Other explosive remnants of war

Armed conflicts dating back to World War II have also resulted in significant quantities of other explosive remnants of war (ERW), mainly UXO. Again, the precise extent and impact of the problem are not known.

Mine Action Program

Key institutions and operators

Libya does not yet have a fully fledged mine action program, despite the announcement in 2005 of a “national campaign” to remove landmines along the borders with Egypt and Chad and a conference in November 2008, which sought to support efforts towards establishing a civilian mine action program.^[4]

There is not yet a fully functioning national mine action authority or mine action center, although a Libyan organization, the Libyan Demining Association (LDA, formerly known as the Anti-Mines Association), claims to fulfill some of the roles of a mine action center.^[5] A National Program for Demining and Land Reclamation, established by the General People’s Committee and headed by the Minister of International Cooperation, is said to be the institution authorized to prepare general plans and policies for mine action in Libya.^[6]

UNDP Libya announced a mine action capacity building project for calendar year 2009. The aims of the project were to “develop and modernize the national structures and standards of the Libyan Government and the Anti-Mines Association already in place in order to better address the risk posed by landmines and ERW in Libya.”^[7] It was reported that no chief technical advisor was hired, as planned, during 2009.^[8]

Land Release

The Ministry of Defense and the Civil Protection Unit, located within the Ministry of Interior and Justice, each have responsibilities for various aspects of mine action. The Ministry of Defense is reported to clear areas serving either a military or civilian development purpose. In previous years, the Civil Protection Unit is said to have carried out clearance in affected communities.^[9]

Libya has not reported on land release in 2009 or in previous years.

Casualties

Casualties in 2009

In 2009, Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor identified 12 casualties from a victim-activated mine, an increase from the three identified in 2008. All casualties occurred in the same incident when a bus carrying 30 Gambians drove over a landmine on the Libyan side of the border with Niger. Seven Gambians were killed and five were injured;  at least nine of the casualties were young males; details about the other three casualties were unknown.^[1]

It is likely that there were additional unidentified mine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties since there is no public data collection mechanism and little media coverage of casualties. In 2009, recent hospital records indicated that there were hundreds of civilian casualties and deaths resulting from ERW and there were unconfirmed reports of casualties from mines near Libya’s border with Chad.^[2]

The total number of mine/ERW casualties in Libya is not known. The Libyan Demining Association (LDA)^[3] and the Libyan Civil Defense Department had registered 1,852 mine casualties by the end of 2006. Previous estimates were approximately 12,000, with the Libyan police reporting 11,845 casualties between 1940 and 1995 (6,749 killed and 5,096 injured) and the Libyan Jihad Center for Historical Studies reporting 12,258 (3,874 killed and 8,384 injured) between 1952 and 1975.^[4]

Victim Assistance

Although the total number of survivors is believed to be several thousand, Libya is not known to have any specialized services or facilities for mine/ERW survivors and very few in general for persons with disabilities.

A May 2008 Letter of Intent between the LDA and UNDP stipulated that support be provided to initiatives rehabilitating mine survivors.^[5] Throughout 2009, this mine action program, which was to include the creation of a victim surveillance system among other activities, was in the “preparatory phase.”^[6] However, there was no mention of victim assistance in the UNDP—Libya Mine Action project description for 2009.^[7]

Victim assistance coordination^[8]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

No changes were identified in the overall availability and quality of services or assistance to mine/ERW survivors in 2009. The only area where some change was noted was in the level of international support for victim assistance.

On 31 December 2008, the Italian Directorate for Development Cooperation ended eight years of support to the Benghazi Rehabilitation Center, one of the main physical rehabilitation centers in Libya.^[9] In 2009, Italy ratified a friendship agreement with Libya in which it committed support for victim assistance compensation claims of survivors or families of those killed by mines.^[10] Libya requested that the United Kingdom also pay compensation for the casualties caused by mines left behind during World War II.^[11]

The rights of persons with disabilities are protected under Libyan law and they are provided with a pension and other forms of care.^[12] Libya signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 1 May 2008 but has not ratified it as of 25 May 2010.