Mine ban policy overview

Policy

Myanmar[1] has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. Myanmar was one of 18 countries that abstained from voting on UN General Assembly Resolution 64/56 on 2 December 2009, which called for universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty.  It has abstained on similar annual resolutions since 1997. 

Myanmar did not attend as an observer the Second Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in Cartagena, Colombia in November–December 2009. It has not attended an annual Meeting of States Parties or an intersessional Standing Committee meeting since 2003, though it did take part in the Bangkok Workshop on Achieving a Mine-Free South East Asia in April 2009.[2]

In March 2010, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar (UN Special Rapporteur) encouraged the ruling authorities in Myanmar to accede to the Mine Ban Treaty and to seek international assistance in order to begin demining efforts and provide support to victims of landmines. The UN Special Rapporteur cited the use of antipersonnel mines as a serious threat to the lives of ordinary people in Myanmar and urged government forces and all armed groups stop use of antipersonnel mines without delay.[3]

In April 2010, the main opposition political party—the National League for Democracy—issued a two-page statement calling for a ban on landmine use in the country.[4] The call for a mine ban was endorsed by the Committee Representing the People’s Parliament, made up of elected parliamentarians who were forbidden by the military to form a government in 1990.[5]

The Halt Mine Use in Burma campaign, which was launched by the ICBL in 2003, distributed 1,400 copies of the Burmese-language translation of the Myanmar chapter of Landmine Monitor Report 2009 and copies of a map of townships with identified landmine contamination.

Myanmar is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

State use, production, stockpiling, and transfer

The Myanmar Army (Tatmadaw) has used antipersonnel mines extensively throughout the long-running civil war. It appears that the army’s use of mines decreased significantly during 2009 and 2010, as the level of conflict with the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) waned, and the army withdrew from many frontline bases where it previously laid mines.  In one specific report of army use, in June 2009, Light Infantry Battalions 372 and 373 reportedly laid antipersonnel mines in the Saw Wa Der area, Taungoo district, in northern Karen (Kayin) state, which resulted in the death of a 20-year-old villager.[6]

Myanmar Defense Products Industries (Ka Pa Sa), a state enterprise at Ngyaung Chay Dauk in western Pegu (Bago) division, produces fragmentation and blast antipersonnel mines, including a non-detectable variety.[7] Authorities in Myanmar have not provided any information on the types and quantities of stockpiled antipersonnel mines. Landmine Monitor has previously reported that, in addition to domestic production, Myanmar has obtained and used antipersonnel mines of Chinese, Indian, Italian, Soviet, United States, and unidentified manufacture.[8] Myanmar is not known to have exported antipersonnel mines.[9]

Non-state armed groups 

Many ethnic rebel organizations exist in Myanmar. At least 17 non-state armed groups (NSAGs) have used antipersonnel mines since 1999, however some of these groups have ceased to exist or no longer use mines.

Some armed groups have unilaterally renounced the use of antipersonnel mines by signing the Deed of Commitment administered by the Swiss NGO Geneva Call.[10] In February 2010, Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor was informed by Colonel Hkun Okkar that the Pa’O People’s Liberation Organization’s (PPLO) signature to the Deed of Commitment in April 2007 was null and void, following the merger of the PPLO with other Pa’O factions to form the Pa’O National Liberation Organization (PNLO). He stated that since the PNLO was involved in armed struggle it would be difficult for it to agree to the Deed of Commitment, and that it had been easier for the PPLO as a political organization. He acknowledged the PNLO had placed landmines around its frontline military base.[11] 

Geneva Call organized three educational meetings in February, May, and July 2009 through the Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB) on international humanitarian law, the mine ban, and humanitarian mine action. Attendees were from DAB member organizations. In addition, the DAB, with the support of Geneva Call, produced five multi-language educational brochures on landmines.[12] Geneva Call held two educational meetings on the same topics for the political and military leadership of the New Mon State Party’s political and military leadership in August 2009 and March 2010.[13] In April 2010, Geneva Call organized a workshop for representatives of different Karen National Union/KNLA districts and battalions on all aspects of mine action.[14]

Non-state armed group use

Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor has been told by knowledgeable sources that the Kachin Independence Organization/Army, which has a non-hostility pact with the government, has started laying antipersonnel landmines for the first time since 1991.  Sources indicate that at least some of the newly mined areas have been marked, but that civilian and animal casualties have occurred.[15]

The new mine-laying is apparently in anticipation of possible renewed armed conflict as a result of the military junta’s announcement in April 2009 that armed groups which have non-hostility pacts with the ruling authorities and operate in Special Military Areas would be required to convert their militias into border guard forces under the command of the Myanmar Army.[16]  It is possible that other groups in Special Military Areas, some of which are known to possess mines, may lay new defensive minefields if pressure to bring their militias under the control of the army increases.

Conflict—especially mine warfare—between  two Karen rebel groups, the KNLA and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), has increased since mid-2009. As noted above, conflict between the Myanmar Army and KNLA decreased, and the Myanmar Army reportedly abandoned at least 40 frontline bases in Karen (Kayin) state, many of which remain mined.[17]

According to the Free Burma Rangers (FBR), in December 2009 in Thandaung township, the KNLA laid mines on the road between the army camp at Kaw They Der (near the junction of Taungoo-Mawchi and Taungoo-Busakee roads) and the camp to the east at Tha Eh Hta.  The KNLA subsequently warned villagers not walk on the road. In January 2010, in order to avoid the mined road, the army forced villagers to carry loads from one camp to the other on a little used trail.[18]

According to the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), prior to June 2009, in Hlaingbwe township, the KNLA Seventh Brigade laid mines around three of their main camps, as well as around the Ler Per Her internally displaced persons site. These mines were not removed when the KNLA withdrew from the camps in mid-June 2009.[19]

Since then, the KNLA has continued laying mines in an effort to kill or injure DKBA and army troops. News reports in 2009 and early 2010 from the KNLA’s Karen Information Center cited some 300 mine casualties, mostly DKBA combatants who became casualties from KNLA mines.[20]

According to a news article, in October 2009, KNLA Brigadier General Hsar Gay acknowledged that KNLA forces were using Claymore-type mines, bounding mines, and stake mines against the DKBA. He maintained that the weapons were all detonated at the time of engagement, and proved no danger to the civilian population. “They are triggered either by remote control, electric trigger or a tripwire and, provided strict technical specifications are followed, can be manufactured anywhere. They represent the premium defensive weapons as small demolition squads withdraw under fire, or a lethal ambush weapon, where a handful of men can hit entire enemy columns without expending ammunition.”  He continued, “Our brigades are using special warfare tactics with great success, particularly multiple Claymore and booby trap withdrawals, that’s why the [State Peace and Development Council] SPDC casualty figures are so high in those brigades.”[21]

According to the KHRG, in Myawaddy township, Karen (Kayin) state, on 2 January 2010, DKBA Company Commander Kyaw Bloh reportedly called a meeting with villagers from Htee Wah Blaw, Htee Law Thay, Paw Baw Koh, and P’Naw Klae Kee and announced that superior DKBA officers had ordered him to plant more landmines in the area. He told the villagers to ask permission from him if they wished to leave their village, and stated that the DKBA would begin laying new mines on 7 January 2010.[22]

In western Hpa-an township on 7 October 2009, a DKBA unit under Commander Nel Nel laid mines on a path near P’nwet Pu.   From May to June 2009, and again after September 2009, the DKBA laid mines in rural areas of southern Hpapun township, which killed a 50-year-old villager who was returning from tending cattle.[23]  A former DKBA soldier interviewed by the KHRG in April 2009 stated that his unit had planted mines near Htee Bper village which later killed two villagers and injured one.[24]

In January 2009, in western Hpa-an township, DKBA units commanded by Than Htun planted landmines around Bpyoh, Meh Theh, Ta Bpaw, and Gkah Meh villages, units commanded by Maung Bar Chah planted landmines around Pya Ghaw, Gkroo See, Maw Gka Lay and Kyaw Gkay Kee villages, and units commanded by Maung Nyoh planted landmines in areas around Htee Poe Neh, Bpaw T’Bproo, Ler Kheh Khaw, and Gkwee T’Kaw villages. The mines were reportedly laid to protect a bridge being constructed by the DKBA from attack by the KNLA.  As of June 2009, 30 cattle had been killed due to landmines, but no villagers.[25]

There have been reports in 2009 and 2010 of use of antivehicle mines by both the KNLA and the United Wa State Army.[26] 

Non-state armed group production, transfer, and stockpiling

The KNLA, DKBA, Karenni Army, and the United Wa State Army have produced blast and fragmentation mines. Some also make Claymore-type directional fragmentation mines, mines with antihandling fuzes, and explosive booby-traps. Armed groups in Myanmar have also acquired mines by lifting armymines from the ground, seizing Myanmar Army stocks, and from the clandestine arms market. Although some former combatants have non-hostility pacts with the ruling authorities, they have not disarmed and some still possess antipersonnel mines.[27]

Landmine Monitor Report 2009, for the first time, identified the presence of US-made M26 bounding antipersonnel mines in Myanmar, but could not identify the source or the user.[28]  In 2010, a confidential source indicated that the KNLA had received many M26 mines from the Royal Thai Army in the past, before Thailand joined the Mine Ban Treaty.

The Union of Myanmar[1] has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Myanmar’s only participation in the diplomatic Oslo Process in 2007 and 2008 that produced the convention was at the the South East Asia Regional Conference in Xiengkhuang, Lao PDR in October 2008. The conference was aimed at promoting signature to the convention at the Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference in Oslo in December 2008.

More recently, Myanmar participated in the Regional Conference on the Promotion and Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Bali, Indonesia in November 2009.  Representatives from both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense attended.

At that meeting, Myanmar made its first notable public statement on cluster munitions. The Foreign Affairs official said the convention “is young but the threat is real,” and stated that although Myanmar had “not yet signed” the convention, “Myanmar criticizes the use of such weapons with indiscriminate area effect and which can cause humanitarian consequences.”[2]

The official went on to say, “Myanmar is currently paying attention in the study of this Treaty and its articles bearing in mind the national interests, so that necessary inputs for decision making would be sufficient, thus paving a path for the process of considerations and consultations among the relevant government agencies before the decision for signature or ratification.”[3]

He said that due to “common objectives...it is necessary for Myanmar to continue to participate in such future conferences” on the convention, and that “Myanmar congratulates the global and regional efforts in the prevention of atrocities caused by the use of cluster munitions and Myanmar stands ready to cooperate in ways possible… The momentum of this process would not have reached this level without the role of civil society and advocacy groups, our delegation congratulates them.”[4]

Myanmar did not subsequently attend the International Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Santiago, Chile in June 2010.

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

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

In Bali, Myanmar also stated, “We do not use cluster munitions, develop, produce, otherwise acquire, retain or transfer to anyone, directly or indirectly, nor assist, encourage or induce anyone to engage in any activity prohibited under this Convention.”[5]

Contamination and Impact

Mines

Landmines are a major threat in some areas of eastern Myanmar. Based on available information, mines are believed to be concentrated on its borders with Bangladesh and Thailand, and in eastern parts of the country as a result of post-independence struggles for autonomy by ethnic minorities. Some 33 townships in Chin, Kachin, Karen (Kayin), Karenni (Kayah), Mon, Rakhine, and Shan states, as well as in Pegu (Bago) and Tenasserim (Tanintharyi) divisions[1] suffer from some degree of mine contamination, primarily from antipersonnel mines. Karen (Kayin) state and Pegu (Bago) division are suspected to contain the heaviest mine contamination and have the highest number of recorded victims.

No estimate exists of the extent of contamination, but Landmine Monitor identified suspected hazardous areas (SHAs) in the following townships through early 2009: every township in Karenni (Kayah) state: Bawlakhe, Demoso, Hpasawng, Hpruso, Loikaw, Mese, Shadaw; every township in Karen (Kayin) state: Hlaingbwe, Hpa-an, Hpapun, Kawkareik, Kyain Seikgyi, Myawaddy and Thandaung; Momauk township of Kachin state; Thanbyuzayat, Thaton, and Ye townships in Mon state; Kyaukkyi, Shwekyin and Tantabin townships in Pegu (Bago) division; Maungdaw township in Rakhine state; Hsihseng, Langkho, Mongpan, Mawkmai, Namhsan and Tachileik townships in Shan state; and Bokpyin, Dawei, Tanintharyi, Thayetchaung and Yebyu townships of Tenasserim (Tanintharyi) division. Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor has subsequently identified previously unknown SHAs in townships on the Indian border of Chin state.[2]

Cluster munition remnants and other explosive remnants of war

Myanmar is also affected by explosive remnants of war (ERW), including mortars, grenades, artillery and ordnance used in World War II, but no information is available on the extent or location of such contamination.[3] There have been no reports of cluster munition remnants.

Mine Action Program

Despite a significant mine threat, Myanmar has no humanitarian mine action program although there were more positive signs in early 2010. In late 2009, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) created a landmines sub-group of its protection working group.[4]

The Ministry for Progress of the Border Areas and National Races and Development Affairs is said to have informed the UN that it is aware of a mine problem in the country and has asked for specific proposals regarding risk education (RE). The sub-group on landmines will focus on creating an RE program and identify gaps in medical and rehabilitation provision for survivors and fill them. The group is also exploring whether it will be feasible to begin humanitarian mine clearance in any area of the country.[5]

Mine clearance in 2009

Sporadic military and village demining have been reported over the past few years. In early 2009, the Free Burma Rangers (FBR),[6] provided Landmine Monitor with photographs of soldiers using probes to manually clear a path between two military camps in Hpapun township in January 2009.[7]

In February 2010, the FBR reported undertaking mine clearance in villages near the border of Kyaukkyi and Hpapun townships, removing a small number of minimum-metal M14 antipersonnel mines on up to eight occasions each year.[8] The FBR include a course on mine identification and emergency clearance procedures for their relief teams. Mines encountered on their missions have either been removed by FBR personnel, who turn them over to anti-junta militia, or are removed by militia members.[9]

“Atrocity demining”[10]

In March 2010, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar described “reports that civilians are forced by the military to clear brush in suspected mined areas or to serve as porters for the military in areas where there is a mine hazard. According to sources, civilians have been ordered to remove mines without training or protective equipment or to repair fences of mined areas, which have caused serious casualties.”[11]

On one occasion during December 2009, villagers from Gamndoe, Hoki, Khupyang, Khupyangdoe, and Thaeki in Thandaung township are said to have been obliged to walk in front of troops to clear the road between Thandaung and Baw Ga Li. This is said to have been a requirement of these villages annually for the past few years.[12]

In February 2010, a villager from the area near Baw Ga Li explained to Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor how they cleared mines when ordered by the military to do so. They said they took a five-foot-long piece of bamboo and fastened two curved metal tines (a series of projecting sharp points) to the end of the pole and use it to scratch the ground until wires were exposed, they then cut one of the wires, lifted the device and pitched it to the side of the road. They said they learned this method from watching soldiers do it.[13]

In December 2009, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) laid antipersonnel mines in Thandaung township on a road between Tatmadaw (government army camps) at Kaw They Der (near the junction of Taungoo-Mawchi and Taungoo-Busakee roads) and to the east at Tha Eh Hta. The KNLA warned villagers in the area that if forced to porter for the military they should refuse to do so unless the military walked in front. In late December, villagers from Gkaw Ko Koh, Gkaw Thay Der, Ler Koh, Gklay Soh Kee, and Wa Thoh Koh were ordered to porter rations to the Tha Eh Hta camp, but refused to do so. The military then took them through the jungle on a little used track using them as shields against KNLA attack.[14]

The Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) said it had received reports of the following incidents in 2009:

·         In early 2009, residents of southeast Hpapun township stated that they were forced to serve as porters and human minesweepers for army patrols.[15]

·         Several families of Htee Bper village, T’Moh village track, eastern Hlaingbwe township, told the KRHG in May 2009 the military had forced them to build their camps and fences, cut bamboo and tree posts, and carry rations, and that they fled because they were afraid of stepping on landmines.

·         On 4 September 2009, Tatmadaw soldiers from Light Infantry Battalions #60 and #351 entered Maw Bweh village, eastern Hlaingbwe township and seized four villagers and ordered them to clear landmines for the soldiers.

·         Two men who escaped to the KHRG said that they had been ordered to act as porters and clear mines by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) in Myawaddy township in October 2009.

·         Between October 2009 and January 2010, residents of Baw Ga Li and the surrounding villages in Thandaung township reported that car and truck drivers were frequently ordered to drive ahead of military vehicles, in case the KNLA had laid landmines on the road.

·         In November 2009 villagers in Htwee Thee Auh, northern Hpapun township, were ordered by the commander of Light Infantry Battalion #541, Myo Maw Maw, to clear landmines, which led to the death of two villagers as a result of mine explosions.

Allegations of forced labor for mine clearance were also made against the DKBA by a Buddhist Karen resident of Poe Thweki village in southeast Hpapun township who said he was forced by the commander Pah Na De DKBA 666 and 999 units to lay landmines in the frontline with the DKBA soldiers for an unspecified period until he escaped in May 2009.[16]

Demining by non-state armed groups

Non-state armed groups (NSAGs) reportedly carry out ad hoc demining. A KHRG researcher accompanying a Karen National Defense Organization militia member in September 2009 observed him removing two mines laid directly in front of the primary school and another next to the path leading to the school in southern Hpapun township.[17]

The Chin National Front/Army (CNF/A) reported that after signing Geneva Call’s Deed of Commitment it cleared and destroyed 1,600–1,800 mines from three areas, which it had previously planted along the border between Myanmar and India. The CNF/A gave details of the amount of stockpiled components (TNT, gelatin sticks, detonators, and bamboo casings) that it destroyed.[18]

Other Risk Reduction Measures

Mine/ERW RE is inadequate and often non-existent in areas with reported casualties. Limited activities are carried out in Karen (Kayin) state by the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People, in Tenasserim (Tanintharyi) division by the Karen Department of Health and Welfare, and in Karenni (Kayah) state by the Karenni Social Welfare and Development Centre.[19] The CNF/A has also reported conducting RE in areas where it operates.[20]

There are no government-run RE activities, although “beware mines” signs have been placed by authorities in some parts of the country.[21]

Backpack Health Worker Teams states that it provides RE through its general health education program but has not provided any figures of the number of beneficiaries or data on where they have provided it.[22]

Casualties[1]

Casualties in 2009

In 2009, there were at least 262 new mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties in Myanmar based on state and independent media reports and information provided by NGOs and other organizations. Of the total, 259 casualties were civilians. There were insufficient details to distinguish trends. In 2008, at least 213 civilian casualties (30 killed and 183 injured) were identified through similar sources.

Due to the lack of systematic data collection and varying sources of annual data, reporting does not reflect the full extent of mine/ERW incidents and casualties in the country. In 2009 the UN noted that many casualties remained unreported.[2]

No demining accidents were reported in 2009. At least two civilian casualties were reported as having been killed during “atrocity” demining—the use of forced labor for mine clearance—in 2009.[3]

In 2009, four civilian casualties occurred in areas where refugees were being forced to return from Thailand to Myanmar.[4]

The reported number of mine/ERW casualties in 2009 was the lowest annual total since 2004.[5] However, due to limited available data, only three military casualties were identified in 2009 as compared to the 508 reported in 2008. Unprecedented levels of information on military casualties received in that year brought the total number of annual mine/ERW casualties to 721 (89 killed and 632 injured). Prior to 2008, no State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) reports of military casualties had been available.[6]

Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor has identified at least 2,587 (183 killed, 2,207 injured, and 197 unknown) casualties between 1999 and the end of 2009.

Victim Assistance

The total number of mine/ERW survivors in Myanmar is unknown, but at least 2,207 survivors have been identified since 1999.[7] No assessment of survivor needs has been carried out in Myanmar. The Ministry of Health does not record injuries due to mines/ERW separate from other traumatic injuries.[8]

Victim assistance coordination

Myanmar does not have a victim assistance program or strategy. The Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement is responsible for disability issues and facilitates some socio-economic and rehabilitation services.[9] No inclusion of survivors in planning victim assistance activities was reported in 2009.

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Assistance to mine/ERW survivors and persons with disabilities in Myanmar was marginal due to many years of neglect of healthcare services by the ruling authorities. However physical rehabilitation, orthopedic surgery, and prosthetics were available to some mine/ERW survivors through rehabilitation centers in 2009, both within Myanmar and in Thailand near the border.[10]

Victim assistance activities in 2009[11]

No changes to the quality of services provided by the government were reported. The New Light of Myanmar carried several reports of assistance to new mine/ERW casualties in 2009, although the type of assistance was not mentioned.[12] In 2009, government restrictions imposed on the ICRC prevented it from carrying out assistance activities for civilians in violence-affected areas along the Myanmar-Thailand border.[13] Some UN agencies and their field offices in Myanmar reportedly provided assistance to mine/ERW survivors on a case-by-case basis in 2009,[14] but statistics were not available.

The number of patients coming independently to access services at the Hpa-an Orthopaedic Rehabilitation Centre, located in the Myanmar’s most mine-affected area, was 10% higher than in 2008. This was due to the decreased availability of other prosthetic services. However in 2009, the center’s prosthetic output for mine/ERW survivors decreased by almost 20% from 2008.[15]

The government did not provide social protection for private sector workers who became disabled. However veterans with disabilities received benefits on a priority basis and non-military persons with permanent disabilities were also entitled to a benefit payment. There was little state funding for services to assist persons with disabilities. Myanmar had no laws to ensure the rights of persons with disabilities.[16]

As of June 2010, Myanmar had not signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Services in Thailand

In Thailand, assistance to mine/ERW survivors from Myanmar was primarily provided at clinics in refugee camps and public district hospitals in the border provinces with Myanmar.

Victim assistance activities on Thai-Myanmar Border for Myanmar nationals in 2009[17]

In 2008, Spain and Denmark contributed to risk education and victim assistance in Myanmar. In 2009, Spain contributed €559,306 (US$779,393) to risk education and victim assistance.[1]

International contributions: 2009

Summary of contributions: 2005–2009[2]

N/R= Not reported