Poland

Last Updated: 05 January 2013

Mine Ban Policy

Mine ban policy overview

Mine Ban Treaty status

Ratification process concluded in December 2012

Pro-mine ban UNGA voting record

Voted in favor of UNGA Resolution 67/32 in December 2012, as in all previous years

Participation in Mine Ban Treaty meetings

Attended as an observer the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in May 2012 and the Twelfth Meeting of States Parties in December 2012

Key developments

Ratification process concluded; more stockpiles have been destroyed bringing the total amount from 200,013 to 13,585 antipersonnel mines

Policy

The Republic of Poland signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and in December 2012 concluded its domestic ratification process. As of 20 December 2012, Poland’s instrument of ratification had not yet been deposited with the UN. Poland’s policy on ratifying the treaty has changed over the years. In 2004, Poland’s goal was to ratify the treaty as early as 2006,[1] but in 2007 it was forecasting a delay of up until 2015 to complete ratification as it continued to develop alternatives to antipersonnel mines.[2] In 2009, Poland again changed course after its Council of Ministers agreed to a policy that set 2012 as the date of ratification.[3]

The draft ratification bill was approved by the Parliament on 10 November 2012,[4] approved by the President on 21 November 2012, and published in the National Gazette on 22 November 2012. The bill entered into force on 6 December 2012, 14 days after being published in the National Gazette.[5] In December 2012, Poland’s Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs attended the Twelfth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva, Switzerland, and announced the President signed the ratification bill. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the instrument of ratification would be deposited with the UN by the end of 2012.[6]  

The ratification bill includes a declaration in regard to interpretation of “assistance” in Article 1 of the convention. According to the declaration, “the mere participation in the planning or execution of operations, exercises or other military activity by the Polish Armed Forces, or individual Polish nationals, conducted in combination with the armed forces of states not party to the [Convention], which engage in activity prohibited under that Convention, is not, by itself, assistance, encouragement or inducement for the purposes of Article 1, paragraph (c) of the Convention.”[7]

The rationale document that accompanies the draft ratification bill explained how Poland plans to comply with various provisions of the convention. It specifies that requirements under the convention’s Article 9 will be addressed by Article 121 of the Penal Code which addresses relevant prohibitions and penal sanctions. The rationale also states that to fulfill obligations under Article 6 (International Cooperation and Assistance), relevant resources will be allocated annually in the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[8] 

Poland submitted its tenth voluntary Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report in 2012, which was undated but covered calendar year 2011.[9] The report contained information on Poland’s stockpiled antipersonnel mines and their destruction, and its international clearance activities.[10]

Poland is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines. Poland submitted an annual report in accordance with the protocol’s Article 13 in March 2012.[11] Poland ratified CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war in May 2011.

Production, transfer, use, stockpiling, and destruction

Since signing the Mine Ban Treaty in 1997, Poland has regularly stated that it does not produce, export, or use antipersonnel mines. In March 2006, Poland told the Monitor that current military doctrine does not foresee the use of antipersonnel mines, including in joint military operations or exercises with other states.[12]

In the past, Poland produced three types of antipersonnel mines and imported a fourth type. Poland exported antipersonnel mines until 1993. An export moratorium in 1995 was made permanent by cabinet decree on 7 April 1998, which was then superseded by a law adopted in September 2002.[13]

Poland began destroying its stockpile of more than one million antipersonnel mines in 2003.[14] In 2008, it destroyed 651,117 mines, or two-thirds of its stockpile.[15] This was a much more rapid destruction of stockpiles than previously planned.[16] Poland further reduced its stockpile to 200,013 mines in 2009.[17] No further reduction took place in 2010; however, according to a decision by the Minister of National Defense, Poland’s stockpiled antipersonnel mines are “not to be considered a mean[s] of warfare starting from the beginning of 2011.”[18] In 2011, Poland reduced its stockpiled to a total of 13,585 antipersonnel mines.[19] As part of its search for alternatives to mines, in 2008 Poland started a research project “aimed at the development of a modern and comprehensive system of engineering obstacles (barriers)” which might include “explosive devices controlled by an operator.” Poland spent PLN450,000 (US$189,878) on this project in 2008,[20] an additional PLN655,000 ($212,213) in 2009,[21] and a further €286,000 ($379,265) in 2010.[22] As of June 2011, the project was reported to be 60% completed.[23]

In May 2012, the Ministry of Defense said that Poland does not intend to retain any mines for research and training purposes.[24] Previously, Poland stated it planned to retain about 5,000 antipersonnel mines for training purposes.[25] In 2009, Poland used 326 empty antipersonnel mine casings to train demining squads for peacekeeping and stabilization missions,[26] up from 295 casings used in 2008,[27] and 144 in 2007.[28] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Monitor that imitation mine casings were used for training in 2010.[29]

Poland has acknowledged that it possesses Claymore-type directional fragmentation mines, and said that these are “meant exclusively for mine-controlled detonation…[which] excludes the possibility of accidental detonation.” The MON-100 is described in Poland’s first Article 7 report as a “[d]irectional fragmentation mine, if equipped with a MUW fuse attached to a tripwire.”[30]

 



[1] For details on the evolution of Polish policy since 1997, and especially from 2004 to 2007, see Landmine Monitor Report 2007, pp. 765–767.

[2] Letter from Janusz Stanczyk, Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Jody Williams, ICBL Ambassador, 26 January 2007. The Ministry of National Defense made an assessment that replacing antipersonnel mines with effective alternatives would require between eight and 13 years and cost more than PLN1 billion.

[3] See Council of Ministers, “Information on the state of readiness of the Council of Ministers to bind the Republic of Poland by the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction,” Protocol of Decisions, No. 7/2009, Section 8, subsection 16, 17 February 2009. For additional details, see Landmine Monitor Report 2009, pp. 865–866.

[4] Parliament of the Republic of Poland, 10 November 2012, http://www.sejm.gov.pl/Sejm7.nsf/PrzebiegProc.xsp?nr=508; and email from Monika Izydorczyk, Chief Expert, Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 November  2012.

[5] Email from Monika Izydorczyk, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 26 November  2012; and “Ustawa z dnia 10 października 2012 r. o ratyfikacji Konwencji o zakazie użycia, składowania, produkcji i przekazywania min przeciwpiechotnych oraz o ich zniszczeniu, sporządzonej w Oslo dnia 18 września 1997 r” (“The Act of 10 October 2012 on the ratification of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, signed in Oslo on 18 September 1997”), National Gazette, 22 November 2012, http://www.dziennikustaw.gov.pl/du/2012/1286/1.

[6]  Statement of Poland, Mine Ban Treaty Twelfth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 3 December 2012; and email from Lukasz Zielinski, Counselor, Permanent Mission of Poland to the UN, 18 December 2012. 

[7] Draft Ratification Bill, Parliament of the Republic of Poland, 21 June 2012, http://www.sejm.gov.pl/Sejm7.nsf/PrzebiegProc.xsp?nr=508.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Poland submitted previous voluntary Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 reports in 2011 (for calendar year 2010), 2010 (for calendar year 2009), in 2009 (for calendar year 2008), and on 14 April 2008, 6 April 2007, 3 May 2006, 11 May 2005, 12 May 2004, and 5 March 2003.

[10] Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2009), Forms B and J. All other forms were marked unchanged or not applicable.

[11] CCW Amended Protocol II Article 13 Report, 23 March 2012.

[12] Letter from Tadeusz Chomicki, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 22 March 2006. However, in January 2007 Poland said that it planned to install self-destruct or self-neutralization mechanisms on some antipersonnel mines. It has not referred to such plans since that time. In March 2008, officials stated that Poland does not rely on antipersonnel mines for the defense of its national territory or its bases abroad. See Landmine Monitor Report 2009, p. 867.

[13] “Ordinance of the Council of Minister of August 20, 2002 concerning the imposition of prohibition and restriction on transfer of goods and strategic importance for the state security,” Journal of Laws, 6 September 2002.

[14] Poland initially reported 1,055,971 stockpiled antipersonnel mines at the end of 2002. During 2003, it destroyed 58,291 POMZ-2(2M) mines due to expiration of shelf life. It destroyed another 12,990 stockpiled mines in 2005, again because their life cycle had expired.

[15] Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2008), Form B.

[16] In January and April 2007, Poland stated that it will gradually, over the next nine to 10 years, dismantle its stockpile of antipersonnel mines, destroying about 100,000 mines each year. According to a schedule made by the General Staff in 2007, Poland would disassemble about 125,000 mines each year from 2008 to 2010, and about 115,000 mines each year from 2011 to 2015. The Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 report submitted in 2008 stated that beginning in 2008 a total of 750,000 PMD-6 and POMZ-2(2M) mines will “be withdrawn from service and destroyed within 3–4 years.” Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Report, Form F, 14 April 2008. See also, Landmine Monitor Report 2008, p. 791.

[17] Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2009), Form B. The mines destroyed were 105,418 PMD-6 and 28,142 POMZ-2(2M). The remaining stock consisted of 107,082 PMD-6; 59,424 POMZ-2(2M); 13,585 PSM-1; and 19,922 MON-100 mines.

[18] Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2010), Form B.

[19] Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2011), Form B. The dismantled mines were PMD-6, POMZ-2(2M), and MON-100.

[20] Letter from Adam Kobieracki, Director, Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 23 April 2009.

[21] Response to Monitor questionnaire by Adam Kobieracki, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 8 April 2010. Average exchange rate for 2008: PLN1=US$0.42195; for 2009: PLN1=US$0.32399. Oanda, www.oanda.com.

[22] Letter from Tomasz Łękarski, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 June 2011. Average exchange rate for 2010: €1=US$1.3261. US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates (Annual),” 6 January 2011.

[23] Ibid.

[24] Meeting with Col. Jaroslaw Rubaj, Counsellor-Military Adviser, Permanent Mission, Geneva; Jaroslaw Ogrodzinski, Deputy Chief of Non-proliferation and Disarmament Division, Arms Control and Disarmament, Ministry of Defense, 25 May 2012.

[25] Ibid. This has been indicated also in Poland’s latest Article 7 report. See Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2010).

[26] Response to Monitor questionnaire by Adam Kobieracki, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 8 April 2010. He stated that PSM-1, PMD-6, POMZ-2, POMZ-2M, and MON-100 casings were being used for this purpose.

[27] Letter from Adam Kobieracki, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 23 April 2009.

[28] Letter from Grzegorz Poznanski, Deputy Director, Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 14 May 2008.

[29] Letter from Tomasz Łękarski, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 June 2011.

[30] Letter from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 February 2001; and Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Report, Form H2, 5 March 2003. The “MUW” is likely the MUV fuze.


Last Updated: 31 July 2012

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

The Republic of Poland has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

In April 2012, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Monitor that Poland’s position on accession to the Convention on Cluster Munitions remaind unchanged.[1]Poland has repeatedly stated that it is not in a position to join the convention due to “security needs” and because it is not prepared to accept the convention’s “far-going prohibitions.”[2]Poland has said that it considers cluster munitions equipped with self-destruct mechanisms and with a failure rate no higher than 3% to be “legitimate weapons of significant military value.”[3]

Poland has consistently expressed its preference for cluster munitions to be addressed within the framework of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).In April 2012, Poland informed the Monitor that it has not initiated a process to review its position on the Convention on Cluster Munitions following the November 2011 failure by the CCW to adopt a protocol on cluster munitions.[4]

In April 2012, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Monitor that Poland’s position with regard to enacting a national moratorium on the use, production, or transfer of cluster munitions “has not been changed.”[5]Previously, in 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Poland is not in a position to undertake a moratorium on the use, production, acquisition, or transfer of cluster munitions, but repeated that Poland attaches “the utmost importance to the humanitarian aspects of the use of cluster munitions and supports measures designed to reduce civilian losses and suffering.”[6]

Poland participated in the Oslo Process that led to the creation of the convention, but made it clear from the start that it did not support a comprehensive prohibition on cluster munitions and preferred to address the issue within the framework of the CCW.[7] Poland attended both the negotiations of the convention in Dublin in May 2008 and the Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference in Oslo in December 2008 as an observer.[8]

Poland attended the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011 as an observer, but did not make any statements. It did not participate inthe convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2012.

Poland is a signatory to the Mine Ban Treaty and has indicated that it will ratify in 2012.[9]

Convention on Conventional Weapons

Poland is a party to the CCW andit has actively engaged in theCCW work on cluster munitions. At the Fourth Review Conference in November 2011, Poland was one of a small group of countries that strongly supported the conclusion of a draft protocol on cluster munitions. The Review Conference ended without reaching agreement on the draft protocol, thus concluding the CCW’s work on cluster munitions. Poland has called the CCW’s failure to reach consensus on the text “sad news for international security policy.”[10]

Use

Poland has consistently stated that the Polish Armed Forces have never used cluster munitions in combat situations.[11]

In June 2011, Poland confirmed that, as in previous years, cluster munitions were used for training purposes in 2010 and 2011 on training grounds by its land forces as well as the air force.[12]

Stockpiling

Poland acknowledges possessing both air-dropped and surface-launched cluster munitions.[13] Polish Land Forces are equipped with the following types:

·         122mm M-21FK “FENIKS-Z” rockets, containing 42 GKO submunitions, used by BM-21/21M or RM-70/85 multi-barrel rocket launchers.

·         122mm “HESYT-1” artillery projectiles, containing 20 GKO submunitions, used by 2S1 “GOŹDZIK” self-propelled howitzers.

·         98mm “RAD-2” mortar projectiles, containing 12 GKO submunitions, used by M-98 mortars.

The Polish Air Force possesses the following types of cluster munitions:

·         ZK-300 cluster bomb, containing 315 LBOk fragmentation bomblets; both the carrier and bomblets were designed and produced in Poland.

·         BKF expendable unit loader with antitank, incendiary and fragmentation bomblets, imported from the former Soviet Union, for use in KMG-U dispensers on Su-22 aircraft.

·         According to information provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in previous years, the GKO submunitions are typical dual purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICM) that combine an antipersonnel fragmentation with an anti-armor shaped charge. Poland claims that they are an entirely Polish design and are “relatively new and modern” (produced since 2001), incorporating a back-up self-destruction mechanism, which it claims ensures “negligible failure rates of the submunitions in all environmental conditions.”[14]

Poland has stated that its air-delivered cluster munitions which entered into service in the 1980s during the Warsaw Pact Era are “obsolete” and stressed that “the current military Air Force doctrine does not anticipate any use of air-delivered cluster munitions in military operations.” However, Poland acknowledged that the Polish Air Force used cluster munitions in 2009 for training crews of Su-22M4 aircraftin 2010. It confirmed that the Polish Armed Forces are equipped with cluster munitions for the Su-22M4 aircraft and stated, “If this ammunition is not fully used in training purposes, after the exhaustion of services life, they will be subject to disposal and destruction.”[15]

In 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the Armed Forces no longer possessed RBK-250, RBK-275, and RBK-500 type cluster bombs,in view of their age the bombs were withdrawn from use during the 1990s and destroyed.[16]

In October 2010, the Minister of Defense informed Parliament that “the ministry is considering equipping the Polish Armed Forces with precision strike munitions (intelligent munitions), in case a complete ban on cluster munition use is introduced.”[17]

Production

Several Polish companies produce cluster munitions. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the types of cluster munitions it lists as being in the Polish arsenal “are produced by the Polish companies exclusively for the needs of the Polish Armed Forces.”[18] The ministry confirmed in 2010 that cluster munitions “are still produced by the Polish companies” for its armed forces.[19]

The Polish company ZakładyMetalowe “Dezamet” S.A. has produced the ZK-300 Kisajno cluster bomb and also lists producing another type of cluster bomb called the LBKas-250, which contains 120 LBok-1 bomblets.[20]ZakładyMetalowe “Dezamet” S.A. also produces a 98mm mortar cluster munition, as well as a 122mm projectile designed for the 2S1 “GOŹDZIK” howitzer.[21] The Kraśnik defense plant has produced cluster munitions for 98mm mortars, 122mm artillery, and 152mm artillery.[22] The Polish company TłoczniaMetaliPresstaSpółkaAkcynjna has manufactured 122mm rockets.[23]FabrykaProdukcjiSpecjalnej Sp. z o.o. produces the 122mm M-21FK “FENIKS-Z” and the 122mm “HESYT” rockets.[24] The latter company also produces GKO submunitions.[25] Many are subsidiaries of the Bumar Group, a majority government-owned defense industry consortium of 23 defense sector companies specializing in munitions, rockets, and other weaponry technology.[26]In 2005, regarding future procurement of cluster munitions, Poland stated, “The Ministry of Defense requires during acceptance tests less than 2.5% failure rate for the purchased submunitions.”[27]

Transfer

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Poland and or Polish companies have not exported any cluster munitions in the period from 2009 through 2011, or in previous years.[28]In 2010 however, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Monitor that Polish companies could, theoretically, be legally granted permission to export cluster munitions, if an application was requested.[29]The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in 2010 that Poland was not prepared to introduce a moratorium on the use, production, or transfer of cluster munitions.[30]



[1] Email fromGrzegorzCyganowski, Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 26 April 2012.

[2]Letter from Tomasz Łękarski, Deputy Director, Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 June 2011 and letter from Adam Kobieracki, Director, Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 March 2009. See also Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), p. 226.

[3] Letter from Kobieracki, Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 March 2009. See also Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), p. 226.

[4] Email fromCyganowski, Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 26 April 2012.

[5]Ibid.

[6]Letter from MarekSczygieł, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 16 July 2010.

[7]Poland was one of three states present at the initial conference launching the process in February 2007 that did not endorse the Oslo Declaration, in which states pledged to negotiate a legally-binding instrument by the end of 2008 prohibiting cluster munitions that cause unacceptable humanitarian harm.

[8]For details on Poland’s cluster munition policy and practice through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 226–227.

[9]ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2009: Toward a Mine-Free World (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, October 2009), p. 865.

[10] Statement of Poland, CCW Fourth Review Conference, Geneva, 25 November 2011. Notes by AOAV.

[11]It claimed that there was not a single unexploded submunition found during tests of new GKO artillery submunitions. Unexploded remnants were found during tests of old-generation cluster bombs for the SU-22M4 aircraft. Letter from Łękarski, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 June 2011; letter from Sczygieł, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 16 July 2010; and letter from Kobieracki, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 March 2009.In 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmedthat the Polish Military Contingent in Afghanistan have been equipped with cluster munitions for 98mm mortars, but also stated that NATO’s International Security Assistance Force policy not to use cluster munitions in Afghanistan “has been put into effect through the order of the Chief of General Staff” of the Polish Armed Forces. Letter from Sczygieł, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 16 July 2010; andICBL, Cluster Munition Monitor 2010 (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, October 2010), pp. 235–236.

[12] Letter from Łękarski, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 June 2011; and from Kobieracki, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 8 April 2010.

[13]All information on current stockpiles provided by letter from Kobieracki, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 March 2009.

[14]Ibid.

[15]Ibid., 8 April 2010.

[16] Letter from Sczygieł, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 16 July 2010.

[17]Response by BodganKlich, Minister of Defense, to Parliamentary question no. 18071 on cluster munitions, submitted by Joseph Rojek, MP, SPS-023-18071/10, 26 October 2010,http://orka2.sejm.gov.pl.

[18] Letter from Kobieracki, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 March 2009.

[19]Letter from Sczygieł, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 16 July 2010.

[20] Robert Hewson, ed., Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons, Issue 44 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2004), p. 391; and Dezamet, “Air Armament,” undated, www.dezamet.com.pl.

[21]ZakładyMetalowe DEZAMET S.A. website, www.dezamet.com.pl.

[22]Dezamet, “Cargo Ammunition,” www.dezamet.com.pl; and MarcinGórka, “Poland Sees Nothing Wrong in Cluster Bombs,” GazetaWyborcza, 9 September 2008, www.wyborcza.pl.

[23]Terry J. Gander and Charles Q. Cutshaw, eds., Jane’s Ammunition Handbook 20012002 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2001), p. 626.

[24]FabrykaProdukcjiSpecjalnej Sp. z o.o. website, www.fps.com.pl.

[25] Ibid.

[26]Bumar website, www.bumar.com.

[27] Communicationfrom the Polish Ministry of Defense, to Pax Christi Netherlands, 14 February 2005. The information was provided with the proviso that the “content of the paper does not necessarily reflect the official position of Poland.”

[28]Letter from Łękarski, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 June 2011; letter from Sczygieł, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 16 July 2010; and letter from Kobieracki, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 March 2009.

[29] Letter from Kobieracki, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 8 April 2010. The response stated: “Currently regulations on control of trade in goods of strategic importance do not provide for a total ban on exports of cluster munitions, as opposed to anti-personnel mines falling within CN code 9306 90 10 Combined Nomenclature, whose export from the territory of the Republic of Poland shall be prohibited (with limited exceptions) under the Regulations Ministers of 20 October 2009 amending Regulation on the introduction of bans and restrictions on goods of strategic importance for national security (Journal of Acts 2009, No. 183, pos. 1427). Administrative decisions on the granting of permits to export weapons are considered on an individual basis with the involvement of consulting authorities, in accordance with the provisions of the Act of29 November 2000 on foreign trade in goods, technologies and services of strategic importance for national security and for the maintenance of international peace and security (Journal of Laws of 2004 No. 229, item. 2315, as amended later). Obtaining permission for export of cluster munitions is theoretically possible, in the case of approval of the transaction by the trade control authority, after having received a positive opinion of consulting bodies, including the Foreign Ministry.” Translation by Marta Kulikowska, Polish Red Cross, 30 May 2010.

[30] Letter from Sczygieł, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 16 July 2010.


Last Updated: 17 December 2012

Mine Action

Contamination and Impact

Poland remains contaminated by large quantities of explosive remnants of war (ERW) and, to a much lesser extent, mines from World War II. Poland has consistently stated there are no known or suspected mined areas in Poland.[1]The Ministry of National Defense has reported that scattered “single” emplaced mines, mostly antivehicle mines, have been found during clearance operations but most of those that have been destroyed are remnants of World War II stockpiles.[2]Poland is not believed to be affected by cluster munition remnants.

Mine Action Program

The army conducts clearance operations of former military facilities. It also conductsclearance operations in response to reports from the general public under a 2002 Ministry of National Defense order as well as according to other guidelines. Polish companies are involved in clearance operations within Poland. Polish deminers have also engaged in demining abroad as part of UN or other multinational operations.[3]

Land Release

Poland does not report formally on clearance of mines or ERW within Poland.[4]Its CCW Amended Protocol II Article 13 transparency report for 2011 gives details of clearance by Polish deminers only during peace operations in Afghanistan.[5]

 



[1] See, for example, Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Reports (for calendar years 2008, 2009, and 2010), Form C.

[2] See, for example, Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form C, 14 April 2008; letter from Grzegorz Poznanski, Deputy Director, Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 14 May 2008; letter from Tadeusz  Chomicki, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 22 March 2006; and interview with Col. Marek Zadrozny, Ministry of National Defense, and Col. Slawomir Berdak, Polish Armed Forces, in Geneva, 8 May 2006.

[3] See, for example, CCW Amended Protocol II Article 13 Report, 23 September 2009; and Statement of Poland, Second Review Conference, Cartagena, 4 December 2009.

[4] See, for example, CCW Amended Protocol II Article 13 Report, 23 September 2009.


Last Updated: 15 October 2012

Casualties and Victim Assistance

Casualties

Two new ERW casualties in Poland were reported in the media in 2011. A 10-year-old boy and his 9-year-old sister were killed in eastern Poland by an explosive remnant of war (ERW), likely dating from World War II.[1] Previously, 10 ERW casualties were identified in 2008.[2]

The Monitor identified a total of 206 mine/ERW casualties in Poland from 1999 to the end of 2011 (40 people were killed and 166 injured).[3] The total number of mine/ERW casualties in Poland is not known. Due to incomplete data collection, casualties may have been under-reported. Between 1945 and 1973, 3,833 civilians (including 3,189 children) were killed and 8,221 (including 6,656 children) were injured in mine/ERW incidents.[4] Between 1944 and 1994, 658 soldiers were killed and several thousand injured in clearance operations.[5]

 



[1] Likely WWII Bomb Kills 2 Polish Children,Huffington Post, 24 March 2011, http://huff.to/gyApYF, accessed on 22 August 2012.

[2] Monitor analysis of data provided by email from Adam Kobieracki, Director of Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 23 April 2009.

[3] See previous Landmine Monitor reports on Poland, www.the-monitor.org.

[4] Letter from Maruisz Handzlik, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 February 2001.

[5] Ibid.


Last Updated: 24 February 2011

Support for Mine Action

In 2008 and 2009, the Embassy of Poland in Angola provided US$155,000 to Versol, an Angolan commercial demining company, for a mine clearance operation in Lunda Sul.[1]

From 2005–2009 Poland provided mine clearance personnel in support of international peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Kosovo, and Syria with a valuation of at least $3.3 million.[2]

Summary of contributions: 2008–2009[3]

Year

Amount (US$)

2009

60,000

2008

95,000

Total

155,000

 

 



[1] Interview with Jacek Wasilewski, Second Secretary, Embassy of Poland, Luanda, 10 May 2010.

[2] Article 7 Reports, Form J, 2009 (for calendar year 2008), 14 April 2008, 6 April 2007, 3 May 2006, and 11 May 2005; and see also Landmine Monitor Report 2009, p.92.

[3] UNMAS, “UNMAS Annual Report 2006,” New York, 11 May 2007; UNMAS, “UNMAS Annual Report 2007,” New York, 13 November 2008; UNMAS, “UNMAS Annual Report 2008,” New York, 2008; and UNMAS, “UNMAS Annual Report 2009,” New York, September 2010.