Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Republic of Niger signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 2 June 2009. It was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010.

In May 2013, Niger stated that a draft law implementing the provisions of the Convention on Cluster Munitions was being prepared.[1] A government official informed the Monitor the draft law would be submitted to the National Assembly in 2014.[2] Previously, in 2010, a government official said that Niger would begin preparing national implementation law in 2011.[3]

As of 26 June 2013, Niger had not yet submitted its initial Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report, originally due by 28 January 2011, or annual updated reports due in 2012 and 2013.

Niger participated in the Oslo Process that produced the convention and supported a comprehensive treaty without exception.[4] Niger has continued to actively engage in the work of the convention in 2012 and the first half of 2013. Niger attended the convention’s Third Meeting of States Parties in Oslo, Norway in September 2012 and intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2013, but did not make any statements at either meeting.

Niger also attended a regional meeting on the universalization of the convention in Lomé, Togo in May 2013, where it made a statement urging all states that have not yet ratified or acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions to join its “family of States Parties.” Niger described its pride at being one of the first countries in Africa and the eighth country in the world to ratify the convention.[5]

In May 2013, Niger expressed its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention. An official informed the Monitor that Niger considered transit and foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions on the territory of a State Party prohibited under the convention. Similarly, Niger considered assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions and investment in the production of cluster munitions to be banned by the convention.[6]

Niger has not made a national statement condemning Syria’s use of cluster munitions, but it endorsed the Lomé Strategy on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in May 2013, which expresses “grave concern over the recent and on-going use of cluster munitions” and calls for the immediate end to the use of these weapons.[7]

Niger is party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

In 2009, Niger confirmed that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[8]

Contamination and Impact

The Republic of Niger is contaminated with both antivehicle and antipersonnel mines. The extent of any explosive remnants of war (ERW) contamination is not known.

Mines

Niger first reported to States Parties that it was contaminated by antipersonnel mines at the Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee meetings in May 2012.[1] The mines were reported to contaminate an area in Madama around a border post with Libya in the Agadez region. Niger’s last Article 7 report submitted in November 2012 said the mined area around the border post amounted to about 2,400m², but it also named five additional areas, located in the Agadez region’s Bilma department, that were suspected to have antipersonnel mines.[2]As of July 2013, there has been no survey or assessment of these areas due to insecurity.[3] The national mine action authority, the National Commission for the Collection and Control of Illicit Weapons (Commission Nationale Pour la Collecte et le Contrôle des Armes Illicites, CNCCAI), however, said that it estimates the total mined area to be cleared in the Agadez region amounts to approximately 1.9km².[4]

Mine contamination is known to exist, especially in the Agadez region in the north where the army has been fighting a non-state armed group, the Niger Justice Movement (Mouvement des Nigériens pour la Justice, MNJ), and some splinter factions. The extent of contamination has not yet been determined.[5] An incident in February 2009 that cost the lives of six Gambians occurred on the border between Niger and Libya.[6]In an Article 7 report covering April 2005 to March 2006, Niger declared eight other suspected areas: the plateaus of Djado, Karama, Manguéni, and Tchigai; the Afafi and Air mountain ranges; the Talak plain; and the Emi Fezzan region.[7] In its Article 7 Report for 2008, cited in its Article 5 deadline Extension Request submitted in June 2013, Niger said that it only had evidence of antivehicle mines.[8]

Cluster munition remnants and other explosive remnants of war

The nature and extent of any ERW contamination in Niger is not known. There is no evidence of any contamination from cluster munition remnants. The Convention on Cluster Munitions entered into force for Niger on 1 August 2010.

Mine Action Program

Key institutions and operators

Mine action in Niger is under the authority of the CNCCAI, which is primarily responsible for dealing with small arms and light weapons. The commission reports directly to the President and one of its functions is to monitor Law 2004–044 on the implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty.[9] A working group on mine action was established in 2008.

Niger’s Anti-Mine Action Plan 2009–2013 aimed to develop the CNCCAI’s capacity to coordinate mine action, set up a mine action database, conduct demining, “implement and coordinate a risk education program,” and promote international humanitarian law relating to mines and ERW, among other things. Specific objectives included procuring demining equipment, training personnel in mine clearance, and starting to identify and, if possible, clear suspected areas.[10]

Niger adopted new internal regulations for mine action in October 2012 and by early 2013 had started installing an Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) database. It expected this to become operational in mid-2013.[11] The Article 5 deadline Extension Request submitted by Niger in June 2013 includes a program of work for 2014 and 2015 that calls for clearance of the Madama mined area, technical survey in Kawar, and verification of other suspected mined areas. It provides for expenditure of US$800,000, including $295,000 on demining operations, $200,000 on the purchase of equipment, and $137,000 on capacity building, including installation and start-up of the IMSMA database.[12]

In its most recent Article 7 report, Niger called for more than $500,000 of international funding for its demining plan. As of June 2013, it had not received any international funding.[13]

Land Release

CNCCAI reported that it conducted survey and clearance on “several hundred kilometres” of road but gave no details.[14]

Compliance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Niger was required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 September 2009. Niger decided not to request an extension to its expired treaty deadline despite calls from ICBL to do so.

After recording the presence of antipersonnel mines in its Article 7 report, Niger requested an extension of its Article 5 deadline until 31 December 2015. The request, submitted in June 2013, was due for consideration by the Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties in December 2013. The request said desert conditions and insecurity posed challenges to implementation, but the main factor was lack of funding.[15]

Casualties and Victim Assistance

Casualties Overview

In 2012, 40 new mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties were identified in the Republic of Niger. The vast majority of these casualties (32 out of 40) were civilians, including one child. All incidents took place in the north of the country, principally in the region of Bilma, Agadez.[1] While there were no incidents reported in Niger in 2011, in 2010, 12 casualties were identified.[2] The National Commission for the Collection and Control of Illicit Weapons (Commission Nationale pour la Collecte et le Contrôle des Armes Illicites, CNCCAI) indicated that mine action activities had not yet reached this region of the country and were necessary to prevent more casualties.[3]

Casualties continued to be identified in 2013. In June 2013 alone, the Monitor identified 12 new mine/ERW victims, all male civilians.[4]

In 2010, CNCCAI reported a total of 319 (66 killed; 253 injured) mine/ERW casualties in Niger between 2007 and 2009, the period during which the majority of casualties in Niger occurred.[5] CNCCAI has not provided an updated cumulative total since 2010. Between 1999 and the end of 2012, the Monitor identified a total of 383 mine/ERW casualties (103 killed; 280 injured), including 12 casualties identified prior to 2007, 12 in 2010, and 40 in 2012.[6]

Victim Assistance

As of the end of 2012, the total number of mine/ERW survivors in Niger was at least 280.[7] Most survivors were concentrated in the Agadez region, an area with a total population of just 500,000 people.

CNCCAI is the government focal point for victim assistance, but due to lack of funds its role has been largely limited to advocacy within the government on behalf of survivors. The Ministry of Population and Social Reforms serves as the government focal point on disability issues. Niger lacks a specific victim assistance plan, but victim assistance is mentioned in the Anti-Mine Action Plan 2009–2013.[8] While the Ministry of Health does have a National Health Development plan (2011–2015), there was no mention of physical rehabilitation in the plan.[9]

Victim assistance services are severely limited, particularly in the Agadez region, where most survivors are located. Handicap International (HI) launched a victim assistance program in 2010, which was still underway in 2012.[10]

In 2012, the physical rehabilitation sector included four service providers, but only two were functioning, including a center re-opened by the ICRC during the year. Access to physical rehabilitation services remained difficult for several reasons, including lack of service providers, lack of professionals to provide the services, and lack of financial means for persons with disabilities to cover the cost of services and the cost of transport to access the services.[11]

In 2012, the ICRC started providing assistance to the Niamey National Hospital to renovate and equip the physical rehabilitation department. The provision of services began in August 2012.[12] The ICRC also sent six students from Niger to the National Rehabilitation Center (Centre National d’Appareillage Orthopédique, CNAO), in Togo , to take part in a three-week training session in polypropylene technology.[13]

On 15 November 2012, Niger submitted its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report for calendar year 2011 which included information on victim assistance in Form J.

Niger ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 24 June 2008.

Support for Mine Action

Niger is contaminated with both antivehicle and antipersonnel mines. The extent of contamination from antivehicle mines is unknown but there is at least one mined area containing antipersonnel mines, located near a former French military base, now a Niger frontier post with Libya.[1]

Niger received international assistance in 2010 and 2011 from Switzerland. In 2010, Switzerland contributed US$124,617 towards mine action, and in 2011 it contributed CHF183,468 (US$207,208) to Handicap International and UNDP/National Commission for the Collection and Control of Illicit Weapons (Commission Nationale Pour la Collecte et le Contrôle des Armes Illicites, CNCCAI) for mine action.[2]

Summary of international contributions in 2010–2011