Mine ban policy overview

Policy

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. In July 2008, Saudi Arabia told Landmine Monitor that it “is still in the process of studying” the treaty.^[1] Officials have said that while it supports the humanitarian objectives of the treaty, Saudi Arabia does not want to forego its option to use antipersonnel mines in the future.^[2]

Saudi Arabia also told Landmine Monitor in July 2008, “Recently the Kingdom has not produced nor exported any type of mines…. The Kingdom possesses a stockpile of old anti-personnel mines however; these mines have never been used. There are no stockpiles of American-owned anti-personnel mines inside the Kingdom.”  It went on to note that it has “a number of legislations and procedures…that regulate importing, producing and storing anti-personnel mines.”^[3] Landmine Monitor has reported previously that Saudi Arabia is not known to have produced, exported or used antipersonnel mines, but that it stockpiles a small number imported in the past.^[4]

Saudi Arabia is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons, but has yet to join its Amended Protocol II on landmines. It joined Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War on 8 January 2010.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Saudi Arabia has never made a public statement detailing its position on its cluster munitions, but in an April 2012 statement to the Monitor, Saudi Arabia said “the Convention on Cluster Munitions is still under examination by the competent authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”[1]

In November 2010, a government representative said that Saudi Arabia supported the humanitarian goals of the convention, but did not elaborate on the government’s position on joining the convention.[2]

Saudi Arabia participated in several meetings of the Oslo Process, including the Dublin negotiations in May 2008 as an observer.[3] Yet Saudi Arabia did not attend the Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference in Oslo.

Saudi Arabia has continued to engage in meetings related to the ban convention. It has attended every Meeting of States Parties of the convention as an observer, including the Third Meeting of States Parties in Oslo, Norway in September 2012, but did not make any statements at the meetings. Saudi Arabia has not participated in the convention’s intersessional meetings.

Saudi Arabia has not made a national statement to express concern at Syria’s cluster munition use, but it voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on 15 May 2013 that strongly condemned “the use by the Syrian authorities of...cluster munitions.”[4]

Saudi Arabia is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty. Saudi Arabia is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Saudi Arabia has used cluster munitions in the past and continues to stockpile cluster munitions, but it is not known to have produced or exported the weapon.

Both Saudi and United States (US) forces used cluster munitions on the territory of Saudi Arabia in 1991 in response to an incursion by Iraqi armor units in the prelude to Operation Desert Storm. During the battle of Khafji in January 1991, Saudi Arabia attacked Iraqi forces with cluster munitions fired from ASTROS multi-barrel rocket launchers, which Saudi Arabia had acquired from Brazil.[5] The weapons reportedly left behind significant amounts of unexploded submunitions.[6]

The US announced in June 2011 that, at the request of Saudi Arabia, it was intending to sell 404 CBU-105 air-dropped Sensor Fuzed Weapons. According to the US Department of Defense, “Saudi Arabia intends to use Sensor Fused [sic] Weapons to modernize its armed forces and enhance its capability to defeat a wide range of defensive threats, to include: strong points, bunkers, and dug-in facilities; armored and semi-armored vehicles; personnel; and certain maritime threats… The Royal Saudi Air Force will be able to develop and enhance its standardization and operational capability and its interoperability with the USAF, Gulf Cooperation Council member states, and other coalition air forces.” The Department of Defense also noted that the “cluster munitions and cluster munitions technology will be used only against clearly defined military targets and will not be used where civilians are known to be present or in areas normally inhabited by civilians.”[7]

The US transferred to Saudi Arabia 1,000 CBU-58 and 350 CBU-71 cluster bombs sometime between 1970 and 1995.[8] In 1991, the US announced its intent to transfer 1,200 CBU-87 Combined Effects Munitions cluster bombs.[9] In addition, the US transferred 600 CBU-87 cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia as part of a larger package of arms sales announced in 1992.[10]

Jane’s Information Group has reported that British-produced BL-755 cluster bombs are in service with the Saudi air force.[11] It also possesses Hydra-70 and CRV-7 air-to-surface rockets, but it is not known if this stockpile includes the M261 multipurpose submunition variant.[12]

Contamination and Impact

Saudi Arabia is not mine-affected but it may have a small residual problem of unexploded ordnance from the 1991 Gulf War, including cluster munition remnants. In 1991, Saudi Arabian and United States forces used artillery-delivered and air-dropped cluster munitions against Iraqi forces during the Battle of Khafji.[1]

Mine Action Program

Saudi Arabia does not have a civilian mine action program. The engineering corps of the Saudi Army has a unit in every region of the kingdom to respond to requests for clearance. These units cleared training areas and camps used by allied forces before and during the 1991 Gulf War. No information is available on any recent clearance activities.

In 2012, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia contributed US$1,000,000 to mine action in Lebanon and $100,000 in Afghanistan through the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Action (VTF).[1]

No mine action contributions from Saudi Arabia were reported in 2010 or 2011.