Indonesia
Mine Ban Policy
Commitment to the Mine Ban Treaty
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Mine Ban Treaty status |
State Party |
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National implementation measures |
Emergency Law No. 12/1951 |
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Transparency reporting |
21 June 2011 |
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Key developments |
Destroyed 2,524 mines previously retained for training |
Policy
The Republic of Indonesia signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified it on 20 February 2007, becoming a State Party on 1 August 2007. Indonesia submitted its fourth Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report on 21 June 2011.[1]
Indonesia states that its Emergency Law No. 12/1951 on Fire Arms and Explosives provides for the imposition of penal sanctions as required by the treaty.[2] Previously a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said that the ministry has raised the possibility of new implementation legislation specifically for the Mine Ban Treaty in interagency meetings.[3] In March 2011 a Foreign Ministry official said this was still under review and asked for guidelines.[4]
Indonesia participated in the Tenth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva in November–December 2010 where it served as vice-president of the meeting and co-rapporteur on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies and made a presentation as outgoing co-chair on Stockpile Destruction and on its implementation of the treaty. Indonesia attended the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in June 2011 and made a statement on partnerships and coordination.
A Foreign Ministry official previously stated to the Monitor that Indonesia believes that, “any mines, even anti-vehicle ones, which are fitted with sensitive fuzes or anti-handling devices which can be triggered by the presence or proximity of human activity qualify as antipersonnel mines according to Article 2, [and] should be banned.”[5]
Indonesia is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Production, transfer, stockpile destruction, and retention
Indonesia has stated that it has not produced or used antipersonnel mines.[6] Indonesia destroyed the last of its 11,603 stockpiled antipersonnel mines on 13 November 2008.[7]
Indonesia initially stated that it would retain 4,978 mines for training purposes.[8] However, after reviewing its need to retain that number of mines,[9] Indonesia destroyed 2,524 mines on 15 December 2009.[10] At the end of 2010, Indonesia reported retaining 2,454 mines, including 1,500 PMA-1 mines, seven PMRS mines, and 947 K-440 directional fragmentation mines.[11] In February 2011, an Indonesian military official informed the Monitor that Indonesia had plans to conduct verification of its data on mines retained to determine which of the mines should be destroyed.[12]
Mines retained for training purposes are under the control of the Director General of Defense Strength in the Ministry of Defense. Indonesia has not provided specific details, but has said the mines will be used as “instruction/teaching materials” to enhance the identification, detection, and destruction of mines in general, and “particularly for the purpose of preparing Indonesia’s participation for UN peacekeeping operations.”[13]
In June 2010, a Foreign Ministry official said that the training program had not yet begun, and that the government “is still in the process of reviewing its need to retain live mines.”[14]
In March 2011 a Ministry of Defense official informed the Monitor that it needs to retain live mines because dummy mines would not be taken seriously by new recruits. He stated that mines are used in yearly training of new recruits, including demonstration of the mines’ destructive force. He reiterated previous statements that mines retained would be needed for possible future training of Indonesian peacekeepers.[15] Also in March 2011, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official stated that Indonesia would retain live mines for training, and noted that Indonesia participates in military missions outside the UN under the Organization of Islamic Conference framework and bilaterally under arrangements in Southeast Asia, such as Mindanao. Indonesia stated that it has plans to send observers to Cambodia and Thailand.[16]
Indonesia has not reported that it has consumed any of the mines it has retained for training in the past four years.[17] A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official explained that mines had not been used in military trainings due to a need to bring in specialists.[18]
[1] The report covers calendar year 2010. Indonesia submitted previous Article 7 reports on 3 June 2010, 17 April 2009, and 21 January 2008.
[2] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form A, 21 June 2011. The law was appended to Indonesia’s initial Article 7 report and provides for the death penalty, life imprisonment, or imprisonment for a maximum of 20 years for the import, transfer, receiving, acquiring, possession, ownership, transportation, hiding, bringing, use or export of firearms, munitions, or explosives, including mines.
[3] Email from Andy Rachmianto, Deputy Director, Directorate for International Security and Disarmament, Department of Foreign Affairs, 23 March 2009.
[4] Interview with Roy Soemirat, Head of Section, Directorate of International Security and Disarmament, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jakarta, 5 April 2011.
[5] Email from Luna Amanda Fahmi, Desk Officer for Disarmament Affairs, Directorate for International Security and Disarmament, Department of Foreign Affairs, 18 June 2010.
[6] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form E, 21 June 2011; and statement of Indonesia, Tenth Meeting of States Parties, Mine Ban Treaty, Geneva, November 2010. There have been conflicting reports about past mine use by Indonesian forces in West Papua in 1961–1962 and in East Timor in the 1970s. See Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp. 452–453.
[7] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form F, 17 April 2009. In Form G, Indonesia reports that the 11,603 destroyed mines also included 78 Kayu mines and nine BG M35 mines. In total, Indonesia reports destroying 9,828 Yugoslav PMA-1; 1,612 Yugoslav PMRS; 78 Russian Kayu; 32 Korean K-440; 26 Yugoslav Armadila; 10 Yugoslav Honckin; nine Belgian BG M35; and eight Indian MK I. The nomenclature for several of the mines in Indonesia’s Article 7 report, such as the Kayu, Armadila, and Honckin, are not standard.
[8] Statement of Indonesia, Ninth Meeting of States Parties, Mine Ban Treaty, Geneva, 26 November 2008.
[9] Email from Luna Amanda Fahmi, Department of Foreign Affairs, 18 June 2010.
[10] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form G, 3 June 2010. Indonesia reports that it destroyed 1,031 PMA-1 and 1,493 PMRS antipersonnel mines, all on 15 December 2009 in Pameungpeuk, West Java.
[11] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form D, 21 June 2011. Indonesia’s previous Form H, indicated the K-440s are electrically fuzed. If these “Claymore-type” mines can only be used in command-detonated mode (as opposed to victim-activated, usually with a tripwire), then they do not qualify as antipersonnel mines under the Mine Ban Treaty.
[12] Interview with Col. Jimmy Alexander Adirman, Head of Inventory Sub-Directorate, Material Directorate, General Defense Strength Directorate, Ministry of Defense, Jakarta, 10 February 2011.
[13] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form D (1)(b), 3 June 2010. The same language is used in an email from Luna Amanda Fahmi, Department of Foreign Affairs, 18 June 2010.
[14] Email from Luna Amanda Fahmi, Department of Foreign Affairs, 18 June 2010. This was the response to a question from the Monitor about whether Indonesia needed to retain live mines, as opposed to inert mines, for training purposes.
[15] Interview with Brig.-Gen. Robby Tuilan, Chief of Industry, Research and Development Center, Ministry of Defense, Jakarta, 7 March 2011.
[16] Interview with Roy Soemirat, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jakarta, 7 March 2011.
[17] Article 7 Reports, Form D, 21 June 2011, 3 June 2010, 17 April 2009, and 21 January 2008.
[18] Interview with Roy Soemirat, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jakarta, 7 March 2011.
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Policy
The Republic of Indonesia signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.
It is not clear when the ratification package for the Convention on Cluster Munitions will be presented to Indonesia’s parliament for its consideration and approval. Indonesia last provided an update on its ratification of the convention in September 2011, when it informed States Parties that “we continue to conduct activities to create more awareness among our relevant national stakeholders” in order to “expedite the process of its ratification.”[1] The national consultations on the convention began in 2010.[2]
Indonesia actively participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and was one of the strongest supporters of a comprehensive ban on the weapon.[3] It hosted a regional conference on the convention in Bali, Indonesia in November 2009.
Despite not ratifying, Indonesia has continued to actively engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Indonesia has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, with the exception of the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013. It has attended every intersessional meeting of the convention in Geneva, including in April 2014.
Indonesia voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 68/182 on 18 December 2013, which expressed “outrage” at the Syrian government’s “continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights…including those involving the use of…cluster munitions.”[4]
To mark International Day for Mine Action on 4 April 2014, the Institute of International Studies at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta and Jesuit Refugee Service Indonesia held a discussion about steps that can be taken to encourage the Indonesian government to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[5]
Indonesia is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Indonesia has stated that it has never used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions.[6]
Indonesia has acknowledged having a stockpile of cluster munitions, but the size and precise content is not known. Jane’s Information Group lists Indonesia as possessing Rockeye cluster bombs.[7] In June 2010, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative stated that Indonesia was undertaking an inventory of its stockpile of cluster munitions.[8] Indonesia has emphasized the importance of allowing independent observers, including civil society, to witness stockpile destruction.[9]
[1] The ban convention is being considered by the Indonesian Armed Forces, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Law and Human Rights Affairs, and by members of parliament. Statement by Amb. Dimas Samodrarum, Embassy of Indonesia to Lebanon, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 13 September 2011.
[2] Interview with Roy Soemirat, Head of Section, Directorate of International Security and Disarmament, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jakarta, 5 April 2011; and email from Luna Amanda Fahmi, Directorate of International Security and Disarmament, Department of Foreign Affairs, 18 June 2010.
[3] For more details on Indonesia’s policy and practice up to early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 91–92.
[4] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution A/RES/68/182, 18 December 2013.
[5] Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Indonesia web post, “Ban Landmines and Peace,” 5 April 2014.
[6] Statement of Indonesia, Lima Conference on Cluster Munitions, 24 May 2007. Notes by Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).
[7] Robert Hewson, ed., Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons, Issue 44 (Surrey, UK, Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2004), p. 840.
[8] Email from Luna Amanda Fahmi, Department of Foreign Affairs, 18 June 2010.
[9] Statement of Indonesia, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 11 November 2010. Notes by the CMC.