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.

Niger is believed to be in the process of undertaking legislative measures to implement the obligations of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Previously, in May 2013, it stated that a draft national implementation law for the convention was being prepared.[1] Government officials have indicated since 2010 that Niger is preparing national implementation legislation for the convention.[2]

As of 27 June 2014, Niger had not yet submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was originally due 28 January 2011.

Niger participated in the Oslo Process that produced the convention and supported a comprehensive treaty without exception.[3]

Niger has continued to engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention except for the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013. Niger attended intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in 2012, 2013, and 2014. Niger also attended a regional meeting on the convention in Lomé, Togo in May 2013.

In 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.[4]

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

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

In a 2009 letter, Niger stated that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[5]

Contamination and Impact

Overall Mine Action Performance: VERY POOR[1]

The Republic of Niger is affected by both antivehicle and antipersonnel mines. Mine contamination is known to exist especially in the Agadez region in the north of the country, where the army has been fighting the non-state armed group Niger Justice Movement (Mouvement des Nigériens pour la Justice, MNJ) and some splinter factions.

Between 2002 and 2006, Niger consistently reported the existence of known and suspected mined areas in the country as a result of the armed rebellion in 1990–2000.[2] However, at the Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee meetings in 2008, Niger declared that no areas on its territory were suspected to contain antipersonnel mines, adding it had evidence only of the presence of antivehicle mines.[3]

In May 2012, more than two years after the expiry of its Article 5 clearance deadline, Niger reported to States Parties that it was contaminated with antipersonnel mines in at least one area.[4] The minefield, located in Madama military post in the Agadez region, was identified during an “assessment mission” conducted in June 2011 and covers some 2,400m².[5] The minefield is in a remote desert area, 450km from the rural community of Dirhou, and as of April 2014 no mine incident involving humans had been reported in this area.[6]

Niger has also reported a further five suspected mined areas in the Agadez region, in the localities of Achouloulouma, Blaka, Enneri, Orida, and Zouzoudinga.[7] In April 2014 at the Standing Committee meetings, Niger informed States Parties that a non-technical survey (NTS) had been conducted of all five areas.[8] The results concluded that the areas did not contain antipersonnel mines, though antivehicle mines are suspected to be present.[9] Niger noted that the areas contain wells and water sources.[10]

In its Article 5 deadline extension request, Niger also indicated that the National Commission for the Collection and Control of Illicit Weapons (Commission Nationale Pour la Collecte et le Contrôle des Armes Illicites, CNCCAI) had identified other suspected areas consisting of “roads and paths.”[11] In April 2014, Niger informed the Monitor that these areas were only contaminated with antivehicle mines.[12]

Between 1999 and the end of 2012, the Monitor identified a total of 383 mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties, of whom 103 were killed and a further 280 injured. The CNCAAI reported a total of 400 casualties as of April 2014.[13]

Mine Action Program

Mine action is under the authority of the CNCCAI, which reports directly to the president. In 2008, a working group on mine action was established. All demining activities are carried out by the Nigerien army.

In April 2014, Niger declared that the Danish Demining Group was interested in establishing a partnership to improve Niger’s information management capacity and ensure quality control.[14]

Strategic planning

Niger’s extension request included a work plan for 2014–15 requiring clearance of Madama mined area, the conduct of a technical survey in the northern Kawar region, and the verification of other suspected mined areas. It foresaw expenditure of US$800,000, including $295,000 on demining operations, $200,000 on purchase of equipment, and $137,000 on capacity building.[15] The work plan expected that technical survey and the preparation for demining operations would be carried out in 2014, whereas actual demining would only start in 2015.[16] Technical survey started in Madama in April 2014.[17]

Transparency

Niger submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report in 2002, but has since failed to provide updated information systematically on an annual basis. Niger’s most recent Article 7 report is from 2012, covering January 2009 to December 2011.

Land Release

In May 2013, the CNCCAI reported having conducted survey and clearance on “several hundred kilometers” of road but gave no details.[18]

In April 2014, at the Standing Committee meeting on mine clearance, Niger reported that the five areas where the presence of antipersonnel mines was previously suspected are only contaminated by antivehicle mines.[19]

Article 5 Compliance

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty (and in accordance with the two-year extension granted by States Parties in 2013), Niger is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible but not later than 1 January 2016.

In granting the two-year extension, States Parties expressed regret at the delay between the discovery of contamination and the beginning of demining. States Parties requested that Niger provide information on the source of the contamination, and details of methods used to identify the areas known and suspected to contain antipersonnel mines.

In 2011, after the expiry of its original deadline to implement Article 5, Niger identified one previously unknown mined area and five suspected mined areas. In July 2013, Niger noted that desert environment, insecurity, and lack of funding may challenge the implementation of its work plan.[20]

In April 2014, Niger called on technical and financial partners to provide support so it may meet its obligations under the Mine Ban Treaty.[21] However, with only one small mined area to clear, Niger should be able to fulfil its Article 5 obligations in a very short period of time without the need for outside assistance.

Support for Mine Action

The government of Niger funded all mine action activities carried out in 2013.[22] The amount of this support has not been disclosed.

In its extension request, Niger indicated it would contribute to funding its two-year work plan with a financial contribution of $250,000, meaning that more than $500,000 remained to be acquired for its desired budget. As of April 2014, Niger was still lacking the funds to implement its work plan.[23]

Recommendations

·         As soon as technical survey is completed in Madama, Niger should complete clearance of its sole, small mined area without further delay. 

Casualties Overview

In 2013 through April 2014, the National Commission for the Collection and control of Illicit Weapons (Commission Nationale Pour la Collecte et le Contrôle des Armes Illicites, CNCCAI) reported 17 mine/ERW casualties in the Republic of Niger.[1] At least 12 of these casualties were male civilians, all caused by antivehicle mines.[2] No further details were available about the remaining five casualties.

In 2012, 40 new mine/ERW casualties were identified. 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.[3] While there were no incidents reported in Niger in 2011, in 2010, 12 casualties were identified.[4]

In 2014, CNCCAI reported a total of 400 (108 killed; 287 injured; and five casualties of unknown outcome) mine/ERW casualties in Niger between 2007 and April 2014. [5]

Victim Assistance

As of the end of 2013, the total number of mine/ERW survivors in Niger was at least 287.[6] 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. In April 2014, it launched a new project supported by the European Union named “Working for a better enjoyment of full human rights for Persons with Disabilities.” The project was to be implemented in four parts of the country for 30 months and aimed to contribute to the full and equal enjoyment of all rights by promoting civic education of persons with disabilities to participate fully in public life. To this end, the government identified priority sectors including education with a strong desire to achieve education for all through the adoption of the sectoral program of education and training 2014–2024.[7]

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 were severely limited, particularly in the Agadez region, where most survivors are located. Handicap International launched a victim assistance program in 2010 to reduce the impact of mines and explosive remnants of war in the Agadez region in the north of the country, the boundary of the Saharan zone.

In Niger, the ICRC upgraded the physical rehabilitation centre in Niamey Hospital. The provision of services began in August 2012.[10] In September 2013, the ICRC organized a workshop in Niamey attended by some 30 health practitioners from Niger and Mali to familiarize themselves with techniques specific to war surgery. The goal was to expand the capabilities of health services working in a real context with patients with gunshot wounds or maimed by mines who require treatment.[11] In May 2014, the ICRC also directed a training session on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) followed by a regional workshop on the diagnostic and the strategic plan of the West African Federation for the Advancement of Persons with Disabilities (Fédération Ouest Africaine pour la Promotion des Personnes Handicapées, FOAPH).

Niger did not include information on victim assistance in its 2013 Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report. However, in 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 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