Mine ban policy overview

The Sultanate of Oman acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 20 August 2014 and the treaty will enter into force for it on 1 February 2015, making it the 162^nd State Party.

Oman’s initial transparency measures report for the Mine Ban Treaty is due by 31 July 2015.

Oman’s accession came after officials had previously stated to the Monitor that they did not have a timeline for accession, but that Oman believed in the importance of the treaty.[1]

Oman participated in the Ottawa Process leading to the Mine Ban Treaty and has remained engaged ever since then. It has voted in favor of every pro-ban UN General Assembly resolution since 1996, including Resolution 68/30 in December 2013, promoting universalization and implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty.

After the Ottawa Process, Oman did not publicly speak of its policy on banning antipersonnel mines until 2007, when an official told the ICBL that accession was being discussed at the cabinet level.[2]

The ICBL has engaged with Oman on the Mine Ban Treaty for years, with visits to Muscat by its diplomatic adviser in 2012 and other representatives in 2007. In March 2014, Oman’s foreign affairs minister, Youssef bin Alawi bin Abdullah, informed the Mine Ban Treaty envoy, Princess Astrid of Belgium, of the government’s decision to join the Mine Ban Treaty.

Oman’s Ambassador Lyutha Sultan Al-Mughairy deposited the accession instrument at the UN in New York on 20 August 2014. In a statement, she said the move “demonstrates that all States from all parts of the world have a role to play in ending the suffering caused by these insidious weapons.”[3]

With Oman’s accession, half of the Gulf Coordination Council (GCC) members are now party to the treaty, while Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have not joined.

Oman participated as an observer at the Mine Ban Treaty’s First Review Conference in Nairobi in 2004 and its Third Review Conference in Maputo, Mozambique in June 2014. It has attended most of the treaty’s Meetings of States Parties, including the Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in December 2013. Oman has also participated in many of the treaty’s intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva, including those held in April 2014.

Oman is not a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Oman’s transparency measures report for the Mine Ban Treaty will provide additional information, but officials have stated that Oman has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines, while it has imported and used them in the past.[4]

An Omani official informed the Monitor in 2007 that the country’s stockpile consists of fewer than 2,000 antipersonnel mines, and that there had been no new procurement of mines in more than 20 years.[5] Officials have stated on several occasions that Oman now only possesses antipersonnel mines for training purposes.[6]

Policy

The Sultanate of Oman has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Oman has never made a public statement detailing its position on cluster munitions. In September 2013, a government official informed the CMC that the country has participated as an observer in meetings of the ban convention in order to learn more and observe the convention’s development.[1]

Oman participated in several meetings of the Oslo Process, including the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008 as an observer, but it did not sign the convention in December 2008.[2]

Oman has continued to show interest in the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It attended the convention’s Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011 and the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013 as an observer, but did not make any statements at either meeting. Oman has not participated in intersessional meetings of the convention held in Geneva since 2011.

Oman has voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning the Syrian government’s use of cluster munitions, including Resolution 68/182 on 18 December 2013, which expressed “outrage” at Syria’s “continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights…including those involving the use of…cluster munitions.”[3]

Oman is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Oman is not known to have used, produced, or exported cluster munitions.

Oman is thought to possess a stockpile of cluster munitions. In 2002, the United States (US) announced the sale of 50 CBU-97/105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons to Oman.[4] Jane’s Information Group reports that Oman owns BL-755 and Rockeye cluster bombs as well as 122mm Grad-type and Hyrda-70 rocket launchers, but it is not known if the latter two include ammunition stockpiles that include cluster munitions.[5]

Contamination and Impact

Mines

Oman is believed to have a small residual mine/unexploded ordnance problem from a 1964–1975 internal conflict between the government and a separatist group, the communist Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Gulf. The problem is believed to be mostly in the Dhofar region in the south, but its precise extent remains unknown. In 2007, the Ministry of Defense reported that “almost 99%” of mined areas had been cleared and all remaining suspected hazardous areas were marked and fenced.[1] Oman is not believed to be affected by cluster munition remnants.

Mine Action Program

There is no mine action program in Oman and the extent of any demining by the army is not known. The Royal Oman Police has a Special Task Force that deals with any explosive devices.[2]

The UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) reported that in 2012 the Sultanate of Oman contributed US$100,000 to the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Action (VTF) for mine action in Afghanistan.[1] Oman had also contributed $100,000 to the VTF for Afghanistan in 2011.[2]