Serbia
Mine Action
Contamination and Impact
Serbia’s mine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) problem is a legacy of the armed conflict associated with the break-up of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. Serbia has a relatively small mine problem confined to its southern border with Kosovo but a much larger problem of cluster munition remnants and unexploded ordnance (UXO), including aircraft bombs and rockets.[1]
Mines
A general survey completed by the Serbian Mine Action Centre (SMAC) in 2002 found minefields with a mixture of antipersonnel and antivehicle mines covering a total of 6.2km2 in Sid municipality on the border with Croatia. After seven years of survey and clearance operations Serbia completed clearance of those mines on 10 November 2009.[2]
However, a survey conducted by Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) in 2010−2011 confirmed mine hazards at 10 locations totaling 1.39km² in the municipalities of Bujanovac and Preševo and identified 53 suspect hazardous areas (SHAs) in the same municipalities covering about 2km². The survey is continuing.[3]
Cluster munition remnants
Serbia’s cluster munition contamination results from NATO air strikes in 1999. According to Serbia, NATO cluster munitions struck 16 municipalities (Brus, Bujanovac, Čačak, Gadžin Han, Kraljevo, Knić, Kuršumlija, Leposavić, Niš city-Crveni Krst, Niš city-Medijana, Preševo, Raška, Sjenica, Sopot, Stara Pazova, and Vladimirci).[4]
A survey started by NPA in 2007 and still in progress as of June 2012 had confirmed 165 hazardous areas totaling 11.85km2 and identified 221 SHAs totaling some 5.73km2. SMAC believed further investigation would reduce the extent of SHAs and the affected area would total about 13km2.[5]
Other explosive remnants of war
NATO air strikes in 1999 also scattered unexploded bombs across Serbia. At the June 2011 Standing Committee meetings in Geneva, Serbia stated that some 64 unexploded aircraft bombs or rockets weighing up to 930kg can be found at 44 locations at depths of up to 20 meters in the ground, as well as in the beds of the Danube and Sava rivers.[6]
Serbia also has to deal with large quantities of naval mines and other items of UXO that were on board German World War II-era vessels which sank in the Danube river, in the vicinity of Prahovo, in 1944. The position of the sunken vessels and UXO was pinpointed in a general survey of the area in 2006, which identified 22 war vessels, finding sea mines and other items of UXO on four of them.[7]
An explosion at a Ministry of Defense ammunition storage area in Paraćin on 19 October 2006 resulted in contamination of surrounding areas with UXO and led to classification of Paraćin and Ćuprija as SHAs. At the end of 2010, SMAC estimated an area of 6km2 was contaminated by UXO and by the start of 2012 some 4.5km2 remained to be cleared.[8]
Mine Action Program
Key institutions and operators
Body |
Situation on 1 January 2012 |
National Mine Action Authority |
None |
Mine action center |
Serbian Mine Action Centre (SMAC) |
International demining operators |
NGO: NPA Commercial: DOK-ING razminiranje, Enigma, UXB Balkans, EMERCOM |
National demining operators |
PMC Inzenjering, Saturnia |
SMAC was established on 7 March 2002. The Law of Alterations and Supplementations of the Law of Ministries passed in August 2004 identified the center as a legal independent entity (not part of a ministry), and made it responsible for humanitarian demining, the collection and management of mine/UXO-related information (including casualty data), and for surveying SHAs. It also has the mandate to plan demining projects, conduct quality control and monitor operations, ensure implementation of international standards, license demining organizations, and warn the population about mine/UXO dangers.[9]
SMAC does not conduct demining directly or employ deminers; it conducts survey of areas suspected to be contaminated by mines, cluster munition remnants, or other ERW. Demining is conducted in accordance with international standards by commercial companies and NGOs, after being selected through public tender procedures, which are executed by the International Trust Fund to Enhance Human Security (ITF).[10]
There is no separate national mine action authority. Serbia does not have a strategic plan for addressing its mine/ERW problem, but produces annual plans that are approved by the government. Planning mostly depends on available funding.[11]
Land Release
Serbia released a total of 4.69km2 in 2011, mainly as a result of survey. The total is substantially more than the 1.43km2 released in 2010. Clearance of cluster munition remnants and other battle area clearance accounted for a total of 1.69km.[12] In addition, Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) non-technical survey resulted in the cancelation of 3.5km2 of cluster contaminated land and 40,481m² of land previously suspected to be contaminated by mines.[13] No mine clearance was conducted in 2011, the same as the year before.
Five-year summary of clearance
Year |
Mined area cleared (km2) |
Battle area cleared (km2) |
2011 |
0 |
1.69 |
2010 |
0 |
0.59 |
2009 |
1.68 |
0.53 |
2008 |
1.09 |
1.07 |
2007 |
1.04 |
0.31 |
Totals |
3.81 |
4.19 |
Survey in 2011
NPA completed a survey of Bujanovac and Preševo municipalities, started in 2010, identifying 10 confirmed hazardous areas (CHAs) covering a total of 1.39km2 and another 53 SHAs in a total area estimated at about 2km2.[14]
Mine clearance in 2011
For the second successive year, no mine clearance took place in Serbia in 2011. In 2010, SMAC said it was because survey teams had not completed preparation of any demining tasks.[15] In May 2012, at the Standing Committee meetings in Geneva, Serbia said it had prepared demining tasks,[16] but SMAC reported there was no funding available in 2011.[17] SMAC hoped funding would become available in 2012 to allow completion of one task involving 88,032m2.[18]
Compliance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty
Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Serbia is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 March 2014.
Despite the lack of mine clearance in the past two years, Serbia said it expected some clearance to take place in 2012 and hoped to receive sufficient donor support to complete its Article 5 obligations within the deadline.[19]
Clearance of cluster-munition-contaminated areas in 2011
The number of organizations engaged in cluster munitions clearance dropped from four to three in 2011, but the area cleared increased by 42% in 2011 as a result of much higher clearance by NPA. Starting at the end of April and operating with 34 clearance staff, NPA had cleared 0.61km2 in the Municipality of Kuršumlija by the end of the year under a three-year program for clearing Bujanovac, Kuršumlija, and Preševo municipalities, with funding from Norway. In addition to 62 submunitions, NPA destroyed 12 items of UXO.[20]
SMAC reported plans to clear a total of 0.69km2 on Kopaonik mountain in 2012 with United States funding through the ITF which had been held over from the previous year.[21]
Clearance of cluster munition remnants in 2011[22]
Operator |
Area cleared (m2) |
Submunitions destroyed |
NPA |
614,038 |
62 |
PMC Inzenjering |
174,705 |
10 |
UXB Balkans |
363,007 |
19 |
Totals |
1,151,750 |
91 |
Battle area clearance in 2011
A joint venture between Emercom of Russia and Saturnia continued operations around Paraćin, clearing a total of 0.54 km2, marginally less than in 2010 (0.59 km2).[23]
Battle area clearance in 2011
Operator |
BAC (km2) |
No. of UXO destroyed |
Emercom/Saturnia |
0.54 |
374 |
Totals |
0.54 |
374 |
Quality management
Quality assurance is conducted by SMAC and the police, each with two inspectors.[24]
Safety of demining personnel
No demining or cluster munitions clearance accidents were reported in 2011.[25]
Other Risk Reduction Measures
There is no risk education program in Serbia, although SMAC is responsible for warning the population about mine/UXO dangers.[26] SMAC reports that marking is conducted during survey. For that purpose, it developed a new bilingual UXO/submunition warning sign in Serbian and Albanian in 2008.[27]
[1] Statement of Serbia, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 21 June 2011; and interview with Petar Mihajlović, Director, and Slađana Košutić, International Cooperation Advisor, SMAC, Belgrade, 25 March 2011.
[2] Interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 25 March 2011.
[3] Statement of Serbia, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 23 May 2012.
[4] Ibid., 21 June 2011; and interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 25 March 2011.
[5] Interview with Slađana Košutić, SMAC, in Geneva, 23 May 2012.
[6] Statement of Serbia, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 21 June 2011; and interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 25 March 2011.
[7] Interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 25 March 2011.
[8] Interview with Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Geneva, 23 May 2012.
[9] “Law of Alterations and Supplementations of the Law of Ministries,” Official Gazette, 84/04, August 2004; and interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 26 April 2010.
[10] Interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 26 April 2010.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Email from Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 23 July 2012.
[13] Email from Emil Jeremic, Regional Director South East Europe, NPA, 27 July 2012.
[14] Email from Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 23 July 2012.
[15] Interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 26 April 2010.
[16] Statement of Serbia, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 23 May 2012.
[17] Interview with Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Geneva, 23 May 2012.
[18] Email from Slađana Košutić, SMAC, 23 July 2012.
[19] Statement of Serbia, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 23 May 2012.
[20] Emails from Slađana Košutić, SMAC, 23 July 2012; Emil Jeremic, NPA, 27 July 2012; and Vanja Sicirica, MAP Serbia Program Manager, NPA, 3 August 2012.
[21] Email from Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 23 July 2012.
[22] Ibid.
[23] Ibid.
[24] Interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 25 March 2011.
[25] Email from Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 31 July 2012.
[26] “Law of Alterations and Supplementations of the Law of Ministries,” Official Gazette, 84/04, August 2004; and SMAC, “Solving Mine Clearance Problems in the Republic of Serbia,” Belgrade, 26 February 2008.
[27] Interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 26 April 2010.