Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 14 January 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 July 1999. Australia formally halted operational use of antipersonnel mines on 15 April 1996. Australia was a minor producer of antipersonnel mines and imported mines from the United States, but was not an exporter. On 10 December 1998, Australia enacted legislation to implement the Mine Ban Treaty domestically. On 30 April 2011, Australia submitted its 13^th Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report.

Australia destroyed its stockpile of 128,161 antipersonnel mines in 1999, well before its treaty-mandated destruction deadline of 1 July 2003. In 2000 it destroyed an additional 6,460 mines.[1] By the end of 2010, Australia retained 6,927 antipersonnel mines for training purposes.[2]

Australia served as co-rapporteur and then co-chair of the Standing Committees on Stockpile Destruction (2000–2002), Victim Assistance (2002–2004; 2009–2011), and Mine Clearance (2007–2009) and was president of the Seventh Meeting of States Parties in 2006.

Australia attended the Tenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in December 2010 and the intersessional Standing Committee Meetings in Geneva in June 2011. Australia is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.