Lebanon
Mine Ban Policy
Mine ban policy overview
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Mine Ban Treaty status |
State not party |
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Pro-mine ban UNGA voting record |
Abstained on Resolution 67/32 in December 2012 |
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Participation in Mine Ban Treaty meetings |
Attended, as an observer, the Twelfth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in December 2012 and the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in May 2013 |
Policy
Lebanon has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty, but it indicated in December 2009 that it intends to do so, saying that it “hopes to sign…in the future” and it “looks forward to joining the Mine Ban Treaty.”[1]
Lebanon had long said that it was unable to join the Mine Ban Treaty due to the continuing conflict with Israel and that the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah heightened concerns about the security of its southern border.[2] In August 2013, Lebanon’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Adnan Mansour, reportedly stated that landmines “are protecting the border” with Israel.[3]
Lebanon attended, as an observer, the Twelfth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva in December 2012 and intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in May 2013. It did not make any statements at these meetings.
Lebanon abstained from voting on UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution 67/32 on antipersonnel mines on 3 December 2012, as it did for the previous annual resolution in 2011. In 2010, Lebanon voted in favor of the UNGA resolution, but subsequently informed the UN Secretariat that it had intended to abstain.
Lebanon is party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions and hosted its Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut in September 2011.
Lebanon is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), but it attended the 14th annual conference of the CCW’s Amended Protocol II on landmines in November 2012.
Production, transfer, use, and stockpiling
In December 2009, Lebanon confirmed that it “has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines.”[4] There have been no allegations of new use by Lebanese forces of antipersonnel mines or antipersonnel mine-like devices in Lebanon since 2006.[5] In late 2011 and in 2012, the Syrian Army laid antipersonnel and antivehicle mines along its borders, including the border with Lebanon in al-Buni, Heet (PMN-2 and TMN-46 mines), and Masharih al-Qaa.[6]
In August 2011, Lebanon informed the Monitor that “The Lebanese Government doesn’t use or stockpile or produce or transport any anti-personnel mines, though the Lebanese army retains very few numbers for training purposes.”[7] Earlier, in March 2008, the director of the Lebanon Mine Action Center (LMAC) said that the stockpile consists of a small quantity of mines, which he described as being lower than the maximum number permitted by the Mine Ban Treaty for training purposes.[8]
[1] Statement by Gen. Mohamed Femhi, Director, Lebanon Mine Action Center (LMAC), Second Review Conference, Mine Ban Treaty, Cartagena, 4 December 2009. More fully, Lebanon said, “Regardless of the fact that Israel refuses to accede to the Ottawa or Oslo Conventions…Lebanon will not follow that same path. Lebanon understands the tragic consequences that cluster munitions and anti-personnel mines have on civilian populations. Lebanon has signed the Oslo treaty and hopes to sign the Ottawa Convention in the future….Lebanon, here again, confirms his beliefs in the principle of the Ottawa Convention and its noble objectives, and looks forward to joining the Mine Ban Treaty.”
[2] Statement by Amb. Michel Haddad, Mine Ban Treaty First Review Conference, Nairobi, 3 December 2004. The ambassador cited the “failure of the Government of Israel to submit all the maps showing the deployment of landmines” and the “continued occupation by Israel of parts of Southern Lebanon.”
[3] “Mansour Says Lebanon Confronts Israeli ‘Bats’ With Landmines,” Naharnet Newsdesk, 8 August 2013, www.naharnet.com/stories/en/93586.
[4] Statement by Gen. Femhi, LMAC, Second Review Conference, Mine Ban Treaty, Cartagena, 4 December 2009.
[5] See Landmine Monitor Report 2007, pp. 893–895, for allegations regarding Hezbollah, Fatah al-Islam, and Israel; and response to Monitor questionnaire by the Permanent Mission of Lebanon to the UN in Geneva, 26 August 2011. Lebanon confirmed in the August 2011 letter that “Antipersonnel mines were never used in Lebanon in 2010 or 2011.”
[6] The Lebanese president confirmed in November 2011 that Syria had planted landmines along its border with Lebanon, on the Syrian side. See “Sleiman: Syria regrets incursions into Lebanon,” The Daily Star, 10 November 2011, www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2011/Nov-10/153596-sleiman-syria-regrets-incursions-into-lebanon.ashx - axzz28CfJlYqx; “2 Syrian Nationals Wounded by Landmine at Northern Border-Crossing,” Naharnet, 9 February 2012, www.naharnet.com/stories/en/29506-2-syrian-nationals-wounded-by-landmine-at-northern-border-crossing; and “Syria plants mines along Lebanon border,” The Daily Star, 13 June 2012, www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Jun-13/176712-syria-plants-mines-along-lebanon-border.ashx - ixzz1xuenvXvj. For information about an injury at an unidentified location on the Syria-Lebanese border, see “Lebanon-Syria border blast wounds 3,” Agence France-Presse, 29 July 2012, reliefweb.int/report/lebanon/lebanon-syria-border-blast-wounds-3-medic. On March 9, The Washington Post published a photo of dirt-covered PMN-2 antipersonnel mines and TMN-46 antivehicle mines that it reported were planted by the Syrian army on the outskirts of the Syrian village of Heet, www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/03/09/Interactivity/Images/509511194.jpg.
[7] Response to Monitor questionnaire by the Permanent Mission of Lebanon to the UN in Geneva, 26 August 2011.
[8] Interview with Gen. Fehmi, LMAC, Beirut, 3 March 2008. While the text of the Mine Ban Treaty does not specify a maximum number that may be retained for demining training purposes, most States Parties have agreed that the number should be in the hundreds or thousands, or less, and not in the tens of thousands.