Oman

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]