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Kosovo
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Background
The status of Kosovo is disputed. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February 2008. As of July 2011, the declaration of independence was recognized by 77 states. However, Serbia considers the declaration illegal and still views Kosovo as its southern territory. Kosovo has not been able to become a UN member state and thus is not eligible to adhere formally to international instruments such as the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Policy
In March 2010, a spokesperson for the self-declared Republic of Kosovo told the Monitor, “In principle, as a country that that has been through war, Kosovo supports the initiatives to reduce and ban arms, including the policy to ban cluster ammunition.” He stated that Kosovo does not possess any cluster munitions.[1]
Forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) used cluster munitions during the 1998–1999 conflict in Kosovo.[2] Additionally, aircraft from the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and the United States dropped cluster bombs in Kosovo during the 1999 NATO air campaign.[3]
Cluster munition remnants
Kosovo is affected by remnants of cluster munition used by the FRY armed forces in 1998–1999 and by the 1999 NATO air campaign. The Kosovo Mine Action Centre (KMAC) reported that as of 1 June 2010 it had identified 48 areas of confirmed submunition contamination (four less than in 2009) and six suspected areas of contamination (two fewer than in 2009).[4] The estimated extent of contamination has not been made public.
Clearance of cluster munition contaminated areas
In 2010, the Kosovo Security Force explosive ordnance disposal teams, Mines Awareness Trust, and HALO Trust conducted cluster munition clearance.[5] KMAC reported that a total of five cluster munition clearance tasks were conducted, resulting in the destruction of 80 unexploded submunitions during 2010, but gave no further details.[6] HALO conducted cluster munition clearance at one site in Pepsh[7] over an area of 128,182m2, finding and destroying 44 unexploded submunitions.[8]
Cluster munition casualties
At least 203 casualties of cluster munition have been recorded in Kosovo. A total of 25 casualties were recorded during the 1999 cluster munitions strikes.[9] Unexploded submunitions caused at least 178 casualties between 1999 and the end of 2009.[10] No casualties of unexploded submunitions were reported in 2010.
[1] Email from Memli Krasniqi, Spokesperson, Republic of Kosovo, 30 March 2010. He wrote, “KFOR [Kosovo Protection Force] is the mission responsible for issues related to defense, while Kosovo institutions have certain limitations in this field. Consequently, Kosovo does not have stocks of any kind of explosive device or other weapons.”
[2] Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions, Government Policy and Practice, (Mines Action Canada, May 2009), p. 238.
[3] The three countries dropped 1,765 cluster bombs containing 295,000 submunitions in what is now Serbia, Montenegro, and Kosovo. Human Rights Watch, “Civilian Deaths in the NATO Air Campaign,” Vol. 12, no. 1(D), February 2000, www.hrw.org. See also, Human Rights Watch, “Cluster Munition Information Chart,” March 2009, www.hrw.org; Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), “Yellow Killers: The Impact of Cluster Munitions in Serbia and Montenegro,” 2007, www.stopclustermunitions.org; and NPA, “Report on the Impact of Unexploded Cluster Munitions in Serbia,” January 2009, www.stopclustermunitions.org.
[4] Email from Ahmet Sallova, Head, KMAC, Ministry of the Kosovo Security Force, 3 March 2011.
[5] Interview with Ahmet Sallova, Ministry of the Kosovo Security Force, in Ljubljana, 5 February 2010.
[6] Email from Ahmet Sallova, Ministry of the Kosovo Security Force, 26 July 2011.
[7] International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance, “Annual Report 2010,” March 2011, p. 69.
[8] Email from Andrew Moore, Caucasus and Balkan Desk Officer, HALO, 4 March 2011.
[9] Handicap International (HI), Circle of Impact: The Fatal Footprint of Cluster Munitions on People and Communities (Brussels: HI, May 2007), p. 69.
[10] Ibid.; “Mine wounds two children in Kosovo,” Agence France-Presse (Pristina), 9 April 2007; “Land mine explodes in Kosovo; 4 children injured,” International Herald Tribune, 9 November 2007; email from Bajram Krasniqi, Office for the Kosovo Protection Corps Coordinator (OKPCC), UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), 5 May 2009; and telephone interview with Bajram Krasniqi, OKPCC, UNMIK, 1 July 2009.
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