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Greece
Mine Ban Policy
Commitment to the Mine Ban Treaty
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Mine Ban Treaty status |
State Party |
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National implementation measures |
Deems existing laws sufficient |
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Transparency reporting |
April 2012 |
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Key developments |
Over four years after its deadline, Greece’s stockpile destruction activities are suspended and there is no clear date for completing stockpile destruction |
Mine Ban Policy
The Hellenic Republic (Greece) signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 25 September 2003, becoming a State Party on 1 March 2004. Ratification makes the Mine Ban Treaty part of Greek domestic law.[1] Greece has specified the parts of its existing criminal codes that provide penal sanctions for any violations of the treaty.[2]
At the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in May 2012, Greece indicated that its stockpile destruction activities were suspended, pending a judicial decision in the case opposing the Greek state and the company originally contracted to carry stockpile destruction, Hellenic Defense Systems S.A. (see section on Stockpile Destruction, below). Greece has been in violation of the Mine Ban Treaty since March 2008, when it missed its stockpile destruction deadline.
Greece submitted its ninth Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report in April 2012, covering calendar year 2011.[3]
Greece is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and submitted its annual report for calendar year 2011 in April 2012. Greece is not party to CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.
Production and trade
Greece is a former producer of antipersonnel mines, and also imported them from Germany and the United States (US).[4] Prior to becoming a State Party, Greece had a moratorium on the production and export of antipersonnel mines for a number of years.[5]
Stockpiling and destruction
In its 2012 Article 7 report on developments in calendar year 2011, Greece reported a pre-destruction stockpile of 1,568,167 antipersonnel mines composed of four types: DM31 (792,780), M16 (568,327), M2 (204,565), and M14 (2,495). Greece had previously reported a pre-destruction stockpile totaling 1,566,532 antipersonnel mines composed of these types as well as 504 ADAM 155mm artillery projectiles, each containing 36 antipersonnel mines. Counting the ADAM mines, the revised pre-destruction stockpile total was 1,586,311.[6]
Greece adjusted its pre-destruction stockpile totals in 2011 based on an inventory of the stockpile and a review of its records by the Greek Armed Forces.[7] The amendments showed an increase in the number of M16 mines (14,968 more) and a decrease in the number of DM31 (1,620 fewer), M2 (9,809 fewer), and M14 (1,400 fewer) mines. The ADAM artillery shells were removed from the stockpile total, but Greece stated in December 2010 that a total of 18,144 ADAM mines contained in the 504 artillery projectiles were destroyed in 2008.[8]
Greece failed to meet its 1 March 2008 deadline for destruction of its stockpiled antipersonnel mines and, as of September 2012, remains in violation of the treaty. In June 2011, Greece informed States Parties that a total of 953,285 mines remain to be destroyed.[9] Greece started its stockpile destruction almost eight months after its deadline, and eventually halted stockpile destruction operations in early 2010 after an explosion at the destruction facility located in Bulgaria and operated by Hellenic Defense Systems S.A. (EAS). In June 2010, following a ministerial decision and an arbitral award, the contract between EAS and Greece was revoked on the basis of delays in the destruction process. EAS subsequently appealed the decision.[10]
In December 2010, Greece informed States Parties that a total of 615,362 stockpiled mines had been shipped to the Bulgarian facility operated by EAS from November 2008 to May 2010, and that 614,882 mines were destroyed.[11] It said it was examining the difference of 480 mines between Bulgarian and Greek data.[12] In June 2011, Greece said that the 480 mines that were missing from a shipment to Bulgaria were found in a Greek warehouse.[13] Those mines apparently have not yet been destroyed.
In May 2012, Greece stated that stockpile destruction was suspended pending the conclusion of the judicial process with EAS and indicated that the main proceeding of the Administrative Court of Appeals would take place on 27 September 2012.[14] Previously, in December 2011, Greece noted that any new contract would involve the closer engagement of the Greek Armed Forces in monitoring the destruction process.[15]
The ICBL has repeatedly expressed concern at Greece’s failure to start the destruction process early enough to meet its destruction deadline. It has urged Greece to set a firm deadline for completion and devote the necessary resources for destruction as well as report progress to States Parties on a monthly basis.[16]
Mines retained for research and training
Greece reported that as of the end of 2011, it retained a total of 6,158 antipersonnel mines for “training soldiers in mine detection and clearance and canine detection” of the following types: M14 (3,047), DM31 (1,286), M2 (1,445), and M16 (380).[17] Greece did not use the expanded Form D for reporting on the intended purposes and actual uses of retained mines agreed at the First Review Conference in 2004. Greece did not consume mines for permitted purposes in 2011 or 2010, but did so in 2009.[18]
[1] Interview with Lt.-Col. Vassilis Makris, Defense Policy Directorate, International Law Section, Hellenic Defense General Staff, Ministry of Defense, Athens, 13 May 2005.
[2] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form A, April 2006. The information has been repeated in all subsequent Article 7 reports. See also, Landmine Monitor Report 2006, p. 446.
[3] Greece previously submitted Article 7 reports in April 2011, April 2010 and on 30 April 2009, 30 April 2008, 30 April 2007, April 2006 (for the period April 2002 to March 2006), 6 May 2005, and 7 July 2004.
[4] Greece has reported, “Upon ratification of the Ottawa Convention, there were not any anti-personnel mine production facilities whatsoever in Greece.” Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form E, April 2012.
[5] On 19 February 2010, a Greek news agency reported that US forces seized a ship heading for East Africa carrying a cargo of weapons, including a “large quantity of mines” with serial numbers indicating they were US-manufactured mines purchased by the Greek Army, allegedly sent to Bulgaria for destruction. Both Bulgaria and Greece conducted investigations into the incident and concluded that the allegation was unfounded.
[6] In its 2010 report, Greece reported a pre-destruction stockpile of 1,566,532 antipersonnel mines composed of five types: DM31 (794,400), M16 (553,359), M2 (214,374), M14 (3,895), and Area Denial Antipersonnel Mine (ADAM) artillery shells (504). Each of the 504 shells reported by Greece contain 36 individual antipersonnel mines making a total of 18,144 ADAM mines and providing an overall total of 1,584,172 mines. Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form B, April 2010.
[7] Statement of Greece, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Geneva, 20 June 2011.
[8] Statement of Greece, Mine Ban Treaty Tenth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 2 December 2010.
[9] Statement of Greece, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Geneva, 20 June 2011. In December 2010, Greece stated that a total of 951,946 mines remained stockpiled.
[10] Statement of Greece, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Geneva, 21 May 2012.
[11] Statement of Greece, Mine Ban Treaty Tenth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 2 December 2010.
[12] Statement of Greece, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction Geneva, 20 June 2011.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Statement of Greece, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Geneva, 21 May 2012.
[15] Statement of Greece, Mine Ban Treaty Eleventh Meeting of States Parties, Phnom Penh, 1 December 2011.
[16] Statement of ICBL, Mine Ban Treaty Eleventh Meeting of States Parties, Phnom Penh, 1 December 2011; Statement of ICBL, Mine Ban Treaty Tenth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 29 November 2010; and Statement of ICBL, Mine Ban Treaty Second Review Conference, Cartagena, 2 December 2009.
[17] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form D, April 2012.
[18] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Reports, Forms D, April 2011, April 2010, 30 April 2009.
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