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Nepal
Mine Ban Policy
Mine ban policy overview
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Mine Ban Treaty status |
Not a State Party |
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Pro-mine ban UNGA voting record |
Abstained from voting on Resolution 66/29in December 2011 |
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Participation in Mine Ban Treaty meetings |
None since November-December 2010 |
Policy
The Republic of Nepal has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. In December 2010, Nepal stated that recommendations regarding accession to the Mine Ban Treaty would be completed “soon.”[1]
The November 2006 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) committed the government and the Unified Communist Party of Nepal/Maoist rebels to halt the use of mines, and required the parties to assist each other to mark and clear mines and booby-traps.[2]
In February 2010, the Minister of Peace and Reconstruction initiated a ministerial-level committee to study the responsibilities of and opportunities for becoming a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty.[3] As of 1 September 2012, the committee had not been able to compile a report due to the frequent change in personnel holding the position of minister in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Defense during the time period. The committee met again in March 2012.[4]
Nepal did not attend the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties in Phnom Penh in November–December 2011 or the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in May 2012. On 2 December 2011, Nepal abstained from voting on UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 66/29 calling for universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty. This was the fifth consecutive year that Nepal abstained on the annual resolution, after voting in favor of all previous pro-ban resolutions since 1996.[5]
In May and June 2011, the Nepal Campaign to Ban Landmines (NCBL) met with the prime minister, the foreign minister, the defense minister, and the minister for peace and reconstruction to encourage accession to the Treaty.[6] The NCBL organized an event in November 2011 to honor former Ministers for Peace and Reconstruction Ram Chandra Paudel and Rakam Chemjong for their efforts to bring about a ban on antipersonnel mines in Nepal. Madhav Kumar Nepal, a former prime minister and a senior Communist Party Nepal-UML leader, joined in the event, at which several political parties signed a commitment against landmines. Nepali Congress leader Ram Chandra Poudel said banning landmines was praiseworthy and added he had helped NGOs in this sector as a Minister for Peace and Reconstruction during his tenure.[7] As of 1 August 2012, 24 of Nepal’s political parties have signed the letter to seek Nepal’s accession.[8]
Production
In December 2009, the Minister for Peace and Reconstruction stated that Nepal does not produce antipersonnel mines.[9] On 21 June 2010, Nepal wrote to the Monitor that “Nepal does not produce any kind of antipersonnel landmines and the landmines that the Nepal Army is using have been produced abroad.”[10] Nepal repeated this in its remarks to States Parties in December 2010 at the Tenth Meeting of States Parties.[11] In light of these official, written declarations that Nepal does not produce antipersonnel mines, the Monitor removed Nepal from its list of producers. Previously, in 2003 and 2005, Nepali officials told the Monitor that Nepal produced antipersonnel mines.[12]
Use, transfer, and stockpiling
In December 2009, the Minister for Peace and Reconstruction stated that Nepal has not planted mines since the end of the insurgency in 2006.[13] He also said that Nepal does not “enable the transfer” of mines. Nepal is not known to have ever exported mines.
During the conflict, the Nepal Army used antipersonnel mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) assembled in-country around military installations, police posts, and infrastructure. The Nepal Army has stated that it started using mines in 2002 and estimates it deployed around 14,000 antipersonnel mines (including 11,000 PMD-6 mines and 3,000 POMZ-2 and M14 mines). It also estimates that it used about 25,000 command-detonated IEDs.[14] In June 2010, Nepal told the Monitor that it used mines in 53 locations and IEDs in 275 locations during the conflict.[15] In June 2011, Prime Minister Jhalnath Khanal detonated the final mine, ending clearance of the areas mined by the Nepal Army during the civil war. He stated, “Today is a historical day because Nepal has been liberated from all kinds of landmines.”[16]
Nepal wrote to the Monitor in June 2010 that it is now only using antipersonnel mines for training purposes. It stated, “Landmines needed for this purpose have been retained in minimum number,” noting that this is in line with Article 3 of the Mine Ban Treaty.[17] The Nepal Police, Armed Police Forces, and the Nepal Army also retain stocks of IEDs.[18]
A Nepal Army spokesperson said in 2007 that the army had a stockpile of about 3,000 antipersonnel and antivehicle mines, including POMZ-2 and PMD antipersonnel mines. Nepal imported its mines from China, India, and the former Soviet Union, mostly in the 1980s.[19]
Although the former rebel Communist Party of Nepal/Maoist (CPN/M) became a part of the interim government in April 2007, its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) still exists.[20] There have been no reports of new use of antipersonnel mines, victim-activated IEDs, or booby-traps by the PLA since the May 2006 cease-fire. In the past, the PLA was expert at the manufacture and use of a variety of IEDs, including victim-activated, time-delayed, and command-detonated types.[21] Other armed groups continue to operate within the country and to manufacture and use bombs. There is no evidence that any of them have used or possess antipersonnel mines.
[1] Statement of Nepal, Mine Ban Treaty Tenth Meeting of States Parties, Session on Universalization, 2 December 2010.
[2] CPA between Government of Nepal and CPN/M, 21 November 2006, points 5.1.1(i), 5.1.2 and 5.1.4. Earlier, the May 2006 bilateral cease-fire between the government of Nepal and the CPN/M, and accompanying Code of Conduct, committed both sides to discontinuing the use of mines.
[3] Letter from the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction to the Nepal Campaign to Ban Landmines (NCBL), 23 February 2010. The committee has representation from the ministries of home affairs, foreign affairs, defense, law, and justice, and the NCBL.
[4] Email from Purna Shova Chitrikal, Director, NCBL, 5 August 2012.
[5] An advisor to the prime minister later told the NCBL that the Permanent Mission of Nepal to the UN in New York decides how to vote. Telephone interview with Raghuji Panta, Advisor to the Prime Minister, 23 May 2010.
[6] A frequent change of ministers due to Nepal’s governance crisis has led to a continual introduction of the issue to newly placed government officials. The NCBL launched a letter of commitment to spur Parliamentary action, which pledges political parties to work toward Nepal’s accession to the Treaty. In June 2011, an ICBL delegation met with the ambassador of Nepal in Geneva and urged Nepal to remain engaged with the convention and consider submitting a voluntary Article 7 report.
[7] “Ministers honoured for contribution in banning landmine,” The Himalayan, 11 November 2011, http://bit.ly/N9pmGk.
[8] Nepali Congress, CPN (UML), Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum Nepal, Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum (Democratic), Tarai-Madhesh Loktantrik Party, Tarai-Madhesh Loktantrik Party Nepal, CPN (ML), CPN (ML) – Samajbadi, Sadvawana Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, CPN (Samyukta), Rastriya Janamorchha, Rastriya Jana Shakti Party, Nepal Sadvawana Party (Anandadevi), Rastriya Jana Mukti Party, Sanghiye Loktantrik Rastriya Manch, Nepali Janata Dal, Churebhawar Rastriya Yekata Party, Samajwadi Janata Party, Dalit Janajati Party, Nepal Pariwar Dal, Nepa: Rastriya Party, Nepal Loktantrik Samajwadi Dal, and Bam Morchha Nepal.
[9] Statement by Rakam Chemjong, Minister for Peace and Reconstruction, Mine Ban Treaty Second Review Conference, Cartagena, 4 December 2009.
[10] Letter No. GE/2010/576 from Hati Pd. Odari, Second Secretary, Permanent Mission of Nepal to the UN in Geneva, 21 June 2010.
[11] Statement of Nepal, Mine Ban Treaty Tenth Meeting of States Parties, Session on Universalization, Geneva, 2 December 2010.
[12] See Landmine Monitor Report 2007, p. 936, and Landmine Monitor Report 2006, p. 1,022. In 2003, Brig.-Gen. Kul Bahadur Khadka told a visiting ICBL delegation that Nepal produced antipersonnel mines. In August 2005, a former government official told the Monitor that mines were produced at the weapons factory at Sunchari in Makwanpur district south of Kathmandu.
[13] Statement by Rakam Chemjong, Mine Ban Treaty Second Review Conference, Cartagena, 4 December 2009.
[14] See Landmine Monitor Report 2007, pp. 936–937. The Monitor reported indicators of mine use by government forces as early as 1999.
[15] Letter No. GE/2010/576 from Hati Pd. Odari, Permanent Mission of Nepal to the UN in Geneva, 21 June 2010.
[16] “Nepal declared free of mines five years after civil war” BBC, 14 June 2011, www.bbc.co.uk. Nepal continues to clear IED fields laid by the security forces during the civil war.
[17] Letter No. GE/2010/576 from Hati Pd. Odari, Permanent Mission of Nepal to the UN in Geneva, 21 June 2010.
[18] Presentation by DSPBenu Prasad Pathak, Armed Police Force, NCBL Interaction Program, 10 January 2011.
[19] See Landmine Monitor Report 2007, p. 936.
[20] Under the terms of the CPA and the Monitoring of the Management of Arms and Armies agreement, the PLA was cantoned at seven sites and obligated to surrender all IEDs at designated storage locations a safe distance from the sites. Some observers believe some PLA cadres, and their arms, remain outside the UN camps. Shree Ram Dhakal said that all weapons and explosives were handed over to the UN, but that some might have been inadvertently left out. ICBL meeting with Shree Ram Dhakal “Prasanta,” Secretary, CPN/M, Kathmandu, 15 December 2008. Notes by the Monitor.
[21] Presentation by Brig.-Gen. Lok Bahadur Thapa, Nepal Army, “Mine Action in Nepal,” Mine Action and Implications for Peace and Development Conference, Phnom Penh, 12 March 2007.
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