Mine ban policy overview

Mine Ban Policy

The Hellenic Republic (Greece) signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified 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]

Greece has been in violation of the Mine Ban Treaty since March 2008 when it missed its stockpile destruction deadline. The stockpile destruction process was reinitiated in the second half of 2013 following a modified contract agreement with Hellenic Defence Systems S.A. (EAS), the company originally contracted to carry out its stockpile destruction, for the destruction of the remaining 60% of its stockpile of antipersonnel mines. A Greek official informed the ICBL that just over half of its remaining stockpile had been transferred to a contractor in Bulgaria for destruction; the destruction process was understood to be in process on 1 October 2014 when an a series of explosions destroyed the Bulgarian facility, killing 15 employees.[3] Greece’s stockpile destruction activities were previously suspended in early 2010 after an explosion at the same Bulgarian facility and a subsequent lengthy legal process between the Greek state and EAS (see section on Stockpile destruction below).

Greece submitted its eleventh Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report in April 2014, covering calendar year 2013.[4]

Greece is not a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Greece is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines; submitting its annual report in early 2014 covering calendar year 2013. Greece became party to CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war (ERW) on 21 October 2014, which will enter into force for Greece on 21 April 2015.

Production and trade

Greece is a former producer of antipersonnel mines; it also formerly imported them from Germany and the United States (US).[5] Prior to becoming a State Party, Greece had a moratorium on the production and export of antipersonnel mines for a number of years.[6]

Stockpiling

In its April 2014 Article 7 report, Greece declared a stockpile of 953,285 antipersonnel mines as of 31 December 2013, comprised of 179,938 M2 mines, 241,760 DM31 mines, 529,292 M16 mines, and 2,295 M14 mines.[7] This is the same number that Greece has reported since 2011.[8]

Before it began stockpile destruction efforts, Greece reported a pre-destruction stockpile of 1,568,167 antipersonnel mines, composed of 792,780 DM31 mines, 568,327 M16 mines, 204,565 M2 mines, and 2,495 M14 mines.[9] Greece had previously reported a pre-destruction stockpile totaling 1,566,532 antipersonnel mines composed of these types as well as 504 Area Denial Artillery Munition (ADAM) 155mm artillery projectiles, each containing 36 antipersonnel mines. Counting the ADAM mines, the revised pre-destruction stockpile total was 1,586,311.[10]

Greece adjusted its pre-destruction stockpile total in 2011 following a stockpile inventory and a review of its records held by the Greek Armed Forces.[11] The amendments increase the number of M16 mines stockpiled (14,968 more) and decreased the number of DM31 (1,620 fewer), M2 (9,809 fewer), and M14 (1,400 fewer) mines. Greece reported that a total of 18,144 ADAM mines contained in 504 artillery projectiles were destroyed in 2007.[12]

Stockpile destruction

Greece failed to meet its 1 March 2008 deadline for destruction of its stockpiled antipersonnel mines and, as of November 2014, remains in violation of the treaty.

Greece began its stockpile destruction almost eight months after the deadline passed. In December 2010, it stated that a total of 615,362 stockpiled mines were transferred to a Bulgarian facility operated by EAS during the period November 2008 to May 2010, where 614,882 mines were destroyed.[13] Destruction operations halted in early 2010, however, after an explosion at the Bulgarian destruction facility. Following a ministerial decision and an arbitral award, the contract between EAS and Greece was revoked in June 2010 on the basis of delays in the destruction process. The company subsequently appealed the decision.[14]

According to Greece, a ministerial decision signed in November 2012 “put the whole process back on track.”[15] On 29 April 2013, Greece signed a modified contract with EAS for the destruction of the remaining 60% of its stockpile of antipersonnel mines. The contract required that the stockpile destruction be carried out at the Bulgarian company VIDEX’s facilities and funded by the Ministry of Defence of Greece. Greece described the “proactive” involvement of the Greek Armed Forces in the process, from transporting the mines under police and military escort to the Greek-Bulgarian border and through random checks by Greek officers during the delivery and destruction process.[16]

In December 2013, Greece informed States Parties that on 7 June 2013 EAS submitted all the relevant documents, including an end user certificate, in order to re-launch the destruction process of its stockpile at the VIDEX facilities in Bulgaria. It stated that the request for an international import certificate submitted on 2 July 2013 by VIDEX to the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy and Energy was approved on 17 October 2013. Subsequently, on 2 December 2013 the Greek Ministry of Development, Competitiveness, and Finance issued export licenses for the antipersonnel mines. It reported on 5 December 2013 that the only remaining pending documents required to commence the shipment of the mines to Bulgaria were transport licenses, which it said were expected to be issued by Greek and Bulgarian authorities “within the next few weeks.”[17] Greece stated that it expected the transport and destruction of the stockpiled mines to begin in “early 2014,” adding that the ongoing financial crisis had continued to hinder the process, including delayed payments to EAS employees.

In April 2014, Greece informed States Parties that 6,528 DM31 mines were transferred to Bulgaria on 24 February 2014, following a Ministry of Defence directive.[18] Subsequently, on 17 March 2014 Greece officials issued a transport license for 51,298 DM31 mines, which it said would be transported to Bulgaria “in the coming weeks.” Greece reported that on 20 March 2014 a total of 5,088 M2 and 2,160 M16 mines had been shipped to Bulgaria, with a further 15,000 mines scheduled to be transported on 14 April.[19]

At the Mine Ban Treaty’s Third Review Conference in June 2014, Greece announced that a total of 239,112 mines had been transferred to the VIDEX facility in Bulgaria, where 107,058 DM31 mines had been destroyed.[20] It stated that EAS and VIDEX were expected to complete destruction of the stockpile by the end of 2015 “notwithstanding…any future unforeseen circumstances.” EAS estimated that the transfer of the stockpile to Bulgaria would be completed by 18 August 2014, the date on which the contract expired. Greece stated that the remaining 714,173 mines would be transferred and destroyed “within the timeframe…provided.” It added, however, that destruction would continue “according to the provisions of the standing contractual agreement, which provides for the possibility of an extension in the deadline for completion.”[21] At the same time, Greece announced that EAS had already submitted a request for an extension to complete the destruction beyond the contract’s original provisions.[22]

In October 2014, a Greek official informed the ICBL that a total of 452,695 antipersonnel mines remained in Greek stockpiles, awaiting transfer for destruction. A total of 500,590 mines had been transferred to Bulgaria for destruction, but the process halted after a series of explosions on 1 October 2014 demolished the Bulgarian facility, killing 15 workers (13 men and two women).[23] The blasts completely obliterated the factory, leaving behind two craters the size of football fields and scattering debris over several hundred feet from the site.[24] No information has yet been provided on whether the explosion led to the full destruction of all mines at the facility.

According to a media report, the Bulgarian Attorney General’s office stated that the director of the VIDEX facility had sought  permission to transfer 800,000 mines from the facility, located in Gorni Lom, to another site in Seslavtsi, on the outskirts of Sofia, but was denied. The blasts at the Gorni Lom facility occurred later that same day.[25]

The cause of the explosions could not immediately be determined, however Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev blamed the incident on “arrogant nonobservance” of safety procedures.[26] Two months prior to the incident, Bulgarian officials raised serious concerns about safety breaches at the plant.[27] There had been at least three previous unplanned explosions at the destruction facility in 2006, 2007, and 2010 which caused fatalities and injured six people, and in 2010 destroyed two buildings.[28] A national day of mourning was declared on 3 October 2014 in the wake of the tragedy.[29]

It is presumed that all mines present at the facility at the time of the explosion on 1 October 2014 were also destroyed, but some could remain at the site as unexploded ordnance. Greece has yet to announce a new plan for the destruction of its remaining 452,695 mines, but an official informed the ICBL that it intends to submit to States Parties a revised destruction plan by the end of 2014, as called for in Action 5 of the Maputo Action Plan.[30]

Mines retained for research and training

In April 2014, Greece reported that as of the end of 2013, it retained a total of 6,142 antipersonnel mines for troyed, but some could remain at the site as unexploded ordnance. Greece has yet to announce a new plan for the destru286), M2 (1,443), and M16 (372). It reported that 16 mines were consumed in 2013 during army engineer training activities.[31] Previously, Greece had not reported consuming mines for permitted purposes since 2009.[32]