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Iraq

Last Updated: 26 October 2012

Mine Ban Policy

Commitment to the Mine Ban Treaty

Mine Ban Treaty status

State Party

National implementation measures

National implementation legislation drafted

Transparency reporting

Submitted an Article 7 report in 2012

Key developments

Iraq destroyed a stockpile of 50 antipersonnel mines in the northern region

Policy

The Republic of Iraq acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 15 August 2007, becoming a State Party on 1 February 2008.

In May 2012, a government official informed the ICBL that Iraq has drafted legislation to implement the Mine Ban Treaty and expected to introduce it in parliament.[1] Iraq had not previously indicated if national implementation legislation to enforce the treaty’s prohibitions domestically was being pursued or if existing laws were considered adequate.[2]

In 2012, Iraq submitted its fifth Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report covering calendar year 2011.

In November-December 2011, Iraq attended the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva. Iraq provided an update on victim assistance, indicating that it was in the process of finalizing a new strategy.[3] Iraq also participated in the intersessional Standing Committee meetings held in Geneva in May 2012 and made an intervention concerning clearance and victim assistance.[4] In October 2010, Iraq hosted a conference on the national strategy for mine action in coordination with donor countries in Baghdad.

Iraq is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, stockpiling, and destruction

Iraq produced antipersonnel mines in the past, including in the period leading up to the 2003 conflict. All mine production facilities were apparently destroyed in the coalition bombing campaign in 2003.[5] Iraq reported that it has no intention to reconstruct its production capacity.[6]

For the third year in a row, there were not any confirmed reports of new use of antipersonnel mines by government or insurgent forces. No allegations of any mine transfers from Iraq have surfaced since the 1990s.

Iraq’s treaty deadline for destruction of its stockpiles of antipersonnel mines was 1 February 2012.[7] In June 2011, Iraq stated that it destroyed 645 out of 690 antipersonnel mines that had been stockpiled in the Kurdistan region, retaining 45 mines for training purposes.[8] In its Article 7 report for calendar year 2011, Iraq reported that an additional 50 stockpiled antipersonnel mines were destroyed in the Kurdistan region.[9]  

The manner in which Iraq has reported on the number of mines it retains for training and research purposes has been inconsistent and confusing. It appears that at least 45 mines were retained in the Kurdistan region for training purposes since the end of the stockpile destruction programs. Adding to this confusion is a claim in its most recent Article 7 report wherein Iraq states that 793 mines were retained for training after the mines were recovered during clearance operations.[10] The Monitor cannot sufficiently assess the manner by which Iraq implements Article 3 based solely on the information provided by Iraq in its annual transparency reports.

In previous Monitor reports, substantial but decreasing numbers of antipersonnel mines were recovered by foreign and Iraqi forces from caches. The Monitor has not found any information regarding seizures during the current reporting period. Iraq also reported that it destroyed 4,295 antipersonnel mines from mined areas in 2011.[11] The Iraqi government had not previously reported on recovered mines or their destruction in its Article 7 reports.

 



[1] Meeting with Bakhshan Assad, Head of Rehabilitation Department, Ministry of Public Health, Maythem Obead, Head of VA [Victim Assistance] and MRE [Mine Risk Education] Department of Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (MAVAA), Soran Majeed, VA Officer and Ibrahim Baba-Ali, UNDP Iraq, in Geneva, 23 May 2012. See also Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for the period 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011), Form A.

[2] Iraq has only reported on the legal framework for mine action. Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2009), Form A.

[3] Statement of Iraq, Mine Ban Treaty Eleventh Meeting of States Parties, Phnom Penh, 29 November 2011.

[4] Statement of Iraq, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committees on Mine Clearance and Victim Assistance, Geneva, 23 May 2012.

[5] Interview with Mowafak Ayoub, Director, Disarmament Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Geneva, 10 February 2004. Iraqi and United States (US) sources requesting anonymity indicated that the Aloa’oa’a and Hutten factories in Alexandria and the Aloudisie factory in Al Youssfiz were destroyed. For details on previous production, see Landmine Monitor Report 1999, pp. 886–887.. In 2005, the Monitor removed Iraq from its list of countries producing antipersonnel mines or reserving the right to produce them, following the destruction of Iraq’s production facilities and the government’s statements in support of banning antipersonnel mines.

[6] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form E, 31 July 2008. The report also states: “The PMN Anti-Personnel mine was produced in this factory. Shortly before the war of 2003 however, a defect in these mines resulted in restricting the use of these mines. As far as can be determined, the stocks of these mines in military ammunition dumps have been dealt with by the US Corps of Military Engineering Conventional Munitions Destruction Project. Iraq also developed the capacity to produce Valmara 69 mines but apparently this capacity was never used to physically produce Valmara mines.”

[7] The Monitor has previously noted that Iraq was believed to stockpile, at some point, mines manufactured by Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Italy, Romania, Singapore, the former Soviet Union, and the US, in addition to Iraqi-manufactured mines.

[8] Statement of Iraq, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Geneva, 20 June 2011.

[9] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 supporting documentation on Iraqi Kurdistan (for the period 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011), Form G. Note that this was one of two reports submitted by Iraq as part of its transparency reporting, but it is not the official Article 7 report for Iraq.

[10] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 supporting documentation on Iraqi Kurdistan (for the period 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011), pp.32-33.

[11] See also Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for the period 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011), Form G.