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Mine Ban Policy
Policy
The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYR Macedonia) acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 9 September 1998, becoming a State Party on 1 March 1999. While it has not enacted new national implementation legislation, it has reported that prohibited activities are covered by existing criminal law.[1]
FYR Macedonia attended the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in November-December 2011 and the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in May 2012.
In 2012, FYR Macedonia submitted its 11th Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report, covering the period from 1 January 2011 to 20 May 2012.[2]
Production, transfer, stockpiling, and retention
FYR Macedonia has stated that it never produced or exported antipersonnel mines.[3] It completed destruction of its stockpile of 38,921 antipersonnel mines on 20 February 2003, just ahead of the deadline mandated by the treaty. On 10 July 2006, FYR Macedonia destroyed the 4,000 antipersonnel mines that it had been retaining for research and training.[4]
In May 2011, FYR Macedonian army specialists discovered a small stockpile consisting of eight containers containing a total of 1,248 PFM-1S antipersonnel mines during efforts to determine what munitions needed to be destroyed in accordance with FYR Macedonia’s obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[5] On 10 May 2011, the government of FYR Macedonia adopted Decision No. 48/3 which tasked the Ministry of Defense to destroy the munitions.[6] At the request of the Ministry of Defense, the Geneva Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) visited the storage site to provide technical assistance in determining the most appropriate method of destruction.[7]
At the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties on 1 December 2011, FYR Macedonia stated that all mines “could be destroyed early in 2012 and in a relatively easy manner.”[8] On 10 May 2012, Macedonian army specialists in cooperation with the GICHD completed the destruction of the 1,248 newly discovered mines during destruction activities near Skopje.[9]
FYR Macedonia is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. FYR Macedonia has never submitted its annual Amended Protocol II Article 13 report for Amended Protocol II.
[1] See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 545; and Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 329.
[2] The report is undated. Its previous reports were submitted 29 April 2011, 2009, 2008, 5 June 2007, 26 April 2006, 18 November 2005, 30 April 2004, 24 February 2003, 25 June 2002, and 25 May 1999.
[3] Some of the former Yugoslavia’s mine production facilities were located in FYR Macedonia, but the government states that production had ceased. Fax from Ministry of Defense, 20 April 2004.
[4] For additional details, see Landmine Monitor Report 2006, p. 508.
[5] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Forms A and B, undated (2012).
[6] Ibid., Form A, undated (2012).
[7] Ibid., Form F, undated (2012).
[8] Statement of FYR Macedonia, Mine Ban Treaty Eleventh Meeting of States Parties, Phnom Penh, 1 December 2011.
[9] Statement by Col. Tomislav Rizeski, Head of Arms Control Centre, Ministry of Defense, Mine Ban Treaty Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 21 May 2012; and AP Mine Ban Convention Implementation Support Unit Press release, “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia destroys previously unknown stockpiled anti-personnel mines,” Geneva and Skopje, 10 May 2012, http://www.apminebanconvention.org/fileadmin/pdf/mbc/press-releases/PressRelease-Macedonia-10May2012-en.pdf.
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