Mine ban policy overview

Policy

Myanmar[1] has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. Myanmar was one of 18 countries that abstained from voting on UN General Assembly Resolution 64/56 on 2 December 2009, which called for universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty.  It has abstained on similar annual resolutions since 1997. 

Myanmar did not attend as an observer the Second Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in Cartagena, Colombia in November–December 2009. It has not attended an annual Meeting of States Parties or an intersessional Standing Committee meeting since 2003, though it did take part in the Bangkok Workshop on Achieving a Mine-Free South East Asia in April 2009.[2]

In March 2010, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar (UN Special Rapporteur) encouraged the ruling authorities in Myanmar to accede to the Mine Ban Treaty and to seek international assistance in order to begin demining efforts and provide support to victims of landmines. The UN Special Rapporteur cited the use of antipersonnel mines as a serious threat to the lives of ordinary people in Myanmar and urged government forces and all armed groups stop use of antipersonnel mines without delay.[3]

In April 2010, the main opposition political party—the National League for Democracy—issued a two-page statement calling for a ban on landmine use in the country.[4] The call for a mine ban was endorsed by the Committee Representing the People’s Parliament, made up of elected parliamentarians who were forbidden by the military to form a government in 1990.[5]

The Halt Mine Use in Burma campaign, which was launched by the ICBL in 2003, distributed 1,400 copies of the Burmese-language translation of the Myanmar chapter of Landmine Monitor Report 2009 and copies of a map of townships with identified landmine contamination.

Myanmar is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

State use, production, stockpiling, and transfer

The Myanmar Army (Tatmadaw) has used antipersonnel mines extensively throughout the long-running civil war. It appears that the army’s use of mines decreased significantly during 2009 and 2010, as the level of conflict with the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) waned, and the army withdrew from many frontline bases where it previously laid mines.  In one specific report of army use, in June 2009, Light Infantry Battalions 372 and 373 reportedly laid antipersonnel mines in the Saw Wa Der area, Taungoo district, in northern Karen (Kayin) state, which resulted in the death of a 20-year-old villager.[6]

Myanmar Defense Products Industries (Ka Pa Sa), a state enterprise at Ngyaung Chay Dauk in western Pegu (Bago) division, produces fragmentation and blast antipersonnel mines, including a non-detectable variety.[7] Authorities in Myanmar have not provided any information on the types and quantities of stockpiled antipersonnel mines. Landmine Monitor has previously reported that, in addition to domestic production, Myanmar has obtained and used antipersonnel mines of Chinese, Indian, Italian, Soviet, United States, and unidentified manufacture.[8] Myanmar is not known to have exported antipersonnel mines.[9]

Non-state armed groups 

Many ethnic rebel organizations exist in Myanmar. At least 17 non-state armed groups (NSAGs) have used antipersonnel mines since 1999, however some of these groups have ceased to exist or no longer use mines.

Some armed groups have unilaterally renounced the use of antipersonnel mines by signing the Deed of Commitment administered by the Swiss NGO Geneva Call.[10] In February 2010, Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor was informed by Colonel Hkun Okkar that the Pa’O People’s Liberation Organization’s (PPLO) signature to the Deed of Commitment in April 2007 was null and void, following the merger of the PPLO with other Pa’O factions to form the Pa’O National Liberation Organization (PNLO). He stated that since the PNLO was involved in armed struggle it would be difficult for it to agree to the Deed of Commitment, and that it had been easier for the PPLO as a political organization. He acknowledged the PNLO had placed landmines around its frontline military base.[11] 

Geneva Call organized three educational meetings in February, May, and July 2009 through the Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB) on international humanitarian law, the mine ban, and humanitarian mine action. Attendees were from DAB member organizations. In addition, the DAB, with the support of Geneva Call, produced five multi-language educational brochures on landmines.[12] Geneva Call held two educational meetings on the same topics for the political and military leadership of the New Mon State Party’s political and military leadership in August 2009 and March 2010.[13] In April 2010, Geneva Call organized a workshop for representatives of different Karen National Union/KNLA districts and battalions on all aspects of mine action.[14]

Non-state armed group use

Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor has been told by knowledgeable sources that the Kachin Independence Organization/Army, which has a non-hostility pact with the government, has started laying antipersonnel landmines for the first time since 1991.  Sources indicate that at least some of the newly mined areas have been marked, but that civilian and animal casualties have occurred.[15]

The new mine-laying is apparently in anticipation of possible renewed armed conflict as a result of the military junta’s announcement in April 2009 that armed groups which have non-hostility pacts with the ruling authorities and operate in Special Military Areas would be required to convert their militias into border guard forces under the command of the Myanmar Army.[16]  It is possible that other groups in Special Military Areas, some of which are known to possess mines, may lay new defensive minefields if pressure to bring their militias under the control of the army increases.

Conflict—especially mine warfare—between  two Karen rebel groups, the KNLA and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), has increased since mid-2009. As noted above, conflict between the Myanmar Army and KNLA decreased, and the Myanmar Army reportedly abandoned at least 40 frontline bases in Karen (Kayin) state, many of which remain mined.[17]

According to the Free Burma Rangers (FBR), in December 2009 in Thandaung township, the KNLA laid mines on the road between the army camp at Kaw They Der (near the junction of Taungoo-Mawchi and Taungoo-Busakee roads) and the camp to the east at Tha Eh Hta.  The KNLA subsequently warned villagers not walk on the road. In January 2010, in order to avoid the mined road, the army forced villagers to carry loads from one camp to the other on a little used trail.[18]

According to the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), prior to June 2009, in Hlaingbwe township, the KNLA Seventh Brigade laid mines around three of their main camps, as well as around the Ler Per Her internally displaced persons site. These mines were not removed when the KNLA withdrew from the camps in mid-June 2009.[19]

Since then, the KNLA has continued laying mines in an effort to kill or injure DKBA and army troops. News reports in 2009 and early 2010 from the KNLA’s Karen Information Center cited some 300 mine casualties, mostly DKBA combatants who became casualties from KNLA mines.[20]

According to a news article, in October 2009, KNLA Brigadier General Hsar Gay acknowledged that KNLA forces were using Claymore-type mines, bounding mines, and stake mines against the DKBA. He maintained that the weapons were all detonated at the time of engagement, and proved no danger to the civilian population. “They are triggered either by remote control, electric trigger or a tripwire and, provided strict technical specifications are followed, can be manufactured anywhere. They represent the premium defensive weapons as small demolition squads withdraw under fire, or a lethal ambush weapon, where a handful of men can hit entire enemy columns without expending ammunition.”  He continued, “Our brigades are using special warfare tactics with great success, particularly multiple Claymore and booby trap withdrawals, that’s why the [State Peace and Development Council] SPDC casualty figures are so high in those brigades.”[21]

According to the KHRG, in Myawaddy township, Karen (Kayin) state, on 2 January 2010, DKBA Company Commander Kyaw Bloh reportedly called a meeting with villagers from Htee Wah Blaw, Htee Law Thay, Paw Baw Koh, and P’Naw Klae Kee and announced that superior DKBA officers had ordered him to plant more landmines in the area. He told the villagers to ask permission from him if they wished to leave their village, and stated that the DKBA would begin laying new mines on 7 January 2010.[22]

In western Hpa-an township on 7 October 2009, a DKBA unit under Commander Nel Nel laid mines on a path near P’nwet Pu.   From May to June 2009, and again after September 2009, the DKBA laid mines in rural areas of southern Hpapun township, which killed a 50-year-old villager who was returning from tending cattle.[23]  A former DKBA soldier interviewed by the KHRG in April 2009 stated that his unit had planted mines near Htee Bper village which later killed two villagers and injured one.[24]

In January 2009, in western Hpa-an township, DKBA units commanded by Than Htun planted landmines around Bpyoh, Meh Theh, Ta Bpaw, and Gkah Meh villages, units commanded by Maung Bar Chah planted landmines around Pya Ghaw, Gkroo See, Maw Gka Lay and Kyaw Gkay Kee villages, and units commanded by Maung Nyoh planted landmines in areas around Htee Poe Neh, Bpaw T’Bproo, Ler Kheh Khaw, and Gkwee T’Kaw villages. The mines were reportedly laid to protect a bridge being constructed by the DKBA from attack by the KNLA.  As of June 2009, 30 cattle had been killed due to landmines, but no villagers.[25]

There have been reports in 2009 and 2010 of use of antivehicle mines by both the KNLA and the United Wa State Army.[26] 

Non-state armed group production, transfer, and stockpiling

The KNLA, DKBA, Karenni Army, and the United Wa State Army have produced blast and fragmentation mines. Some also make Claymore-type directional fragmentation mines, mines with antihandling fuzes, and explosive booby-traps. Armed groups in Myanmar have also acquired mines by lifting armymines from the ground, seizing Myanmar Army stocks, and from the clandestine arms market. Although some former combatants have non-hostility pacts with the ruling authorities, they have not disarmed and some still possess antipersonnel mines.[27]

Landmine Monitor Report 2009, for the first time, identified the presence of US-made M26 bounding antipersonnel mines in Myanmar, but could not identify the source or the user.[28]  In 2010, a confidential source indicated that the KNLA had received many M26 mines from the Royal Thai Army in the past, before Thailand joined the Mine Ban Treaty.