Mine ban policy overview

Policy

The Republic of Nepal has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. The November 2006 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) committed the government and the Unified Communist Party of Nepal/Maoist[1] rebels to halt the use of landmines, 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] The committee has representation from the ministries of home affairs, foreign affairs, defense, law, and justice, and the Nepal Campaign to Ban Landmines (NCBL). The committee was receiving presentations from academic and civil society groups.

Nepal attended the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional Standing Committee meetings in June 2010 in Geneva and informed States Parties that this “high-level task force” had been created to review accession to the treaty, and that it was expected to “submit a report in the near future.”[4]

A high-level delegation from Nepal attended as an observer the Second Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in Cartagena, Colombia in November–December 2009.[5] It made statements both during the high-level segment and during the session on universalization. The Minister for Peace and Reconstruction said that Nepal “has always supported the humanitarian spirit and objectives” of the Mine Ban Treaty and “is acting in line with many of its objectives. We will continue our efforts to participate and engage with the international community to demonstrate Nepal’s support to a Mine-Free World.”[6]

On 2 December 2009, Nepal abstained from voting on UN General Assembly Resolution 64/56 calling for universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty. This was the third consecutive year that Nepal abstained on the annual resolution, after voting in favor of all previous pro-ban resolutions since 1996.[7]

 In February 2010, the NCBL arranged for a visit by four members of the Constituent Assembly to some affected districts. Afterwards, the NCBL published a report, prepared in cooperation with the four members, which recommended that Nepal accede to the Mine Ban Treaty and increase support for victims and risk education.[8] After an NCBL-sponsored delegation visited the National Human Rights Commission in March 2010, the president of the commission in May 2010 urged the government to accede to the Mine Ban Treaty in a statement made on national human rights day.[9]

Production

In December 2009, the Minister for Peace and Reconstruction told States Parties at the Second Review Conference that Nepal does not produce landmines.[10] Nepal repeated this in its remarks to States Parties during the June 2010 intersessional Standing Committee meetings.[11] On 21 June 2010, Nepal wrote to Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor that “Nepal does not produce any kind of antipersonnel landmines and the landmines that the Nepal Army is using have been produced abroad.”[12]

In light of these official, written declarations that Nepal does not produce antipersonnel mines, Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor removed Nepal from its list of producers.

In 2003 and 2005, Nepali officials told Landmine Monitor that Nepal produced antipersonnel mines.[13] Since the 2006 cease-fire and CPA, army officials have said in interviews with Landmine Monitor and the ICBL that there has never been any production of antipersonnel mines.[14] In recent years, Landmine Monitor has noted that while it does not appear Nepal is currently producing antipersonnel mines, the Monitor will continue to list Nepal as a producer until Nepal makes an official, written statement that it does not produce antipersonnel mines. 

Use, transfer, and stockpiling

In December 2009, the Minister for Peace and Reconstruction told States Parties that Nepal has not planted landmines since the end of the insurgency in 2006.[15] He also said that Nepal does not “enable the transfer” of landmines. Nepal is not known to have ever exported mines.

Nepal wrote to Landmine and Cluster Munition 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.[16]

During the conflict, the Nepal Army used antipersonnel mines, as well as 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 NMM 14 mines). It also estimates that it used about 25,000 command-detonated IEDs.[17]  In June 2010, Nepal told Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor that it used landmines in 53 locations and IEDs in 275 locations during the conflict.[18]

In December 2008, General Rukmang Katwal, the army’s Chief of Staff, told an ICBL delegation that Nepal had never used landmines on its borders, and could not conceive of a situation which might necessitate such use. He acknowledged that the few thousand mines in Nepal’s stockpile could hardly afford any protection.[19]

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.[20] 

Non-state armed groups

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.[21] 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.[22]

In July 2009, the Minister of Home Affairs acknowledged that there were more than 100 armed groups operating within the country.[23] There is no evidence that any of them have used or possess antipersonnel mines. Some use command-detonated IEDs.