Iraq did not participate in any of the diplomatic
meetings of the Ottawa Process and did not sign the Mine Ban Treaty. Iraq is
not a party to the 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons. Iraq became a
member of the Conference on Disarmament (CD) in 1996. The Iraqi Ambassador to
the UN urged the CD to launch negotiations on a global landmine ban in
1997.[1]
Iraq is both a producer and an exporter of antipersonnel mines. It is the
only known mine exporter in the world that has not instituted an export ban or
moratorium, or at least made a policy declaration of no current export. Iraq
began producing mines in the 1970s. It has manufactured a copy of the Italian
Valmara 69 bounding antipersonnel
mine[2], at least one
antipersonnel mine developed with Yugoslav assistance, one ex-Soviet model and
two older Italian mine
designs.[3] Though Iraq
deployed enormous quantities of mines in Kuwait and Iraqi Kurdistan, the vast
majority of mines used were imported. The U.S. Army and the Defense
Intelligence Agency have identified antipersonnel mines from the following
countries as having been used by Iraq in Iraqi Kurdistan, in Kuwait, on the
borders with Kuwait and/or Saudi Arabia, or found in Iraqi stocks: Belgium,
Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Italy, Romania, Singapore, the former
Soviet Union, and the United
States.[4]
Two of the most common landmines found in Iraq are the Italian Valmara 69 and
VS-50. In 1991, seven executives of the Italian producer Valsella were convicted
of illegally exporting nine million landmines to Iraq between 1982 and
1985.[5] Iraq then began
manufacturing copies of the Valsella mines.
Iraq is severely mine-affected as a consequence of the Gulf War, the
Iran/Iraq War, and two decades of internal conflict (see section on Iraqi
Kurdistan for a discussion of the mine situation in that region). In addition
to the many millions of mines in Iraqi Kurdistan, it is estimated that millions
more are planted on the borders with Iran and Kuwait, in rural farmland, around
water sources, and elsewhere in
Iraq.[6] Mine awareness and
mine clearance programs appear to focus solely on Iraqi Kurdistan.
[1] Stephanie Nebehay,
“Iraq Calls on Middle East States to Reveal Arms,” Reuters,
14 August 1997.
[2] Middle East Watch,
Hidden Death: Land Mines and Civilian Casualties in Iraqi Kurdistan (New
York: Human Rights Watch, October 1992), p. 40-41.
[3] U.S. Army Intelligence
Agency - Foreign Science and Technology Center, Operation Desert Shield
Special Report: Iraqi Combat Engineer Capabilities, Supplement 2: Barriers and
Fortification Protection, 30 November 1990, AST-266OZ-131-90-SUP 2, p.
31.
[4] Human Rights Watch and
Physicians for Human Rights, Landmines: A Deadly Legacy (New York: Human
Rights Watch, October 1993), p. 104.
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