Bulgaria signed the Mine
Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 4 September 1998. At the
treaty signing ceremony, Bulgaria’s Ambassador to Canada noted that
Bulgaria’s major concerns with the Ottawa Process “were accommodated
during the final negotiations in
Oslo.”[1] He also stated
that Bulgaria would need financial assistance in order to carry out its
obligations under the treaty.[2]
A former producer and exporter of landmines, Bulgaria has established a national
coordinating body to oversee implementation of the treaty, including destruction
of existing stocks and demining efforts within the
country.[3]
An official from Bulgaria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs attended the
Regional Conference on Landmines in Budapest, Hungary on 26-28 March 1998, as
did Bulgarian nongovernmental representatives. The Foreign Ministry official
urged all countries in the region to sign and ratify the Mine Ban Treaty, which
he called “a new beginning of the process to end the suffering of
millions.”[4]
Bulgaria attended the treaty preparatory meetings and the Oslo negotiations,
but only as an observer. It did not endorse the final declaration of the
Brussels Conference in June 1997. However, Bulgaria voted in favor of United
Nations General Assembly resolutions supporting a ban on landmines in 1996,
1997, and 1998.
Bulgaria is a state party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and
ratified amended Protocol II on 3 December 1998. Bulgaria is a member of the
Conference on Disarmament and favors using it as a negotiating forum on
landmines.[5] In February 1999,
Bulgaria’s Ambassador to the United Nations delivered a statement to the
Conference on Disarmament calling for negotiation of a ban on antipersonnel
landmine transfers through the CD. In his statement, delivered on behalf of
Bulgaria and 21 other countries, the Ambassador asserted that “the CD has
a role to play in strengthening the existing international regime against
antipersonnel landmines.” An APL transfer ban, he said, would bring CD
member countries that have declined to sign the Mine Ban Treaty “at least
some of the way towards the goal of a total APL ban, and in due course encourage
increased participation in the existing international
instruments.”[6]
Production, Transfer, and Stockpiling
Bulgaria has produced five types of antipersonnel
landmines: the MON-100, the PM-79, the POMD-1, the POMZ-2, and the
PSM-1.[7] Bulgaria has also
been a landmine exporter; its mines are reported to have been deployed by
combatants in Cambodia among other
places.[8] On 6 May 1996,
Bulgaria declared a three year moratorium on the export of antipersonnel
landmines, and in December 1997 this ban was extended indefinitely. Speaking at
the Budapest Regional Conference, a government official stated that as of May
1996, landmine production in Bulgaria had “practically stopped.” He
also stated that the General Staff of the Armed Forces had already developed a
timetable for destruction of existing stockpiles of AP mines within four years
of entry-into-force, but that Bulgaria required international assistance in its
efforts to eliminate its landmine
stockpiles.[9] It does not
appear that stockpile destruction has begun.There is no information on
the size of Bulgaria’s stockpile.
Landmine Problem and Mine Action
During the Cold War, the Bulgarian government
planted several thousand mines near its southern border with Greece, due to
unfriendly relations with Greece and as part of its campaign to prevent members
of Bulgaria’s Turkish minority from crossing into Greece. In 1992,
Bulgaria cleared parts of these minefields, but halted due to financial
constraints. Demining resumed in 1997, but as of March 1998, only 10% of the
existing minefields had been
cleared.[10] A child was killed
by a landmine in this region in 1997. The government announced in October 1998
that it would clear the remaining mines from the
area.[11] Media reports have
also suggested that there are uncleared mines along the border with
Romania.[12] Speaking at the
Budapest Conference, a government official stated that ten percent of the
remaining mines in Bulgaria were cleared in 1997, and requested international
assistance in completing this demining
effort.[13]
[1]Statement by His
Excellency Mr. Slav Danev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the
Republic of Bulgaria to Canada, Treaty Signing Ceremony, Ottawa, 3 December
1997.
[3]Statement at Budapest
Conference by Mr. Trayko Spassov, Senior Specialist, Bulgarian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Budapest, Hungary, 26-28 March 1998.
[5]Country Profiles, United
Nations Demining Database, http:www.un.org.Depts/Landmine/ (Ref.
3/3/99).
[6]Statement by Ambassador
Petko Draganov, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Bulgaria to the
United Nations Office and the other International Organisations in Geneva,
(undated) February 1999.
[7]U.S. Department of
Defense, “Mine Facts” CD ROM.
[8]Human Rights Watch Arms
Project and Physicians for Human Rights, Landmines: A Deadly Legacy (New
York: Human Rights Watch, October 1993), p. 104.
[9]Statement at Budapest
Conference by Mr. Trayko Spassov, 26-28 March 1998.
[11]"Bulgaria to Clear
Landmines Near Greek Border,” Agence France Presse, 23 October 1998. See
also “Bulgarian Officer Deactivates a Landmine on Border with
Greece,” Reuters News Picture Service, 27 October 1998.
[12]United States Department
of State, Hidden Killers: The Global Problem with Uncleared Landmines,
July 1993), p. 60.
[13]Statement at Budapest
Conference by Mr. Trayko Spassov, 26-28 March 1998, p. 20.
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