On 3 December 1997,
Spain signed the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. It officially deposited its instruments
of ratification at the United Nations on 19 January 1999, the sixtieth nation to
do so. From the point of view of the Spanish Campaign to Ban Landmines, the
delay in the ratification process was disappointing. The same day Spain signed
the treaty, its political leaders publicly promised to be among the first 40
countries to ratify the Treaty. During a meeting in June 1998 with Campaign
members, Spain’s President José Mª Aznar, announced that the
government was willing to be among those first countries.
On 17 September 1998, the Spanish parliament passed the “Law Banning
Antipersonnel Landmines as well as those Arms with Similar Effects “ (Law
33/1998), and it entered into force on 7 October 1998.
[1] While Law 33/1998 basically
follows the articles of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, it apparently does not
constitute implementation legislation. The law does not include any penal
sanctions. The annex to Law 33/1998, which describes “other
dispositions,” states that sanctions will be developed in implementing
legislation.
On the positive side, the law includes an article on humanitarian mine
clearance, and another on aid to landmine victims (which was not included in the
first draft offered by the government). The fourth article of the law also bans
the use, production, stocking, and transfer of landmine delivery systems.
Unfortunately, like the Mine Ban Treaty, the law does not define antitank mines
with anti-handling devices as antipersonnel mines. The Spanish Campaign has also
expressed concern about the length of the period for destruction of stocks, and
has called for transparency with all aspects of its plan for the destruction of
landmines -- both to members of the Spanish Parliament and to NGOs during the
process -- including visits by NGOs to the Spanish company, FAEX, where the
destruction will take place, to witness the destruction of APMs.
Though it attended all the ban treaty preparatory meetings, Spain was a
reluctant participant in the Ottawa Process. The government appears to have
embraced the process only when it was impossible not to, because of the momentum
and visibility at the international level, and also because of the pressure
generated by the Spanish Campaign, with the support of the Parliament, the
media, and the high level of public awareness of the issue in Spanish society.
For example, Spain did not endorse the pro-treaty Brussels Final Declaration of
June 1997 until the Brussels Conference was already over. Even at this mid-point
of the Ottawa Process it was impossible for NGOs to determine the intentions of
the Spanish government. It is likely that the government had not developed a
definitive position. Spain appeared to follow the lead of other western states,
such as the United States or Germany.
During the Oslo negotiations, Spain was one of the few governments to support
the United States and its various proposals which would have seriously
undermined the total prohibition of APMs. Furthermore, the Spanish
representatives in the Oslo floated a proposal that sought an exception to the
ban when national security necessities demanded it -- in essence saying APMs
would be banned only during peace time. It was not until the last day of
negotiations that Spain withdrew this proposal, and publicly stated its
willingness to sign the final text.
The decision to join the Ottawa Process and to sign the treaty was largely
due to pressure the government had from both the NGOs of the campaign, the media
and the Parliament. NGOs pointed out the role being played by Spain during the
whole process was starkly different from that being portrayed by the government
at home in Spain. In fact, Spain was among those countries that would have
preferred to deal with this issue inside the Conference on Disarmament. It
repeatedly claimed that the Ottawa process was going to be useless, due to the
absence of the major landmine producers and also to the lack of efficient
mechanisms to control the enforcement of the treaty.
Spain did not oppose the notion of a ban so much as it did the Ottawa Process
approach. As the government has pointed out, it adhered to the Joint Action of
the European Union, on 28 November 1997, and supported resolutions in the UN
General Assembly and the European Parliament against the use or trade of
landmines. Moreover, in the preamble of the 1998 Law passed by the Spanish
parliament on 17 September and legally binding since 6 October 1998, the
government declares its will to strengthen its efforts to promote the adherence
of all the countries to the Mine Ban Treaty, and to include this issue in the
agendas of the principal international forums, as well. Finally, it also
declares its commitment to the victims of landmines and, therefore, will support
such humanitarian tasks as landmine clearance, landmine destruction and medical
and psychological care for mine victims (Law 33/1998).
Before the Mine Ban Treaty, the only domestic legislation was a unilateral
moratorium on the export of some types of landmines to certain countries. This
was first one-year moratorium was passed in February 1994 (though it did not
enter into force until July 1998), and again one year later (February 1995).
Finally, in May 1996 the government proposed an indefinite moratorium. However,
NGOs discovered that Spanish APMs producers in 1996 were seen at international
arms fairs, where they were advertising their products and, among them, the
landmines they used to
produce.[2]
Spain ratified the Convention on Conventional Weapons on 29 December 1993. At
that moment, the ratification did not include the protocols, but just the text
of the Convention. On 5 May 1994, the Official Journal of the State (BOE)
contained a correction, noting the ratification of the Convention’s
Protocols as well. Spain also participated in the CCW review conference and
ratified the amended Protocol on 27 January 1998.
As previously noted, Spain would have preferred that negotiation take place
in the CD and has supported the attempts to inspire a negotiation of a ban on
mine transfers in that forum.
Production
Although Spain no longer produces antipersonnel
mines, it has in the past. Officially, Spanish production of landmines was
stopped in May 1996. Spanish companies used to produce five types of APMs,
including the Expal P4B blast mine, the Expal P4A blast mine, the Expal P5 blast
mine, the P5 AR (with anti-handling device), and the P Salta bounding
fragmentation mine.[3]
Mines were produced by five Spanish private companies: Bressel, Explosivos
Alaveses (Expal), Explosivos de Burgos (EDB), Fabricaciones Extremeñas
(FAEX), and Unión Española de Explosivos (UEE). Three of them
(EDB, Expal, and FAEX) all belong to a bigger company, UEE, itself owned by the
KYO group (a company from Kuwait) until it was sold to Pallas Investment, from
the Netherlands. All are a part of the group DEFEX (Defense and Export), which,
in turn, is controlled by the INI (the Industry National Institute). That means
that although they are private companies, they receive public subsidies, and
most of their sales come through so-called FAD loans (Development Aid Funds,
which are a type of Spanish Official Aid for
Development).[4] Spain has
produced landmines under the license of companies of other countries (Italy, for
instance). Today under Law 33/1988 production is banned in Spain.
Apparently Spanish companies are not producing Claymore mines. It is unclear
if these munitions are banned under Law 33/1998 as “Arms of Similar
Effects.” These kind of arms with similar effects to antipersonnel
landmines are described in the revised 1996 Protocol 2 of the CCW. It does not
seem that Spain is engaged in research and development on or production of
alternatives to antipersonnel landmines.
Spanish companies used to produce cluster bombs, antitank mines, landmine
delivery systems and others munitions, some of which might function like an
antipersonnel mine.[5] It is
not known if Spain is producing components (e.g. casing, fuse, detonator, chip)
that are designed for use in APMs but, it was done so in the
past.[6] Delivery systems
designed to be used for APMs have been banned by the 33/1998 Law. However, in
November, the Italian Campaign to Ban Landmines asked for follow-up on
negotiations between a former Italian landmine producer Valsella Meccanotecnica-
and Expal, one of the former Spanish producers. Although the Italian firm had
ceased production been converted to civilian production, it still had some
commitments with foreign companies. Among those was the production of the
ISTRICE delivery system for use with both APMs and antitank mines for Expal.
The Spanish Campaign has sought clarification in writing from both Expal, and
the Spanish government. As of yet, there has been no response from either.
Transfer
Before the Mine Ban Treaty, the Spanish government
passed a unilateral moratorium on the export of landmines. This was first
approved in 1994 (February) and again one year later. Finally, in May 1996 an
indefinite moratorium was approved by the Spanish government. The ban on the
exports in the 1998 Spanish law has replaced the former moratorium.
As far as exports and imports are concerned, it is still very hard to obtain
information on recipients, quantity, types, value, date of transfer, etc. from
governmental sources, since these matters are usually considered to be state
secret. However, Spanish landmines have been found in Iraq, Mauritania, the
Falklands, and Morocco, as the Red Cross has revealed. The same lack of
transparency affects data on imports as well. The only thing we could add is
that the Spanish army was entirely supplied by Spanish companies.
Spain’s position on the legality of another country transiting APMs
across Spain’s national territory is also well defined. The Spanish Law
clearly bans the transit of another country’s APMs across Spain’s
national territory, since it applies to its whole; this affects the US
stockpiles in Spain.[7]
Stockpiling
Spain has begun destroying its stockpile of
antipersonnel landmines. Under the 1998 Law, Spain has a period of three years
to finish this task, which began on 27 July 1998. Currently, the Spanish Army
is said to have stocks of around 819,678 antipersonnel landmines. That
apparently includes 149,548 Expal P4B landmines; 580,251 mines of the Expal P5
type; 28,188 P5 AR landmines; and 61,691 bounding mines (PS). Information about
the quantity of P4A landmines is not
available.[8]
It is unclear whether the amount includes 200,000 antipersonnel landmines
which had gone past their useful date and should have been destroyed long time
ago. This numbers do not include Claymore mines, which were not produced in
Spain, according to both official and independent sources. The value of Spanish
stockpiles has been calculated to be around 1,500 million pesetas.
The last time antipersonnel landmines were produced for internal consumption
was in 1991. Since that time, Spanish stockpiles have decreased around twenty
percent. This was not the result of a policy to limit the production of mines,
but the consequence of the need to withdraw from stocks those mines were going
past their useful date and were already deteriorated. The Air Army bought some
landmines for the last time in 1994.
From 1994 to 1996 the army bought a number of blank cartridge mines, without
explosives inside, to be used for training purposes. These are mines the
government will keep, as allowed by the Ottawa Treaty and the Spanish Law. Ten
thousand landmines will be retained for training purposes under Article 3 of the
treaty. The Defense Ministry (Ministerio de Defensa) and the Spanish army plan
to use 1,000 annually for training purposes, which include detection training
and another one focused on deactivation. At the moment, there is no data
available related to the numbers of various types of mines being retained.
According to governmental estimates, every day 1,200 landmines are destroyed.
Given that the process began on 27 July 1998, more than 225,600 landmines
(around 30 percent of stockpiles) should have been destroyed by now. However,
there has been no official information to verify this figure. According to the
Spanish law, the process of destruction must be completed three years after the
entry into force of the latter, that is to say, in October 2001. However,
governmental sources have recently stated that the destruction process could end
within 22 to 28 months, providing that 1,200 mines are destroyed every
day.[9]
Mines are being destroyed by incineration in a four step process. During the
first phase, the landmines are taken apart. Next, the different components of
each mine are taken to the incinerator; there they are incinerated in an oven
containing up to five kg of explosives; finally, the gases produced during the
whole process are neutralized in order to prevent toxic emissions that could
damage the environment. The destruction is being carried out by one of the
former producers of landmines, the company Fabricaciones Extremeñas,
(FAEX) in its plant located in Villa El Gordo (Cáceres). It is the only
plant in Spain that conducts the destruction of munition and explosives and,
according to governmental sources, its environmental safety is totally
guaranteed.[10] The total cost
of destruction will be 527 million pesetas: that means 638 pesetas per
landmine.[11]
The USA, a non-signatory country of the Mine Ban Treaty, has landmine
stockpiles on its military bases located in Spain. As far as we know, the
biggest stockpiles are located in Rota (Cádiz), which is supposed to
contain around 2,000 US mines since the Gulf War. Since the US bases in Spain
remained under the jurisdiction of the Spanish government and, consequently
under Spanish rule, these stockpiles must be whether destroyed or retired to US
territory, according to the Spanish law. The third article of the 1998 Law
specifies that “the government shall inform the Parliament once a year,
and until the destruction of APMs is completed all around the Spanish
territory” (Law 33/1998).
The Spanish authorities have told the US that they will be required to
withdraw their stocks and they have already begun to negotiate the terms and
conditions of the withdrawal. At the same time, Spain is not pressing them to do
it immediately; the Spanish government doesn’t consider it urgent because
the terms stated by the Treaty are long enough to do it without a hurry, but
also because it pursues a “flexible attitude” on the
matter.[12] The deadline for the
end of the withdrawal of all the US landmine stockpiles has been fixed on the 1
July 1999. A news account in March 1999 said the US will be withdrawing the
2,000 mines at Rota.[13]
It is unclear if any non-state actors (e.g. rebel groups) have stockpiles of
APMs in Spain. Some time ago it was said that the ETA (a nonstate group in the
Basque Country) might have landmines, although they have never used them in
their anti-government actions. According to media reports, the Basque government
had been buying some landmines from 1991 until 1996 to train the police, just in
case ETA was thinking about using them. Some 300 blank cartridge landmines
acquired by the Basque government were subsequently destroyed, according to
official sources.[14]
Use
There is no use of APMs in Spain. The last time
Spain used APMs was in 1975, when the army placed 22,000 antipersonnel landmines
all along the border between the former Spanish Sahara and Morocco, in order to
stop the Green March, organized by King Hassan. The Spanish Army kept
some landmine stockpiles and planned to use them in case there was any serious
conflict with Morocco, that could pose danger to Ceuta and Melilla particularly.
During the Ottawa process in Spain there was the rumor that a number of
antipersonnel landmines were lying along the borders between Ceuta and Melilla,
and Morocco, in order to stop the flows of migrants from Africa. The Defense
Minister, Mr. Eduardo Serra, stated that there were no mines placed in Spanish
territory, including Ceuta and Melilla.
Mine Action Funding
Spain has contributed to humanitarian mine action
programs since 1995. Its contributions have gone to two main agencies, the
United Nations Trust Fund and the Organization of American States, which
oversees demining programs in Central America. The total amount of money has
been allocated as follows:
Spain’s Contribution to Humanitarian Mine Action Programs
(U.S. dollars have been calculated at constant prices, 2 February 1999)
United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund - Total 124,897,065 PTAs (U.S.
$865,416)
1995 21,331,275 PTAs (U.S. $147,805)
3,565,790 PTAs (U.S. $24,707)
1996 -
1997 50 million PTAs (U.S.$ 346,452)
50 million PTAs (U.S. $346,452)
OAS demining program- 100 million PTAs (U.S. $692,905)
1996 25 million PTAs (U.S. $173,226)
1997 25 million PTAs.(U.S. $173,226)
50 million PTAs (U.S. $346,452)
In 1998, 50 million PTAs (US$346,452) was given to both the UNVTF and the OAS
programs.[15]
Spanish and local nongovernmental organizations have not received any funds
for demining actions, because the government considers that they are not well
equipped for mine clearance. However, some have obtained governmental funds to
develop survivor assistance projects and mine awareness education, although
figures for this support are not available.
According to the Presidency Ministry, some money has been used in Spain to
buy specialized equipment for demining and to support Spanish soldiers in the
field, for mine clearance done by personnel from the army and the police, to pay
extra to their salaries, justified because of the risks of their work.
As noted, the OAS received 100 million PTAs (US$ 692,905) and the UN
Voluntary Trust Fund obtained 125 million PTAs. (US$865,416). In the first case,
Spain gave the money with a single condition: it was to be spent in Central
America for specific mine clearance projects. The recipient countries were
Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Honduras. Within the UN Fund Trust, Spain
co-financed the Mine Clearance Program in Angola (its monetary participation
represents the 6.25 per cent of the total amount). In the field, 45 per cent of
the funds were spent on mine clearance and surveying (around US$701,244). On the
other hand, US$857,077 were spent on survivor assistance.
[1] A copy of the law can be
found in the official journal of the state, Boletín Oficial del Estado,
number 239-1998, on 6 October 1998.
[2]Greenpeace, A un paso
de la muerte...o de la esperanza. La necesidad de prohibir las minas y
submuniciones de características similares, Madrid, March 1998, p.25.
This has been extra-officially confirmed by members of the Spanish Domestic
Affairs Ministry.
[3]González,
“Aznar inaugura;” Greenpeace, A un paso de la muerte.
[5]Greenpeace, A un paso
de la muerte. Some examples of them are: such cluster bombs as the Rockeye
II, produced by FAEX; and the BME-300, produced by Expal. The latter produced,
as well, delivery systems, like that designed for the M56 US helicopter or the
german SKORPION. Expal also produced different kinds of anti-tank mines, some
of which were used during theFalklands War: they are known as the C-3-A and the
C-3-B.
[6]Greenpeace, A un paso
de la muerte. These components include cluster munitions, detonator devices,
fuses etc. They were produced by more companies than those which produced
landmines: Instalaza or Santa Barbara are some of the most important, together
with Expal, FAEX, UEE, EDB, and Bressel.
[8]L. Ayllón,
“España insiste a EE.UU. para que destruya sus minas
antipersonal,” ABC, 2 November 1998, p.23; J. De Mazarras,
“Iniciada la destrucción de minas antipersonal,” Revista
Española de Defensa, September 1998, pp.16-17; González, M.,
“Aznar inaugura la destrucción del arsenal de minas
antipersonas,”El País, 28 January 1998, p.28. Although none
of these sources state the exact amount of mines of the type P4A, they are
considered by the government to be antipersonnel landmines. At least, the
Revista Española de Defensa (Spanish Defense Magazine),
edited by the Defense Ministry, has always considered this kind of mine to be
so.
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