Key
developments since March 1999: The Mine Ban Treaty entered into force for
Australia on 1 July 1999. Australia destroyed its stockpile of antipersonnel
mines in five days at the end of September 1999. Australia expects to spend a
new high of US$8 million on mine action programs in its 1999/2000 budget
year.
Mine Ban Policy
Australia signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December
1997. The Parliament passed ratification and implementation legislation
(“Anti-personnel Mines Convention Act 1998”) on 10 December 1998.
Australia officially deposited its ratification with the UN on 14 January 1999.
The Mine Ban Treaty thus entered into force for Australia on 1 July 1999.
In addition to the Anti-Personnel Mines Convention Act 1998, other
implementation measures include: (1) a training booklet for the Australian
National Defence Force that “aims to provide Commanders and staff with an
interpretation of revised policy on landmines, booby traps and improvised
explosive devices and their application to military
operations;”[1] and (2)
an information document produced by the Department Of Defence “conveying
to the Defence organisation its obligations under the Ottawa
Convention.”[2]
Australia participated in the First Meeting of States Parties in Maputo in
May 1999. In a statement to the plenary, the head of the Australian delegation
said, “The Ottawa Convention has established a persuasive norm against
landmines, a norm whose influence we see in the impressive number of countries
that have signed and ratified the Convention, as well as in the tone of the
debate on landmines issues in international fora.” But he also noted
that “the task remains immense and we must ensure that there is no
slackening of international political resolve until it is
complete.”[3]
Australia’s work in support of universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty
has a particular emphasis on its own region. According to Ministry of Foreign
Affairs officials, “In late 1999, Australian Diplomatic Missions in the
South Pacific undertook a series of representations to governments of those
states that have not signed and ratified the convention. The Australian
government has undertaken to report on the outcome of these consultations and to
follow-up with each state prior to the second meeting of States Parties to the
Convention.”[4] Recently
Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer raised the issue of U.S. accession
to the Mine Ban Treaty in a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright.[5]
Australia has been an active and important participant in the intersessional
meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty and is a regular participant in the New
York-based Mine Action Support Group (MASG). At the March 2000 meeting of the
Standing Committee of Experts on Mine Clearance, Australia presented a non-paper
on civil and military cooperation for building national capacities for demining.
At the December 1999 meeting of the SCE on Stockpile Destruction, Australia made
a presentation on its destruction program.
Australia submitted its first Article 7 transparency report on 23 December
1999. The report covers the period from 1 June 1999 to 27 December 1999. On 18
April 2000 Australia submitted its second Article 7 report covering the calendar
year 1999; it is identical to the first Article 7 report.
As it had done in previous years, Australia voted in favor of the December
1999 UN General Assembly resolution in support of the Mine Ban Treaty.
In February 2000, Australia appointed the Hon. Senator Kay Patterson,
Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, as its Special Representative on
Demining, succeeding the Hon. Kathy
Sullivan.[6]
CCW and CD
Australia ratified the Convention on Conventional Weapons Amended Protocol II
on 22 August 1997. Australia submitted its report under Article 13 of Amended
Protocol II in November 1999 and participated in the December 1999 First Annual
Conference of States Parties. In a statement to the plenary, Australian
Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN and to the Conference on
Disarmament Leslie Luck stated that:
The Australian Government is committed to the attainment of a truly universal
ban on the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of anti-personnel mines.
This is our priority.... Realistically, however, this goal is unlikely to be
achieved in the short or even medium term. Until that time, the restrictions
imposed by Amended Protocol II will play an important role in reducing the
indiscriminate and inhumane effect of landmines on civilian
populations.[7]
In March 2000 a representative of the Australian Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade described the government’s continued support for
negotiation of a transfer ban through the Conference on Disarmament:
Australia believes that a landmine transfers ban would complement the goals
of the Ottawa Convention. Such a ban would engage key producers and users of
landmines not yet in a position to adhere to the Convention in efforts to
further strengthen the global regime against landmines. Australia believes that
the Conference on Disarmament...is the most appropriate forum in which to pursue
a transfers ban. Australia, however, is prepared to consider alternative
options should the CD-route prove
unfeasible.[8]
NGO Activities
The Australian Network of the ICBL has participated in most of the treaty
intersessional meetings. Activities undertaken by the campaign in the past year
include community participation in the Australian government’s Destroy a
Minefield initiative, managed by AustCare, a Call for Posters competition, and
activities around the annual refugee week in October.
The Australian Network has written to the Australian embassies of
non-signatory states of the region. On 3 March 2000, the Australian Council for
Overseas Aid (ACFOA) and several Australian NGOs and Sri Lankan community groups
started collecting signatures for a petition urging the Australian Government to
energetically lobby the Sri Lanka Government to sign the Mine Ban Treaty and for
the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to observe the terms of the Mine Ban
Treaty.[9]
ICBL Issues of Concern
An ongoing issue of concern shared by the ICBL and Australia relates to
antivehicle mines with antihandling devices. Australia’s then-Special
Representative on Demining the Hon. Kathy Sullivan in a February 2000 letter to
the ICBL Coordinator stated, “It is also Australia’s understanding
that anti-vehicle mines which are configured to explode from an unintentional or
innocent act should be treated as anti-personnel landmines for the purposes of
the Treaty.”[10] This
understanding is shared by the ICBL.
The ICBL has expressed concern about States Parties potentially engaging in
joint military operations with non-States Parties that use antipersonnel mines.
In this regard, Landmine Monitor Report 1999 expressed concern about and
reported in detail on Australia’s National Declaration that was deposited
with its instrument of ratification at the UN, as well as Part 2, clause 7(3) of
the Anti-personnel Mine Convention
Bill.[11] Questions were raised
regarding the consistency of the Declaration and clause with the Mine Ban
Treaty’s Article 1 prohibition on assisting anyone in any way to engage in
any activity prohibited by the treaty.
Production and Transfer
The Australian government states that it has never
produced or exported antipersonnel mines. It imported AP mines from the United
States in the past.[12]
Stockpiling and Destruction
Australia destroyed its entire stockpile of 128,161
AP mines in a period of five days from 27 September to 1 October
1999.[13] The destruction of
the stockpile just three months after entry into force, and nearly four years
before the treaty deadline, was described as “a pro-active move on the
part of the Australian Government and the Department of
Defence.”[14]
The destruction took place in the desert at the Lake Hart Demolition Area, in
Woomera, South Australia using a demolition method devised by Defence that
involved the preparation of pits laid alternately with mines and ammonium
nitrate mixed with diesel fuel. A total of 90,371 NM M14 mines and 37,790 NM
M14E1 mines, weighing approximately 27 tons, were destroyed with their fuzes.
This particular method was chosen because of the “efficient and cost
effective nature of the
destruction.”[15] The
cost of destruction was approximately
US$146,000.[16] The destruction
was covered by national news media and the Coordinator of the Australian Network
was brought to the destruction site to witness the process.
Colonel Paul Power of the Australian Defence Force, who oversaw the
destruction process, presented the Australian case study at the first
intersessional meeting on stockpile destruction in Geneva on 9 December 1999.
Australia wanted to provide information on its stockpile destruction to other
States Parties, especially those in the region, that may require assistance in
developing their own destruction techniques. One result of the December 1999
intersessional meeting is that Australian Defence Force personnel have traveled
to Peru to discuss destruction options.
Australia has decided to keep 10,000 AP mines, (4,500 NM M16 and 5,500 NM
M14) for training and research purposes. According to the Article 7 report,
these mines are held in ammunition depots throughout Australia and training is
conducted by the School of Military Engineering in Sydney. Australia took the
decision to retain these mines after the Department of Defence conducted a
“training needs analysis” that determined that:
Defence trains over 600 personnel per year in demining techniques and our
training methods require that each student destroys at least one mine during
training. Retention of this stock will provide a 10-year training reserve for
Defence and will thereby provide adequate time to source training stocks of
foreign mines that better suit Australia’s training requirements.
Alternatively, if such procurement is not possible, Defence will need to resort
to a replica device to meet its research and training requirements. No such
device has yet been developed. Depending on the availability of alternative
training devices, additional APL may be destroyed during the period
200l-2003.[17]
Use
Australia halted operational use of AP mines on 15
April 1996, though it retains for operational use a stockpile of
command-detonated Claymore
mines.[18] Use of
command-detonated Claymore mines is allowed under the treaty, but not use of
Claymores with tripwires. In September 1999, the Australian Defence Force
confirmed that it had brought command-detonated Claymore mines to East Timor as
part of its peacekeeping
mission.[19] This clarification
came after media witnessed the unloading of Australia’s supplies at the
airport in Dili saw wooden boxes clearly marked “anti-personnel
mines.”[20]
Mine Action Funding
The Australian Government, through its
international development agency AusAID, has contributed or spent approximately
US$30 million on humanitarian mine action from fiscal year 1995/1996 through
1999/2000, including a new high of about $8 million in
1999/2000.[21] In addition,
Australia has already committed about $18 million for the period 2000/2001
through 2004/2005. The total of $48 million represents over three-quarters of
Australia’s commitment to provide approximately $60 million (Australian
$100 million) to mine action by
2005.[22]
AusAID Assistance for Mine Action Programs: Year by Year (US
dollars)
Contributed
1995-1996
$4.5 million
1996-1997
$4.5 million
1997-1998
$5.9 million
1998-1999
$7 million
1999-2000
$8 million
Subtotal:
$29.9 million
Committed
2000-2001
$6.5 million
2001-2002
$3.2 million
2002-2003
$2.7 million
2003-2004
$2.7 million
2004-2005
$2.7 million
Subtotal:
$17.8million
Total: 1996-2005,U.S. $47.7 million
(Australia’s fiscal year is from 1 July to 30 June)
AusAID’s Humanitarian and Emergencies Section coordinates all demining
policy and programming within the Australian aid program. This includes
contributions to mine action programs globally, in particular through NGOs, as
well as contributions to UN agencies. Funding is directed, roughly in descending
order of magnitude, to core grants (Cambodian Mine Action Center, Mozambique
Accelerated Demining Program, UN Development Program, and UN Mine Action
Service), mine clearance (NGOs and UNDP), integrated programs (including
surveys), mine victims, equipment and technical assistance (including seminars
and conferences) and mine awareness. Core grant contributions cut across all
aspects of humanitarian mine action and it is difficult to separate the
categories.
There is a clear geographic priority for funding, with the bulk allocated for
projects/action in Australia’s immediate region, particularly Cambodia
(which has received more than half of Australia’s mine action funding) and
Laos. Significant support has also been provided to countries outside of the
region, in descending order: Mozambique, Angola, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan.
Funds will soon be available for Thailand.
Summary of Expenditure & Commitments January 1996 to
December 2005[23]
Other recent funding commitments include the Australian government’s
“Destroy a Minefield” initiative launched in November 1999 by the
Foreign Minister. Approximately $411,000, including $127,200 from sales tax
revenue from the Elton John CD “Candle in the Wind” in memory of
Princess Diana has been committed to “Destroy a Minefield.” The
government will provide one dollar for every two dollars raised by the
Australian public for mine clearance in
Cambodia.[24] In April 2000, the
Australian Government announced a $100,000 contribution to the ICBL’s
Landmine Monitor.[25] The
Australian Network of the ICBL has received funding assistance from the
government to enable participation by campaigners in international meetings, for
the cost of advocacy-related meetings both domestic and international, and for
an art and photography exhibition by Australian artist George Gittoes.
A proportion of Australian mine action funding includes in kind
contributions, either in personnel costs or equipment. The Australian Defence
Force provides on a rotating basis two military personnel to work as technical
advisers to the U.N.’s Accelerated Demining Program in Mozambique.
Australian civilians, and until recently soldiers, provide training and
organizational support to Cambodia’s mine action
program.[26]
One Australian company, Minelab, has donated a small amount of equipment for
use in humanitarian mine clearance. It is envisaged that Australian businesses
and corporations will make contributions to mine clearance under the
“Destroy a Minefield” initiative.
AusAID is currently developing a policy framework for expenditure of mine
action funds. At an April 2000 national gathering of the Australian Network of
the ICBL, AusAID presented a summary of the government’s humanitarian mine
action strategy.[27] This came
after a period of consultation with NGOs, interested individuals (including
commercial deminers), multilateral organizations and Australian diplomatic,
posts between September and November 1999. There are also guidelines available
to NGOs for writing proposals, submitting progress reports and acquitting
funds.
In April 1999, following reports of corruption in the Cambodian Mine Action
Center (CMAC), Australia, CMAC’s largest donor, temporarily suspended its
AusAID funding of approximately $1.7 million a year. In November
1999 CMAC received a bridging payment of $254,400. On 5 April 2000, Australia
disbursed $920,000 to a donor trust fund managed by the UNDP, which oversees
CMAC's finances, saying the agency had made substantial progress in reforms to
address concerns raised during
1999.[28] In early June 2000,
the Australian Foreign Minister visited Cambodia to view the CMAC mine clearance
program and that of other humanitarian
agencies.[29]
Research and Development
In December 1997, Australia announced that its
government-funded Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO)
would spend Australian $4 million over the next five years on “further
research into mine detection and
neutralization.”[30] In
its CCW Amended Protocol II Article 13 report, Australia said, “Within the
Australian Department of Defence, the Defence Science and Technology
Organisation (DSTO) and the Combined Arms Training Centre are developing new
methods of clearing mines. Completion of this research will take a number of
years. At this stage, Australia is not in a position to provide details, but
will do so as soon as methods and technologies are
refined.”[31]
In July 1999, the DSTO co-hosted, along withthe U.S.-based Mine
Warfare Association (MINWARA) and the U.S.-based Wilson Institute for Demining
and Humanitarian Assistance, an “International Symposium on Technology and
the Mine Problem.” From 26-30 March 2001, MINWARA and the Wilson Institute
will be a holding a “Second Australian-American Joint Conference on the
Technologies of Mines and Mine Countermeasures” in Sydney, Australia but
involvement by the DTSO is
unknown.[32]
Since 1996, the University of Western Australia has undertaken research on
mine and UXO clearance problems in several
countries.[33] At the second SCE
on Technologies in May 2000, Professor Trevelyan of the University of Western
Australia presented a paper on opportunities for improving the mine action
process. This research has been funded principally by the U.S. Department of
Defense and by private donations since 1997.
Adelaide-based company Minelab Electronics, together with Canada’s
Computer Devices Corporation, has developed the “Improved Landmine
Detection System”
vehicle.[34]
Landmine Casualties
While Australia is mine-free, there have been a
number of civilian and military casualties to landmines from overseas work, but
no detailed data is available. Comprehensive national disability laws exist
including the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.
[1] Training Information Bulletin (TIB),
no. 86, “The Ottawa Convention: A Commander’s Guide,” Article
7 report submitted 23 December 1999. [2]
Defgram, No. 196/99 entitled “Ottawa Landmines Convention—Defence
implications and obligations.” A Defgram is a publication disseminated
within the Defence Organisation. Article 7 Report submitted to on 23 December
1999. [3] John J. Griffin, Assistant
Secretary, International Security Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade, “Australian National Statement to the First Meeting of States
Parties to the Ottawa Landmine Ban Convention,” Maputo, 3-7 May
2000. [4] Email from Philippa King,
Permanent Mission of Australia to the United Nations, Geneva, to HRW/Landmine
Monitor, 20 June 2000. [5] Foreign
Minister Downer speech at the Australian Network event, the Assessment of the
Call for Posters, 29 May 2000. This was reported in Australian Network,
Memorandum 47, 31 May 2000. [6] Letter
from the Hon. Kay Patterson, MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for
Foreign Affairs, to Elizabeth Bernstein, ICBL Coordinator, received 21 June
2000. [7] Statement by Australian
Ambassador to UN & Conference on Disarmament Leslie Luck to First Conference
of State Parties to Amended Protocol II of the Convention on Certain
Conventional Weapons, 15 December
1999. [8] Email from Paul Stephens,
Executive Officer, Conventional & Nuclear Disarmament Section, Department of
Foreign Affairs and Trade, to Australia Network, 29 March
2000. [9] Kosala Jayasingh,
“Australian action against landmines in Sri Lanka,” Daily News, 8
March 2000. [10] Letter from the Hon.
Kathy Sullivan, MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs
to Elizabeth Bernstein, ICBL Coordinator, 10 February 2000. The letter echoed a
statement made by the Australian delegate to the January 2000 meeting of the
Standing Committee of Experts on the General Status and Operation of the
Convention. [11] Landmine Monitor Report
1999, pp. 348-350. [12] Ibid., pp.
350-351 for more details. [13]
“Australia destroys its Stockpile of Anti-Personnel Landmines,”
Media Release by Defence Affairs Organisation, Department of Defence, DPAO
293/99, 28 September 1999. Up until this point, Australian officials had refused
to release details on the exact number, types, origins or location of stockpiled
AP mines and had given no indication of the timetable for
destruction. [14]
Ibid. [15] Ibid., Annex
A. [16] Ibid., “Response to
Specific Questions,” annex. [17]
Ibid., Annex A. [18]
Ibid. [19] Paul Daley, “Landmines
report ‘false’ – Australia,” The Age (Melbourne daily
newspaper), 22 September 1999. [20]
Yenny Zannuba, “Australian peacekeepers fly in – peacefully,”
The Age, 21 September 1999. [21] Email
from Penny Bond, AusAID, to HRW/Landmine Monitor, 16 June
2000. [22] This commitment was
reiterated at the First Meeting of States Parties. Statement by John Griffin,
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, to the First Meeting of States Parties,
Maputo, 3-7 May 2000. [23] The dates are
both calendar and fiscal years as this represents the period of the Government's
10 year commitment. AusAID: program information as at June 2000. Email from
Penny Bond, AusAID, to Stephen Goose, Human Rights Watch, 13 July
2000. [24] Email from AusAID to
Australian Network, 17 March 2000. [25]
Letter from the Hon. Senator Kay Patterson to Landmine Monitor, 3 April
2000. [26] Australia’s national
annual report under CCW Amended Protocol II, Article 13, Form E, submitted
November 1999. [27] 1999-2000 AusAID
MINE ACTION FUNDING ROUND. [28]
“Australian Funding Keeps Cambodian Demining Agency Afloat,”
Associated Press (Phnom Penh), 6 April
2000. [29] “Cambodia's landmine
myths exploded,” The Australian, 3 June
2000. [30] Statement by Alexander
Downer, Minister for Foreign Affairs, to the Ministerial Treaty Signing
Conference for the Mine Ban Treaty, Ottawa, 3 December
1997. [31] Australia’s national
annual report for CCW Amended Protocol II, Article 13, submitted November
1999. [32] Mine Warfare Association
website <www.demine.org> accessed on 10 June
2000. [33] Assoc. Prof. James Trevelyan,
“The University of Western Australia Demining Research Project
1999-2000,”
http://www..mech.uwa.edu.au/jpt/demining/. [34]
“Australia Helps Make World’s 1st Landmine Detection Vehicle,”
Asia Pulse Ltd, 8 July 1999.
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