Key developments
since March 1999: The United Nations expressed concern in mid-2000 about
incidences of freshly laid mines being found in previously cleared minefields in
Northern Iraq. It did not identify the mine user.
Iraq has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty, nor is it a party to the 1980
Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW). Iraq became a member of the
Conference on Disarmament (CD) in 1996, and in 1997 the Iraqi Ambassador to the
UN urged the CD to launch negotiations on a global landmine
ban.[1] However, the Iraqi
government is not known to have made any public statements with regard to a mine
ban since 1997. Iraq has not been eligible to vote on the pro-ban UN General
Assembly resolutions because of failure to pay dues.
Iraq is both a producer and an exporter of antipersonnel mines. It remains
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.
Though Iraq deployed enormous quantities of mines in Kuwait and Iraqi Kurdistan,
the vast majority of mines used were imported.
The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency has identified AP 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
U.S.[2]
A United Nations report in June 2000 noted that the UN Office for Project
Services “remains concerned about the incidences of freshly laid mines
being found in previously cleared
minefields.”[3] The
report does not identify the user of mines, though it is likely the PKK (see
Northern Iraq Landmine Monitor report).
Iraq is severely mine-affected as a consequence of the Gulf War, the
Iran-Iraq War, and two decades of internal conflict. According to the U.S. State
Department, the government before 1991 primarily planted landmines in northern
Iraq. Apparently many of the mines were laid during the Iran-Iraq War, and the
army failed to clear them before it abandoned the area. Landmines are also a
problem along the Iraq-Iran border throughout central and southern
Iraq.[4]
Mine awareness and mine clearance programs appear to be underway only in
Iraqi Kurdistan, with both the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) as well as the United
Nations Office of Project Services (UNOPS) being active in this region (see
separate report on Iraqi Kurdistan). In December 1998 the Iraqi government
declared this mine-clearing activity in northern Iraq to be
subversive.[5] It stated that
the clearance was being performed without Baghdad’s permission, and that
it violated Security Council resolutions on the need to “respect
Iraq’s territorial integrity and
sovereignty.”[6]
Care for landmine survivors is minimal. The International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) developed an orthopedic program that was initiated in Iraq in
1993. Decentralized prosthetic/orthotic centers were created in Basra, Mosul and
Najef in collaboration with the ministry of Health and the Iraqi Red Crescent
Society.[7]
[1] Stephanie Nebhay, “Iraq Calls on
Middle East States to Reveal Arms,” Reuters, 14 August
1997. [2] Human Rights Watch and
Physicians for Human Rights, Landmines: A Deadly Legacy (New York: Human Rights
Watch, 1993), p. 104. [3] UN Security
Council, Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to paragraph 5 of Security
Council resolution 1281 (1999), S/2000/520, 1 June 2000, p. 13. The report
addresses distribution of humanitarian supplies throughout
Iraq. [4] U.S. Department of State, 1999
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 25 February 2000, online edition,
Section 1 (g). [5]
Ibid. [6] “Iraq Objects To
Demining Groups in Kurdish North,” Fox News Online, 29 December
1998. [7] ICRC, “ICRC Physical
Rehabilitation Program in Iraq, 1994 – 1997.”