Key developments
since March 1999: The Netherlands ratified the Mine Ban
Treaty on 12 April 1999 and it entered into force on 1 October 1999. The
Netherlands has continued to be a leader in promoting universalization and
effective implementation of the treaty. It has served as co-rapporteur of the
SCE on Mine Clearance. Since January 2000 it has chaired the Mine Action
Support Group. The Netherlands contributed about US$10 million to mine action
programs in 1999.
Mine Ban Policy
The Netherlands was one of the first countries to
opt for a fast track process to ban antipersonnel mines, joining the “core
group” of countries which worked together in what became known as the
‘Ottawa Process’ to bring about the Mine Ban Treaty (MBT).
Netherlands signed the Treaty on 3 December 1997. Ratification of international
treaties is a lengthy procedure in the Netherlands, and was achieved for the MBT
on 12 April 1999. Thus, the treaty entered into for the Netherlands on 1
October 1999.
National implementation legislation has also proceeded slowly, and was still
being drafted in May 2000. Each part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (i.e.,
the Dutch Antilles) will proceed separately with its implementation legislation.
For the Netherlands, “The General Arms Control and Disarmament Treaties
Implementation Act,” was drafted by the Ministers of Justice, Home Affairs
and Defense, and sent to the State Council in October 1999 for
advice.[1] The final
legislation was expected to be sent to Parliament in the spring of 2000, but had
not been as of 1 May.[2] The
government has stated, “Before this Act enters into force, provisions of
the Convention will be implemented on the basis of existing legislation, such as
the Import and Export Act
1962.”[3]
In May 1999 the Netherlands participated in the First Meeting of State
Parties (FMSP) to the MBT in Maputo, Mozambique, having been one of the
“Group of Friends of Maputo” which helped to organize the FMSP. The
Dutch delegation also included an NGO representative. In the framework of the
Friends of Maputo, the Netherlands together with South Africa, Canada, Belgium
and Sweden has encouraged State Parties to present their Article 7 reports on
time.
At the FMSP, the Netherlands became co-rapporteur (with Peru) of the
intersessional Standing Committee of Experts (SCE) on Mine Clearance, which held
meetings in September 1999 and May 2000. In September 2000, the Netherlands
will become co-chair of the SCE. The Netherlands has been very actively
involved in all five SCEs. At the SCE meeting on General Status of the
Convention in January 2000, the Netherlands was one of the governments which
reiterated that antivehicle mines with antihandling devices which function like
AP mines – which may explode from an unintentional act of a person -- are
banned under the MBT.[4]
The Dutch delegation welcomed the release by the International Campaign to
Ban Landmines of Landmine Monitor Report 1999 at the FMSP. The
government of the Netherlands strongly supports the work of Landmine Monitor and
co-hosted the Landmine Monitor researchers meeting preparing for the 2000 report
in Noordwijkerhout on 15-17 May 2000.
On 7 January 2000 the Netherlands presented its first report under Article 7
of the MBT, for the period 1 March-31 December 1999, which provided
comprehensive information on implementation measures and destruction of
stockpiles.
The Netherlands has supported all UNGA pro-ban resolutions to date, and has
also served as chair of the Mine Action Support Group (MASG) in New York since 1
January 2000. MASG coordinates the mine action policy of the twenty-two most
significant donors.
It has also actively promoted the universalization of the MBT. In a letter
to the Dutch Campaign, the Foreign Minister stated, “The Netherlands has
played an active role in the Ottawa process and will continue to make every
effort for universal endorsement and implementation of this treaty.”[5] The Netherlands, especially
within the framework of the European Union and Common Foreign & Security
Policy, presses governments that have not done so to ratify or accede to the
Treaty. The government has particularly focussed on Turkey and the USA.[6]
Regarding Dutch policy about possible involvement in joint military
operations where AP mines are used by non-signatory countries, the
government’s position has been made clear by the Minister of Foreign
Affairs on two occasions. In a letter to the NGO Pax Christi, Foreign Minister
J J van Aartsen stated that within NATO operations AP mines can no longer play a
role. The Dutch military will not participate in any preparatory operational
activity with the intention to use AP mines or mixed systems which contain them.
Dutch soldiers are not allowed to assist with the use of AP mines, nor incite or
request the use of these weapons. The command structure has also been made
subordinate to this policy: a Dutch commander in joint operations will not order
the use of AP mines and Dutch soldiers under US or Turkish command will not
execute any order to use AP mines but look for alternative methods to achieve
the objective.[7]
The Minister of Foreign Affairs also stated in the Senate on 23 March 1999
that none of the NATO partners will assist Turkey or the USA (within NATO only
the USA and Turkey have not signed the MBT) with the use of AP mines or with
preparations for use, and will not tolerate the use of AP mines on their
territory.[8]
The Amended Protocol II of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) was
approved by the Dutch Senate on 2 February
1999.[9] The Netherlands
submitted its report as required under Article 13, and participated in the First
Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II of the CCW in December 1999,
where its delegation viewed the United States’ proposal for strengthening
Amended Protocol II on antivehicle mines as containing useful elements for
further discussion. At the Netherlands’ request, the Quakers’
United Nations Office in Geneva organized an informal meeting during the CCW
Conference at which representatives of several governments and NGOs discussed
the need and possibilities for strengthening the Amended Protocol II with regard
to antivehicle mines.[10]
The Netherlands does not oppose discussion on landmines within the Conference
on Disarmament, but insists that if a new treaty is developed this should not
lessen the scope of the Mine Ban Treaty which is regarded as “the
comprehensive legal instrument on the subject of antipersonnel mines which
should gain universal acceptance. The Netherlands supports all efforts that
might contribute to the total elimination of anti-personnel mines in whatever
form, provided these efforts do not detract or deviate from the high standards
set in this
Convention.”[11]
Production and Transfer
According to the Ministry of Defense, production
of landmines stopped twenty years
ago.[12] For the acquisition of
alternatives to AP mines, between US$25-100 million (Dfl 50 and 200 million) is
planned for 2003.[13]
With the October 1999 entry into force of the MBT for the Netherlands, its
limited export moratorium of September 1993, which had been expanded in 1996,
became a complete ban on exports of AP mines except for the sole purpose of
their destruction. There has been little information about past exports of AP
mines by the Netherlands.[14]
Some AP mines were transferred to Germany for their destruction, as permitted
under the MBT.
The Netherlands imported mines from the United States, Germany, Austria and
perhaps other nations.[15]
These include 822 directional fragmentation mines from Austria in 1997, which
are reported to have no tripwires and can be command-detonated only (mines with
tripwires which allow victim-activation fall within the MBT definition of an AP
mine),[16] as well as 630
Claymore mines from the US in 1984-86 and 5,984 Gator AP mines in
1991.[17] The Netherlands has
decided to destroy the Gator mine, which is a mixed mine system in which AP
mines are packaged with antitank mines, as described below.
The Ministry of Defense is considering importing Claymore mines and antitank
mines with antihandling devices, within the limits imposed by the amended
Protocol II of the CCW.[18]
Given the strong view of the Dutch government that, under the MBT, antivehicle
mines with antihandling devices which explode due to the unintentional act of a
person are banned,it is anticipated that the government would take
great care in what type of mines it decided to
import.[19] The Netherlands has
also decided that existing stocks of antitank mines will be destroyed when new
AT mines have been
acquired.[20]
Stockpiling and Destruction
Research into the safe destruction of AP mines was
started in 1994 by the Ministry of Defense, after pressure from the two main
political parties and the Dutch Campaign to Ban
Landmines.[21] In 1997 the
Minister of Defense told Parliament that 440,000 landmines would be destroyed,
of which 254,526 were AP
mines.[22] A total of 209,500
type AP22 mines were destroyed in June 1997, jointly with Belgian mines to share
costs, by incineration by the Buck company in Germany at a cost of US$314,000
(Dfl 628,500).
From late 1996 to May 1998 the French company AF Demil (or NAMSA) destroyed
45,026 Model AP23 antipersonnel mines and 155,000 antitank mines, by separating
the explosives and the metals.[23] The metals have been
recycled.
Claymore mines are not mentioned in the Article 7 report as forming part of
the stockpile; the Ministry of Defense decided in 1997 that Claymores fall
outside the MBT definition of an AP
mine.[24] Command-detonated
Claymore mines are permitted under the treaty; tripwire-operated Claymores are
prohibited.
Apart from Claymores, the only AP mines remaining in stock are the 5,984
Gator mines imported from the U.S. in 1991. The Netherlands has 272 Gator
systems (or canisters), each with 22 AP mines and 72 AT mines. In 1997, the
Netherlands originally planned to modify the Gator mixed mine system by removing
the AP mines and replacing them with antitank mines with antihandling devices.
Because recent conflicts such as in Kosovo have shown there is a decreased need
for such area denial munitions, the decision was changed in 1999. The entire
Gator mixed mine systems will be destroyed, including all AT and AP mines. The
destruction order has been tendered and also sent to the NATO Materiel Agency.
The mine systems will be destroyed in the period 2002-2003 at a budgeted cost of
approximately $1.5 million.[25]
According to its Article 7 report and the report to the Organisation for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE):
“The Netherlands has stockpiled a total of 272 Cluster Bomb Units 89
“GATOR” which are non-Ottawa Convention compliant because they
contain APMs.... Recently, however, the Minister of Defence has announced that
all GATOR systems will be dismantled and destroyed. This decision was
communicated to Parliament in a letter dated September 8, 1999. The destruction
of the 272 GATOR systems will be completed within the time frame the Convention
stipulates. For the Netherlands the deadline is 1 October
2003.”[26]
The Netherlands Article 7 report also states that 4,076 AP22 mines will be
retained for development and training purposes, clarifying the earlier
approximate number of 5,000 given by the Ministry of Defense in February
1999.[27]
It was reported last year that United States military bases in the
Netherlands have no munition
stockpiles.[28]
Use
There has been no use of AP mines in the
Netherlands except for training humanitarian deminers of the Dutch armed forces.
In 1997, a research project was started to develop new demining techniques,
financed by the Ministry of Defense and the Development Cooperation Department
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In this project AP mines may be used for
testing new techniques.[29]
Mine Action Funding - Governmental
The Netherlands has contributed considerable
resources to mine action programs over the last four years. Between 1996-1998,
approximately US$30.2 million (Dfl60.4 million; 1999 exchange rate) was spent,
and in 1999, approximately US$10 million (Dfl23 million; 2000 exchange rate).
From 1996-1998, approximately US$14 million (Dfl28 million) was donated to the
United Nations (UN Development Program Trust Fund, Mine Action Centers, UNMAS
Trust Fund); in 1999 this amounted to US$3.55 million (Dfl7.8 million). Dutch
donations to NGOs between 1996-1998 totaled US$14.1 million (Dfl28.2 million)
and in 1999, US$5.3 million (Dfl11.8
million).[30]
In 1999, the Dutch government contributed to mine action in the following
countries as follows:[31]
Abkhazia/Georgia: Dfl 325,000 (US$0.2 million) to the Halo
Trust.
Afghanistan: Dfl 3 million (US$1.35 million) to the UN Office for
Coordination of Humanitarian Aid.
Angola: Dfl 4 million (US$1.8 million) to Norwegian People’s
Aid (NPA) and Menschen gegen Minen.
Bosnia: Dfl 2.5 million (US$1.2 million) to the UNDP Trust Fund and
Bosnia-Herzogovina MAC.
Cambodia: Dfl 645,000 (US$0.3 million) to the UN Development Program
(UNDP) and Cambodia MAC (Mine Action Center).
Chechnya: Dfl 520,000 (US$0.2 million) to the Halo Trust.
Kosovo: Dfl 1 million (US$0.46 million) to the Halo Trust and Dfl1.7
million (US$0.9 million) to the UNMAS Trust Fund.
Mozambique: Dfl 1.7 million (US$0.8 million) to the Halo Trust and
NPA.
Somalia: Dfl250,000 (US$0.1 million) to the UNDP.
For
these country contributions there is no breakdown of the funding for demining,
mine awareness programs or victim assistance. The Netherlands believes that
these elements should be integrated within mine action and cannot be separated.
In addition to these country-specific contributions, US$1.8 million (Dfl 4
million) was given to the ICRC for victim assistance in 1999. The Dutch
government also supported the Landmine Monitor project with US$50,000 in 1999
and US$100,000 in 2000.[32]
In 1999, the government adopted a policy framework for humanitarian mine
action. The Netherlands will only support mine clearance program which follow
the criteria of UNMAS, which requires country-specific coordinated programming
of the following elements: mine awareness; minefield surveys, marking and mine
clearance; victim assistance; mine ban advocacy; and strengthening of local
capacity through training and quality assurance.
Only countries which have signed and implemented the Mine Ban Treaty are
eligible for support, although in exceptional cases support will be given
– as in the case of Angola, which has signed the MBT, but continued to use
landmines. In this case, the Netherlands decided to support demining in the
areas surrounding internally displaced populations. The Netherlands will no
longer support conferences or research and development, as it did in the past
(see below). The focus of funded programs should be on actual mine clearance.
The Netherlands also wants to transfer demining tasks as soon as possible to the
local organizations; local capacity building and training has therefore high
priority.[33]
The government has made in-kind contributions to mine action. The Dutch
armed forces have a pool of eighty humanitarian deminers available for mine
action by international organisations. In 1999 eight deminers were deployed as
instructors to Cambodia at CMAC and to Bosnia-Herzegovina at BHMAC. Dutch
deminers have also given mine awareness training to Kosovar refugees in Holland
before they returned home.[34]
“HOM 2000” is a research project into new demining techniques
initiated in 1997 by TNO, The Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific
Research. The Ministry of Defense and the development department of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs supported this effort, focused on a new multi-sensor
system, with funding of US$10 million (Dfl 20 million) in 1997. It is expected
the project will be discontinued in the fall of this year.
The International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC) in
Enschede, the Netherlands, is also involved in a mine detection project. In
August 1999, it presented an airborne remote-sensing minefield detection system,
which is the result of a US$4.6 million (Dfl10 million) international project
involving ten partners in eight countries (Luxemburg, Sweden, United Kingdom,
Portugal, Belgium, Germany, Norway and the Netherlands), financed by the
European Commission, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Portugal and
ITC. This is a multi-sensor system, involving optical sensors in the
visible/near infrared region, thermal sensors in the infrared region and sensors
in the microwave region. The airborne minefield detection multi-sensor system,
which can be helpful to supplement level one surveys, was tested at the end of
1998 in Mozambique.[35]
According to ITC the results of the Mozambique test were very positive. Not
only minefields were found by airborne remote sensing, but also individual
mines.[36]
Mine Action Funding - Nongovernmental
In the Netherlands, Kerken in Actie (ACT –
Netherlands, Action by Churches Together), Anti-Landmijn Stichting (Anti
Landmine Foundation), Pax Christi/Cordaid, Stichting Vluchteling (Refugee
Foundation) and Novib fund mine action programs.
Kerken in Actie funded programs in Cambodia and El Salvador (a mine survey by
the International Demining Foundation). The Anti-Landmijn Stichting raises
funds for mine action by international organizations, and has funded projects in
Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia, Cambodia, Laos, Mozambique, Sudan and Chechnya,
donating US$190,000 (Dfl379,690) each to MAG and the Halo Trust in 1997, with
slightly smaller amounts in 1998. Pax Christi and Cordaid have jointly funded a
mine awareness program in Southern Sudan. Stichting Vluchteling has financed a
MAG mine awareness program in northern Iraq since 1996 (totaling US$ 160,000
over four years) and co-financed (with the Dutch government) mine clearance
carrried out by MAG in northern Iraq in
1996-1997.[37]
Novib contributed US$6 million (Dfl13million) from 1995-2000 to demining and
mine awareness projects in Afghanistan through OMAR. In Cambodia Novib
supported local capacity training by MAG in 1995 and 1996 with US$82,000
(DFL180,000). In Laos a mine awareness and demining programme in Xieng Khouang
province carried out by MAG was supported with US$250,000 (Dfl550,000), and a
MAG demining program in Moxico province of Angola in 1998 received US$142,000
(Dfl215,000 ). In Mozambique Novib has supported ADEMO, a local landmine
survivors network, from 1997-2001 with US$380,000 (Dfl800,000).
[1] Telephone interview with the legal
affairs desk of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 12 January
2000. [2] Telephone interview with the
legal affairs desk of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1 May
2000. [3] Report to the OSCE, 28 January
2000, p. 3. [4] Oral statement of the
Dutch Delegation, Standing Committee of Experts on the General Status and
Operation of the Convention, Geneva, Switzerland, 10-11 January 2000. See also,
Human Rights Watch Fact Sheet, “Antivehicle Mines with Antihandling
Devices,” January 2000. [5] Letter
from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, J J van Aartsen, to Pax Christi, 21
December 1999. [6]
Ibid. [7]
Ibid. [8] Handelingen Eerste Kamer (Acts
of Parliament, Senate), The Hague, 23 March
1999. [9] Handelingen Eerste Kamer (Acts
of Parliament, Senate), The Hague, 2 February 1999, 18th Session, pp.
639-642. [10] Interviews with Alexander
Verbeek, Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 31 January and
15 February 2000. [11] Report to the
OSCE, 28 January 2000, p. 2. [12] For
details of past production, see Landmine Monitor Report 1999, p.
749. [13] Ministry of Defense, Materieel
Projekten Overzicht 2000, Kl 16 and KL 17, 15 December
1999. [14] De Nationale Ombudsman,
Rapport 99/175, 19 April 1999. The report revealed exports of twenty-one AP23
mines to the US in 1981. Although more of these mines were offered to potential
buyers in 1991/92, they were withdrawn from sales catalogues because of
technical failures which led to the Dutch decision to destroy
them. [15] For details of past imports,
see Landmine Monitor Report 1999, p.
750. [16] 1997-98 Acts of Parliament,
Appendix 368, Answer of the Minister of Defense, Voorhoeve, 2 December 1997, to
questions raised by MP J Hoekema (D66), 11 November
1997. [17] U.S. Defense Security
Assistance Agency, Foreign Military Sales of Antipersonnel Mines, as of 8/11/93.
See also: The Arms Project of Human Rights Watch & Physicians for Human
Rights, Landmines: A Deadly Legacy (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1993), p.
73. [18] Ministry of Defense, Materieel
Projekten Overzicht 2000, Kl 16 and KL 17, 15 December
1999. [19] During two intersessional
meetings of the SCE on General Status of the Convention, in January and May
2000, the government strongly expressed its view that such mines are outlawed by
the treaty. [20] Telephone interview
with E Buskens, information desk, Ministry of Defense on 26 February 1999;
Verslag van een Algemeen Overleg (report of a general meeting of the Foreign
Affairs parliamentary committee with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and
Defense), 13 March 1997, 25 000 V, nr. 72, pp.
7-8. [21] Handelingen Tweede Kamer (Acts
of Parliament, Lower House), The Hague, 30 November 1994, 29th Session, pp.
133-135. [22] “Verslag van een
Algemeen Overleg,” (Report of a general meeting of the Foreign Affairs
parliamentary committee with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense), 13
March 1997, 25 000 V, nr. 72, p. 7; Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, sumbitted
7 January 2000. [23] According to
information from the Ministry of Defense in January 1999 they were destroyed by
AF Demil. The MBT Article 7 Report mentions, however, another French company,
NAMSA, as carrying out ths work. [24]
Letter to Novib from Ministry of Defense, 5 December
1997. [25] Minister of Defense F H G de
Grave, Letter to Parliament, 8 September
1999. [26] Report to the OSCE, 28
January 2000, p. 3. [27] This number is
substantially greater than the 1,500 which the then-Foreign Minister announced
would be retained at the MBT-signing conference in Ottawa in December 1997. See
Landmine Monitor Report 1999, p.
751. [28] Telephone interview with a
representative of the Ministry of Defense, March
1999. [29] Handelingen Tweede Kamer
(Acts of Parliament, Lower House), 10 February 1999, 50th Session, p.
3340. [30] Telephone interviews with P M
Kraan, Humanitarian Aid Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 26 January 1999
and 6 January 2000; Report to the OSCE, 28 January 2000. For a breakdown of
country mine action programs supported from 1996-1998, see Landmine Monitor
Report 1999, pp. 751-752. [31] Telephone
interviews with P M Kraan, Humanitarian Aid Department, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, 26 January 1999 and 6 January 2000; Report to the OSCE, 28 January
2000. [32]
Ibid. [33] Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Beleidskader Humanitair Ontmijnen (Humanitarian Demining Policy-Framework),
1999. [34] Telephone interview with the
Information Department of the Ministry of Defense, 25 January 2000; telephone
interview with a representative of the Ministry of Defense in January 1999;
Handelingen Tweede Kamer (Acts of Parliament, Lower House), The Hague, 10
February 1999, 50th Session, p. 3339; Verslag van een Algemeen Overleg (report
of a general meeting of the Foreign Affairs parliamentary committee with the
Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense), 13 March 1997, 25 000 V, nr. 72, pp.
7-8. [35] Website of ITC:
www.itc.nl/ags/projects/minefield_detection. [36]
Ibid., site visited 17 March 2000. [37]
Interview with Jaap ’t Gilde of Kerken in Actie and Jan Gruiters of Pax
Christi Netherlands, 7 March 2000; Annual reports of Novib 1995, 1996, 1997,
1998; Daniel Koning, “Leven tussen mijnenvelden,” a 1997 folder of
the Anti-Landmijn Stichting.
About Us
Our Research Products