On 13 September 2002, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to
Ban Landmines (ICBL) will release the fourth annual report of its Landmine
Monitor initiative, the 923-page Landmine Monitor Report 2002: Toward a
Mine-Free World. This is the most comprehensive report on the global
landmine situation, containing information on every country in the world with
respect to mine use, production, trade, stockpiling, humanitarian mine
clearance, mine risk education and mine survivor assistance.
Landmine Monitor is an unprecedented initiative by the ICBL to monitor
implementation of and compliance with the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, and more
generally to assess the efforts of the international community to resolve the
landmines problem. Landmine Monitor Report 2002 focuses on a reporting
period from May 2001 to mid-2002. However, it also provides a basis for
evaluating progress in the five years since the Mine Ban Treaty was negotiated
in Oslo in September 1997 and initially signed in Ottawa in December 1997.
It is abundantly clear from the wealth of information in Landmine Monitor
Report 2002 that the Mine Ban Treaty and the ban movement more generally are
making tremendous strides in eradicating antipersonnel landmines and in saving
lives and limbs in every region of the world. This progress is shown
by:
Widespread international rejectionof any use or possession of
antipersonnel mines. A total of 125 countries are States Parties to the
Mine Ban Treaty, and another 18 have signed but not yet ratified, constituting
three-quarters of the world’s nations. Since the last Landmine Monitor
report, eight countries have joined the Mine Ban Treaty. Among them are three
countries that have recently used antipersonnel mines but now reject the weapon
(Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Eritrea), as well as regional leaders
Nigeria and Chile.
Cessation of mine use in key countries. Since May 2001, nine
governments have used antipersonnel mines. This compares to use by at least 13
governments in the previous reporting period. Mine use has halted, at least
temporarily, in several countries where it has been most widespread in recent
years: Angola (no use since the April 2002 peace agreement); Eritrea and
Ethiopia (no use since the end of the border conflict in June 2000); and Sri
Lanka (no use since a cease-fire in December 2001). Also, in contrast to the
previous reporting period, Landmine Monitor has not recorded new mine use by the
governments of DR Congo, Israel, and Kyrgyzstan, nor by rebels based in Angola,
FYR Macedonia, Senegal, Sri Lanka, and Uganda.
Dramatic reductions in antipersonnel mine stockpiles. More than 34
million antipersonnel mines have been destroyed by 61 states, including some 7
million in this reporting period. A total of 33 Mine Ban Treaty States Parties
have completed destruction of their antipersonnel mine stockpiles, including six
in this reporting period (Czech Republic, Ecuador, Peru, Sweden, Albania, and
Yemen).
Fewer new mine victims. Landmine Monitors ever-more detailed research on landmine casualties confirmed the major finding announced last year: the estimated the number of new landmine and unexploded ordnance (UXO) casualties is now between 15,000 and 20,000 per year. This represents a significant reduction in the long-standing and commonly cited estimate of 26,000 new casualties each year. Reported new mine casualties remained constant in 2001. Landmine Monitor identified at least 7,987 new casualties to landmines and UXO in 2001, as compared to 8,064 in 2000. However, the lack of reliable reporting in some countries, and the underreporting of casualties in many countries, must be acknowledged.
Expanding mine action programs. Mine action funding has totaled
over $1.4 billion in the past decade, including some $700 million the past three
years. In recent years, there have been expanding programs for mine clearance,
mine risk education, and mine survivor assistance, as well as a major initiative
to carry out Landmine Impact Surveys. In this reporting period, some form of
mine clearance was underway in 74 of 90 mine-affected countries. In 2001, new
mine risk education programs were initiated in ten countries. The first
Landmine Impact Survey was completed in July 2000; since then five others have
been completed and eight more are underway or being planned.
Decreased production and trade. The number of antipersonnel mine
producers has dropped from 55 to 14. Of the 14 countries still considered
active producers by Landmine Monitor, at least three (Egypt, South Korea, and
the U.S.) report no production in recent years. Global trade in antipersonnel
mines has been reduced to a smattering of illicit or covert transactions since
the mid-1990s.
Key concerns that emerge from Landmine Monitor
Report 2002 include:
Massive new mine-laying operations by India and Pakistan likely mean
that more mines went into the ground than in the previous reporting period.
Since late December 2001, both India and Pakistan have emplaced large numbers of
antipersonnel mines along their common border. This is one of the largest-scale
mine laying operations anywhere in the world since 1997, though details are
scant due to military secrecy and lack of access to the areas.
Global mine action funding stagnated in 2001—the first time
since 1992 that a significant increase has not been registered. Landmine
Monitor identified $237 million in mine action funding in 2001, a decrease of
about $4 million from 2000. The US continued to be the largest donor, but its
mine action funding fell by $13.2 million. Of the 20 major donors, nine had
increased mine action funding in 2001 and eleven had decreased funding.
It is increasingly evident that at current levels of mine action funding
and demining, many mine-affected States Parties will not meet the ten-year
deadline for completion of mine clearance.
Other major
findings of the Landmine Monitor Report 2002 include:
Landmine Monitor research identifies 90 countries that are affected
to some degree by landmines and/or unexploded ordnance.
Landmine Monitor research indicates that there were new mine/UXO victims
reported in 69 countries in 2001, compared to 70 in 2000. A majority (46)
of these countries were at peace, not war. The greatest number of reported new
victims in this time period appear to be found in Afghanistan, Russia
(Chechnya), Cambodia, Angola, Nepal, India, northern Iraq, and, likely, Burma.
Significant numbers of new victims are also found in Colombia, DR Congo,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, and, likely, Vietnam.
Landmine Impact Surveys have been completed in Cambodia, Chad,
Mozambique, Thailand, and Yemen, as well as Kosovo. There are surveys underway
or being planned in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Eritrea,
Ethiopia, Lebanon, Somalia (Somaliland), and Vietnam.
In this reporting period, the following countries which have not joined
the Mine Ban Treaty have acknowledged use of antipersonnel mines: Burma
(Myanmar), India, Pakistan, Russia, and Sri Lanka. Other non-signatories who
are credibly reported to have used antipersonnel mines include Georgia, Nepal,
and Somalia. Angola, while still a signatory in 2001, acknowledged use of
antipersonnel mines.
A Georgian Defense Ministry official told Landmine Monitor that Georgian
Armed Forces laid antipersonnel mines in several passes in the Kodori gorge
(bordering Abkhazia) in 2001. News accounts reported this also. This would
appear to end the official Georgian moratorium on the use of antipersonnel
mines in place since September 1996. However, the Georgian Foreign Ministry
has denied any use of antipersonnel mines. Abkhazian authorities have
acknowledged use of antipersonnel mines for the first time in recent years.
In this reporting period, opposition groups are reported to have used
antipersonnel mines in at least 14 countries. This compares to reports of
use by non-state actors in at least 18 countries in the previous reporting
period.
In Afghanistan, in the fighting following 11 September 2001, there were
reports of limited use of mines and booby-traps by Taliban and Al-Qaeda
fighters, as well as the Northern Alliance. The Taliban previously claimed
to have stopped use in 1998, though some allegations persisted. There were no
instances of use of antipersonnel mines by the United States or coalition
forces.
For the first time since its inception in 1998, Landmine Monitor has
received evidence of significant transfers of antipersonnel mines—from
Iran, which ostensibly instituted an export moratorium on antipersonnel
mines in 1997. Mine clearance organizations in Afghanistan are encountering
many hundreds ofIranian-manufactured YM-I and YM-I-B antipersonnel
mines, dated 1999 and 2000, presumably laid by the Northern Alliance forces in
the last few years. Additionally in January 2002, Israel seized a ship it
reports was carrying 311 YM-I antipersonnel mines; Israel claimed the ship
originated from Iran and was destined for Palestine.
Landmine Monitor estimates that there are some 230 million antipersonnel
mines in the arsenals of 94 countries, with the biggest estimated to be
China (110 million), Russia (60-70 million), United States (11.2 million),
Ukraine (6.4 million), Pakistan (6 million), India (4-5 million), and Belarus
(4.5 million).
Thirty-three Mine Ban Treaty States Parties have completely destroyed
their antipersonnel mine stockpiles, and another 22 are in the process.
Seventeen States Parties known to have stockpiles have yet to begin destruction,
which must be completed within four years of entry into force for each nation.
The deadline for many nations is in 2003.
Although the United Nations records that Tajikistan acceded to the Mine Ban
Treaty on 12 October 1999, it is not clear that Tajikistan considers itself a
State Party formally bound by the treaty. It indicated on several occasions in
2001 and 2002 that it does not believe it has completed all necessary
procedures. Tajikistan has not met its Mine Ban Treaty requirements to
submit transparency reports and to adopt national implementation measures. It
has not started or planned for stockpile destruction. Most disturbing, Russian
forces have laid antipersonnel mines inside Tajikistan, apparently with the
consent of the Tajik government.
A total of 115 Landmine Monitor
researchers in 90 countries systematically collected and analyzed information
from a wide variety of sources for this comprehensive report. The book also
includes appendices with reports from major actors in the mine ban movement,
such as UN agencies, regional organizations, the International Committee of the
Red Cross, the Survey Action Center, and the Geneva International Center for
Humanitarian Demining.
The ICBL received the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to eradicate
antipersonnel mines. The Landmine Monitor initiative is coordinated by a
“Core Group” of five ICBL organizations. Human Rights Watch is the
lead organization and others include Handicap International Belgium, Kenya
Coalition Against Landmines, Mines Action Canada, and Norwegian People’s
Aid.
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