Key developments since May 2003: In 2003, Germany donated €19.5
million (US$22.1 million) for mine action in 15 countries, a decrease from
€20.4 million in 2002. Germany is acting as Friend to the President
Designate for the first Review Conference. Germany opposed efforts to reach
common understandings on Articles 1, 2, and 3, especially with respect to
antivehicle mines with sensitive fuzes. In June 2004, Germany co-sponsored a
regional conference held in Lithuania to encourage neighboring countries to join
the treaty and a treaty implementation workshop in Belarus in December 2003. In
2003, Germany served as chair of the Mine Action Support Group.
Key developments since 1999: Germany became a State Party to the Mine
Ban Treaty on 1 March 1999. Prior to that, Germany completed destruction of its
stockpile of 1.7 million antipersonnel mines by December 1997, and enacted
national legislation implementing the Mine Ban Treaty in July 1998. Germany
served as co-rapporteur of the Standing Committee on Mine Action Technologies
from May 1999 to September 2000, as co-rapporteur of the Standing Committee on
Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education, and Related Technologies from September
2000 to September 2001, and co-chair of that committee from September 2001 to
September 2002. Germany has been prominent among the States Parties opposed to
the effort to reach a common understanding on Article 2 and antivehicle mines
with sensitive fuzes; yet, in June 2003 Germany stated that tripwires,
breakwires and tilt rods cannot be recommended as methods of detonation for
antivehicle mines. The US has more than 112,000 antipersonnel mines stockpiled
in Germany, which Germany has declared are not under its jurisdiction or
control. From 1999 to 2003, Germany provided governmental funding for mine
action of approximately $80 million, including nearly $10 million in support for
victim assistance.
Mine Ban Policy
The Federal Republic of Germany signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997
and ratified it on 23 July 1998, becoming a State Party on 1 March 1999.
National legislation implementing the Mine Ban Treaty was enacted on 6 July 1998
and entered into force on 9 July
1998.[1]
Germany was an early supporter of a ban on antipersonnel mines. It
introduced an export moratorium on antipersonnel mines in 1994, which was made
indefinite in 1996. Germany renounced use of antipersonnel mines in 1996, and
completed destruction of its stockpile of 1.7 million mines in December 1997.
Germany was active in the Ottawa Process, and hosted one of the preparatory
conferences in April 1997, focused on compliance
measures.[2]
Germany has participated extensively in the Mine Ban Treaty work program
since 1999. It has attended all of the annual Meetings of States Parties and
all of the intersessional meetings. It has taken part in the contact groups on
universalization, Article 7, and resource mobilization, and contributed to the
sponsorship program. Germany served as co-rapporteur of the Standing Committee
of Experts on Technologies for Mine Action from May 1999 to September 2000, as
co-rapporteur of the Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education,
and Related Technologies from September 2000 to September 2001, and co-chair of
that committee from September 2001 to September 2002.
Germany was one of five nations that offered to host the first Review
Conference, which will be held in Nairobi in November/December 2004. Germany
has been active in the President’s Consultations on the Review Conference
and has been serving as Friend to the President Designate of the Review
Conference. In that role, it has taken the lead in developing a paper on future
meetings and related matters.
Germany submitted its annual Article 7 transparency report for 2003 on 13
April 2004.[3] This included
voluntary Form J, giving details of mine action
funding.[4] Germany has
previously submitted five Article 7
reports.[5]
The Federal Foreign Office co-sponsored, with Canada and Luxembourg, a treaty
implementation workshop in Belarus on 8–9 December 2003. Following
this, the Federal Armed Forces Verification Center agreed to assist Belarus in
preparing its initial Article 7 report. Also, to facilitate national
implementation measures, a Russian translation of the German legislation
implementing the Mine Ban Treaty was made
available.[6] In March 2004,
Germany participated in a meeting called by the French Commission Nationale pour
l’Elimination des Mines Anti-personnel to discuss implementation of the
Mine Ban Treaty and Article 8.
Germany takes the position that the Mine Ban Treaty is “the
comprehensive legal instrument on the subject of antipersonnel mines; it should
gain universal
acceptance.”[7] Germany
reports that during 2003 it engaged in extensive dialogue with its European
Union and NATO partners, and neighboring European States not party to the
treaty, on the need to accede to the Mine Ban Treaty as soon as possible. In
June 2004, Germany co-sponsored a regional conference held in Lithuania to
encourage neighboring countries to join the Mine Ban
Treaty.[8] In June 2002,
Parliament unanimously passed a resolution calling on “the United States
of America, Russia, China, India and Pakistan, both Korean states and
others...to join forces with the majority and ban antipersonnel
mines.”[9] The resolution
also called on the German government to continue efforts to universalize the
Mine Ban Treaty and influence States that have signed or ratified the treaty but
failed to meet their
obligations.[10] In December
2003, Germany voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 58/53, which
calls for universalization and implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. Germany
has voted for similar General Assembly resolutions in previous years.
In 2003, Germany served as chair of the Mine Action Support Group. It
stressed that “resource mobilization for mine action is one major purpose
of these meetings of donor
countries.”[11] In May
2003, the German chairmanship organized a field trip to South East Europe,
visiting mine action centers in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the
International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF) in
Slovenia. At a meeting in November 2003, the Group started consideration of how
best to measure the success, cost-effectiveness and efficiency of mine
action.[12]
ICBL Issues of Concern
Germany has participated in the extensive States Parties discussions on
matters of interpretation and implementation related to Article 1, 2, and 3. It
has opposed efforts to reach a common understanding on Article 2 and antivehicle
mines with sensitive fuzes and antihandling devices that function as
antipersonnel mines. Presented with the co-chair’s Non-Paper with
possible conclusions on Articles 1, 2 and 3 at the Standing Committee meetings
in June 2004, the German delegation warned that such conclusions could amount to
amendment of the treaty, which does not fall within the scope of a Review
Conference as defined by Article 12. Germany’s Federal Foreign Office
stated in September 2004 that a subsequent agreement regarding the
interpretation of the Convention or the application of its provisions would
require the advice and consent of both Houses of the Federal Parliament,
“requiring the same comprehensive procedure as the ratification of the
Ottawa Convention
itself.”[13]
With respect to Article 3, Germany acknowledges that implementation would
benefit from guidelines on the quantities of antipersonnel mines that could be
retained and transparency as to their
use.[14]
Joint Operations and “Assist”
Reacting to language proposed by the Standing Committee co-chair on acts
forbidden during joint military operations by Article 1’s prohibition on
“assisting” banned acts, German said it “sees no merit in
defining behavior which it knows it cannot live up to as a consequence of
remaining limitations in its jurisdiction as a consequence of applicable Status
of Forces agreements, or for which specific treaty provisions already exist
– as, for instance, in the case of providing protection and maintenance
for transportation and storage sites of allied stationed forces, the sending
States of which are not themselves States Parties to the
Convention.”[15]
In June 2004, the Federal Foreign Office claimed that “it is
straightforwardly deducible from the wording of the Convention that the mere
participation” in operations or exercises sanctioned by the UN or
otherwise in accordance with international law “is not, by itself,
assistance, encouragement or inducement in accordance with the meaning of these
terms in Article 1(1)(c) of the Convention.” But, to gain the
maximum reassurance that no antipersonnel mines will be used in joint operations
and exercises with States not party to the Mine Ban Treaty, Germany
“states the expectation, inter alia in the exchange of notes on
agreed and applicable Rules of Engagement, that this prohibition will be
observed.”[16] It was
declared, in May 2002, that Germany “will not support planning or use of
antipersonnel mines in a joint operation. Germany prohibits the planned or
actual use of antipersonnel mines in any military operation whatsoever by her
military personnel.”[17]
Germany’s national implementing legislation states that
“Notwithstanding the lex loci delicti [the place where the crime
was committed], [the penal provisions on antipersonnel mines under]
section 20a of this Act shall also apply to acts committed outside the area
of application of these provisions if the offender is a
German.”[18]
Foreign Stockpiles and Transit of Antipersonnel Mines
The US has more than 112,000 antipersonnel mines stockpiled in Germany, which
have not been included in Germany’s Article 7 reports. In June 2004,
Germany confirmed its position that it “will not, on legal grounds, oppose
the storage on her territory and the transit through her territory of, inter
alia, anti-personnel mines belonging to allied stationed forces” on
the grounds that “the Ottawa Convention per se is not applicable to
allied forces, which in accordance with the 1954 Convention are permanently
stationed in Germany, unless a sending State itself is party to the
Convention...”[19]
Foreign forces stationed under the 1954 Convention are not under German
jurisdiction or control. Germany has stated that it will not report on the
weaponry or equipment of such forces, nor request the US to remove
them.[20] This position was
prefigured in a memorandum of understanding presented to Parliament in 1998 with
the national implementing
legislation.[21]
Antivehicle Mines with Sensitive Fuzes and Antihandling Devices
Germany is one of five States Parties that have publicly disagreed with the
view of the ICBL and many States Parties that an antivehicle mine with an
antihandling device that explodes from the unintentional act of a person is
prohibited by the Mine Ban Treaty. Germany has more than 900,000 AT-2
antivehicle mines equipped with an antihandling device, according to the Federal
Ministry of Defense.
In September 2003, at the Fifth Meeting of States Parties, the German
delegation confirmed its position that the Mine Ban Treaty is not applicable to
antivehicle mines, or to antivehicle mines with antihandling devices. Germany
said it doubted that searching for a legal interpretation in the context of the
Mine Ban Treaty would produce acceptable results and recommended that the issue
of sensitive fuzes be left for discussion within the Convention on Conventional
Weapons (CCW) (see below). The delegation added that, in the CCW context,
Germany had stated in June 2003 that tripwires, breakwires and tilt rods cannot
be recommended as methods of detonation for antivehicle
mines.[22]
In May 2003, Germany opposed a proposal of the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) that an expert group be formed to consider antivehicle mines
with sensitive fuzes within the Mine Ban Treaty context. The ICBL and the
German Initiative to Ban Landmines supported the ICRC
initiative.[23]
Previously, at the Fourth Meeting in September 2002, Germany expressed a
different view, declaring that mines “designed to include the actuation
also by a person, should be considered an antipersonnel mine and banned under
the Convention, regardless of an attached label possibly calling it an
anti-vehicle mine....”[24]
This position was based on the parliamentary resolution adopted in June 2002,
urging the German government to “encourage Ottawa Convention States
Parties to reach a common understanding by the 2004 Review Conference that all
mines equipped with fuzes that are also designed to be detonated by a person are
antipersonnel mines and are covered by the treaty.” The resolution does
not specifically mention antihandling
devices.[25]
CCW
Germany is a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and Amended
Protocol II. It submitted annual reports required by Article 13 of the Protocol
on 1 October 2003 and, for the period 1 July 2003–30 June 2004, on 16
September 2004. These included details of financial and other assistance given
to mine action programs in various
countries.[26] Germany has
submitted Article 13 reports in previous years. Germany attended the Fifth
Annual Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II in November 2003. It
has attended the annual conferences in previous years. In other CCW work,
Germany has been active in the Group of Governmental Experts regarding proposals
on antivehicle mines and explosive remnants of war. In 2002, Germany proposed
technical limits to deal with the problem of sensitive fuzes on antivehicle
mines. In June and November 2003, it presented the results of consultations
with other States on this issue.
Production, Transfer, Stockpiling and Destruction
From the late 1950s Germany produced or imported five types of antipersonnel
mine (DM-11, DM-31, DM-51, DM-39, and MUSPA) and eight types of antivehicle mine
(including MIFF); in the early 1990s it acquired the mines of the former East
Germany.[27] Production of
antipersonnel mines was renounced in April 1996.
Before the 1994 export moratorium was made permanent in 1996, the former West
Germany exported mines to countries including Angola, Finland, France, Israel,
Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sweden, the UK, the US and
Zambia.[28] Over 845,000
antipersonnel mines from either the former East or West Germany have been
declared in the stockpiles of Mine Ban Treaty States Parties Angola, Chad, Congo
Brazzaville, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Namibia, and Tanzania.
Germany announced that destruction of its stockpile of 1.7 million
antipersonnel mines was completed in December 1997, before entry into force of
the Mine Ban Treaty. The types of mine destroyed have not been revealed.
Germany did not destroy its DM-51, DM-39, or MUSPA mines because it does not
categorize them as antipersonnel mines. In June 2001, the Federal Ministry of
Defense confirmed that the DM-39 (described as an anti-lift device or explosive
charge) was no longer held by the Federal Armed
Forces.[29]
Since the mid-1990s, the German Initiative to Ban Landmines (GIBL) has
disputed the government’s narrow classification of what is an
antipersonnel mine. It has drawn attention to antipersonnel mines that are
officially classified as explosive charges or anti-lift devices, to the
antipersonnel mine-like functioning of some antivehicle and antitank mines, and
to delivery systems that can be used with antivehicle mines and submunitions
that may function as antipersonnel
mines.[30] Another State
Party, Italy, had MUSPA and MIFF mines in its stockpile, classified them as
antipersonnel mines, and destroyed them.
In recent years, private companies in Germany have received antipersonnel
mines from other countries for
destruction.[31]
Germany opted to retain some antipersonnel mines as permitted by Article 3 of
the treaty. It initially retained 3,000 DM-31 mines for training deminers and
testing demining technology.[32]
At the end of 2003, 2,537 mines were retained by the Federal Armed Forces at
three locations and by two
companies.[33] According to
Article 7 reports, 230 mines were consumed in 2000; 179 in 2001; 19 in 2002; and
18 in 2003.
Mine Action Funding
Governmental
In 2003, the German government donated €19,505,395 (US$22,070,354) for
mine action in 15 countries.[34]
This represented a decrease from 2002 (€20,430,402), but less of a
decrease than predicted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which anticipated
difficulty in maintaining increases in mine action funding in future
years.[35]
At the Fifth Meeting of State Parties, the German delegation noted that
German funding for mine action had increased by about 50 percent since
2001.[36] At the Standing
Committee meetings in February 2004, the delegation reported that Germany
concentrated its funding in Africa on Angola, but that “more detailed
information, priority setting and quality control with support from the
Government of Angola is needed” in order to prevent funds being
wasted.[37] At the Standing
Committee meetings in June 2004, Germany described the obligation of States
Parties to provide assistance for mine victims as without a deadline and called
for a long-term commitment on the part of States Parties. Germany said both
short-term emergency assistance and long-term assistance are needed, and that
long-term assistance should be incorporated in development cooperation programs,
which is German policy. It said mine victim assistance should also be included
in the general social policies of mine-affected
countries.[38]
Funding in 2003 was distributed as follows:
Afghanistan: €4,624,684 ($5,232,830), including €1,709,778
toward the mine-detection dog center, through UNMAS; €11,721 to the German
Embassy in Kabul for construction of a veterinary clinic in the Center;
€50,133 for supplies for mine detecting dogs; €1,300,000 for three
mine victim assistance projects; €548,534 to Medico International and OMAR
for mine clearance; €530,519 to UNMAS, UNMACA and ATC for mine clearance
and EOD; €354,077 to UNMAS and UNMACA for 119 local staff salaries;
€119,522 as the value of a German demining expert seconded to MDC
Albania: €300,000 ($339,450) to the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action
(FSD), via the International Trust Fund (ITF) for mine clearance along Kosovo
border
Angola: €4,019,157 ($4,547,676), including €1,801,828 to GTZ
(Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit, German Agency for
Technical Cooperation) for a physical therapy/rehabilitation center;
€262,329 to Survey Action Center for Landmine Impact Survey;
€720,000 to Menschen gegen Minen (MgM) for mine clearance in Kunene
Province; €720,000 to Stiftung Sankt Barbara for mine clearance in
Benguela; and €515,000 to Medico International and MAG for clearance in
Moxico province
Bosnia and Herzegovina: €1,104,188 ($1,249,389), including
€669,502 to the ITF for mine clearance near Bihac, €349,686 to HELP
for mine clearance in Hadzici, and €85,000 to UNICEF for mine risk
education
Cambodia: €555,266 ($628,283) to CMAA-CMAC for mine clearance
Croatia: €794,400 ($898,863) to Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund for mine
clearance
Ethiopia: €339,897 ($384,593) to UNDP as in-kind donation of equipment
for mine detecting dog teams
Iraq: €2,773,521 ($3,138,239), including €1,581,427 to UNMAS and
DCA for mine/UXO clearance in southern Iraq; €614,587 to HELP for mine/UXO
clearance near Baghdad; €314,861 to HI for survivor assistance and
€244,768 for MRE in Baghdad region; and €17,878 for a mine/UXO
clearance expert with FSD.
Laos: €562,025 ($635,931) to Potsdam Kommunikation for UXO/mine
clearance in Houaphan and Luang Prabang
Mozambique: €1,150,000 ($1,301,225) to MgM for mine clearance in
Limpopo.
Serbia and Montenegro: €426,943 ($483,086), including €380,412
to the ITF for mine clearance, and €46,531 to HI for mine clearance in
Kosovo
Sudan: €400,000 ($452,600), including €200,000 to UNMAS for the
National Mine Mine Action Office, and €200,000 to UNMAS for technical
survey teams and mine awareness activities, and €60,000 to UNICEF for mine
risk education.
Vietnam: €966,538 ($1,093,638), including €501,281 to SODI for
mine/UXO clearance in Quang Tri, and €465,257 to Potsdam Kommunikation for
mine/UXO clearance in Hue
Yemen: €1,005,075 ($1,137,242), including €809,502 to GTZ and
the German Embassy for the mine dog center in Sana’a, €106,590
($120,606) to UNDP for a German expert to YEMAP, and €88,983 ($100,684)
for additional equipment for the mine dog center.
Germany also contributed €483,621 ($547,217) for various projects,
including €27,642 for the BAM/ITEP project on mine detectors,
€134,540 to support the ITEP Secretariat, €175,000 to GICHD,
€60,000 to ICBL for the Landmine Monitor Report 2003, €67,618
to UNMAS for evaluation of global landmine impact surveys, and €18,821 for
internal monitoring of demining
projects.[39]
In 2004, Germany budgeted to spend at least €16 million on mine
clearance and mine risk education, with additional funding for victim
assistance.[40] Germany
recognizes that victim assistance “will remain an unfinished task even
after the 10 years deadline” and has pledged to “keep up our support
until all victims of anti-personnel mines will have received necessary
assistance.”[41] By April
2004, Germany had granted $13 million for development projects in Angola which
included demining, $1 million for mine clearance in Vietnam, and $2.3 million
for the mine detecting dog center in
Afghanistan.[42] It was also
reported that in 2004 Germany would donate €1.7 million to the ITF for
mine clearance in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Serbia and Montenegro, and
€520,000 to Guinea-Bissau for
demining[43]
In the previous five years, German governmental funding for mine action
totaled approximately $80 million (1999: $11.4 million; 2000: $14.5 million;
2001: $12.3 million; 2002: $19.4 million; 2003: $22.1).
German governmental mine action funding
1999–2003[44]
Year
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
Total
National currency (millions)
DM21.7
DM27.6
€13.7
€20.4
€19.5
US$ (millions) @ each year’s exchange rate
11.4
14.5
12.3
19.4
22.1
79.7
At least 26 countries received German mine action funding in this period,
including Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Chad,
Croatia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Jordan, Kosovo, Laos,
Lebanon, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Russia, Somalia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Thailand,
Tunisia, Vietnam, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.
Landmine Monitor estimates that this funding included nearly $10 million
allocated to victim assistance (1999: $1.05 million; 2000: $1.5 million; 2001:
$898,000; 2002: $2.46 million; 2003: $3.8 million). Angola and Vietnam were the
main recipients of German victim assistance
funding.[45]
In 2003, Germany together with Greece and Turkey requested a NATO Partnership
for Peace feasibility study of the destruction of small arms and light weapons
in Ukraine; the project remained under discussion in early 2004. In
2001–2002, Germany contributed funds to a Partnership for Peace project
which destroyed antipersonnel mines and other items in
Moldova.[46]
The MineWolf mine clearance machine was developed as a joint German-Swiss
project. It has been tested under the International Test and Evaluation
Program, and used in Bosnia and Herzegovina in July–September 2003 by the
NGO HELP, with Foreign Office
funding.[47]
The Federal Foreign Office has the lead role in funding mine action, and is
responsible for about 90 percent of German funding. It concentrates on mine
clearance and related activities, including research and development. In 1998,
the Ministry announced that an established priority for funding was the
development of mechanical demining technology to increase the efficiency of mine
clearance. In 1993–1999, 13 percent of its mine action funding (DM9.75
million, $5.13 million) was allocated to field-testing of mine clearance
machines.[48]
The GIBL argued consistently against this and in favor of a more
development-oriented
approach.[49] In February 2003,
the German delegation at the Standing Committee meetings pointed out that the
large increase in Germany’s funding of mine action in 2002 did not include
research and development. The policy is to direct support primarily to countries
that have ratified the Mine Ban Treaty, but exceptions are made in the cases of
emergency humanitarian assistance, mine victims, and remote and vulnerable
communities.[50]
The Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development has
responsibility for funding victim assistance programs, and also mine clearance
integrated into a development perspective. It contributes a much smaller
proportion to German mine action each year than does the Federal Foreign
Office.[51] The Federal Ministry
of Defense does not carry out mine clearance, but provides personnel, training
and equipment to German-funded programs.
Nongovernmental Mine Action Assistance
In 2003, German NGOs which are members of the Actiongroup Landmine.de
expended €2.5 million ($2.8 million) on mine action in 13 mine-affected
countries and in Germany itself (compared with, in 2002, €3 million in
nine countries). This expenditure includes funds allocated by the Federal
Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development,
other NGOs and the European Commission. NGO mine action expenditure is shown
below.[52]
Afghanistan: €953,138 ($1,078,476), including €270,695 through
Christoffel Blindenmission for medical assistance to adults and children
including mine victims; €394,000 through Kindernothilfe for physical
rehabilitation of war victims and handicapped people and reconstruction of
houses and water systems; €127,000 through Medico International for
support to the Organization for Mine Clearance and Afghan Rehabilitation and
mine risk education (MRE); and €161,443 through HI for MRE and victim
assistance.
Angola: €93,688 ($106,008), including €13,000 through Misereor
for training of handicapped women and war victims, including mine victims;
€15,000 through Medico International for an integrated project including
mine clearance, MRE, a prosthesis workshop, and rehabilitation measures, in
cooperation with the VVAF, MAG and Trauma Care Foundation; and €65,699
through HI for MRE.
Bosnia and Herzegovina: €36,511 ($41,312) through Christoffel
Blindenmission for an orthopedic workshop for war invalids, mostly mine
victims.
Cambodia: €362,698 ($410,393), including €11,354 through
Christoffel Blindenmission for rehabilitation; €320,000 through UNICEF for
MRE, victim assistance, rehabilitation, advocacy and public information;
€5,500 through Terre des Hommes for education of young adult mine
survivors; and €25,844 through HI for victim assistance.
Columbia: €19,208 ($21,734) through Christoffel Blindenmission for a
rehabilitation center for mine victims.
El Salvador: €20,000 ($22,630) through Medico International for a
rehabilitation center for war disabilities and a prosthesis workshop.
Germany: €261,612 ($296,014), including €15,000 from Misereor
and €109,289 from various sources for Actiongroup Landmine.de; and
€137,323 from HI for mine-related events.
Iraq: €452,414 ($511,906) including, €125,000 through
Kindernothilfe for reconstruction of schools; €327,414 through HI for MRE
and victim assistance.
Kenya: €24,000 ($27,156) through Misereor for a pilot trauma care
program.
Kosovo: €46,531 ($52,650) through HI for clearance of mines and
unexploded ordnance.
Liberia: €219,580 ($248,455) through Misereor for medical treatment
and education of war victims.
Sri Lanka: €10,000 ($11,315) through Kindernothilfe for psychological
care of war-traumatized children.
Sudan: €15,000 ($16,973) through Misereor for trauma care classes;
Oxfam funded its MRE program for children during 2003 from its 2002 budget.
Vietnam: €19,859 ($22,470) through Solidaritätsdienst
International for its ongoing integrated program of mine/UXO clearance and
resettlement in Quang Tri province.
Approximately $960,000 ($1.1 million) of this funding was allocated to
programs for the assistance of war victims and disabled people, including mine
victims.
Since 1999, mine action funding totaling approximately $18.1 million has been
contributed by or channeled through German NGOs, including: DM10.4 million ($5.5
million) in 1999; DM8.5 million ($4.5 million) in 2000; €2.7 million ($2.4
million) in 2001; €3 million ($2.9 million) in 2002; and €2.5
million ($2.8 million) in
2003.[53]
Since 1995, German NGOs have contributed or channeled approximately $22
million for mine action in 21
countries.[54] Their activities
range from mine clearance and mine risk education to emergency aid and physical,
psychological and socio-economic rehabilitation of mine victims, their families
and communities, as well as advocacy work as described in the Guidelines for
Mine Action from a Development-Oriented Point of
View.[55]
NGO Activities
In 2003, the German Initiative to Ban Landmines (GIBL), renamed Actiongroup
Landmine.de in February 2004, concentrated its activities on campaigning for a
ban on cluster munitions, for a mine ban which includes antivehicle mines, and
for effective measures to deal with explosive remnants of war (ERW). During the
year, GIBL alerted the media to the use of cluster munitions and mines in Iraq
and to the marketing in the Czech Republic of antivehicle mines that may act as
antipersonnel mines, and organized a petition for the banning of all mines.
Launching the Landmine Monitor Report 2003 in September 2003, GIBL gained
extensive media coverage for the increased incidence of mine victims and the
need for long-term care of mine victims.
In November 2003, GIBL criticized the new CCW Protocol V on ERW as inadequate
and called for greater protection of civilians from ERW, cluster munitions and
antivehicle mines. In July 2004, a TV program on the continuing danger from
cluster munitions in Kosovo, and Germany’s involvement in production of
cluster munitions, followed from a field mission of Actiongroup Landmine.de to
Kosovo. Also in July, the Actiongroup together with Landmine Action UK, Pax
Christi Ireland, and the Italian Campaign to Ban Landmines launched a
multilingual online petition calling for an effect-oriented definition of what
is an antipersonnel mine.[56]
GIBL has campaigned for the banning of all types of landmines since its founding
in 1995. GIBL initiated the parliamentary resolution approved in June 2002 that
urges the German government to work for a ban on all antivehicle mines equipped
with sensitive fuzing
systems.[57]
GIBL organized the First Expert Conference on Development-oriented Mine
Action Programmes in Bad Honnef in June 1997, which drafted guidelines for mine
action. These guidelines were revised in June 1999, and later translated into
other languages.[58]
Landmine Problem and Casualties
The government announced in December 1995 that all mine-affected areas on the
old East-West divide had been cleared. Mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO)
continue to be discovered in some areas. In September 2003, an 800kg mine found
by a fisherman near Juist Island was
deactivated.[59] In April 2004,
two antivehicle mines were found in the Dranser See, near Berlin, and
deactivated.[60] In May, about
50 antivehicle and antipersonnel mines were found on a former Russian training
ground at Zehdenick.[61] In
July, UXO were found at Neu Ulm near Munich, in Essen, in Hamburg, at Lucherberg
near Aachen, at Troisdorf near Bonn, at Grafenwöhr near Nuremberg, in the
Müggelsee near Berlin, and at Oranienberg near Berlin. In August, four
antivehicle mines and other UXO were destroyed in a planned operation in
Tüddern near Aachen, and 19 Russian antipersonnel mines were found stored
at a Magdeburg youth club.[62]
Explosive ordnance disposal personnel identified the mines as “training
explosive devices.” The police did not provide any information on the
possible origin of the mines.
In 2003, in North Rhine Westphalia, 150 tons of UXO, including 119 mines,
were destroyed, at a cost of €19
million.[63] In 2002, more than
1,000 items of UXO were found and destroyed in North Rhine Westphalia, an
increase from the previous
year.[64]
Mine accidents continue to occur occasionally. In August 2004, one person
was injured during recovery and destruction of seven antivehicle mines found in
a river near Munich.[65]
Casualties due to mines/UXO in Germany were also reported in
2001.[66]
German military personnel and employees of German mine action NGOs have also
suffered casualties in other countries. In Chad in November 2003, a French
national working for the German NGO HELP was killed, with five other deminers,
when a stock of mines awaiting destruction exploded
unexpectedly.[67] In Afghanistan
in May 2003, three workers for a German NGO were killed by an antivehicle mine
and, in a separate incident, one German soldier was killed and another injured
by an antivehicle mine.[68] In
2002, a German peacekeeper was killed by an antivehicle mine in the Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. In September 1999, five German members of KFOR
were injured by mines in
Kosovo.[69]
[1] Act of 6 July 1998 Implementing the
Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer
of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (Ausführungsgesetz zum
Übereinkommen über das Verbot des Einsatzes, der Lagerung, der
Herstellung und der Weitergabe von Antipersonenminen und über deren
Vernichtung), 1998 Federal Law Gazette (Bundesgesetzblatt), p.
I-1778. [2] See Landmine Monitor
Report 1999, pp. 604–608,
610–611. [3] Available at http://disarmament2.un.org/MineBan.nsf [4]
Ibid. [5] See Article 7 report
submitted: 13 April 2004 (for calendar year 2003); 10 April 2003 (for calendar
year 2002); 16 April 2002 (for calendar year 2001); 30 April 2001 (for calendar
year 2000); 30 April 2000 (for calendar year 1999); 31 August 1999 (for the
period 1 March–1 August
1999). [6] See www.auswaertiges-amt.de/www/de/infoservice/download/pdf/friedenspolitik/abruestung/vordruck-a-anlage3.pdf,
accessed 5 October 2004. [7] German
response to Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
Questionnaire, 13 November 2003 p.
5. [8] Presentation by Germany at
regional conference “Advancing the Ottawa Convention in Northern and
Eastern Europe,” Vilnius, 8 June 2004.
[9] Statement by Amb. Volker
Heinsberg, Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament, Fourth
Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 16–20 September
2002. [10] German Parliament, Document
14/9438, June 2002, p. 4. See Landmine Monitor Report 2003, pp.
264–265. [11] Statement by
Germany, Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the
Convention, Geneva, 3 February
2003. [12] Email from the Federal
Foreign Office to Landmine Monitor, Section 241-2, 8 April
2004. [13] Email to Landmine Monitor
from the Federal Foreign Office, 14 September
2004. [14]
Ibid. [15] Intervention by Germany,
Standing Committee on General Status and Operation of the Convention, Geneva, 25
June 2004, available at www.gichd.ch/pdf/mbc/SC_june04/speeches_GS/Germany_25June04.pdf,
accessed 5 October 2004; Email from the Federal Foreign Office, 14 September
2004. [16] Intervention by Germany,
Standing Committee on General Status, 25 June
2004. [17] Statement by Germany on
Article 1, Standing Committee on General Status, 27 May
2002. [18] Section 21 of the War
Weapons Control Act. [19] Intervention
by Germany, Standing Committee on General Status, 25 June
2004. [20] See Landmine Monitor Report
2000, pp. 648–649, and Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p.
271. [21] See Landmine Monitor Report
1999, pp. 608–609. [22]
Intervention by Germany on Article 2, Fifth Meeting of States Parties, Bangkok,
17 September 2003. [23] Interventions
by the ICRC and the ICBL, Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation
of the Convention, 16 May 2003. [24]
Statement by Germany, Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 16–20
September 2002. [25] German
Parliament, Document 14/9438, June 2002, p. 4. See Landmine Monitor Report
2003, pp. 264–265, 266–267. For parliamentary appeals leading up to
this resolution, see Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p.
272. [26] CCW Amended Protocol II
Article 13 Reports, 1 October 2003, and 16 September 2004 for the period 1 July
2003–30 June 2004. [27]
Antivehicle mines are: DM-21, AT-1, AT-2, DM-31, PARM-1, PARM-2, COBRA, and
MIFF. See previous editions of the Landmine Monitor for further detail on
German landmines. Germany acquired 33,000 DM-51 mines from the disintegrated
National People’s Army of Former East Germany. This is based on the
Russian MON-50 mine. See Landmine Monitor Report 1999, pp.
611–621. [28] Based on several
sources, because German mine exports are classified. The former East Germany
exported mines to a wider range of countries. See Landmine Monitor Report 1999,
pp. 618–620. [29] Letter from
the Federal Ministry of Defense, Berlin, 15 May 2000; telephone interview with
representative of the Federal Ministry of Defense, 1 June
2001. [30] See Landmine Monitor Report
2000, pp. 646–647, Landmine Monitor Report 2001, pp. 699–702,
Landmine Monitor Report 2002, pp. 272, 274. In February 2004, the German
Initiative to Ban Landmines was renamed Actiongroup
Landmine.de. [31] Article 7 Report,
Form D, 16 April 2002; Article 7 Report, From D, 10 April
2003. [32] Federal Ministry of
Defense, Bonn, 14 February 1997. [33]
Article 7 Report, Form D, 13 April
2004. [34] Article 7 Report, Form J,
13 April 2004. Exchange rate for 2003 of €1 = $1.1315, used throughout
this report. US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates (Annual),”
2 January 2004. [35] Fax from Federal
Foreign Office to GIBL, 11 October 2002 (Minutes of the MFA Forum
“Humanitarian Mine Clearance,” 23 September 2002,
Berlin). [36] Statement by Germany,
Fifth Meeting of States Parties, Bangkok, 15–19 September
2003. [37] Intervention by Germany,
Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action
Technologies, Geneva, 11 February
2004. [38] Statement by Germany,
Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and Socio-Economic Reintegration,
Geneva, 23 June 2004. [39] Article 7
Report, Form J, 13 April 2004. [40]
Intervention by Germany, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk
Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 11 February
2004. [41] Statement by Germany, Fifth
Meeting of States Parties, Bangkok, 15–19 September
2003. [42] “Germany grants Usd
13 million for community projects,” Angola Press Agency, 5 March 2004;
“Germany grants 1 million dollars to Vietnam for mine clearance,”
Agence France-Presse, 11 February 2004; “Germany to fund Afghan canine
anti-mine centre,” AFP, 5 April
2004. [43] “Germany makes
donation to Slovene-run mine-clearing fund ITF,” Radio Slovenia, 6 May
2004; “Germany gives Guinea Bissau 520,000 euros for demining,”
Agence France-Presse, 28 April
2004. [44] Data taken from previous
editions of the Landmine Monitor Report, including amounts in US$ for each year.
Confirmed by the Federal Foreign Office, Section 242-3, in an email dated 18
August 2004. The Federal Foreign Office points out that if Germany’s
mandatory EU contributions are included, German contributions to mine action
are: 1999: DM36.9 million, 2000: DM42.2 million, 2001: €20.9 million,
2002: €30.9 million, 2003: €27.7 million. For funding before 1999,
see Landmine Monitor Report 1999, pp.
622–623. [45] See previous
editions of Landmine Monitor
Report. [46] Presentation by NAMSA,
Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Geneva, 12 February
2004. [47] Heinz Rath, “The
MineWolf toolbox system: ground preparation to mine clearance,” Journal of
Mine Action, no. 7.3, 2003, pp.
45–47. [48] See Landmine Monitor
Report 1999, p. 610, and Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p.
651. [49] See Landmine Monitor Report
2000, pp. 652–655. [50]
Statement by Germany, Standing Committee on the General Status, 3 February 2003;
Response to OSCE Questionnaire, 16 December 2002, p.
6. [51] See Landmine Monitor Report
2000, pp. 652–653. [52]
Responses to GIBL questionnaire 2003 by member organizations, Berlin, June
2003. [53] Data taken from previous
editions of the Landmine Monitor Report, including amounts in US$ for each
year. [54] In 2002, GIBL estimated
that its member organizations had contributed €18 million ($16.2 million)
for mine action in the period 1995–2001, to which Landmine Monitor has
added NGO funding identified in 2002 and 2003. Countries benefiting from German
NGO funding include: Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia,
Chad, Croatia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Kosovo),
Germany, Iraq, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Somalia, South
Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam. This report
concentrates on the activities of the Actiongroup Landmine.de. Other German
NGOs, including HELP and MgM, are involved in mine action in Albania, Chad, and
other countries. See individual country studies for
details. [55] See: GIBL, “Mine
Action Programs from a Development-Oriented Point Of View – The Bad Honnef
Framework,”revised version, 1999, available at www.landmine.de, accessed 5 October 2004.
Available in Arabic, Chinese, German, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and
Spanish. [56] More information
available at www.landmine-petition.net, accessed
5 October 2004. [57] German Parliament
document 14/9438. See Landmine Monitor Report 2003, pp.
264–265. [58] GIBL, “The
Bad Honnef Framework,” 1999.
[59] “Bomb walked into garnet
fisherman’s net,” Ostfriesen Zeitung (regional newspaper), 10
September 2003. [60] “In search
of the legendary MiG,” Markische Allgemeine (regional newspaper), 24 April
2004. [61] “Workers find 50
mines,” Markische Allgemeine (regional newspaper), 5 May
2004. [62] “Mines and grenades
exploded, “Rur Wurm Nachrichten, 14 August 2004; “Russische
Schützenminen in Jugendklub sichergestellt,” ZDF (television
station), 19 August 2004. [63]
“UXO disposal in North-Rhine Westphalia,” W+S (magazine), 18 August
2004. [64] West Deutscher Rundfunk, 12
August 2004. For previous years, see Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 711,
Landmine Monitor Report 2002, pp. 279–280, and Landmine Monitor Report
2003, p. 270. [65] “One injured
person after the blasting of a mine,” Thüringer Allgemeine (regional
newspaper), 18 August 2004. [66] See
Landmine Monitor Report 2003, p.
270. [67] “Chad,” Borneo
Bulletin, 17 November 2003. [68]
“Afghanistan,” IRNA External Service, 23 May 2003; “German
peacekeeper killed in landmine explosion near Afghan capital,” Xinhua, 29
May 2003. The German NGO was not named in the media report, and nationalities
of those killed were not given. [69]
See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 712, and Landmine Monitor Report 2003, p.
270.
About Us
Our Research Products