Key developments since 1999: Iceland ratified the Mine Ban Treaty on 5
May 1999 and became a State Party on 1 November 1999. National implementation
legislation was enacted on 7 May 2001. Iceland has never produced, stockpiled
or used antipersonnel mines, and is not mine-affected. Iceland has provided
funding and other assistance for mine survivors in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Mine Ban Policy
The Republic of Iceland signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and
ratified it on 5 May 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 November 1999. Iceland
participated in the preparatory meetings of the Ottawa Process which led to the
Mine Ban Treaty. Iceland has voted for every pro-ban UN General Assembly
resolution since 1996.
National implementation legislation, which includes penal sanctions as
required by Article 9 of the treaty, was enacted on 7 May
2001.[1] Iceland submitted its
initial Article 7 report, which was due by 29 April 2000, on 28 May 2002. It
provided the required annual updates on 29 April 2003 and 30 April
2004.[2] The 2004 report is
essentially a “nil” report, as Iceland has never produced,
stockpiled or transferred antipersonnel
mines.[3] Two previous Article
7 reports have been submitted
Iceland did not attend the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in September 2003;
it participated in annual meetings of States Parties in 2002 and 1999. Iceland
has not attended any of the intersessional Standing Committee meetings.
In June 2002, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to express any view on
the legality of joint military operations involving antipersonnel mines with
non-party States.[4] Iceland
has no military forces of its own, but is a member of NATO and has a bilateral
defense agreement with the US.
The UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) has no record of financial assistance to
mine action by Iceland for the period
1999-2003.[5] In 1997, Iceland
allocated US$1.3 million for mine victim assistance in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
which was distributed in 1997–2001. Iceland also donated $10,000 to the
UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine
Action.[6] Since 2002, Iceland
has been donating prosthetic devices to orthopedic centers in Sarajevo, Mostar
and Tuzla; 200 were sent in
2004.[7]
Iceland participates in NATO peace-support operations in the Balkans, which
include demining
activities.[8]
Iceland is not a State Party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and
its Amended Protocol II. It attended, as an observer, the Fifth Annual
Conference of States Parties to the Protocol in November 2003.
[1] Act on the Implementation of the
Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer
of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, 7 May
2001. [2] See Article 7 Reports
submitted: 30 April 2004 (for the period 30 April 2003–29 April 2004); 29
April 2003 (for the period 30 April 2002–29 April 2003); 28 May 2002 (for
the period 1999–2002). [3] Email
from Haukur Ólafsson, Minister-Counselor, Political Department, Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, 7 June 2002. [4]
Ibid. [5] Mine Action Investments
database, accessed on 23 July
2004. [6] Email from Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, 30 June 2000. [7]
Telephone interview with Dr. Goran Cerkez, FBiH Minister of Health, 30 May
2004. [8] Email from Haukur
Ólafsson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 7 June 2002.