LM Report 2004

Luxembourg

Key developments since May 2003: In 2003, Luxembourg provided funding exclusive to mine action of about $983,000. In addition, it allocated more than $800,000 for projects that also benefit mine victims.

Key developments since 1999: Luxembourg ratified the Mine Ban Treaty on 14 June 1999 and became a State Party on 1 December 1999. National legislation implementing the Mine Ban Treaty entered into force on 1 December 1999. Prior to ratification, Luxembourg destroyed its stockpile of 9,600 antipersonnel mines from April 1996 to August 1997. From 1999 to 2003, Luxembourg provided more than $3.8 million in mine action funding, including more than $750,000 in funding for mine victim assistance. Another $2.2 million has been donated to Handicap International Luxembourg for projects that include assistance to mine victims.

Mine Ban Policy

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified it on 14 June 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 December 1999. Luxembourg first announced its support for a comprehensive ban on antipersonnel mines in April 1996. Luxembourg participated fully in the Ottawa Process, and as President of the European Union (EU) in the second half of 1997 developed the EU joint action on antipersonnel mines.^[1]

National legislation implementing the Mine Ban Treaty in Luxembourg was approved on 29 April 1999 and entered into force in December 1999; this includes penal sanctions for violations.^[2] Prior to this, in April 1997, antipersonnel mines had been added to 1995 legislation on the import, export and transfer of munitions.^[3]

Luxembourg submitted its annual Article 7 transparency report on 30 April 2004. This is its fifth Article 7 report.^[4]

Luxembourg has participated in all but one of the annual Meetings of States Parties, and most of the intersessional meetings. It attended the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in September 2003 and the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in February 2004, but not in June 2004.^[5]

In December 2003, Luxembourg voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 58/53, which calls for universalization and implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. Luxembourg has voted for every pro-ban UNGA resolution since 1996.

In April 2004, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Luxembourg continues to support the treaty and to promote it in foreign policy and development cooperation. After the Review Conference in November 2004, Luxembourg plans to maintain its commitment to universalization and implementation of the treaty.^[6]

Luxembourg has not engaged in the extensive discussions that States Parties have had at meetings on matters of interpretation and implementation related to Articles 1, 2, and 3, on the issues of joint military operations with non-States Parties, foreign stockpiling and transit of antipersonnel mines, antivehicle mines with sensitive fuzes or antihandling devices, and the permissible number of mines retained for training.

However, in April 2004, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed Luxembourg’s view that States Parties are not allowed to participate, actively or passively, in joint military operations with a country which is not a member of the treaty if that country is going to use antipersonnel mines.^[7] The Ministry also stated that foreign governments do not stockpile antipersonnel mines in Luxembourg.^[8]

Luxembourg is a State Party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II, and attended the Fifth Annual Conference of States Parties to the Protocol on 26 November 2003. It submitted its annual report as required by Article 13 of the Protocol on 1 May 2004. It has attended annual conferences and submitted reports in previous years. Luxembourg supported the negotiations that led to the new Protocol V on explosive remnants of war in November 2003.

Production, Transfer and Stockpile Destruction

Luxembourg did not produce or export antipersonnel mines, but previously imported mines from Belgium and the United States.^[9] Export of antipersonnel mines has been banned since April 1997.^[10]

Luxembourg started destruction of the stockpile of 9,600 antipersonnel mines in April 1996 and finished in August 1997.^[11] At the end of 2003, Luxembourg retained 976 antipersonnel mines for training purpose (488 M35 and 488 M16), compared to 988 at the end of 2002, indicating the consumption of 12 mines during the year.^[12] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that about three mines are used each year to instruct military personnel preparing for peacekeeping operations, and others are destroyed in the program for dealing with obsolete munitions.^[13] Luxembourg has described its retained mines as obsolete and reserved for training in demining and for demonstration.^[14] In 2002, ten mines (five of each type retained) were used or destroyed as obsolete.^[15]

Luxembourg has confirmed that it does not possess Claymore-type directional fragmentation mines. It does possess AT HE Light M7 A2 and AT HE Heavy M2 antivehicle mines.^[16]

Mine Action Funding and Assistance

In 2003, Luxembourg provided mine action funding under three headings, emergency aid (€100,000), development cooperation (€940,334), and technical assistance (€194,448).^[17] The Luxembourg Development Cooperation Agency (LuxDevelopment) manages bilateral projects and some emergency aid for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Not all the projects funded were exclusively mine action.

In 2003, Luxembourg’s funding of mine action projects totaled about $983,000. This compares to €1,161,865 ($1,103,372) in 2002.^[18] The funding was distributed to:

• Croatia: €194,448 ($220,018)^[19] consisting of €180,000 to CROMAC for mine clearance in Moscenica, and €14,448 to the Croatian Mine Victims Association for Rovinj regional rehabilitation center for child mine/UXO victims
• Iraq: €100,000 ($113,150) to Handicap International Luxembourg (HI Luxembourg) for emergency clearance of mines and UXO
• Laos: $200,000 to the UXO Lao Trust Fund.^[20]

In 2003, Luxembourg also provided $450,000 to the NATO Partnership for Peace Trust Fund project, to destroy UXO and missiles in Georgia. Luxembourg is lead nation in this project.^[21]

In addition, in 2003 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided €740,334 ($837,688) for four healthcare and disability projects of HI Luxembourg which include assistance to mine victims. These projects took place in Cambodia, Laos, Nicaragua, and Kosovo.^[22] In 2002, Luxembourg financed eight similar projects with €1,182,664.^[23]

One officer of the Luxembourg army worked as a technical consultant on demining for the Cambodian Mine Action Center in September 2003–March 2004, and another officer gave technical assistance to NGOs and LuxDevelopment.^[24] In 2004, Luxembourg’s armed forces were cooperating with France and Belgium to train a new battalion of local peacekeepers in DR Congo, which includes six deminers.^[25]

From 1999 to 2003, Luxembourg is estimated to have provided $3.83 million in mine action funding (1999: $685,000, 2000: $338,790, 2001: $718,896, 2002: $1,103,372, 2003: $983,168). At least 12 countries have benefited from Luxembourg’s mine action funding, including Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Kosovo), Laos, Moldova, and Sudan.

The funding has included more than $750,000 for victim assistance (1999: $50,000, 2000: 44,395, 2001: $321,314, 2002: $321,100, 2003: $16,348). In addition, about $2,194,088 has been donated to HI Luxembourg for projects that include assistance to mine victims (1999: $37,000, 2000: $23,547, 2001: $172,282, 2002: $1,123,571, 2003: $837,688).^[26]

Landmine Casualties

During 2003, there were no mine accidents or casualties in Luxembourg, nor among Luxembourg peacekeepers serving abroad.^[27] No mine casualties have been reported in the period 1999-2003.

NGO Activities

HI Luxembourg continued to raise public awareness on the mine issue in 2003. In September 2003, it organized a group of people from Vietnam and Afghanistan to tour six schools, sports clubs and disability associations to talk about life with antipersonnel mines and living with a disability. The delegation also visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During 2003, HI Luxembourg made around a dozen school visits to raise awareness about landmines and produced various publications on the issue. On 15 September–31 October 2003, it organized an exhibition called “Mine Toons.”^[28] On 2–5 October 2003, HI supported shoe pyramids in Dudelange, Esch/Alzette, Luxembourg and in the canton of Redange. In previous years, HI Luxembourg has held public awareness events, including mine carpets, exhibitions, shoe pyramids, poster-campaigns and petition-signings.^[29]

[1] Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Press Release, 25 April 1996. See also Landmine Monitor Report 1999, pp. 740-741. Ratification was delayed as a result of being combined with ratification of other international treaties including Amended Protocol II of the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
[2] “Law of 29 April 1999, approving the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfers of Mines and on their Destruction, signed in Ottawa, 4 December 1997,” Official Journal, No. 50, 6 May 1999, p. 1189; Luxembourg Response to OSCE Questionnaire, 4 January 2000, p. 2. Penal sanctions are contained in Article 2.
[3] See Landmine Monitor Report 1999, p. 741. Separate legislation to deal with import, export and transit of weapons, munitions and military equipment and technology, first reported in December 2002, continues to be developed. Email from François Berg, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 21 April 2004.
[4] See Article 7 reports submitted: 4 May 2004 (report dated 30 April 2004) (for calendar year 2003); 29 April 2003 (for calendar year 2002); 20 June 2002 (for calendar year 2001); 27 April 2001 (for calendar year 2000); 27 April 2001 (for calendar year 1999). The initial Article 7 report was due by 1 June 2000. However, the first report submitted by Luxembourg (on 27 April 2001) included annual reports for 1999 and 2000.
[5] Luxembourg attended intersessional meetings in 1999, 2001 and 2003. It missed the Third Meeting of States Parties in September 2001.
[6] Email from François Berg, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 21 April 2004.
[7] Emails from François Berg, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 18 April 2003 and 21 April 2004.
[8] Email from François Berg, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 21 April 2004.
[9] Telephone interview with Lt. Col. Ries, Deputy Chief of Staff, 22 March 1999.
[10] A ministerial regulation of 7 April 1997 added antipersonnel mines to the items included in the Grand Ducal regulation of 31 October 1995 regulating the import, export and transit of arms, ammunition and military-related material and technology.
[11] See Landmine Monitor Report 1999, pp. 684-685. The stockpile was composed of three types: M35, M2A1, and M16; the quantities of each type have not been reported.
[12] Article 7 Report, Form D, 4 May 2004; Article 7 Report, Form D, 29 April 2003.
[13] Emails from François Berg, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 18 April 2003 and 21 April 2004.
[14] Article 7 Report, Form D, 27 April 2001; Article 7 Report, Form D, 27 April 2001. The retained mines were: M35 (499) and M16 (499).
[15] Article 7 Report, Forms D and G, 29 April 2003.
[16] Emails from François Berg, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 18 April 2003 and 21 April 2004.
[17] Email from François Berg, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 21 April 2004. Previously, Luxembourg provided funding under the headings emergency aid, bi- and multilateral funding, and co-funding with NGOs.
[18] Email from François Berg, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 21 April 2004. For 2002 funding, see Landmine Monitor Report 2003, p. 320 (US$ equivalent at 2002 exchange rate).
[19] Conversion rate for 2003 of €1 = $1.1315, used throughout this report unless funding is specified in dollars. US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates (Annual),” 2 January 2004.
[20] Email from François Berg, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 21 April 2004.
[21] “Presentation of NAMSA projects,” Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Geneva, 12 February 2004; Luxembourg Response to Landmine Monitor Questionnaire, 11 June 2002, p. 2. In 2002, Luxembourg also donated to a NATO Partnership for Peace project in Moldova.
[22] Amended Protocol II Article 13 Report, Form B, 1 May 2004; email from François Berg, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 21 April 2004.
[23] See Landmine Monitor Report 2003, p. 320.
[24] Email from François Berg, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 21 April 2004.
[25] Email from François Berg, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 30 June 2004; “Frankrijk en Luxemburg helpen België bij operatie in Congo,” (“France and Luxembourg help Belgium to operate in Congo”), De Standaard (daily newspaper), 24 January 2004.
[26] Data taken from previous editions of the Landmine Monitor (US$ amounts used in each year).
[27] Email from François Berg, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 21 April 2004.
[28] Email from Christina Shuerr, HI Luxembourg, 19 April 2004; Projet de sensibilisation (Awareness Project), “Pour un monde plus juste” (“For a Fairer World”), HI Luxembourg, 30 January 2003.
[29] Email from Christina Schuerr, HI Luxembourg, 30 January 2003.