Key developments since May 2003:In 2003, Switzerland provided
mine action funding of $8.8 million, an increase from 2002. In November 2003,
Switzerland published its Strategy for Engagement against Landmines, for the
period 2004–2007; it envisions mine action funding up to CHF16 million
(about $12.5 million) per year. An amendment proposed by the Swiss Campaign to
Ban Landmines to harmonize the wording of the domestic ban law with Articles 2.3
(antihandling devices) and 3.1 (mines retained for training) of the treaty was
approved by Parliament in December 2003. In January 2004, Switzerland became
president for two years of the donors’ Mine Action Support Group.
Key developments since 1999: Switzerland became a State Party on 1
March 1999, after playing a leading role in supporting a ban on antipersonnel
mines. Switzerland’s 1996 law banning antipersonnel mines has served as
implementation legislation, and has been amended several times to conform with
the treaty. Switzerland completed destruction of its stockpile of 3.85 million
antipersonnel mines in the weeks following entry into force of the treaty.
Switzerland has been very active in the Mine Ban Treaty work program.
Switzerland served as co-chair of the Standing Committee on Victim Assistance
from May 1999 to September 2000. It served as co-rapporteur and then co-chair
of the Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction from September 2001 to
September 2003. The Second and Fourth Meetings of States Parties were held in
Geneva in September of 2000 and 2002. Switzerland set up the Geneva
International Centre for Humanitarian Demining in December 1997; the GICHD has
hosted the intersessional meetings and housed the Mine Ban Treaty’s
Implementation Support Unit since it began operations in January 2002. From
1999 to 2003, Switzerland provided about $41 million to mine action.
Mine Ban Policy
Switzerland signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on
24 March 1998, becoming a State Party on 1 March 1999. Previously, the Swiss
Parliament passed legislation for a total ban on 6 December 1996, making
Switzerland the third country in the world to enact a national ban. After
signing the Mine Ban Treaty, Switzerland committed itself to adhere to the
Article 1 prohibitions immediately, and in early 1998 ratification procedures
were completed very
quickly.[1]
The 1996 legislation, used for implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty in
Switzerland, concerned all war material, and included penal sanctions. The
legislation has since been modified, after criticism by the Swiss Campaign to
Ban Landmines, to bring it into line with the treaty. In March 1998, the
definition of an antipersonnel mine was changed to remove the restriction to
mines primarily designed to be antipersonnel and to include devices
adapted, as well as designed, to function as antipersonnel
mines.[2] The 1996 law also did
not reflect the Mine Ban Treaty definition of an antihandling device, and
permitted use of antipersonnel mines “as a protection or to fight their
effects.”[3] Amendments
on these points were made in 1998, entering into force on 1 March 1999. An
amendment proposed by the Swiss Campaign to harmonize the wording of the law
with Articles 2.3 (antihandling devices) and 3.1 (mines retained for training)
of the treaty was approved by Parliament in December
2003.[4]
The Swiss government set up the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian
Demining (GICHD) in December 1997; the GICHD has hosted the Mine Ban Treaty
intersessional meetings since 1999 and housed the Implementation Support Unit
since it began operations in January 2002.
Switzerland has been very active in the Mine Ban Treaty work program.
Switzerland served as co-chair of the Standing Committee on Victim Assistance,
Socio-economic Reintegration and Mine Awareness from May 1999 to September 2000.
It served as co-rapporteur and then co-chair of the Standing Committee on
Stockpile Destruction from September 2001 to September 2003. The Second and
Fourth Meetings of States Parties were held in Geneva in September of 2000 and
2002.
Switzerland’s annual Article 7 transparency report for 2003 was
submitted on 5 May 2004. Five previous Article 7 reports have been submitted.
The reports are brief, since the country is not mine-affected, has destroyed its
mine stockpiles, and has retained no mines for training
purposes.[5]
In September 2003, at the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in Bangkok,
Switzerland declared that “enormous efforts are still needed to reduce and
eventually to rid the world of the terrible humanitarian burden of
anti-personnel mines.” It described the 2004 Review Conference as an
incentive to redouble efforts to universalize and fully implement the treaty.
Switzerland suggested setting up an informal group on non-State
actors.[6]
In November 2003, Switzerland published its Strategy for Engagement against
Landmines, for the period 2004–2007, which has the overall intention of
contributing substantially to improving human security. The strategy accords
priority to Geneva as a world capital on landmines and to the GICHD for its
activities; the strategy also supports appropriate engagement with non-State
actors.[7]
In December 2003, Switzerland voted in favor of UN General Assembly
Resolution 58/53, which calls for universalization and implementation of the
Mine Ban Treaty. In November 2002, as a new member of the UN, Switzerland voted
for the first time for this annual resolution.
In January 2004, Switzerland became president for two years of the Mine
Action Support Group (MASG). Its priorities for this informal group of 26 donor
States are to promote the integration of mine action and development programs,
to promote the role of mine action in peace policy, to improve the efficiency of
mine action and to strengthen the coordinating function of the MASG. Nine
meetings were planned for each
year.[8]
Switzerland has contributed only rarely to State Party discussions regarding
interpretation and implementation of Articles 1 and 2. With respect to Article
1 and the issue of joint military operations with non-States Parties that may
use antipersonnel mines, Switzerland stated during the Standing Committee
meetings in February 2003 that, with its humanitarian traditions and as a
depository State of the Mine Ban Treaty, it favors full compliance with the
treaty’s prohibitions and that its citizens and armed forces can take no
action that would lead to the use of antipersonnel mines, whatever the joint
military force structure.[9] On
a related issue, Swiss law prohibits transit of antipersonnel mines through
Switzerland for any purpose, including peacekeeping
operations.[10]
With respect to Article 2 and the issue of antivehicle mines with sensitive
fuzes and antihandling devices, Switzerland was one of the governments that, at
the first intersessional meetings in January 2000, reconfirmed the intention of
negotiators that antivehicle mines with antihandling devices that function like
antipersonnel mines—that may explode from an unintentional act of a
person—are prohibited under the Mine Ban
Treaty.[11] When Switzerland
signed the Mine Ban Treaty in December 1997, President Flavio Cotti said that
the treaty should not be “circumvented in the future by the deployment of
other weapons with comparable
effects....”[12] The
Swiss Army possessed two types of antivehicle mine, the Panzermine 60 and
Panzerabwehrmine 88, which the Swiss Campaign criticized on the grounds that the
magnetic influence fuze could not discriminate between intentional and
unintentional disturbance and sweeping with a mine detector could cause the mine
to activate. The Panzermine 60 was withdrawn in 1 January 2002 due to its age
and condition, and all stocks were destroyed by early
2003.[13] The General Staff
stated in July 2001 that: “The electronics of the fuze of the
Panzerabwehrmine 88 are programmed that an actuation under only certain
categories of vehicle is possible.... The mine is optimized to military, heavy
vehicles.”[14]
Switzerland is a State Party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW)
and its Amended Protocol II, and attended the Fifth Annual Conference of States
Parties to the Protocol in November 2003. It submitted the annual report
required by Article 13 of the Protocol on 26 November 2003. It has attended
annual conferences and submitted reports in previous years. In other CCW
matters, Switzerland has made proposals on small-caliber munitions, and strongly
supported the work on explosive remnants of war, which resulted in agreement on
a new protocol in November 2003. It has also supported proposals for greater
regulation of mines other than antipersonnel mines. In 2001, Switzerland acted
as vice-president to the Second CCW Review
Conference.[15]
NGO Activity
The Swiss-based international NGO, Geneva Call, participated in the Fifth
Meeting of States Parties in September 2003, where it drew attention to the
issue of non-State actors. Since Geneva Call was launched in March 2000, the
need to engage non-state actors in the mine ban has become widely
accepted.[16] Geneva Call also
attended a meeting of the French Commission Nationale pour l’Elimination
des Mines Anti-personnel in March 2004 where its representative reported that 25
armed groups in Asia and Africa had signed the Geneva Call “Deed of
Commitment” banning antipersonnel mines and requiring cooperation in mine
action; negotiations were underway with other non-State actors, including those
in Colombia and Sri
Lanka.[17]
In previous years, the Swiss Campaign to Ban Landmines made efforts to
universalize the Mine Ban Treaty, particularly in Nepal and Turkey, and
supported local campaigns in those
countries.[18]
Production and Transfer
In the past Switzerland was a producer of antipersonnel mines, notably type
49 stake mines and type 64 bounding mines, and of mine components. In addition,
Switzerland imported antipersonnel miners from Sweden (1958–1964), Germany
(1964–1965) and the United States
(1970).[19] Switzerland is not
known to have exported antipersonnel mines. Production ceased in 1969 and
export of antipersonnel mines was banned in December 1996. Swiss law expressly
forbids the manufacture and export of components for antipersonnel mines.
Stockpiling and Destruction
Switzerland’s stockpile destruction program started following a
Ministry of Defense decision on 25 November 1995, and was completed by 15 March
1999, two weeks after the Mine Ban Treaty entered into force. The stockpile
totaled 3.85 million mines of four types, according to a statement made in
December 1999.[20] In March
1999, another 212 mines (type 59) were discovered in storage and
destroyed.[21] Switzerland
opted not to retain any antipersonnel mines for permitted training and
development purposes.
Switzerland also possesses two types of directional fragmentation
(Claymore-type) mines. These have not been included in Article 7 reports on the
grounds that “the element of indiscriminate effect has been
eliminated.”[22] The
steps that have been taken to ensure command-detonation only have not been
reported.
Mine Action Funding and Assistance
Governmental
In 2003, Switzerland provided mine action funding of $8,830,500, an increase
from $8,349,224 in 2002.[23] Of
the total, $5.23 million went to the Geneva Centre for Humanitarian Demining.
Funding was distributed to 12 countries and three organizations, as
follows:[24]
Countries:
Afghanistan: $67,000 for a logistics advisor to the mine action center
Albania: $232,000, including $97,000 for the Mine Action Executive, and
$135,000 for demining supervision by FSD
Angola: $320,000 for demining in Huambo region by HALO
Bosnia and Herzegovina: $120,000 for demining by NPA
Chad: $245,000 for advisors to the HCND
Colombia: $44,000 for supervision of mine risk education (MRE) by the
GICHD
Croatia: $66,000 for mine clearance equipment and demining by CROMAC
Eritrea: $201,000, including $65,000 for advisors to the UN Mine Action
Coordination Center, $120,000 for supervision of mine clearance, and $16,000 for
equipment
Lebanon: $130,000 for MRE training by the UNMAS
Mozambique: $700,000, including $600,000 for demining by HALO and $100,000
for the National Demining Institute in Matalane region
Sri Lanka: $520,000, including $120,000 for an advisor to the Mine Action
Center, and $400,000 for demining by FSD
Sudan: $50,000 for support to UNMAS in the Nuba Mountains
Organizations:
GICHD: $70,000 for sponsorship program and $5,230,000 for research and
development
Geneva Call: $135,000 for non-state actors project, and $80,000 in-kind
(personnel)
ICBL: $45,000 for universalization efforts in Central Asia, and $50,000 for
Landmine Monitor Report
2003.[25]
In 2003–2004, Swiss mine action personnel were involved in Chad,
Eritrea, Sri Lanka and
Somaliland.[26]
From 1999 to 2003, the Swiss government contributed approximately $41 million
to mine action in 17 countries (1999: $5.74 million; 2000: $7.43 million; 2001:
$9.76 million; 2002: $8.34 million; 2003: $8.83
million.)[27] Although
governmental funding has declined from its peak of $9.76 million in 2001, at the
Fifth Meeting of States Parties in September 2003 Switzerland stated that it,
“intends to maintain its financial commitment to humanitarian demining at
a level of around ten million dollars and to work strenuously to help
mine-affected countries to comply with the provisions of the
convention.”[28]
The 2004–2007 strategy published in November 2003 favors multi-year
budgets based on annual funding increasing slightly from CHF15 million to CHF16
million (approx. $11.7 million to 12.5 million), but described this as the
“ceiling.”[29] Any
further increases would have to come from credits granted by Parliament or from
private resources. The strategy emphasizes local capacity building and
continued engagement in mine clearance, mine risk education, victim assistance
and stockpile destruction projects.
[30]
The strategy states that the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
supports the integrated approach to mine victim assistance described in the Bern
Manifesto and the Strategic Framework for Victim
Assistance.[31] The Bern
Manifesto was launched by the Swiss government in 1998, as a joint project with
the World Health Organization and UNICEF for victims of violence and war. In
the General Assembly in October 2003, the Swiss representative reported that
Switzerland “has developed a strategic concept including not only mine
victims, but all victims of violence. Only the integration of victims into the
wider context of post-conflict reconstruction and into strategies of longer-term
development co-operation will provide effective and sustainable
solutions.”[32]
Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs)
For 2003, Landmine Monitor has received information from three Swiss NGOs
carrying out mine action projects or providing
funding.[33]
Handicap International (HI) Switzerland expended a total of CHF1,578,224
($1,173,052)[34] on mine action
in 15 countries and regions. This included victim assistance in Afghanistan
(CHF65,736, $48,860), Algeria (CHF30,041, $22,329), Iraq (CHF5,000, $3,716),
Laos (CHF31,000, $23,041), the Middle East (CHF16,000, $11,892), Nepal
(CHF2,408, $1,790), Nicaragua (CHF168,772, $125,444), Salvador (CHF182,230,
$135,447), Southeast Asia (CHF9,195, $6,834), and Thailand (CHF52,418, $38,961),
victim assistance and mine risk education in Cambodia (CHF92,211, $68,538),
demining in Kosovo (CHF30,972, $23,021) and Mozambique (CHF577,553, $429,280),
demining and mine risk education in Angola (CHF63,572, $48,738), mine risk
education in Ethiopia (CHF66,015, $49,067), technical assistance in demining
(CHF 165,102, $123,210), and public awareness (CHF20,000, $14,865). In 2002,
HI Switzerland expended CHF781,014 ($500,650) on mine action. HI Switzerland
was established in 1996.[35]
In 2003, the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action expended $10.7 million on mine
action in six countries. This included: demining in Albania ($1.4 million), Sri
Lanka ($1.14 million) and Tajikistan ($470,000), survey in Sudan ($1.13
million), training and explosive ordnance disposal in the Democratic Republic of
Congo ($160,000), and emergency response, demining and training in Iraq ($6.38
million). Short assessment missions were also carried out in Kyrgyzstan, and
assistance given to the World Food Program in Angola. New activities planned by
the Swiss Foundation for 2004 include provision of technical and logistical
support for mine action in Burundi, and starting mine clearance in the
Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2002, the Swiss Foundation donated $3 million
for projects in Afghanistan, Albania, and Sri
Lanka.[36] This organization
was founded in 1997, as the Swiss Federation for Mine Action
(Fédération Suisse de Déminage).
In 2003, the Swiss Protestant Aid Charity (OSEO/SAF, Oeuvre suisse
d’entraide ouvrière/Schweizerisches Arbeiterhilfswerk) funded two
mine-related projects in Iraq, for mine clearance and mine risk education
($80,000), and for mine action
($154,876).[37]
In 2003, Pro Victimis provided no financial support for mine action programs.
In 2002, it expended $221,894 on mine action in Albania, Sri Lanka, and Uganda,
and funding for Geneva Call.[38]
Other Swiss-based NGOs involved in mine action at times since 1999 include the
Swiss Red Cross, Co-Operaid, Entraide Protestante (Cambodge), Swiss Foundation
for Landmine Victims Aid, and World Without Mines. In 1999–2002,
(Entraide Protestante Suisse/Hilfswerk der Evangelischen Kirchen Schweiz)
EPER/HEKS donated CHF19,000 to the Swiss Campaign against Landmines and in 2001,
it provided CHF10,000 to the Campaign in aid of “Turkey without
Landmines.”[39]
The NGO, MgM-Switzerland, raised CHF6.8 million from 2000–2002 for
demining projects in Angola and Mozambique, of which only CHF80,000 was
transferred to its implementing partner MgM-Germany, according to a press
report.[40] On 23 June 2003
MgM-Switzerland changed its name to Ensemble Contre Les Mines (ECM)/Gemeinsam
gegen Landminen (GGL), and announced that over 100,000 donors supported its
projects.[41] In Basel, a
criminal investigation “for embezzlement and fraud” was reported to
have been initiated.[42] The
Swiss Campaign to Ban Landmines complained that the ECM/GGL website showed
pictures of demining operations although the organization had no ongoing project
in the field. On 2July 2003, Ministry of Foreign Affairs was
reported to have protested about the picture, and the use of a quotation by
Minister of Foreign Affairs in a fundraising
mailing.[43] ECM/GGL responded
that the money raised would all be transferred to the organization No
Mines.[44] In Austria,
publicity about these events prompted a parliamentary enquiry into the Austrian
branch of GGL, and in early 2004 a criminal investigation was
started.[45] In May 2004, in
view of the criminal investigation, Handicap International returned $8,000 to
ECM/GGL which had been donated by the Austrian branch for training.
Casualties
There were no reports of casualties from mines among Swiss Defense Department
personnel in 2003. Since 1999, one casualty has been reported. A Swiss deminer
was injured in August 2002 during mine clearance operations in Afghanistan,
along with a US soldier.[46]
[1] See Landmine Monitor Report 1999, pp.
666–667. [2] La Loi
fédérale sur le Materiel de Guerre, 13 December 1996. Modified on
4 March 1998; this modification regarding devices adapted to function as
antipersonnel mines entered into force on 1 April 1998.
[3] La Loi fédérale sur
le Materiel de Guerre, 13 December 1996, Article
8.2b. [4] La Loi
fédérale sur le Materiel de Guerre, 13 December 1996. Modified on
19 December 2003, Feuille Fédérale, n. 51, 30 December 2003, p.
7469, and Article 7 Report, Form A, 30 April 2004 (for calendar year
2003). [5] See Article 7 reports
submitted: 5 May 2004 (for calendar year 2003); 30 April 2003 (for calendar year
2002); 30 April 2002 (for calendar year 2001); 28 March 2001 (for calendar year
2000); 11 April 2000 (for calendar year 1999); 4 August 1999 (for the period 1
March–20 August 1999). [6]
Statement by Switzerland, Fifth Meeting of States Parties, Bangkok, 17 September
2003. [7] “Strategie des Bundes
2004–2007 zum Personenminenengagement der Schweiz,” Federal
Department of Foreign Affairs, 30 December 2003, p. 11.
[8] Email from Janine Voigt,
Political Division IV, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, 26 April
2004. [9] Intervention by Switzerland,
Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the Convention,
Geneva, 7 February 2003. Landmine Monitor notes and email from Elisabeth
Reusse-Decrey, Swiss Campaign to Ban Landmines, 26 February
2003. [10] See Landmine Monitor Report
1999, p. 670. [11] Intervention by
Switzerland, Standing Committee of Experts on the General Status and Operation
of the Convention, Geneva, Switzerland, 10-11 January 2000. Landmine Monitor
notes. [12] See Landmine Monitor
Report 1999, p. 666. [13] CCW Amended
Protocol II Article 13 Report, Form C, 30 September 2003; see also Landmine
Monitor Report 2002, pp.
467–478. [14] Letter from the
Defense General Staff, 12 July
2001. [15] See Landmine Monitor Report
2002, p. 467. [16] Statement by Geneva
Call, Fifth Meeting of States Parties, Bangkok, 17 September
2003. [17] Statement by Geneva Call,
Colloque international des structures nationales chargées de la lutte
contre les mines antipersonnel, Paris, 12 March 2004; email from Elisabeth
Reusse-Decrey, Geneva Call, 3 March
2004. [18] See Landmine Monitor Report
2001, p. 801. [19] See Landmine
Monitor Report 1999, pp.
669–670. [20] Intervention by
Switzerland, Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Geneva, 9 December
1999. Landmine Monitor notes. The four types of antipersonnel mines were type
49 (620,000), type 59 (3 million), type 63 (59,000) and type 64
(171,000). [21] Article 7 Report, Form
G, 4 August 1999. [22] Letter from the
Ministry of Defense, 7 March 2001; see also Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p.
802. Claymore-type mines with tripwires (victim-activated) are prohibited, but
those that are command-detonated are
not. [23] Emails from Janine Voigt,
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, 12 and 13 April 2004. This revises the
funding total for 2002 of $9.06 million shown in the Landmine Monitor Report
2003, p. 448, which was taken from the Mine Action Investments
database. [24] The dollar figures are
those provided by the Swiss Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. [25] “Current and
Planned Donor Activity for Switzerland.” Mine Action Investments database,
www.mineaction.org , accessed on 5 April
2004. [26] Federal Department of
Defense, Civil Protection and Sports, www.vbs-ddps.ch , accessed on 5 April
2004. [27] Email from Janine Voigt,
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, 13 April 2004. Countries receiving Swiss
funding since 1999 include Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Chad, Colombia, Croatia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Mozambique,
Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Yemen, and Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
(Kosovo). [28] Statement by
Switzerland, Fifth Meeting of States Parties, 17 September 2003. For details of
previous Swiss policy on mine action funding, see Landmine Monitor Report 2001,
p. 805. [29] “Strategie des
Bundes 2004–2007,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 30 December 2003, p.
7. [30] Ibid, p.
11. [31] Ibid, p.
9. [32] Statement by Christian
Faessler, Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, 22 October
2003. [33] No responses to Landmine
Monitor inquiries were received from the Swiss Red
Cross. [34] Exchange rate for 2003 of
$1=CHF1.3454, used for the remainder of this report. US Federal Reserve,
“List of Exchange Rates (Annual),” 2 January
2004. [35] Email from Paul Vermuelen,
HI Switzerland, 6 April 2004. Since 1999, HI Switzerland has also contributed
to mine action in other countries and regions, including Albania, Angola, Bosnia
and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Senegal, Somaliland, and
Yemen. [36] Emails from Hansjörg
Eberle and Benedikt Truninger, FSD, 12 and 16 April 2004; “Action contre
les mines au Burundi,” FSD, 15 April 2004; see also Landmine Monitor
Report 2003, p. 449. Since 1999, it has also contributed to mine action in
other countries including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, and
Pakistan. [37] Letter from Rolf
Stocker, Head of Humanitarian Aid, OSEO, 9 June
2004. [38] Email from Nicholas
Borsinger, Pro Victimis, 21 April 2004; Landmine Monitor Report 2003, p. 449.
Since 1999, it has also contributed to mine action in other countries and
regions, including Abkhazia, Albania, Bangladesh, Kosovo, Laos, Mozambique,
Upper Karabakh. Pro-Victimis has supported mine action since
1991. [39] Email from Staeheli Sabina,
EPER/HEKS, 2 July 2004. [40] Press
release, Agence Télégraphique Suisse (ATS, Swiss national
information agency), 28 June
2003. [41] Press release, ATS, 23 June
2003, pp. 1–2. An Austrian branch of GGL was also set up. See report on
Austria in this edition of Landmine
Monitor. [42] “Spendung-Sammlung
im Minenfeld” (“Fundraising in the Minefield”), Kurier
(Austrian daily newspaper), 19 January
2004. [43] Press release, ATS, 2 July
2003, p. 4. [44] Ibid. Similar
allegations regarding the Austrian branch of GGL were under criminal
investigation from March 2004. See report on Austria in this edition of the
Landmine Monitor. [45] See report on
Austria in this edition of Landmine
Monitor. [46] “U.S. soldier
wounded in demining accident in central Afghanistan,” Associated Press, 27
August 2002; email from Janine Voigt, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, 25
May 2004.
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