Key developments since May 2003: In August 2003, the Syrian Mine
Action Portfolio was established and is coordinated by UNICEF. In January 2004,
the governor of Qunaitra established a governmental committee to promote
landmine awareness in affected border areas. In April 2004, Syria attended a
regional seminar on military and humanitarian issues surrounding the Mine Ban
Treaty in Amman, Jordan.
Key developments since 1999: In cooperation with Syrian
authorities, UN peacekeeping forces in the Golan Heights initiated a program to
identify and mark all mined areas in their area of operations in 2000. A mine
awareness component is included in the Ministry of Health’s “Safe
Gardens Project,” initiated in August 2000. In February 2001, the Syrian
Army started landmine clearance in Lebanon, and had demined more than 955,000
square meters of land by the end of 2003. Since 1999, at least 12 new mine
casualties have been reported in Syria. Although it was previously believed
that Syria had not produced mines, Jordan has declared possession of Syrian-made
mines.
Mine Ban Policy
Syria has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. While expressing concern about
the plight of landmine victims, Syria considers the antipersonnel mine as a
necessary defensive weapon and cites Israel's continued annexation/occupation of
the Golan Heights as an important reason for not joining the
treaty.[1] According to Syrian
officials, Israel has not cooperated in any effort to alleviate the hardship
faced by Syrian residents of Golan as a result of the landmines
there.[2] Syria stated in April
2004 that it has given priority in disarmament to weapons of mass destruction as
opposed to antipersonnel
mines.[3] Syrian Foreign
Ministry officials stated in March 2004 that Syria supports efforts to protect
civilians in armed conflict areas, and promotes mine awareness.
[4]
Syria participated as an observer in the Ottawa Process leading to the Mine
Ban Treaty, but spoke out against an immediate and comprehensive ban. Since
1996, Syria has abstained from voting on every annual pro-ban United Nations
General Assembly resolution on landmines, including UNGA Resolution 58/53 on 8
December 2003. Syria did not make any public statements about its landmine
policy, or participate in any diplomatic meetings on landmines in 1999 or 2000.
Since then, Syria has been more engaged. It has attended two annual Meetings
of States Parties, in 2001 and 2002. It has been present at some of the
intersessional Standing Committee meetings, including in February 2004. In
April 2004, two Syrian Army officers attended a regional seminar on military and
humanitarian issues surrounding the Mine Ban Treaty in Amman, Jordan.
Landmine Monitor’s researcher for Syria, the Arab Network for Research
on Landmines and Explosive Remnants of War, has hosted several seminars on
landmines in Damascus since 2002, including in February 2003, and it has
conducted awareness-raising activities on the landmine problem in the Golan. In
December 2003, eight Syrians, including a landmine victim, participated in a
landmines workshop held in the United Arab Emirates.
Production, Transfer, Stockpiling and Use
Syria has not usually been identified as a producer or exporter of
antipersonnel landmines. But in 1999 Jordan declared possessing fifty-one
wooden antipersonnel mines of Syrian origin in its
stockpile.[5] It is not known
how these mines came into Jordan’s possession, but this also calls into
question whether Syria has ever exported antipersonnel mines. Syria has not
enacted any unilateral measures to prohibit production or export of
antipersonnel mines. The size and origin of Syria's mine stockpile is not
known. Syria is thought to have last used mines during the 1982 conflict with
Israel in Lebanon.
Landmine Problem and Mine Action
The Golan, in southwest Syria, is divided into three areas:
Syrian-controlled, Israeli-controlled, and a buffer zone monitored by the UN
Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). Each contains mined areas. Information
about the size and number of mine fields in Syria is not available. Golan is an
area rich in water resources in a country suffering from desertification.
Minefields hinder agricultural development; however, no studies regarding the
impact of landmines on agriculture in this region are available. Due to the age
of the mines and their deteriorating explosives, the mines continue to pose a
significant danger.[6]
A June 2004 UN report states, “Mines continued to pose a threat...this
threat has in fact
increased.”[7] In some of
the Syrian-controlled areas, minefields are not well marked or fenced and
civilian casualties occur on a regular
basis.[8] Civilians sometimes
take markers and fences for their own use. The Syrian Army has had to re-fence
and re-mark fields several times.
In the Golan, the UNDOF deploys two demining teams, with six soldiers each,
to make sure that paths used by UNDOF are
safe.[9] UNDOF, in cooperation
with Syrian authorities, began a program in 2000 to identify and mark minefields
within its area of operations. According to a December 2002 UN report, “A
Minefield Security Program has led to the identification and marking of numerous
known as well as previously unidentified minefields in the area of
separation.”[10]
There is little information available on mine clearance activities by Syria
and the number of Syrian army personnel trained in demining is not known. On 13
February 2001, the Syrian Army started landmine clearance in Lebanon, in
accordance with an agreement with the Lebanese Army, working in three areas:
Nabatia al Tahta, Kfare Faloos, and Kawkaba in South Lebanon. The Syrian Army
has employed 150 military workers for this
project.[11] Syria stated at a
UN Security Council meeting on 13 November 2003 that it had assisted Lebanon in
removing mines planted by Israeli forces, and that it had provided Lebanon with
“field assistance, expertise, and training...in order to help eliminate
the mines and their catastrophic effects on
civilians.”[12] By
October 2002, the Syrian Army had cleared 96 areas totaling 842,152 square
meters.[13] Another 113,700
square meters were cleared in the latter half of
2003.[14]
Mine clearance is taking place on Syria’s border with Turkey as part of
security agreements between the two countries. The mines were planted as early
as 1952. Turkey began demining the border area in 2001, and declared in July
2003 its intention to clear a minefield 500 meters in width and spanning 700
kilometers of the Syrian
border.[15] In November 2003,
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener announced a plan to clear 615,000
mines from the Syrian
border.[16]
Jordan planted nearly 67,000 antipersonnel mines along its border with Syria
before 1973. It is not known if the Syrian side of the border with Jordan is
mined. Syria stated in April 2004 that it has no antipersonnel minefields on
its border with Israel.[17]
Mine Risk Education
The UNDOF peacekeeping force and UNICEF engage in mine risk education (MRE)
activities in their area of operation in the Golan. An MRE component is
included in the Safe Gardens project, initiated in August 2000, which aims to
create safe and attractive places for children to play in targeted border areas
like the Golan. Local communities operate and maintain eight of the “safe
gardens,” that directly benefit 3,000 schoolchildren, in partnership with
the government.[18]
Mine risk education is also conducted as a part of the health education
program run by the government health centers in the affected areas and in the
Healthy Villages program. No external evaluations or studies have been
conducted on the effectiveness of these MRE
activities.[19]
On 10 January 2004, the governor of Qunaitra formed a 12-person governmental
committee to promote landmine awareness in affected border areas. The committee
includes officials from the following fields: education, health, agriculture,
youth, children, sports, and social
affairs.[20]
On 4 August 2003, the Syrian Mine Action Portfolio (MAP) was established and
held its first meeting. MAP is coordinated by UNICEF and includes the following
members: UNDP, UNDOF, UNHCR, Health Official, and the Arab Network for Research
on Landmines and Explosive Remnants of War.
Landmine Casualties
In February 2003, a twelve-year-old boy visiting relatives in Mashkak village
was killed when a mine he had found
exploded.[21]
In the first half of 2004, Landmine Monitor recorded two people killed and
one injured in landmine incidents. On 29 March, a 15-year-old Syrian boy lost
his right eye and left hand while handling what he thought was a small plastic
box on the Turkish border. His father told Landmine Monitor that heavy rainfall
could have dislodged the landmine from a minefield on the border and into his
farmland.[22] On 14 July, two
men, 29 and 21 years old, were killed as they rode a bicycle near a minefield in
al-Makrez village in the Syrian
Golan.[23]
Between 1999 and 2002, at least eight new mine casualties were reported in
the Syrian Golan. In 2002, two landmine incidents killed two 10-year-old boys
and injured a 17-year-old
girl.[24] In 2001 a 73-year-old
shepherd was killed by a
mine.[25] In 1999, three
landmine incidents injured two shepherds and two
children.[26]
In Jordan, a Syrian national was injured by a landmine on 13 April 2003 in
Al-Mafraq.[27] In December
2003, two Syrian military personnel were seriously injured during mine clearance
operations in south Lebanon.[28]
In April 2001, it was reported that two other Syrian mine clearance experts had
been injured during mine clearance operations in South Lebanon since the Israeli
withdrawal in May 2000.[29]
Three Syrian workers were injured by a mine while working on a building site in
Beirut, Lebanon on 19 March
2001.[30]
Landmine casualty data is not systematically collected in Syria. There is no
centralized register and some casualties go directly to hospitals in Damascus
for emergency treatment. According to the coordinator of the Khan Arnaba
Community Rehabilitation Center, there have been 387 mine casualties in the
Golan area including 122 people killed and 265
injured.[31]
Survivor Assistance and Disability Policy and Practice
The Syrian government continues to provide basic health and social services
free of charge. The Qunaitra Health Directorate has 17 health centers and one
health point in the mine-affected area of Syrian Golan, serving about 60,000
people.[32] In March 2002, the
government opened a physiotherapy center in the town of Khan
Arnaba.[33] The 120-bed Abaza
Hospital in Khan Arnaba established an outpatient clinic in 2002, and will be
fully operational, including with surgical facilities, by June
2004.[34] On 27 February 2003,
a community rehabilitation center opened in Khan Arnaba to provide basic
rehabilitation services for people with physical and mental disabilities. The
center closed after a few months, but is scheduled to re-open in mid-2004 when
more staff and equipment
arrive.[35] The building was
donated by the Syrian Women’s Union, with the renovation costs covered by
the governorate of Qunaitra (about $10,000), and equipment worth $50,000 donated
by Swedish organizations.[36]
The completion of these projects will promote emergency and rehabilitation
services in mine-affected
areas.[37] Before these
facilities opened, survivors had to travel to Damascus to receive specialized
medical care and surgery, physical rehabilitation, prosthetics, wheelchairs, and
special education.
In 2003, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) continued a
program to support Palestinian refugees with disabilities in Syria with the
provision of materials, components and technical support to the orthopedic
center in the compound of the Palestinian Hospital in the Yarmouk refugee camp.
The center produced 373 prostheses (25 for mine survivors) and 225 orthoses, and
distributed 78 crutches in
2003.[38] Between 1996 and
2002, the center was supported by the ICRC Special Fund for the Disabled.
The Syrian Society for the Physically Disabled, founded in November 1998, and
the Syrian Society for the Blind, founded in July 1997, are both working in
mine-affected areas. Both are very small NGOs based in Qunaitra focusing on
assistance to disadvantaged people. Mine survivors have reported receiving
assistance from these organizations in the
past.[39]
On 19 July 2004, the President issued a new national law (Number 34/2004) to
protect the rights of persons with disabilities that includes provisions for
many free health and social services and education and training. There are no
specific services for mine survivors. The Ministry of Social Affairs will issue
detailed instructions for the implementation of the law.
Two mine survivors from Syria participated in the Raising the Voices training
in Geneva in June 2004.
[1] Interview with the Director of
International Organizations and Conferences Department, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, 16 December 2002. [2] Letter
No.144 (41/77) to the Arab Network for Research on Landmines and Explosive
Remnants of War from the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 March
2004. [3] Statement by Syria, Amman
Seminar on Military and Humanitarian Issues Surrounding the Ottawa Convention,
19-21 April 2004. [4] Letter No. 144
(41/77), 28 March 2004. [5] Jordan
Article 7 Report, Form B, 9 August
1999. [6] “Report of the
Secretary-General on the UN Disengagement Observer Force for the Period from 19
June 2003 to 9 December 2003,” S/2003/1148, 9 December 2003, p.
2. [7] “Report of the
Secretary-General on the UN Disengagement Observer Force for the Period from 9
December 2003 to 21 June 2004,” S/2004/499, 21 June 2004, p.
2. [8] UN Country Report: Syrian Arab
Republic. [9] Interview with Maj.
General Bo Wranker, Force Commander, UNDOF, Damascus, 28 May
2003. [10] “Report of the
Secretary-General on the UN Disengagement Observer Force for the Period from 18
May 2002 to 5 December 2002,” S/2002/1328, 4 December 2002, p.
1. [11] Lebanese Army Paper, Shirjah
International Workshop on Landmines, 8-9 December
2003. [12] Statement by Syria, UN
Security Council 4858th meeting, New York, 13 November
2003. [13] Presentation by Syrian
Ministry of Defense, Workshop by Arab Network of Researchers on Landmines and
ERW, Damascus, 9 October
2002. [14]“More than 8,000
landmines removed over last 6 months,” Daily Star (Beirut), 12 January
2004. [15]“Turkey Is Preparing
to Clear Land Mines Planted on its Borders with Syria,” Teshreen,
(Damascus), 17 July 2003; “Turkey to sweep mines on Turkish-Syrian
border,” Xinhua (Ankara), 16 July 2003.
[16]“Turkey: Land Mines Near
Syria To Be Cleared,” New York Times, 5 November 2003; “Turkey
decides to clear mines on Syrian, Iraqi borders,” TRT 2 television
(Ankara), 4 November 2003. [17]
Statement by Syria, Amman Seminar, 19-21 April
2004. [18] Interview with Dr. Hossam
Doghoz and Dr. Rabee Othman, Project Directors, Safe Garden Project, Damascus, 4
February 1999. [19] Interview with Dr.
Khaldoun Al-Asaad, Assistant Director, Qunaitra Health Directorate, Damascus, 7
February 2002. [20] Administrative
Order No. 402-10-12, Governor of
Qunaitra. [21] Presentation by Dr.
Hosam Doughouz, Coordinator, Khan Arnaba Community Rehabilitation Center, to the
regional symposium, Damascus, 19-20 February
2003. [22] Telephone interview with
the father of the injured boy, Damascus, 20 May
2004. [23] Telephone interview with
Dr. Rabee Othman, Qunaitra Health Directorate,
Qunaitra. [24] Presentation by Dr.
Rabee Othman, Medical Officer, Beir Ajam, to the regional symposium organized by
the Arab Network of Researchers on Landmines and ERW, Damascus, 19-20 February
2003. [25] Al-Haq, Press Release 92, 7
June 2001. [26] For details see
Landmine Monitor Report 2003, p. 696; Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p.
754. [27] Email from Mona Abdeljawad,
LSN (Jordan), 5 June 2003. [28]
“Two Syrian Soldiers Wounded by ‘Israeli’ Mine in S.
Lebanon,” The Daily Star, 16 December
2003. [29] Dalal Saoud, “Mine,
bombs kill 2 in south Lebanon,” UPI (Beirut), 29 April
2001. [30] “Mine wounds three
Syrian workers in Beirut,” Reuters (Beirut), 19 March
2001. [31] Email from Dr. Hosam
Doughouz, Coordinator, Khan Arnaba Community Rehabilitation Center, 31 July
2004. Other sources report 216 mine casualties (108 killed and 108 injured)
from 1993 to February 2003, see Landmine Monitor Report 2003, pp.
696-697. [32] Interview with Dr.
Khaldoun Al-Asaad, Assistant Director, Qunaitra Health Directorate, Damascus, 15
May 2002. [33] Interview with Dr.
Hosam Doughouz, Coordinator, Community Rehabilitation Center, Khan Arnaba, 27
February 2003. [34] Interview with Dr.
Rabee Othman, Qunaitra Health Directorate, 28 February 2004; interview with Dr.
Khaldoun Al-Asaad, Qunaitra Health Directorate, 15 May
2002. [35] Interview with Dr. Rabee
Othman, Qunaitra, 28 February
2004. [36] Presentation by Dr. Hosam
Doughouz, Khan Arnaba, to the regional symposium, Damascus, 19-20 February 2003;
interview with Major General Bo Wranker, UNDOF, 28 May
2003. [37] Presentation by Ahmad Said,
Director, Qunaitra Social Services, to the regional symposium, Damascus, 19-20
February 2003. [38] ICRC Physical
Rehabilitation Programs, "Annual Report 2003," Geneva, 9 March 2004, pp. 17 and
26. [39] Presentation by Ahmad Said,
Director, Qunaitra Social Services, to the regional symposium, Damascus, 19-20
February 2003.