Mine ban policy overview

Policy

The Kingdom of Cambodia signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified on 28 July 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 January 2000. Domestic implementation legislation—the Law to Prohibit the Use of Anti-personnel Mines—took effect on 28 May 1999.[1] In 2013, Cambodia submitted its 14^th Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report, covering calendar year 2012.[2]

Cambodia continued in its role as president of the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties until December 2012.[3] As President, Minister Prak Sokhonn provided the analysis of the requests for extension of Article 5 deadlines at the Twelfth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva.[4] During the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers Meeting in Phnom Penh in July 2012, Myanmar’s Foreign Minister, U Wunna Maung Lwin, met with Minister Sokhonn, where the latter encouraged Myanmar to accede to the convention.[5]

Cambodia participated in the Twelfth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva in December 2012, where it made an intervention on victim assistance and provided an update on its clearance progress since receiving an extension on its Article 5 obligations.

At the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in May 2013, Cambodia made an intervention on compliance regarding joint clearance of its border with Thailand and provided an update on its clearance progress since receiving an extension on its Article 5 obligations.[6]

Cambodia also attended the Bangkok Symposium on Enhancing Cooperation & Assistance in June 2013 in Bangkok.

Cambodia is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines.

Use

Cambodia, acting on a request made by the ICBL, conducted a fact-finding mission from 10–12 May 2013 regarding an incident in March 2013 in which three Thai soldiers were injured by what the Thai military alleged were newly planted mines near the Ta Kwai Temple in Phanom Dong Rak district.[7] Cambodia informed States Parties that its fact-finding mission determined that the Thai soldiers were injured by mines laid in the past during the Cambodian civil war. Cambodia’s investigation stated that its soldiers found indications of the incident on the same day, and provided a GPS reference that was different to the GPS reference where the Thai military stated the incident took place. The Cambodian fact-finding mission stated that the incident took place to the side of, not on, a specially cleared path used for meetings between the Thai and Cambodian military in that particular area. The Cambodian delegation informed States Parties that it had discussed its investigations with the ICBL. Cambodia provided a copy of its investigation report to the Mine Ban Treaty Implementation Support Unit and the ICBL at the May 2013 intersessional meetings, and to the Government of Thailand through diplomatic channels.[8]

Previous allegations of use of antipersonnel mines by Cambodian forces on the Cambodian-Thai border, made by Thailand in 2008 and 2009, were never resolved.[9] In May 2011, in response to a request by the Monitor for an update regarding the Fact Finding Mission Report into the allegations, a government official stated:

Cambodia has been waiting for the responses from Thailand to five core questions, without which the result of the investigation conducted by the Fact Finding Commission of Cambodia cannot be substantiated and evidently concluded. Thailand has not responded to…neither answered nor substantiated the allegation it first made. The allegation made by Thailand regarding Cambodia’s use of new landmines can be summarized as baseless at best.[10]

Production, transfer, stockpile destruction, and retention

The government has reported that it does not have any antipersonnel mine production facilities, and that it has not exported antipersonnel mines.[11]

The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) destroyed its declared stockpile of 71,991 antipersonnel mines between 1994 and 1998, and in February 1999, the RCAF Deputy Commander in Chief formally stated that the RCAF no longer had stockpiles of antipersonnel mines.[12] In 2000, Cambodia reported an additional stockpile of 2,035 antipersonnel mines held by the national police that were subsequently destroyed.[13] In 2013, Cambodia reported that while there have been no antipersonnel mine stockpiles in the country since 2001, “police and military units are still finding and collecting weapons, ammunitions and mines from various sources, locations and caches.”[14] Discovered mines are supposed to be reported to the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) and handed over to the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) for destruction.[15] A Cambodian official has previously stated that newly discovered stocks are destroyed immediately.[16]

Previous Article 7 reports document a total of 133,478 stockpiled antipersonnel mines that were found and destroyed from 2000 to 2008, including 13,665 in 2008; this included 9,698 by CMAC, 2,713 by HALO Trust, and 1,254 by Mines Advisory Group (MAG). Cambodia stated that these mines were “reported by local communities.”[17] It is not clear why significant numbers of stockpiled mines were discovered each year through 2008, but none have been discovered since.

As in its previous article 7 reports, for the calendar year 2012 Cambodia marked as “not applicable” the obligatory declaration for mines retained for development and training purposes.[18] However, Cambodia has each year reported transfer of mines removed from mined areas to the CMAC training center and other operators for training purposes.[19] In June 2011, the deputy secretary general of the CMAA told the Monitor that all mines held by Cambodia are fuzeless and that Cambodia retains no live mines for training.[20] In 2012, Cambodia reported the transfer for training purposes of 1,190 antipersonnel mines “found in the Mined Areas and retained for training and development purposes” but did not state if the mines had been neutralized.[21]