Recommendations for action

• Mine action authorities should draw up a new strategic plan, laying out priorities and timelines for completing mine clearance.
• Mine action authorities should disaggregate data between mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW).
• Sri Lanka should clarify whether international operators will have a role in mine action beyond 2016.

Contamination

The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is extensively contaminated by mines and ERW. Most (70%) of contamination is in the north, the focus of three decades of armed conflict between the government and the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE), which ended in May 2009. However, Sri Lankan estimates of total mine and ERW contamination have fallen sharply, from 506km² at the end of 2010 to 98km² at the end of 2012 and almost 78km² at the end of 2014 (see table below).[1] 

Remaining confirmed hazardous area (km²)[2]

Sri Lanka’s five northern provinces account for about 70% of the remaining mined areas, with the densest contamination concentrated to the north of Elephant Pass, marking the former frontline between the army and the LTTE and covering about 14km².[3] Both sides made extensive use of mines, including belts of P4 MK1 blast antipersonnel mines laid by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), and long defensive lines with a mixture of mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) laid by the LTTE defending approaches to the northern town of Kilinochchi.[4]

Operators have encountered a wide range of LTTE devices, including antipersonnel mines with anti-tilt and anti-lift mechanisms, and often containing a larger explosive charge than the P4 MK1 mines (up to 140g compared to 30g). They also encountered tripwire-activated Claymore-type mines, and to a lesser extent antivehicle mines.[5] However, much of the extensive mining by the LTTE in northern districts has now been cleared and remaining contamination in the eastern provinces (Ampara, Batticaloa, and Trincomalee) is thought to be light. 

Program Management

The Ministry of Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Hindu Religious Affairs became the lead agency for mine action in 2015 as chair of the inter-ministerial National Steering Committee for Mine Action (NSCMA), which sets policy and is supposed to “manage linkages within the government, mine action community and donors.”[6] Its policies and decisions are implemented by the National Mine Action Centre (NMAC), set up in 2010[7] with responsibility for liaising with government ministries and development partners to determine mine action priorities; preparing a strategic plan; and setting annual workplans to put it into effect. It is also responsible for accrediting mine action operators, setting national standards, and acting as the secretariat of the NSCMA.[8] 

Clearance operations in the field are coordinated, tasked, and quality managed by a Regional Mine Action Office (RMAO) in Kilinochchi, working in consultation with District Steering Committees for Mine Action. The Committees are chaired by government agents heading district authorities.[9] 

A National Mine Action Strategy released in September 2010, a year after the end of the war with the LTTE, called for a Sri Lanka “free from the threat of landmines and ERW.” It gave priority to clearance of land needed for the resettlement of people displaced by the conflict and land needed for supporting livelihoods, giving access to schools, hospitals and religious centers, or within three kilometers of villages and main roads. It assigned medium priority to land needed for infrastructure development and low priority to hazards in jungle areas with no immediate impact.[10] NMAC said in 2013 it was revising the plan to take account of an expected downturn in donor support but as of mid-2015 had not released a new plan.[11] 

In 2014, demining was conducted by the SLA, one national NGO (Delvon Assistance for Social Harmony, DASH), and two international NGOs (HALO Trust and Mines Advisory Group, MAG). The government had set a deadline of the end of 2014 for withdrawal of international operators from Sri Lanka but agreed to extend the deadline until the end of 2016. It was not clear if the government of President Maithripala Sirisena, elected in January 2015, intended to adhere to this deadline.

Land Release 

Official data on clearance conducted in 2014 showed a continuing decline, recording a fall in mined area released through clearance to just 3.75km², 41% less than the previous year. The drop in productivity over the last two years follows a steady decline in capacity after closure of the operations of the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) in 2013 and two Indian demining NGOs, Horizon and Sarvatra, in 2012.

The SLA’s Humanitarian Demining Unit, the biggest operator nominally employing some 2,000 personnel, reportedly increased the amount of battle area clearance (BAC) but its mine clearance dropped sharply in 2014, releasing almost two-thirds less land by clearance than the previous year.

Official data showed HALO Trust also released, overall, less mined area in 2014, however, HALO reported it released 2.1km² through clearance in 2014, about 16% more than the previous year, as well as a further 0.5km² through survey. Working in the Jaffna, Kilinochchi, and Mullaitivu areas of northern Sri Lanka with 98 manual and six mechanical teams, HALO reported its operations resulted in the destruction of a total of 20,422 antipersonnel mines and 122 antivehicle mines.[12] MAG, which increased capacity from two clearance teams to five in 2014, concentrated these on the key food producing area of Mannar where it was the only demining operator, reporting that it manually cleared 199,569m² but also cancelled or released a total of 2.68km² through non-technical and technical survey, destroying 1,927 antipersonnel mines.[13]

Mine and battle area clearance in 2014[14]

Deminer Safety

Two HALO Trust deminers sustained injuries to their arms and hands in demining incidents in 2014, both as a result of breaches of standard operating procedures for excavations.[15]

Relation to Mine Ban Treaty Article 5

Sri Lanka is not a state party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

In the last five years, Sri Lanka has cleared more than 55km² of mined area, although in the last two years clearance has dropped significantly (see table below).

Clearance in 2010–2014 (km²)