Greece
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: Non-signatory Greece shares humanitarian concerns over cluster munitions, but says that national defense and other considerations prevent its accession. Greece has never participated in a meeting of the convention and abstained from voting on the first UN resolution on the convention in December 2015. Greece states that it has never used cluster munitions. It has produced, imported, and stockpiles cluster munitions, but it is unclear if Greece ever exported them.
Policy
The Hellenic Republic (Greece) has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
In early April 2016, Greece responded to the Monitor’s request for updated information on its position on accession to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, stating:
Greece takes note of the humanitarian concerns raised by the Convention and the legitimate care to protect civilian populations. However, compelling reasons of national defense and issues of operational and financial planning will not allow us to accede to the Convention in the short term. However we will not stand in the way of the parties to the Convention in their efforts for its universalization.[1]
Government officials have given various reasons as to why Greece cannot join, including national security concerns, the cost of stockpile destruction, and positions of neighboringcountries.[2]
On 7 December 2015, Greece abstained from voting on the first UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which urges states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[3] A total of 140 states, including many non-signatories, voted in favor of the non-binding resolution.
In an explanation of the decision by European Union (EU) non-signatories Greece, Estonia, Poland, and Finland to abstain from the resolution, Poland stated that the four countries “will continue to support international efforts aimed at addressing the humanitarian, socioeconomic and security impact of conventional weapons, including cluster munitions, and halting their indiscriminate use, especially when they are directed at innocent and defenceless civilians.”[4] It continued, “we support the humanitarian goal of the Convention on Cluster Munitions” but “at the same time, we believe that humanitarian concerns must be balanced with States’ legitimate security concerns and military and defence needs.”
The statement identifies the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) as “the most competent and effective framework for addressing the issue of cluster munitions.” While the countries “remain disappointed by the failure of the Geneva discussions” to conclude a new protocol on cluster munitions in 2011, they “remain firmly committed to fulfilling all our obligations” as CCW States Parties.[5]
The failure effectively ended CCW deliberations on the matter, leaving the Convention on Cluster Munitions as the sole international instrument to specifically address the weapons. Greece has continued to express its desire for cluster munitions to be addressed through the CCW, but has not made any concrete proposals for CCW work on the topic since 2011.[6]
Greece participated in two conferences of the Oslo Process that developed the convention text (Lima in May 2007 and Vienna in December 2007), but attended the negotiations in Dublin in May 2008 only as an observer and did not sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions when it was opened for signature in December 2008.[7]
Greece has never participated in a meeting of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, even as an observer. It was invited to, but did not attend, the convention’s First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015.
Greece has voted in favor of recent UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2014.[8]
Greece is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty.
Use
A government official informed the Monitor in 2012 that Greece has never used cluster munitions.[9]
In December 2013, a Greek defense blog reported on “intense debate” by the General Staff of the Greek Armed Forces over procurement efforts to modernize the country’s stocks of ammunition for the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) due to the apparent requirement that it “select and implement a solution within a global binding environment that is required by international treaty to ban cluster munitions.”[10]
Production, transfer, and stockpiling
Greece has produced, imported, and stockpiles cluster munitions, but it is unclear if Greece ever exported them.[11]
Greece has not made a formal commitment to no longer produce cluster munitions, but in 2011, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official informed the Monitor that “the last production of cluster munitions in Greece was in 2001.”[12]
Hellenic Defence Systems S.A. (EBO-PYRKAL), also known as EAS, produced two types of ground-delivered cluster munitions:[13]
- GRM-49 155mm artillery projectile with 49 dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICM) submunitions; and
- 107mm high explosive/improved conventional munition (HE/ICM) GRM-20 mortar projectile containing 20 DPICM.
Greece has imported 203mm DPICM artillery projectiles, M26 cluster munition rockets, and Rockeye bombs from the United States (US).[14] According to US export records, it also imported 4,008 CBU-55B cluster bombs at some point between 1970 and 1995.[15] In 2011, a Greek official informed the Monitor that Greece possesses 1,286 CBU-55B cluster bombs.[16]
Greece is the sole reported customer for the Autonomous Free Flight Dispenser System (AFDS), which disperses a variety of explosive submunitions, developed in the past by General Dynamics (US) and LFK (Germany).[17] Jane’s Information Group lists Greece as also possessing BLG-66 Belouga and CBU-71 cluster bombs.[18]
[1] Letter to Mary Wareham, Advocacy Director, Human Rights Watch (HRW) from Ioannis Tsaousis, Charge d’Affairs, Permanent Mission of Greece to the UN in Geneva, 8 April 2016.
[2] Emails from Yannis Mallikourtis, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Greece to the UN in Geneva, 1 May 2012, and 14 June 2011; and CMC meeting with Eleftherios Kouvaritakis, First Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Greece to the UN in New York, New York, 10 September 2008.
[3] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 70/54, 7 December 2015.
[4] Statement of Poland (on behalf of Greece, Estonia, and Finland), UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, New York, 4 November 2015. UN, “Record of First Committee 24th meeting,” A/C.1/70/PV.24, 4 November 2015.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Letter No. 6162.3/23/AS 682 from Alexandros Alexandris, Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Greece to the UN in Geneva, to Mary Wareham, HRW, 26 April 2013; and email from Yannis Mallikourtis, Permanent Mission of Greece in Geneva, 1 May 2012. In an April 2014 letter, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Greece stood ready to engage on cluster munitions “within the UN framework.” In October 2013, Greece said it “continues to believe that the CCW remains the most appropriate forum for the discussion on a Protocol on [c]luster munitions.” Letter from Amb. Dimitris Chronopoulos, Director, D1 Directorate for UN & International Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Mary Wareham, HRW, 29 April 2014; statement of Greece, UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, New York, 29 October 2013.
[7] For details on Greece’s cluster munition policy and practice through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 207–208. In 2011, Wikileaks released seven United States (US) Department of State cables dated from March 2007 to November 2008 showing how the US engaged with Greece during the Oslo Process. One cable from December 2007 states, “Greece further shares USG concerns that there are provisions being considered within the Oslo Process that could have a significant impact on military cooperation between countries that adopt such requirements related to cluster munitions and those that do not.” See “Cluster munitions: Greece shares U.S. concerns,” US Department of State cable dated 12 December 2007, released by Wikileaks on 20 May 2011.
[8] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution A/RES/69/189, 18 December 2014. Greece voted in favor of similar resolutions on 15 May and 18 December 2013.
[9] Email from Yannis Mallikourtis, Permanent Mission of Greece to the UN in Geneva, 1 May 2012.
[10] The article was prepared in cooperation with the Athens-based Institute for Security and Defense Analyses. See “US-German ‘battle’ for Greek MLRS,” Defence Point, 19 December 2013.
[11] A UN explosive ordnance disposal team in Melhadega, Eritrea identified and destroyed a failed M20G dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunition of Greek origin in October 2004. UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea Mine Action Coordination Center, “Weekly Update,” Asmara, 4 October 2004, p. 4.
[12] Email from Yannis Mallikourtis, Permanent Mission of Greece to the UN in Geneva, 14 June 2011.
[13] The company website lists both weapons as produced “in the past.” Hellenic Defence Systems S.A., “Our Products,” accessed 20 July 2013. The Greek Powder and Cartridge Company (Pyrkal) was merged into EAS in 2004.
[14] The US sent 50,000 M509 203mm projectiles to Greece in 1996 under the Excess Defense Article program. Each M509A1 contains 180 M42/M46 DPICM. US Defense Security Cooperation Agency, “Excess Defense Articles.” For the M26, see US Defense Security Cooperation Agency news release, “Greece – M26A2 MLRS Extended Range Rocket Pods,” Transmittal No. 06–47, 29 September 2006. For Rockeye bombs, see Colin King, ed., Jane’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal 2007–2008, CD-edition, 15 January 2008 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2008).
[15] US Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Department of Defense, “Cluster Bomb Exports under FMS, FY1970–Y1995,” 15 November 1995, obtained by HRW in a Freedom of Information Act request, 28 November 1995.
[16] Email from Yannis Mallikourtis, Permanent Mission of Greece to the UN in Geneva, 14 June 2011.
[17] Robert Hewson, ed., Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons, Issue 44 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2004), pp. 365–367.
[18] Ibid., p. 839. The Belouga was produced by France and the CBU-71 was produced by the US.
Mine Ban Policy
Policy
The Hellenic Republic (Greece) signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified on 25 September 2003, becoming a State Party on 1 March 2004. Ratification makes the Mine Ban Treaty part of Greek domestic law.[1] Greece has specified the parts of its existing criminal codes that provide penal sanctions for any violations of the treaty.[2]
Greece has been in violation of the Mine Ban Treaty since March 2008 when it missed its stockpile destruction deadline (see section on Stockpiling and Destruction below).
Greece submitted its twelfth Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report in April 2015, covering calendar year 2014.[3]
Greece attended the Mine Ban Treaty Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014 and provided an update on its stockpile destruction. Greece also attended the June 2015 intersessional meetings in Geneva and provided an update on its stockpile destruction progress in the wake of the explosion at a munitions disposal plant operated by VIDEX in Bulgaria.[4]
At the 68th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), Greece spoke at the First Committee on disarmament and Security reaffirming its commitment to the Mine Ban Treaty and also reported that it had completed its Article 5 obligations.[5]
Greece is not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Greece is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and submitted its annual report for calendar year 2014 in March 2015. Greece is not party to CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.
Production and trade
Greece is a former producer of antipersonnel mines; it also formerly imported them from Germany and the United States (US).[6] Prior to becoming a State Party, Greece had a moratorium on the production and export of antipersonnel mines for a number of years.[7]
Stockpiling and destruction
Greece failed to meet its 1 March 2008 Article 4 deadline for destruction of its stockpiled antipersonnel mines and remains in violation of the treaty. In its 2014 and 2015 transparency reports, Greece recorded the destruction of 877,816 antipersonnel mines (24,626 M2; 789,547 DM31; 63,442 M16; and 200 M14 mines). In June 2015, Greece stated that its current stockpile contained 643,309 mines. It also stated that 452,695 of these mines are being stored in military warehouses located within Greece, and 190,614 are being stored in VIDEX warehouses in Bulgaria.[8]
At the Mine Ban Treaty Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014, Greece provided an update on the destruction of its stockpiles stating that 239,112 mines had already been transported to Bulgaria and of that amount, 107,058 DM31 mines had already been destroyed. Greece also stated that “the destruction process should be completed by the end of 2015, notwithstanding, of course, any future unforeseen circumstances.”[9]
On 1 October 2014, an explosion at the Midzhur munitions destruction plant owned by VIDEX in Gorni Lom, Bulgaria killed 15 workers and halted Greece’s stockpile destruction program.[10] The Bulgarian President, Rosen Plevneliev, attributed the Midzhur plant blast to “arrogant non-observance” of rules of procedure.[11] In a statement released on 31 December 2014, Greece stated that “it was reviewing all possible options in an effort to adhere to its initial intention to complete the destruction of all stockpiled anti-personnel mines by the end of 2015.”[12]
At the June 2015 intersessional meetings, Greece provided an update on its stockpile destruction progress along with information concerning the Midzhur plant explosion. Greece stated that on 9 May 2015, the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had formally sent a request to the Greek Embassy in Sofia, asking to have the 190,614 mines stockpiled in VIDEX warehouses in Bulgaria returned to Greece. On 9 May 2015, Hellenic Defense Systems (Ellinika Amyntika Systimata, EAS) sent a request to the Ministry of Defense asking for an extension of its current contract until the end of September 2015. EAS will proceed to carry out the destruction of the remaining mines at its facility in Lavario.[13]
The ICBL has repeatedly expressed concern at Greece’s failure to start the destruction process early enough to meet its destruction deadline. It has urged Greece to set a firm deadline for completion, to devote the necessary resources for destruction, and to report progress to States Parties on a monthly basis.[14]
Mines retained for research and training
In 2014, Greece consumed 16 mines for “training soldiers in mine detections and clearance and canine detections,” specifically M16 (8), M2 (2), and M14 (6) mines. Greece retained as total 6,142 mines.[15] In 2015, Greece retained 5,797 consisting of M14 (3,038), DM31 (1,286), M2 (1,107), and M16 (366) mines for purposes specified under Article 3. Greece used a total of 345 mines specifically M14 (2), M16 (6), and M2 (336) mines in 2014.[16]
[1] Interview with Lt.-Col. Vassilis Makris, Defence Policy Directorate, International Law Section, Hellenic Defence General Staff, Ministry of Defence, Athens, 13 May 2005.
[2] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form A, April 2006. The information has been repeated in all subsequent Article 7 reports. See also, Landmine Monitor Report 2006, p. 446.
[3] Greece previously submitted Article 7 reports in April 2014, April 2013, April 2012, April 2011, April 2010, 30 April 2009, 30 April 2008, 30 April 2007, April 2006 (for the period April 2002 to March 2006), 6 May 2005, and 7 July 2004.
[4] Statement of Greece, Mine Ban Treaty Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, June 2015.
[5] Statement of Greece, UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and Security, 29 October 2013.
[6] Greece has reported, “Upon ratification of the Ottawa Convention, there were not any anti-personnel mine production facilities whatsoever in Greece.” Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form E, April 2012.
[7] On 19 February 2010, a Greek news agency reported that US forces seized a ship heading for East Africa carrying a cargo of weapons, including a “large quantity of mines” with serial numbers indicating they were US-manufactured mines purchased by the Greek Army, allegedly sent to Bulgaria for destruction. Both Bulgaria and Greece conducted investigations into the incident and concluded that the allegation was unfounded.
[8] Statement of Greece, Mine Ban Treaty Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, June 2015. In previous years, Greece reported a pre-destruction stockpile of 1,568,167 antipersonnel mines, composed of four types: DM31 (792,780), M16 (568,327), M2 (204,565), and M14 (2,495). Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form B, April 2013. Greece had previously reported a pre-destruction stockpile totaling 1,566,532 antipersonnel mines composed of these types as well as 504 Area Denial Artillery Munition (ADAM) 155mm artillery projectiles, each containing 36 antipersonnel mines. Counting the ADAM mines, the revised pre-destruction stockpile total was 1,586,311. In April 2014, Greece provided a detailed chronology of the shipments of mines to Bulgarian destruction facilities. Greece began shipping the mines to Bulgaria on 24 February 2014, with the transport license issued on 27 January 2014. Statement of Greece, Mine Ban Treaty Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, April 2014.
[9] Statement of Greece, Mine Ban Treaty Third Review Conference, Maputo, June 2014.
[10] Bulgaria stated that 6,986 mines were being destroyed at the Midzhur plant in Gorni Lom at the time of the explosion. A total of 130 of the mines had been recovered, but were not going to be transferred due to their damaged condition. The remaining 6,856 mines were either destroyed during the initial plant explosion or are still scattered throughout the processing facility, and these mines will be destroyed upon discovery according to Bulgaria’s statement. Statement of Bulgaria, Mine Ban Treaty Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, June 2015.
[11] Stoyan Nenov and Tsvetelia Tsolova, “Blasts kill 15 people at Bulgaria explosives plant,” Reuters, 2 October 2015.
[12] Preliminary Observations of the President of the Fourteenth Meeting of States Parties, Mine Ban Treaty Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 23 June 2015.
[13] Statement of Greece, Mine Ban Treaty Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, June 2015.
[14] Statement of ICBL, Mine Ban Treaty Eleventh Meeting of States Parties, Phnom Penh, 1 December 2011; statement of ICBL, Mine Ban Treaty Tenth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 29 November 2010; and statement of ICBL, Mine Ban Treaty Second Review Conference, Cartagena, 2 December 2009.
[15] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form D, April 2014.
[16] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form D, April 2015.
Mine Action
Contamination and Impact
Mines
In December 2009 at the Second Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty, the Hellenic Republic (Greece) announced it was in full compliance with Article 5 of the treaty.[1] However, there was one marked minefield on the island of Rhodes, the largest of Greece’s islands and a popular tourist destination. In response to concerns raised by the ICBL, Greece reported in June 2011 that the Greek Army cleared the area in 1987 but failed to locate all of the mines, and that since then had conducted quality assurance (QA) seven times through to May 2011.[2] QA was conducted at a deeper depth and larger perimeter each time. In May 2011, QA was said to have been conducted at 40cm depth. In September 2011, it was planned to conduct QA at a depth of 1.2 meters. Since 1987, no mines have been found.[3] After several inquiries by the Monitor and concerns raised by the ICBL, Greece informed the Monitor in May 2012 that it would undertake full clearance of the area before the end of the year.[4] In 2012, Greece began verification operations on Rhodes, covering an area much larger than the one remaining mined area. The Greek Army completed verification on 8 March 2013 and declared the area mine-free; on 21 March 2013 the land was handed over to the municipal authorities in Rhodes.[5]
Explosive remnants of war
Contamination elsewhere in the country consists of booby-traps and explosive remnants of war (ERW) remaining from World War II and from the 1946–1949 civil conflict in the regions of Western Macedonia and Epirus in the north of the country. The contaminated area is not clearly defined, although the amount of ERW is said to be large.[6] A survey in Western Macedonia in 2007 found a total of 786 suspected hazardous areas (SHAs), including some mined areas, of which 13 SHAs covering 310,000m2 were subsequently cleared, leaving 773 areas to be addressed.[7]
In 2011, Greece reported that ERW clearance operations were underway in the Western Macedonia and Epirus regions and that 525,155m2 had been cleared.[8]
In an interview with the Monitor, Lieutenant-Colonel Demetrios Tavris from the Ministry of National Defence said it was impossible to determine the extent of the ERW problem in other parts of Greece as there could always be some residual contamination.[9]
Mine Action Program
There is no national mine action authority or mine action center in Greece. All clearance operations and their management are the responsibility of the Ministry of National Defence.[10]
Article 5 Compliance
Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Greece is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 March 2014.
At the Second Review Conference, Greece claimed that it had fulfilled its Article 5 obligations in 2009, five years before its deadline, and that there were no known mined areas under Greece’s jurisdiction or control containing antipersonnel mines. In the event that previous unknown mined areas were discovered, Greece would report to States Parties under the reporting mechanisms of the treaty.[11]
However, the marked minefield on the island of Rhodes suggested that Greece’s declaration of compliance was premature. In March 2013, Greece completed verification operations in Rhodes and declared the island and all of Greece mine-free.[12]
Questions remain about the completion of clearance of mined areas dating back to the civil war elsewhere in the country. Greece’s most recent Article 13 report under the Convention on Conventional Weapons Amended Protocol II refers to areas contaminated by mines in Western Macedonia and Epirus, although it notes that there are “no properly defined minefields in this area and no maps.”[13] Greece has reported as “void” the section covering “areas suspected to contain mines” in its annual Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 reports.[14]
[1] Statement of Greece, Second Review Conference, Cartagena, 1 December 2009.
[2] Statement of Greece, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Geneva, 24 June 2011.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Meeting with representatives of the Greek Ministry of National Defence and Foreign Affairs, Athens, 10 May 2012.
[5] Statement of Greece, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Geneva, 29 May 2013; and letter from Panayotis Stournaras, Ambassador, Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the ICBL, 18 July 2013.
[6] Convention on Conventional Weapons, Amended Protocol II Article 13 Report (for the period 21 September 2010 to 31 December 2010), Form B.
[7] Interview with Panos Vlachinos, P.A.S.S. Defence, Athens, 18 June 2008.
[9] Interview with Stelios Zahariou, D1 Directorate for the UN and International Organisations and Conferences, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Lt.-Col. Demetrios Tavris, Staff Officer, Division of Defense Policy, Department of International Organizations, Ministry of National Defence, Athens, 16 April 2010.
[10] Interview with Thanos Kotsionis, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of the Hellenic Republic to the UN in Geneva, Geneva, 26 April 2007.
[11] Statement of Greece, Second Review Conference, Cartagena, 1 December 2009.
[12] Statement of Greece, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Geneva, 29 May 2013.
[14] See, for example, Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form C, 30 April 2009; and Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form D, April 2014.
Support for Mine Action
New information will be added soon.
Casualties and Victim Assistance
Casualties
No new casualties of mines/explosive remnants of war (ERW) in the Hellenic Republic (Greece) were identified in 2015. The last ERW casualty was identified in 2012. In January of that year, local media reported that an Albanian man was injured by an explosive item said to be an antipersonnel mine in the forest along the Ioannina-Kakkavos national road.[1] Casualties identified before 2012 include four mine casualties in 2008.[2]
Between 1999 and 2015, the Monitor identified at least 109 landmine casualties (66 killed and 43 injured); the majority of casualties were non-Greek citizens. Between 1954 and 2007, at least 31 deminers were killed. From 1954 to 2002, 17 military personnel were injured in clearance operations.[3] The vast majority of casualties were migrants and asylum seekers entering Greece through border areas. The head of the clearance battalion reported that some 187 non-Greek citizens had been injured between 1995 and early 2007.[4]
Victim Assistance
There is no report on the total number of mine/ERW survivors living in Greece.
There were no economic reintegration opportunities or psychological support for survivors. The main coordination body regarding disability policy at the national level is the Ministry of Labour, Social Insurance and Social Solidarity, which is in charge of social protection, policy for assessment of disability, and pensions. The Ministry of Health regulates policy related to healthcare as well as the organization of health and social care establishments.[5] Most landmine survivors injured in Greece were asylum seekers or illegal immigrants who face precarious situations and could not always access services.[6] A number of NGOs operate in Greece, many of which provide services on the ground for persons with disabilities among refugees and asylum seekers, including mine/ERW survivors.[7]
Greece ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 30 May 2012.
[1] “24χρονος ακρωτηριάστηκε από νάρκη!” (“24-year old injured by a mine!”), Proto Thema (weekly newspaper), 29 January 2012.
[2] ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2009: Toward a Mine-Free World (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada: October 2009).
[3] ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2008: Toward a Mine-Free World (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada: October 2008); and ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2006: Toward a Mine-Free World (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada: October 2006).
[4] Based on a declaration made by the head of the Minefield Clearance Battalion, TENX. See ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2008: Toward a Mine-Free World (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada: October 2008).
[5] Academic Network of European Disability experts (ANED), “Greece country profile,” undated.
[6] Niki Kitsantonis, “Land mines and a perilous crossing into Greece,” New York Times, 6 January 2009.
[7] INVgr, “Selected charities and NGOs in Greece,” undated.