Contaminated by: mines (medium contamination) and explosive remnants of war (ERW).

Article 5 deadline: 1 May 2012
(Needs to submit an extension request) 

Although the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan had declared completion of its Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 obligations in 2012, it has subsequently identified uncleared mine contamination. It has therefore proceeded with verification efforts. As of the end of 2015, the total area in need of verification for missing mines was just over 7km² of land in two parts of the country, in the northern borders and the Jordan Valley. Jordan has not yet submitted a new Article 5 deadline extension request to cover the period through to the completion of its demining efforts. In 2015, Jordan reported the release of 0.65km² of land.

Recommendations for action 

• Jordan should, without further delay, request a new extension to its Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline for the period through to completion of all demining to humanitarian standards.
• Jordan should commit more national resources to its land release program and increase the number of teams deployed for verification and demining.

Contamination

Jordan is contaminated by mines and ERW. Contamination is primarily the result of the 1948 partition of Palestine, the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict, the 1970 civil war, and the 1975 confrontation with Syria. Military training ranges and cross-border smuggling have added to the ERW problem.

Jordan declared that it had fulfilled its Article 5 clearance obligations on 24 April 2012, having determined that no areas under its jurisdiction or control remained in which antipersonnel mines were known or suspected.[1]

However, in formally declaring completion of its Article 5 obligations at the Twelfth Meeting of States Parties in December 2012, Jordan noted that: “While all mined areas that Jordan had made every effort to identify were cleared by 24 April 2012, Jordan, as a responsible State Party, has proceeded with verification efforts in two parts of the country, with these verification efforts having resulted in the discovery of additional mined areas.”[2] This pertains first to the need for verification in the Jordan Valley, as earlier clearance by the Jordanian armed forces’ Royal Engineering Corps (REC) did not comply with national and international standards and was not subject to quality control; and second to verification that is needed along Jordan’s northern border, due to a considerable discrepancy (estimated to be approximately 10,000 mines[3]) between the recorded number of emplaced mines and the number actually cleared. The difference is said to be due to the migration of mines outside identified areas due to flooding and terrain fluctuations, detonations,[4] and unrecorded clearance operations by the army or by smugglers.[5]

As of the end of 2015, the total area in need of verification for missing mines was just over 7km², across 113 areas. This comprised 4.2km² across 95 areas in the Jordan Valley and 2.85km² across 18 areas in the northern borders.[6]

The Jordan Valley is highly fertile, and many affected areas still awaiting verification could be used for agriculture once they are released. Completion of verification and clearance would also help to reduce the threat to local communities, contribute to the government’s poverty reduction strategy, and help demilitarize border areas, supporting peacebuilding efforts.[7]

With respect to the northern borders, in its 2012 Article 5 Declaration of Completion, Jordan reported that some 6.9km² remained to be verified, and that the process being undertaken by Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) had been delayed for security reasons.[8] NPA’s verification procedure involved a mixture of visual inspection of areas adjacent to the mine belt, ground preparation with mechanical assets and limited involvement of manual deminers, and full technical survey of areas where evidence and experience pointed to a risk of contamination.[9] By May 2013, the estimated area needing verification had been reduced to around 5km², but verification by NPA had been halted as of February 2013 because of the security situation.[10] In its 2015–2020 National Plan, Jordan reported that 3.7km² remained to be verified and inspected by quality control (QC) teams.[11] Most recently, Jordan reported that, as at the end of 2015, just over 2.8km² across 18 areas along the northern borders, still needed verification.[12] Verification operations in the north remained suspended as of August 2016, due to the Syrian crisis.[13]

Program Management

The National Committee for Demining and Rehabilitation (NCDR) is responsible for coordinating, accrediting, regulating, and quality-assuring all mine action organizations, as well as for fundraising.[14] It is also responsible for ensuring mine action is integrated into the country’s wider development strategies.[15] NCDR’s board of directors includes representatives of the Jordanian armed forces, the government, NGOs, landmine survivors, and the media.[16]

Strategic planning

The NCDR’s 2010–2015 National Plan, published in June 2010, aimed to complete clearance of all known mines, including 65,000 mines from the northern border by May 2012, and to clear all ERW by December 2012.[17] Jordan had planned to complete verification and clearance in the Jordan Valley by the end of 2015, but later said the date of completion would depend on available resources.[18]

The NCDR’s current 2015–2020 National Mine Action Plan aims to verify, sample, and release the remaining 5.4km² in the Jordan Valley within 36 months (by the end of 2017), by deploying six manual clearance teams and one mechanical demining team at a projected cost of US$2 million.[19] Resuming verification and release of the remaining 3.7km² along the northern border with Syria will depend on the security situation but, according to the plan, would require one year’s work with three manual teams and one mechanical team, at an expected cost of $1 million.[20] The plan also aims to eliminate all ERW contamination by 2017.[21] The NCDR prioritizes populated areas and areas in need of development for verification.[22]

In addition, Jordan’s national plan reports that the NCDR will transition from a national institution focusing largely on its own mine clearance, to one that will concentrate on assisting other conflict-affected countries to overcome the challenges of mine action and ERW removal.[23]

Operators

The verification and demining operations in Jordan are conducted by the NCDR and REC. As of September 2015, there were two operational teams, totaling 17 deminers. In October 2015, this increased to four operational teams, totaling 35 deminers.[24]

In addition, the NCDR has one mechanical asset, but this was not used in 2015, as there were said to be no areas to which the machine could be usefully deployed.[25]

Land Release

In 2015, Jordan released 0.65km² of land,[26] which is in line with the 0.6km² it expected to release during the year.[27] Operations verified and released 30 areas in the Jordan Valley, destroying 170 antipersonnel mines, four antivehicle mines, and 76 items of unexploded ordnance (UXO).[28]

The land released in 2015 is an increase over the 0.55km² released in 2014,[29] progress that was ascribed to increased operational capacity in the last quarter of 2015.[30]

Article 5 Compliance

Given Jordan’s recognition that mined areas remain, and the continued discovery and clearance of mines in areas it has verified, Jordan still has outstanding Article 5 survey and clearance obligations.

Jordan declared completion of its Article 5 obligations on 24 April 2012, just ahead of its 1 May 2012 treaty deadline, in accordance with the three-year extension request granted by States Parties in 2008. It submitted its formal declaration of completion to the Twelfth Meeting of States Parties in December 2012.[31] On announcing completion, however, Jordan acknowledged that “a residual risk could remain in areas where landmines have been emplaced,”[32] and noted that verification efforts had resulted in the discovery of additional mined areas.[33] The verification efforts, which are ongoing in the Jordan Valley, and which are currently suspended along the northern border due to insecurity, continue to result in the discovery and clearance of mined areas.[34]

In August 2016, Jordan stated that its Article 5 issue “will be discussed during the next Mine Ban Treaty Meeting of States Parties,”[35] which is being held in Santiago, Chile, from 28 November to 2 December 2016.

According to its 2015−2020 National Mine Action Plan, Jordan would need three years to finish the verification process, aiming for completion by December 2017.[36] However, the head of the NCDR has acknowledged that it may not reach this target, given that the plan assumed a capacity of six national teams from 1 January 2015, which is less than current capacity.[37] The doubling of operational capacity in October 2015, from two teams to four, should increase the number of areas verified and released in 2016.[38] However, it is still short of the six teams specified in Jordan’s 2015–2020 National Mine Action Plan.[39] Furthermore, resumption and completion of verification along the northern borders is also contingent on an improvement in the security situation, and as at August 2016 verification activities remained suspended.[40]

The Monitor gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the Mine Action Review supported and published by Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), which conducted mine action research in 2016 and shared it with the Monitor. The Monitor is responsible for the findings presented online and in its print publications.