Palau

Mine Action

Last updated: 09 February 2018

Contaminated by: unexploded ordnance (UXO), and may have residual or suspected antipersonnel mine contamination.

Contamination

Antipersonnel mines

In its Article 7 report for 2016, the Republic of Palau reported that it does not have any suspected or confirmed antipersonnel mine contamination, and stated that there have “never been validated mined areas that contain or are suspected to contain anti-personnel mines under the jurisdiction or control of Palau.”[1]

In previous years, Palau reported finding and destroying small numbers of antipersonnel mines: its Article 7 report for 2016 mentions a total of 41 type 93 HE Blast antipersonnel mines found and destroyed between 2009 and the end of 2016, all in the Umurbrogol mountains, Peleliu Island.[2] The report mentions that all these mines were stockpiled, while reports from previous years listed them as discovered in areas that contain mines or areas suspected to contain mines.[3]

Twenty-three JE-type sea mines that “can be activated by human contact” were reported to have been located in tidal mangroves in Airai state in 2012, and subsequently destroyed.[4]

In August 2017, Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) reported finding no evidence of antipersonnel mine contamination during non-technical survey operations started in September 2016 and covering all states except Peleliu and Ngiwal.[5] In November 2017, Cleared Ground Demining (CGD) stated that nationwide survey conducted in 2013–2015 had found antipersonnel mines in the Umurbrogol mountains only.[6]

In its UXO Action Plan 2017–2019, Palau stated that “A total of 43 antipersonnel landmines have been cleared” since 2009, and that “it has ‘cleared all known mined areas’ in compliance with the APMBC [Mine Ban Treaty].”

Unexploded ordnance

Palau is contaminated by UXO and abandoned unexploded ordnance (AXO) on many of its 200 islands, which were left over from World War II[7] when it was the scene of a number of land and naval battles between Japanese and American forces. An estimated total of 2,800 tons (2.8 million kilograms) of ordnance was dropped or fired on Palau.[8] Much of this ordnance failed to detonate or was abandoned after the war, and as a result, an unknown amount of UXO remains on the land and in the sea, including in sunken ships.[9]

After decades of exposure to the elements including sea air, much of the ordnance is deteriorating and leaking into the ground and sea.[10] In February 2017, defensive maps detailing aircraft bombs, depth charges, and sea mines, were provided to the Palau authorities by the Japanese military via a Japanese demining NGO, the Japan Mine Action Service (JMAS).[11]

On Peleliu Island, local inhabitants have been reported to be exposed to explosive remnants of war (ERW) while hunting, fishing, collecting shellfish, and engaging in agricultural activities on taro fields and banana plantations, as well in traditional food-gathering areas where the population collect land crabs and hunt fruit bats for food.[12]

Program Management

Under the authority of Executive Order No. 335 of 14 May 2013, issued by the Office of the President, an UXO Advisory Committee was established.[13] The committee has reportedly met a number of times, with an informal working group established in 2010 also having met prior to the establishment of the committee.[14]

Three capacity-building workshops facilitated by NPA were held in 2015–2016 with government officials from the UXO Advisory Committee, CGD, and JMAS. The aim of the workshops was to support Palau’s development of a national UXO policy, a national UXO action plan, and draft national UXO standards.[15]

Executive Order No. 392 of 1 March 2017, issued by the Office of the President, declared that the UXO Policy and UXO Action Plan 2017–2019 were adopted. It authorized the establishment of a national coordination system and a unified database mechanism.[16]

Strategic planning

The UXO Advisory Committee has overseen the development of the UXO Policy and UXO Action Plan 2017–2019.[17]

The UXO policy outlines national coordination measures and assigns responsibilities to the relevant ministries. It also formally documents the role of the UXO Advisory Committee, which is composed of government ministries, states, agencies, and other governmental organizations. The Director of the Bureau of Domestic Affairs within the Ministry of State acts as the secretariat.[18]

An UXO Technical Working Group, chaired by the National Safety Office and consisting of representatives at working level from each ministry,[19] Palau’s states, and other concerned organizations, has been established by the UXO Advisory Committee. The UXO Technical Working Group assists the committee with its work, particularly on the technical aspects of UXO destruction.[20] Clearance organizations are not part of the UXO Technical Working Group.[21]

Standards

The UXO Advisory Committee is tasked to determine rules and regulations for the quality and standard of work performed by agencies like the National Safety Office (in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Industries and Commerce), the police, international organizations, NGOs, and foreign militaries. These rules and regulations, known as “Palau UXO Standards,” are based on the International Mine Action Standards (IMAS) and have been drafted with the support of NPA.[22]

An initial workshop in August 2015, to which CGD, JMAS, and NPA contributed, identified a list of 21 UXO standards needed in Palau. This included adopting certain IMAS in full, tailoring others to the situation in Palau, and developing some standards for situations unique to Palau.[23] In July 2017, the standards were streamlined to concentrate more on permissions and legalities for the removal of ERW rather than the technical aspects of clearance.[24] As of December 2017, the draft standards had yet to be distributed to all operators for comment.[25]

Information management

Previously, no centralized database contained historical information/data on, for example, the location and clearance of UXO, which could be retrieved for planning and prioritization purposes.[26] However, with the support of NPA, the National Safety Office established a national UXO database in January 2017[27] to coordinate survey and clearance of UXO and mine contamination.

With the adoption of the UXO Policy and UXO Action Plan 2017–2019, the Palau authorities now have a mandate to collect historical data from operators conducting clearance in Palau, and verify and qualify data for reporting to Palau leadership, local communities, and the international community.[28]

The National Safety Office now receives both historical and current data on contamination, survey, and clearance to populate the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) database.[29] All items found to-date have been reported by operators, and entered into the UXO database, with the exception of historical data on UXO from CGD for the period 2009­2016, which was still being processed as of December 2017.[30] In addition, as of July 2017, the United States corps of engineers had yet to provide details of the location and type of explosive ordnance cleared during various explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) missions and construction work in Palau.[31]

Operators

CGD has been operating in Palau since September 2009, and has conducted UXO non-technical survey, technical survey, clearance, as well as spot tasks in all states of Palau, both on land and at sea. Further to the arrival of JMAS in 2012, it concentrated its activities on land and provided JMAS and the National Safety Office with its underwater survey data.[32]

In 2012, JMAS began working in Palau, with a focus on underwater UXO clearance. JMAS’s activities to date have included monitoring of the “Helmet Wreck” off Malakal, Koror, and other wreck sites, and undertaking underwater surveys.[33] JMAS planned to deploy two EOD teams for UXO survey in 2017, each of which will conduct a 10-day survey each month, using GPS and aqua-sonar equipment, magnetic anomaly detectors, underwater remote-controlled cameras, underwater scooters, still and video cameras, and protective diving suits.[34] As of September 2017, JMAS had received survey and clearance authorizations from Korkor state, and was awaiting authorization to extend its operations to Ngatpang and Ngeremlengui states. It had, however, conducted a survey of the port of Ngeremlengui.[35]

Since 2015, NPA has been assisting Palau to strengthen national capacity to manage and coordinate the UXO sector, and to help undertake surveys and UXO clearance. NPA reported that from April 2017 it had begun working under the National Safety Office, as the “ERW/UXO team.”[36]

In addition, NPA began non-technical survey on 15 September 2016. In January 2017, NPA began clearance of spot tasks, followed by clearance of hazardous areas in March. As of August 2017, personnel had also been assigned permanently to provide EOD cover to Palau’s water and sewer improvement projects.[37] NPA also conducted EOD level 1 training for the Koror State Rangers and the police department, and conducted joint clearance operations with the Koror State Rangers in 2017. In addition, the National Safety Office ERW/UXO team will conduct risk assessments for all planned infrastructure work.[38]

Land Release

CGD conducted non-technical survey and technical survey in all states of Palau from 2013 to 2015. It has reported the removal of over 55,000 items of UXO and AXO, weighing 139 tons, through clearance activities in all states since 2009. Of this, 47 tons were located underwater. Prioritization of clearance was agreed with state authorities, and has included locations such as households, tourism sites, conservation areas, and public infrastructure.[39]

Palau, in conjunction with international partners including NPA, CGD, and JMAS, is planning, coordinating, and implementing a nationwide non-technical survey, referred to in the UXO Action Plan 2017–2019 as a “general UXO survey,” to confirm the UXO-affected areas of the country. NPA is conducting the non-technical survey, which “will gather documentary information from a variety of sources, such as previous surveys, NGO progress reports, other ministries, states, police, construction agencies, dive operators and historical records. All data collected during the general survey is to be stored in IMSMA.”[40] In addition, all information from NPA is backed up and delivered to the Palau Automated Land and Resource Information System (PALRIS), in the Office of Planning and Statistics, under the Ministry of Finance.[41]

NPA started non-technical survey on 18 September 2016, in the state of Koror. As of August 2017, NPA had completed non-technical survey of all states, except for Peleliu and Ngiwal, where CGD is working. No evidence of antipersonnel mine contamination has been found in non-technical survey operations to date.[42]

JMAS did not encounter any antipersonnel mines or sea mines in 2016, but it did discover 10 items of ERW in the shallow waters off Koror state. In addition, JMAS found three ammunition boxes and four depth charges at Chuyo Maru, as well as four ammunition boxes, one machine gun shell container, one cartridge container, and one “unknown” container in Urakami Maru.[43]

Article 5 Compliance

Palau does not report having areas suspected or confirmed to be contaminated with antipersonnel mines.

 

The Monitor acknowledges the contributions of the Mine Action Review (www.mineactionreview.org), which has conducted the mine action research in 2017, including on survey and clearance, and shared all its resulting landmine and cluster munition reports with the Monitor. The Monitor is responsible for the findings presented online and in its print publications.



[1] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2016).

[2] Ibid.

[3] Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2011); and Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2012).

[4] Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2012); email from Cassandra McKeown, Finance Director, Cleared Ground Demining (CGD), 29 November 2017.

[5] Email from Luke Atkinson, Programme Manager, Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), 30 August 2017.

[6] Email from Cassandra McKeown, CGD, 29 November 2017.

[7] Statement of Palau, Mine Ban Treaty Sixth Meeting of States Parties, Zagreb, 29 November 2005.

[8] United States military statistics included in the document provided to Landmine Monitor by email from Cassandra McKeown, CGD, 19 May 2010.

[9] Government of Palau, “UXO Action Plan 2017–2019,” 1 March 2017, p. 6; and “UXO Policy,” 1 March 2017.

[10] Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, “WWII Unexploded Ordnance: A Study of UXO in Four Pacific Island Countries,” August 2011.

[11] Emails from Luke Atkinson, NPA, 11 and 12 July 2017.

[12] Emails from Cassandra McKeown, CGD, stating 2009–2010 community survey findings, 19 May 2010, and 18 July 2011.

[13] Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2016).

[14] Government of Palau, “UXO Policy,” 1 March 2017.

[15] NPA, “Humanitarian Disarmament in Palau,” undated; email from Balkuu Kumangai, National Safety Officer, National Safety Office, Bureau of Public Works, Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Industries and Commerce, 3 April 2017; and Government of Palau, “UXO Action Plan 2017–2019,” 1 March 2017, p. 3.

[16] Executive Order No. 392, Office of the President, Republic of Palau, 1 March 2017.

[17] Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2016), Form A.

[18] Email from Balkuu Kumangai, Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Industries and Commerce, 3 April 2017.

[19] Government of Palau, “UXO Policy,” 1 March 2017; and email from Eunice Akiwo, Ministry of State, 21 April 2017.

[20] Government of Palau, “UXO Policy,” 1 March 2017.

[21] Interview with Steve Ballinger, CGD, 21 December 2017.

[22] Government of Palau, “UXO Policy,” and “UXO Action Plan 2017–2019,” 1 March 2017; and Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2016).

[23] Government of Palau, “UXO Action Plan 2017–2019,” 1 March 2017, p. 14.

[24] Email from Luke Atkinson, NPA, 30 August 2017.

[25] Interview with Steve Ballinger, CGD, 21 December 2017.

[26] Government of Palau, “UXO Action Plan 2017–2019,” 1 March 2017.

[27] Email from Eunice Akiwo, Ministry of State, 21 April 2017.

[28] Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2016), Form A.

[29] Government of Palau, “UXO Action Plan 2017–2019,” 1 March 2017; and email from Balkuu Kumangai, Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Industries and Commerce, 3 April 2017.

[30] Interview with Steve Ballinger, CGD, 21 December 2017.

[31] Email from Luke Atkinson, NPA, 12 July 2017; and interview with Steve Ballinger, CGD, 21 December 2017.

[32] Email from Cassandra McKeown, CGD, 29 November 2017.

[33]Team From Japan Removes Depth Charges From Palau Wreck,” Pacific Islands Report, 22 December 2015; Government of Palau, “UXO Action Plan 2017–2019,” 1 March 2017, p. 6.; and email from Yasuo Terada, JMAS, 17 March 2017.

[34] Email from Yasuo Terada, JMAS, 17 March 2017.

[35] Ibid.; and interview with Steve Ballinger, 21 December 2017.

[36] Emails from Luke Atkinson, NPA, 21 March and 11 July 2017.

[37] Ibid., 30 August 2017.

[38] Ibid., 21 March 2017.

[39] Email from Cassandra McKeown, CGD, 29 November 2017.

[40] Government of Palau, “UXO Action Plan 2017–2019,” 1 March 2017.

[41] Email from Luke Atkinson, NPA, 30 August 2017.

[42] Ibid.

[43] Email from Yasuo Terada, JMAS, 17 March 2017.