Thailand
Mine Ban Policy
Policy
The Kingdom of Thailand signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 27 November 1998, becoming a State Party on 1 May 1999.
Thailand has not enacted domestic legislation to implement the Mine Ban Treaty.[1]
Thailand submitted its annual Article 7 transparency report in 2019, covering calendar year 2018.[2]
Thailand has attended all of the Mine Ban Treaty’s Review Conferences held in 2004, 2009, and 2014, as well as most of the treaty’s Meetings of States Parties and many of the intersessional meetings held in Geneva, including the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in November 2018. Thailand has regularly co-chaired committees of the Meeting of States Parties.
Production, transfer, stockpile destruction, and retention
Thailand states that it has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines. Thailand previously imported antipersonnel mines from China, Italy, the United States, and the former Yugoslavia. It completed destruction of 337,725 stockpiled antipersonnel mines on 24 April 2003.
In its Article 7 report submitted in 2018, Thailand stated that at the end of 2018 it retained 3,133 antipersonnel mines for training purposes, a reduction of 29 mines from the previous year.[3] Thailand has never reported in detail on the actual uses of mines kept for training—a step agreed upon by States Parties at the Review Conferences in 2004 and 2009.[4] At the end of 2018, the Royal Thai Army retained 2,499 mines, the Royal Thai Air Force retained 575 mines, and the Thai Border Patrol Police retained 59 mines.[5]
Thailand is not known to have undertaken physical modifications of its Claymore mine stockpile to ensure use only in command-detonated mode. Officials have previously stated that all units have received orders that Claymore mines are to be used only in command-detonated mode.[6]
Use
The use of command-detonated improvised explosive devices (IEDs) has been a feature of the insurgency in southern Thailand.[7] On 2 July 2018, Suthin Haewkhuntod, an ethnic Thai Buddhist latex tapper in Yala province’s Krong Penang district, lost his foot after he stepped on a landmine emplaced by insurgents on the rubber plantation where he worked. Two other ethnic Thai Buddhist latex tappers, Wipawan Plodkaenthong and Chutipon Namwong, were seriously wounded by landmines, in Yala’s Yaha district on June 28 and in Muang district on 2 July.[8]
There have been no allegations of new use of antipersonnel mines on the Cambodian border with Thailand since March 2013.[9]
[1] In April 2018, Thailand reported under National Implementation that it had “re-established the National Committee for Mine Action under the Order of the Office of the Prime Minister with the Prime Minister as its Chairperson.” For further national implementation measures, the report directs the reader to Thailand’s 2015 Article 7 report, which states, “Thailand continues to consider regulations that will streamline and improve national implementation of the AP Mine Ban Convention.” Thailand provided the same update in its Article 7 report covering calendar year 2018.
[2] Thailand has provided annual updated reports every year since its initial Article 7 report was submitted in November 1999, except for its annual report in 2003.
[3] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form D, 30 April 2019.
[4] The Royal Thai Army, Navy, Air Force, and National Police Department initially retained a total of 4,970 antipersonnel mines for training. The number of retained mines did not change from 2001 to 2004. In 2005–2006, Thailand reduced the number of mines retained by 257. There were discrepancies in the reporting on the number of mines. See, Landmine Monitor Report 2007, p. 665. In 2007, it reduced the number by another 1,063 mines. It appears that 63 of the mines retained by the National Police Department were consumed during training activities, and all of the 1,000 mines retained by the navy were simply destroyed, presumably because they were no longer deemed necessary. See, Landmine Monitor Report 2008, p. 678. In 2008 and 2009, Thailand destroyed another 12 mines per year. In 2010, Thailand reported transferring 200 mines for training, apparently 13 M2, 84 M14, 39 M16, and 64 M26 antipersonnel mines. Statement of Thailand, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on General Status and Operation, Geneva, 20 June 2011; and Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form D, 30 April 2011. The types transferred are not noted in the Article 7 report.
[5] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form D, submitted in 2019.
[6] Interview with Lt.-Gen. Deemongkol, Thailand Mine Action Center (TMAC), Bangkok, 19 March 2009. TMAC stated this in 2007 as well as in 2008. In its Article 7 report for 1999, Thailand reported that it had 6,117 M18 and M18A1 Claymore mines in stock.
[7] Improvised landmines are explosive devices made out of locally available materials that are designed to detonate due to the proximity or activity of a human being. Such devices are banned under the Mine Ban Treaty.
[8] Teeranai Charuvastra, “Landmine Wounds Deep South Farmer,” Khaosod, 2 July 2018; and Mariyam Ahmad, “Thailand: Landmine Injures Fifth Rubber Farm Worker in a Week,” Benar News, 5 July 2018. See also, Human Rights Watch, “Insurgents Use Landmines in South,” 4 July 2018.
[9] Previously, in March 2013, three Thai soldiers were injured by what the Thai military described as newly planted mines near the Ta Kwai Temple in Phanom Dong Rak district. Cambodia investigated and in its report to States Parties stated that it had found the mines to be old, dating from the Cambodian civil war. Other allegations made by Thailand of Cambodian use of antipersonnel mines on the Cambodian-Thai border in 2008 and 2009 were never resolved. In October 2008, two Thai soldiers stepped on antipersonnel mines while on patrol in disputed territory between Thailand and Cambodia, near the World Heritage Site of Preah Vihear. Thai authorities maintained that the area was previously clear of mines and that the mines had been newly placed by Cambodian forces. Cambodia denied the charges and stated that the Thai soldiers had entered Cambodian territory in an area known to contain antipersonnel mines and were injured by mines laid during previous armed conflicts. In April 2009, another Thai soldier was reportedly wounded by an antipersonnel mine at the same location during further armed conflict between the two countries. In September 2009, Commander in Chief of the Royal Thai Army, Gen. Anupong Paochinda, stated that Cambodian troops were laying fresh mines along the disputed areas and close to routes where Thai soldiers make regular patrols. See, Landmine Monitor Report 2009, pp. 243–244 and 719–720; and also ICBL-CMC, “Country Profile: Cambodia: Mine Ban Policy,” 6 August 2010.