Policy

The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. In December 2010, Nepal stated that recommendations regarding accession to the Mine Ban Treaty would be completed “soon.”[1]

The November 2006 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) committed the government and the former Communist Party of Nepal/Maoist to halt the use of mines and required the parties to assist each other to mark and clear mines and booby-traps.[2]

On 12 December 2019, Nepal abstained from voting on annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 74/61 calling for universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty, as it has every year since 2007. Prior to 2007, Nepal had voted in favor of all previous pro-mine ban resolutions from 1996. In a June 2013 explanation of its abstention to the Nepal Campaign to Ban Landmines (NCBL), a Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative said that “The reason for abstaining in the UNGA resolutions may be that the participating teams may not be ‘well-informed’ in those matters.” The representative said he would send a message to the concerned authorities regarding future votes.[3]

The reason for Nepal’s inaction in acceding to the Mine Ban Treaty remains unclear. The NCBL drafted an Article 7 report in cooperation with the army and submitted it to the former Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction (MoPR) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The NCBL requested the government to submit the voluntary report, but this did not occur. The NCBL has consistently engaged all key stakeholder ministries, who have contributed to awareness-raising and capacity-building on mine action through NCBL programs.[4]

During the past fifteen years, the NCBL has received successive statements of support from key ministers in the former MoPR, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Defence. The NCBL has organized events jointly with the former MoPR, such as the annual International Mine Awareness Day on 4 April. In November 2016, Minister of Foreign Affairs Prakash Sharan Mahat told an NCBL delegation that he was one of the driving forces behind Nepal signing the Biological Weapons Convention, adding that he would lobby for accession to the Mine Ban Treaty and would contact the relevant ministries. However, he left office seven months later.[5] In March 2017, the NCBL met with Tirtha Raj Wagle, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who suggested organizing an inter-ministerial discussion.[6] However, the former officials NCBL spoke with were subsequently transferred in each case, and no further progress has been made towards accession.[7]

Nepal has not attended a Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty since 2010 and did not attend the Fourth Review Conference in Oslo in November 2019. The NCBL forwarded via email to the Mission of Nepal to the UN in Geneva invitation letters for Nepal to participate in the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional meetings, and has previously met with Brigu Dhungana, Deputy Consular of Nepal’s Geneva mission, on 7 April 2014, and with Ambassador Deepak Dhital and Counsellor Suresh Adhikari, on 6 September 2016.[8]

Until now a total of 27 of Nepal’s political parties have signed an NCBL letter seeking Nepal’s accession to the Mine Ban Treaty.[9] On 30 May 2019, the NCBLmet with two Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs officials, Secretary Rajib Gautam and Joint Secretary Phanindra Gautam. The Joint Secretary stated he would look into beginning the process of accession to the treaty. In May and June 2019, the NCBL had further advocacy meetings on the Mine Ban Treaty with the president of the Parliamentary committee of Law, Justice and Human Rights, with the Foreign Minister, and with the Foreign Secretary at his office. Also in June 2019, the NCBL met with Dharma Raj Shahi, from the Officer Relief Department of the Ministry of Home Affairs, regarding victim support. He assured the NCBL that survivors of landmines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have been provided the assistance as defined in policies.

In May 2020, the NCBL presented a request to the secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to participate in the virtual intersessional meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty. On 6 June and 3 August 2020, the NCBL organized follow-up meetings of parliamentarians for the formation of a Parliamentary Committee on the Mine Ban Treaty, coordinated by the former Law Minister. Subsequently, on 24 August 2020, the NCBL encouraged and supported the virtual meeting of the “Parliamentary Forum against Landmines and IEDs” which agreed to recommend Nepal joining the Mine Ban Treaty and to create a voice in Parliament for assistance to survivors. The forum also urged the government to engage in dialogue with Communist Party of Nepal-Biplav faction to halt the use of explosive weapons and enter mainstream politics. On 15 August 2020, the NCBL met with a former commander of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, to discuss the problem of explosive remnants of war (ERW) and IEDs in the post-conflict situation.[10]

Production

On 21 June 2010, Nepal wrote to the Monitor that “Nepal does not produce any kind of antipersonnel landmines and the landmines that the Nepal Army is using have been produced abroad.”[11] Nepal repeated this in its remarks to States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in December 2010 at the Tenth Meeting of States Parties.[12]

Use, transfer, and stockpiling

Nepal is not known to have ever exported landmines. In December 2009, the MoPR stated that Nepal has not planted mines since the end of the insurgency in 2006,[13] and that Nepal does not “enable the transfer” of mines.

During the conflict, the Nepal Army used antipersonnel mines and IEDs, assembled in-country, around military installations, police posts, and infrastructure. The Nepal Army has stated that it started using mines in 2002 and estimates that it deployed around 14,000 antipersonnel mines (including 11,000 PMD-6 mines and 3,000 POMZ-2 and M14 mines). It also estimates that it used about 25,000 command-detonated IEDs.[14] In June 2010, Nepal told the Monitor that it used mines in 53 locations and IEDs in 275 locations during the conflict.[15] In June 2011, Prime Minister Jhalnath Khanal detonated the final mine, ending clearance of the areas mined by the Nepal Army during the civil war. He stated that “Today is a historical day because Nepal has been liberated from all kinds of landmines.”[16]

Nepal wrote to the Monitor in June 2010 that it is now only using antipersonnel mines for training purposes. It stated that “Landmines needed for this purpose have been retained in minimum number,” noting that this is in line with Article 3 of the Mine Ban Treaty.[17] The Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, and the Nepal Army also retain stocks of IEDs.[18]

A Nepal Army spokesperson said in 2007 that the army had a stockpile of about 3,000 antipersonnel and antivehicle mines, including POMZ-2 and PMD antipersonnel mines. Nepal imported its mines from China, India, and the former Soviet Union, mostly in the 1980s.[19]

The former rebel Communist Party of Nepal/Maoist became a part of the interim government in April 2007 and led the government in 2008–2009, 2011–2013 and 2016–2017. There have been no reports of new use of antipersonnel mines, victim-activated IEDs, or booby-traps by any armed group within the country during the reporting period.