Belarus
Mine Ban Policy
Policy
The Republic of Belarus acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 September 2003, becoming a State Party on 1 March 2004.
Belarus has cited various articles of its criminal code as national implementation measures, as well as decrees specific to antipersonnel mines.[1]
Until 2016, Belarus participated in every Review Conference, Meeting of States Parties, and intersessional meeting since joining the Mine Ban Treaty in 2003. Belarus did not attend the Fifteenth Meeting of States Parties in Santiago in November–December 2016 but has since attended all meetings of the treaty, including the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2018, where it provided an update on its stockpile destruction.[2] It also attended the treaty’s intersessional meetings in May 2019.
At previous meetings, Belarus has provided updates on its joint stockpile destruction project with the European Union (EU) and Spanish company, Explosivos Alaveses SA (EXPAL).
Belarus is not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Belarus is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines. Belarus is also a party to CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.
Use, production, and transfer
Belarus has said it did not produce or export antipersonnel mines since independence in 1992 and never used antipersonnel mines for protection of its borders or for other purposes.[3]
Stockpiling and destruction
Belarus’s original stockpile of antipersonnel mines, inherited from the former Soviet Union, totaled approximately 4.5 million. It completed the destruction of non-PFM types at the end of 2006[4] and completed its destruction of PFM-1 mines in 2017.
Belarus failed to meet its deadline of 1 March 2008 to destroy all stockpiles of antipersonnel mines under its jurisdiction or control.[5] A 2010–2011 stockpile inventory saw the Ministry of Defense revise the number stockpiled to 3,356,636 PFM-1 mines remaining to be destroyed.[6] This change was reflected in subsequent Article 7 reports.[7]
Belarus had repeatedly stated that it required international assistance in order to destroy its PFM-type antipersonnel mines.[8] Attempts to provide assistance through projects financed through the European Commission (EC) collapsed in 2006 and 2008 for various reasons.[9] A program was “re-launched” by the EU on 30 June 2010, with a period of performance stipulated at 28 months.[10] In December 2010, the EU announced that the contract was awarded to the Spanish company EXPAL for a total value of €3,900,000 (US$5,171,790).[11]
Belarusreported destroying 1,862,080 PFM-1 mines in 2015 in its transparency report submitted on 30 April 2016.[12] At the Fourteenth Meeting of the States Parties in December 2015, Belarus stated that the project to destroy stockpiles of PFM-type mines was extended until August 2020 and the contract between the EC and the company in charge of carrying out destruction, EXPAL, until February 2018.[13] In a May 2016 progress report, Belarus stated that this project was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2017.[14] Belarus also stated that it will destroy any residual stocks of PFM mines that were in an “unsafe” condition.[15]
On 5 April 2017, the Ministry of Defense of Belarus confirmed in a statement that it “has fully fulfilled its international obligations under the Ottawa Convention,” by completing the destruction of “3.4 million antipersonnel mines PFM-1 with the support of the European Union.”[16]
Mines retained for research and training
In Article 7 report submitted in 2019, Belarus reported the retention of 4,505 antipersonnel mines for research and training purposes.[17] Belarus has said that it retains antipersonnel mines for the training of mine detection dogs, testing of protective equipment and mine detectors, and training of personnel.[18]
[1] See, Landmine Monitor Report 2006, p. 189.
[2] Statement of Belarus, Mine Ban Treaty Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 30 November 2018.
[3] Statement by Aleh Shloma, Representative of Belarus, UN General Assembly (UNGA) First Committee, New York, 21 October 2004.
[4] Belarus destroyed approximately 300,000 antipersonnel mines between 1992 and 2003. In cooperation with the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency and donor countries, Belarus completed the destruction of 294,775 antipersonnel mines, other than PFM-type mines, in December 2006. This stockpile consisted of 45,425 PMN, 114,384 PMN-2, 12,799 POMZ-2, 64,843 POMZ-2M, and 57,324 POM-2 antipersonnel mines. A total of 217,133 mines were destroyed by open detonation and 12,799 POMZ-2 and 64,843 POMZ-2M mines were disassembled at Belarusian industrial plants. Also in 2006, Belarus destroyed the victim-activated components of its 5,536 MON-type and 200,826 OZM-72 mines.
[5] In informing States Parties that it would not meet the deadline, Belarus stated that it “is not capable to destroy [sic] over 3.3 million stockpiled PFM type mines in terms stipulated in the Convention…The international community has no experience so far in destruction of large quantity of the PFM mines with the environmentally appropriate technology. Open detonation of this type of mines may cause severe consequences for population and environment and is therefore unacceptable. There has always been an understanding that the issue of PFM type mines is unique from the point of view of the Convention…We have repeatedly stated that the Republic of Belarus has no possibilities to accomplish the destruction of the stockpiled PFM mines without the assistance of the international community. In this regard we welcome and highly appreciate the contribution of the European Community in solving this issue.” Note Verbale and Non-Paper sent from the Permanent Mission of Belarus to the UN in Geneva to the Permanent Mission of Jordan to the UN in Geneva (as president of the Eighth Meeting of States Parties), 18 February 2008.
[6] Statement of Belarus, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Geneva, 20 June 2011. Notes by the ICBL. In 2004, Belarus initially declared a stockpile of 3,374,864 PFM and PFM-1S type antipersonnel mines. As of June 2010, Belarus reported possessing 3,370,172 PFM-1 mines. The slight decrease in stockpiles is the result of a Belarusian private company, Stroyenergo Joint Stock Co., destroying 1,812 PFM-1 mines during a test of its pilot destruction unit in 2009.
[7] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form B, 26 March 2013; and Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form B, 30 April 2011.
[8] See, for example, statement of Belarus, Mine Ban Treaty Ninth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 26 November 2008; and statement of Belarus, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Geneva, 25 May 2009.
[9] See, Landmine Monitor Report 2009, pp. 196–197.
[10] EU, “Service procurement notice, UA-Kiev: ENPI—destruction of PFM-1 series ammunition in Belarus 2010/S 124-188668,” 30 June 2010.
[11] Belarus, “Contract award notice, BY-Minsk: destruction of PFM-1 series ammunition in Belarus 2011/S 14-020376,” 21 January 2011. Average exchange rate for 2010: €1=US$1.3261. US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates (Annual),” 6 January 2011.
[12] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form B, 30 April 2016.
[13] Statement of Belarus, Mine Ban Treaty Fourteenth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 3 December 2015.
[14] Statement of Belarus, Mine Ban Treaty Intersessional Meetings, Committee on Stockpile Destruction, 20 May 2016.
[15] Statement of Belarus, Fourteenth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 3 December 2015.
[16] Statement of Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Belarus, 5 April 2017.
[17] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form B, 2019.
[18] This was first articulated in an interview with Maj. Gen. Sergei Luchina, Ministry of Defense, and Valery Kolesnik, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Geneva, 15 June 2005. Belarus restated this during the 25 June 2010 meeting of the Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the Convention in Geneva (in Russian, unofficial translation by Landmine Monitor).