Greece
Mine Ban Policy
Policy
The Hellenic Republic (Greece) signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, and ratified on 25 September 2003 before becoming a State Party on 1 March 2004.
Ratification made the Mine Ban Treaty part of Greek domestic law.[1] Greece has specified the parts of its existing criminal codes that provide penal sanctions for any violations of the treaty.[2]
Greece has been in violation of the Mine Ban Treaty since March 2008, when it missed its stockpile destruction deadline.
Greece regularly submits annual Article 7 transparency reports.
Greece attended the Eighteenth Meeting of States Parties, held virtually in November 2020, and the intersessional meetings in June 2021. At both meetings, Greece provided an update on its stockpile destruction progress. Greece has previously attended most Meetings of States Parties and intersessional meetings, in addition to the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014.
Greece is not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Greece is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines, and in early 2021 submitted its annual Article 13 report for calendar year 2020. Greece is not party to CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war (ERW).
Production and trade
Greece is a former producer of antipersonnel landmines, while it also formerly imported them from Germany and the United States (US).[3] Prior to becoming a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty, Greece had a moratorium on the production and export of antipersonnel mines for a number of years.[4]
Stockpiling and destruction
Before Greece began stockpile destruction efforts, it reported possessing a stockpile of 1,568,167 antipersonnel mines, composed of 792,780 DM31 mines, 568,327 M16 mines, 204,565 M2 mines, and 2,495 M14 mines.[5] Greece had previously reported a pre-destruction stockpile totaling 1,566,532 antipersonnel mines, composed of these four types as well as 504 Area Denial Artillery Munition (ADAM) 155mm artillery projectiles, each containing 36 antipersonnel mines. Counting the ADAM mines, the revised pre-destruction stockpile total was 1,586,311.[6]
Greece failed to meet its 1 March 2008 Article 4 deadline for stockpile destruction, and remains in violation of the Mine Ban Treaty. In its Article 7 transparency report for calendar year 2020, Greece reported that it had 343,413 antipersonnel mines remaining in stockpile. It reported that the last physical destruction of stockpiles occurred in 2019.[7]
On 1 October 2014, an explosion at the Midzhur munitions destruction plant owned by VIDEX in Gorni Lom, Bulgaria, killed 15 workers and halted Greece’s stockpile destruction program.[8] The Bulgarian president, Rosen Plevneliev, attributed the Midzhur plant blast to “arrogant non-observance” of rules of procedure.[9] In a statement released on 31 December 2014, Greece stated that “it was reviewing all possible options in an effort to adhere to its initial intention to complete the destruction of all stockpiled anti-personnel mines by the end of 2015.”[10] At the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in November 2018, Greece reported that the transfer of antipersonnel mines from Bulgarian storage back to Greece was complete.[11]
Further barriers to the completion of Greece’s stockpile destruction obligation arose in a “legal dispute” with Hellenic Defence Systems, which remains unresolved. In a statement made in November 2020, Greece reiterated previous explanation for the dispute:
“Hellenic Defence Systems (HDS) stopped the destruction process at their facilities in Lavrio Plant, due to environmental compliance issues. The HDS and their subcontractor took steps in an effort to resolve these issues. However, as we were recently informed by the HDS, it was not possible to ensure environmental compliance during the demilitarization process and had to consequently terminate the cooperation with their subcontractor.
In this context, we would like to refrain from providing, at the present phase, a time-bound plan, since we must assess the current options under consideration during the deliberations between the competent departments of the Ministry of National Defence and the HDS, including the conduct of an international tender procedure for the destruction of the remaining APLMs stockpile.”[12]
Greece announced in June 2021 that a new contract tender “will be issued in order to appoint a new subcontractor for the demilitarization of the remaining APLMs stockpile.”[13]
The ICBL has repeatedly expressed concern at Greece’s failure to begin the destruction process early enough to meet its stockpile destruction deadline. It has urged Greece to set a firm deadline for completion, to devote the necessary resources for stockpile destruction, and to report progress to States Parties on a monthly basis.[14]
Mines retained for research and training
For 2020, Greece declared a total of 5,570 mines retained “for training soldiers in mine detection and clearance and canine detection.” This consists of M14 (3,003), DM31 (1,266), M2 (1,001), and M16 (308) mines. No retained mines were reported destroyed or consumed by Greece in calendar year 2020.[15] Greece had initially retained a stockpile of 7,224 antipersonnel mines.
[1] Interview with Lt.-Col. Vassilis Makris, Defence Policy Directorate, International Law Section, Hellenic Defence General Staff, Ministry of Defence, Athens, 13 May 2005.
[2] Greece Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form A, April 2006. See, Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Database. The information has been repeated in all subsequent Article 7 reports. See also, ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2006: Toward a Mine-Free World (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, July 2006).
[3] Greece has reported, “Upon ratification of the Ottawa Convention, there were not any anti-personnel mine production facilities whatsoever in Greece.” Greece Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form E, April 2012. See, Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Database.
[4] On 19 February 2010, a Greek news agency reported that US forces seized a ship heading for East Africa carrying a cargo of weapons, including a “large quantity of mines” with serial numbers indicating that they were US-manufactured mines purchased by the Greek army, allegedly sent to Bulgaria for destruction. Both Bulgaria and Greece conducted investigations into the incident and concluded that the allegation was unfounded.
[5] Greece Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form B, April 2013. See, Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Database.
[6] Previously, in its 2010 report, Greece reported a pre-destruction stockpile of 1,566,532 antipersonnel mines composed of five types: DM31 (794,400), M16 (553,359), M2 (214,374), M14 (3,895), and ADAM artillery shells (504). Each of the 504 projectiles reported by Greece contain 36 individual antipersonnel mines, making a total of 18,144 ADAM mines and providing an overall total of 1,584,172 mines. Greece Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form B, April 2010. See, Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Database.
[7] Greece last reported the destruction of 53,039 mines in 2019 (17,419 M2; 2,244 DM31; 32,259 M16; and 1,117 M14 mines). Greece Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2019), Form G. Greece destroyed 244,309 antipersonnel mines in 2018 (502 M2; 492 DM31; 242,729 M16; and 586 M14 mines). Greece Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2018). See, Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Database.
[8] Bulgaria stated that 6,986 mines were being destroyed at the Midzhur plant in Gorni Lom at the time of the explosion. A total of 130 of the mines had been recovered, but were not going to be transferred due to their damaged condition. The remaining 6,856 mines were either destroyed during the initial plant explosion or are still scattered throughout the processing facility, and these mines will be destroyed upon discovery according to Bulgaria’s statement. Statement of Bulgaria, Mine Ban Treaty intersessional meetings, Geneva, June 2015.
[9] Stoyan Nenov and Tsvetelia Tsolova, “Blasts kill 15 people at Bulgaria explosives plant,” Reuters, 2 October 2014.
[10] Preliminary Observations of the President of the Fourteenth Meeting of States Parties, Mine Ban Treaty intersessional meetings, Geneva, 23 June 2015.
[11] Statement of Greece, Mine Ban Treaty Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 29 November 2018.
[12] Statement of Greece, Mine Ban Treaty Eighteenth Meeting of States Parties, held virtually, 19 November 2020.
[13] Statement of Greece, Mine Ban Treaty intersessional meetings, held virtually, June 2021.
[14] Statement of ICBL, Mine Ban Treaty Eleventh Meeting of States Parties, Phnom Penh, 1 December 2011; Statement of ICBL, Mine Ban Treaty Tenth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 29 November 2010; and Statement of ICBL, Mine Ban Treaty Second Review Conference, Cartagena, 2 December 2009.
[15] Greece Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2020), Form D. See, Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Database.