Sri Lanka
Mine Ban Policy
Policy
The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 13 December 2017 and the treaty entered into force for the country on 1 June 2018.
Sri Lanka adopted specific national legislation to implement the Mine Ban Treaty in February 2022.[1] The Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines Act provides penalties for violations of up to 10 years imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 rupees.[2] Under the law, a citizen of Sri Lanka shall not “receive, use, develop, produce, import, export, sell, expose for sale, purchase, supply, transport, acquire, possess, retain, stockpile or transfer an antipersonnel mine” in Sri Lanka or anywhere in the world. It also prohibits attempts to “modify or convert an anti-personnel mine into any other form of an explosive.” An exception permits Sri Lanka to retain antipersonnel mines, in accordance with the treaty, for “developing, or training persons in, techniques of mine detection, mine clearance, mine deactivation, or mine destruction,” and states that the number of mines retained “shall not exceed the minimum number absolutely necessary” for those purposes.
Sri Lanka has provided six Article 7 transparency reports since joining the treaty, most recently in June 2023.[3]
Sri Lanka has regularly participated in meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty, most recently attending the Twentieth Meeting of States Parties held in Geneva in November 2022, where it made a statement on victim assistance. Sri Lanka also attended the intersessional meetings in Geneva in June 2023.
Sri Lanka is party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines.
Production, transfer, and use
There is no evidence that the government of Sri Lanka has ever produced or exported antipersonnel landmines. Sri Lanka imported antipersonnel mines in the past and possessed a stockpile, which has since been destroyed under the Mine Ban Treaty.
Since the end of armed conflict in May 2009, the Monitor has not received any reports of new use of antipersonnel mines by any entity in Sri Lanka.
Prior to the end of armed conflict, in October 2009, Sri Lanka Army Commander, Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya, said that “the use of mines by the Sri Lankan military is strictly limited and restricted to defensive purposes only…to demarcate and defend military installations,” adding that mined areas are “marked accordingly…and relevant records systematically maintained.”[4] Earlier in 2009, Brigadier Lasantha Wickramasuriya acknowledged that the Sri Lanka Army had used antipersonnel mines in the past, including non-detectable Belgian, Chinese, and Italian mines, as well as bounding and fragmentation mines of Pakistani, Portuguese, and United States (US) manufacture.[5]
In 2008–2009, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a non-state armed group (NSAG), laid large quantities of mines across the north of Sri Lanka.[6] Prior to its demise, the LTTE was considered expert in making explosive weapons. It was known to produce several types of antipersonnel mines: Jony 95 (a small wooden box mine), Rangan 99 or Jony 99 (a copy of the P4MK1 Pakistani-made mine), SN96 (a Claymore-type mine), and fragmentation antipersonnel mines from mortars. The LTTE also produced other variants of some of these antipersonnel mine types—including some with antihandling features—as well as Amman 2000 MK1 and MKII antivehicle mines.[7]
During 1987–1990, the Indian military and peacekeeping forces used landmines in northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka.[8]
Stockpiling and destruction
Sri Lanka initially declared a stockpile of 77,865 antipersonnel mines of nine types. Sri Lanka’s declared stockpile of antipersonnel landmines included mines of Belgian, Chinese, Italian (or Singaporean), and Pakistani origin, as well as unknown mine types.[9] This total was adjusted by Sri Lanka during the stockpile destruction process, which commenced in 2018.[10]
In October 2021, Sri Lanka announced that it had completed the destruction of its stockpiled antipersonnel mines, well in advance of its Mine Ban Treaty deadline of 1 June 2022.[11] The last 11,840 antipersonnel mines were destroyed in Kilinochchi district, Northern province.[12] In June 2023, Sri Lanka reported having destroyed an overall total of 129,496 antipersonnel landmines.[13]
Retention
As of December 2022, Sri Lanka retained 9,825 mines for research and training purposes.
In 2018, Sri Lanka initially announced that it was retaining 21,153 antipersonnel landmines. It has progressively reduced that number as mines have been consumed.[14] According to Sri Lanka, the mines “are used for training of mine detection dogs, training and testing on mechanical assets and equipment used in de-mining activities and testing de-miners PPE [personal protective equipment] in consideration of blast effects produced by different types of antipersonnel mines.” The Sri Lanka Army, as well as the navy, air force, and police, all use retained mines in training programs.[15]
According to Sri Lanka’s June 2023 Article 7 transparency report, it consumed or otherwise destroyed a total of 4,664 retained mines in 2022, when compared to the data on retention in its report for the previous year.[16]
Antipersonnel mines retained by Sri Lanka (as of December 2022)[17]
|
Type |
Mines retained (as of December 2021) |
Mines retained (as of December 2022) |
|
P4MK I |
1,678 |
19 |
|
P4MK II |
11,340 |
8,894 |
|
Type 72 |
508 |
244 |
|
VS50 |
760 |
491 |
|
Type 1969 |
165 |
139 |
|
PRB 409 |
38 |
38 |
|
Total |
14,489 |
9,825 |
[1] The Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines Act was certified by Parliament on 17 February 2022 and published in the National Gazette on 18 February 2022. See, Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, “Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines Act, No. 3 of 2022,” 17 February 2022.
[2] Sri Lanka Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, 21 July 2022, Form A. See, Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Database; and Krishnan Francis, “Sri Lanka approves law implementing anti-land mine treaty,” Associated Press, 10 February 2022. In June 2021, Sri Lanka had reported that “Cabinet approval was obtained in September 2020 to proceed with the draft of the prohibition of Anti-Personal Mines Bill.” It noted that several drafts of the bill had been circulated between the Department of Legal Draftsman, the Ministry of Justice, and the Attorney General’s Department.
[3] Sri Lanka Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, 21 July 2022. Sri Lanka also provided a voluntary initial Article 7 transparency report for the treaty in 2005.
[4] “Flow of arms to terrorists must stop,” Sri Lanka Guardian, 28 October 2009.
[5] Presentation on Humanitarian Demining by Brig. Lasantha Wickramasuriya, Sri Lanka Army, Bangkok Workshop on Achieving a Mine-Free South-East Asia, 2 April 2009. The presentation included a section entitled “Types of Mines Used by the Sri Lankan Army,” followed by photographs and titles: P4MK1 (Pakistani antipersonnel mine); M72 (Chinese antipersonnel mine); VS-50 (Italian antipersonnel mine); M16A1 (US bounding antipersonnel mine, however the photograph shows what appears to be a P7MK1 Pakistani or PRBM966 Portuguese bounding mine); PRB 415 (photograph shows what appears to be an NR 409 Belgian antipersonnel mine); PRB 413 (photograph shows what appears to be a Portuguese M421 antipersonnel mine); M15 and ND MK1 antivehicle mines; and M18A1 Claymore mines. The Monitor had previously reported that Sri Lanka acquired antipersonnel mines from China, Italy (or Singapore), Pakistan, Portugal, and perhaps Belgium, the US, and others. In its voluntary Article 7 report submitted in 2005, Sri Lanka noted the presence of these antipersonnel mines in minefields: P4MK1, P4MK2, P4MK3, P5MK1, Type 69 (Pakistan); PRB 413 (Pakistan/Portugal); PRB 409, M696 (Portugal); Type 66, Type 72 (China); and VS-50 (Italy/Singapore). See, Sri Lanka Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, voluntary, 13 June 2005, Forms C and H. The Monitor previously identified the following antipersonnel mines as having been used by Sri Lankan government troops in the past: P4 and P3 MK (manufactured by Pakistan); Type 72, Type 72A, and Type 69 (China); VS-50 (Italy or Singapore); NR409/PRB (Belgium); M409 and M696 (Portugal); and M18A1 Claymore mines (US). See, ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2004: Toward a Mine-Free World (New York: Human Rights Watch, October 2004), p. 1,118; and ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2005: Toward a Mine-Free World (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, October 2005,) p. 881.
[6] See, ICBL, Landmine Monitor 2010 (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, October 2010), p. 14.
[7] Presentation on Humanitarian Demining by Brig. Lasantha Wickramasuriya, Sri Lanka Army, Bangkok Workshop on Achieving a Mine-Free South-East Asia, 2 April 2009. Sri Lanka previously provided technical details of the Jony 95 and Jony 99 mines, which it identified as “produced and used” by the LTTE. Sri Lanka Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, voluntary, 13 June 2005, Form H. See also, ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2008: Toward a Mine-Free World (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, October 2008), p. 1,017. Maj. Mangala Balasuriya of the Sri Lanka Army’s Field Engineering Brigade stated that during the last stages of the war they encountered a modified antipersonnel landmine that used white phosphorus. Monitor telephone interview with Maj. Mangala Herath, Field Engineering Brigade, Sri Lanka Army, 25 June 2009.
[8] Statement of Sri Lanka, Mine Ban Treaty Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 26 November 2018.
[9] Sri Lanka Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, November 2018. The stockpile was initially reported as containing the following mine types (origin in brackets): 1,828 P4MK1 (Pakistan); 73,178 P4MK2 (Pakistan); 1,334 Type 72 (China); 1,208 VS50 (Italy); 254 Type 1969 (unknown); and 47 PRB409 (Belgium).
[10] In November 2018, Sri Lanka announced that physical destruction of its stockpile had already started and that the destruction of 57,033 antipersonnel mines had occurred prior to November 2018. Sri Lanka’s total stockpile prior to destruction commencing was 134,898 antipersonnel mines, including mines intended to be retained for training and research purposes. See, Sri Lanka Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, November 2018, Form B. In June 2021, Sri Lanka declared a remaining stockpile of 11,840 antipersonnel landmines and reported that their destruction would be completed in July 2021. See, Sri Lanka Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, June 2021, Section 3, Table 2.
[11] In its initial Article 7 transparency report, submitted on 28 November 2018, Sri Lanka declared a stockpile of 77,865 antipersonnel mines. See also, Sri Lanka Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, June 2021, Section 3, Table 2.
[12] Mine Ban Treaty Implementation Support Unit (ISU) press release, “Nearly 12,000 landmines destroyed by Sri Lanka under the Mine Ban Convention,” 1 October 2021.
[13] Sri Lanka Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, 2 June 2023, Forms F and G. This total includes some mines that were listed for training purposes. It is unclear if they were consumed during training, or if Sri Lanka decided not to retain these mines and destroyed them. The total in the Article 7 report is also stated as 129,216, however, adding the figures provided in Form F results in a total of 129,496.
[14] Sri Lanka Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, June 2021, Sections 3 and 4. The report states, “The quantity has decreased to 16,718 as a result of being used for training of mine detection dogs, training and testing on mechanical assets and equipment used in de-mining activities.”
[15] Sri Lanka Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, June 2021, Sections 3 and 4.
[16] In Sri Lanka’s June 2023 Article 7 Report, Form F, it reports an overall total of 129,496 antipersonnel landmines as having been destroyed, which is 9,107 more than was listed in its July 2022 report (120,389). Subtracting the number of retained mines consumed in 2022 from the difference between the total number of mines reported as destroyed in each of the two reports, appears to show that a further 4,443 mines have been destroyed by Sri Lanka, separate from those destroyed in mined areas. There was no additional explanation to clarify this discrepancy.
[17] Sri Lanka Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, 21 July 2022, Form D; and Sri Lanka Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, 2 June 2023, Form D, pp. 4–5.