Policy

The Republic of Tunisia signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified it on 9 July 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 January 2000.

Tunisia has listed 10 laws that it considers implementation measures for the Mine Ban Treaty.[1]

Tunisia last submitted an Article 7 transparency report for the treaty in 2023, covering the period from April 2022 to April 2023.[2] It has provided annual updated reports every year since its initial report was submitted in July 2000.

Tunisia has participated in most meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty, including the Twentieth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2022.   

Production, transfer, stockpile destruction, and retention

Tunisia has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines, but imported them in the past.[3]

Tunisia completed the destruction of 18,259 stockpiled antipersonnel mines in September 2003.[4]

In its initial declaration in July 2000, Tunisia reported retaining 5,000 antipersonnel mines (4,000 PMA-3 and 1,000 PROM-1 mines) for purposes permitted under Article 3 of the Mine Ban Treaty.[5] In its Article 7 report submitted in 2023, Tunisia reported that it retains 4,320 mines for training, and that 10 mines were consumed for training purposes between April 2022 and April 2023.[6]  

Tunisia has not specified the type of retained mines that it has destroyed. Tunisia has not reported in detail on the intended purposes and actual uses of retained mines, as agreed by States Parties in 2004.

Use

Since April 2013, new use of improvised mines and other improvised explosive devices (IEDs) by non-state armed groups (NSAGs) has been reported in the governorates of Gafsa and Qsrein Wilaya/Kasserine, near the Algerian border.[7] Villagers in the area have stated that the landmines inhibit their livelihoods, and that the mines have been laid with no known pattern or warnings.[8]

New casualties caused by victim-activated improvised mines in Tunisia were reported in 2021–2022 in Jebel Al-Cha’anby, in Qsrein Wilaya/Kasserine governorate.[9] In 2019, multiple incidents were reported in Gafsa governorate.[10] The Monitor has been unable to confirm when these improvised mines were laid. Previously, in May 2013, the Ministry of Defense stated that the mines laid in Jebel Al-Cha’anby were homemade mines constructed from a plastic container with a chemical initiator, making detection difficult.[11] A spokesperson said, “the mines that exploded were made of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and flammable materials that can easily explode when exposed to heat.”[12]

In May 2013, a Tunisian police official told Human Rights Watch (HRW) that casualties in April 2013 were caused by “artisanal” antipersonnel mines that exploded horizontally. From this description, the landmines would appear to be homemade explosive devices initiated by a tripwire, similar to Claymore-type mines.[13] Tunisia has not reported on this improvised mine contamination in its annual Article 7 transparency reports.