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Nepal

Last Updated: 24 October 2011

Mine Ban Policy

Mine ban policy overview

Mine Ban Treaty status

Not a State Party

Pro-mine ban UNGA voting record

Abstained from voting on Resolution 65/48 in December 2010

Participation in Mine Ban Treaty meetings

Attended as an observer the Tenth Meeting of States Parties in November–December 2010

Key developments

In June 2011 Nepal declared that it had finished clearing all known mined areas

Policy

The Republic of Nepal has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. The November 2006 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) committed the government and the Unified Communist Party of Nepal/Maoist[1] rebels to halt the use of mines, and required the parties to assist each other to mark and clear mines and booby-traps.[2] 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, “Today is a historical day because Nepal has been liberated from all kinds of landmines.”[3]

In February 2010, the Minister of Peace and Reconstruction initiated a ministerial-level committee to study the responsibilities of and opportunities for becoming a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty.[4] The committee has representation from the ministries of home affairs, foreign affairs, defense, law, and justice, and the Nepal Campaign to Ban Landmines (NCBL). In December 2010, Nepal informed the Meeting of States Parties that the recommendations regarding accession to the Mine Ban Treaty would be completed soon.[5]  As of June 2011 a report by the Study Committee had not been able to compile a report due to the frequent change in personnel holding the position of Minister in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Defense during the time period.[6]

Nepal sent an observer delegation to the Tenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November–December 2010, but not the intersessional meetings in June 2011. The representative of Nepal stated at the meeting, “Our endeavors are in line with the antipersonnel mine ban convention, Nepal is fully committed to the humanitarian objectives of the convention and we are always in favor of a mine free world.”[7]

On 8 December 2010, Nepal abstained from voting on UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 65/48 calling for universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty. This was the fourth consecutive year that Nepal abstained on the annual resolution, after voting in favor of all previous pro-ban resolutions since 1996.[8]

In January 2011, the NCBL organized an Interaction Program on the Status of Nepal on Universalization of the Mine Ban Convention, chaired by the Minister of Peace and Reconstruction with presentations on actions towards a ban on mines by the Nepal Army, the Nepal Police and the Nepal Armed Police Force, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UNICEF, the ICBL, and NCBL. In January 2011, a representative of the Ministry of Law and Justice presented NCBL with a draft of the country’s new penal code, which provides penal sanctions for use of mines.[9] In May 2011, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs stated, in a meeting with the NCBL, that Nepal should join the Mine Ban Treaty, and stated he would discuss accession with the other line ministries.[10] In May and June, NCBL met with the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, the Defense Minister, and the Minister for Peace and Reconstruction to encourage accession to the Treaty. A rapid change of ministers (four new ministers in the key ministries of Peace and Reconstruction and Home Affairs since last year) has led to a continual introduction of the issue to government officials. NCBL launched a letter of commitment to spur Parliamentary action, which pledges political parties to work toward Nepal’s accession to the Treaty. In June 2011, an ICBL delegation met with the Ambassador of Nepal in Geneva and urged Nepal to remain engaged with the convention and consider submitting a voluntary Article 7 report. As of 1 September 2011, 24 of Nepal’s political parties have signed the letter to seek Nepal’s accession.[11]

Production

In December 2009, the Minister for Peace and Reconstruction told States Parties at the Second Review Conference that Nepal does not produce mines.[12] 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.”[13] Nepal repeated this in its remarks to States Parties in December 2010 at the Tenth Meeting of States Parties.[14] In light of these official, written declarations that Nepal does not produce antipersonnel mines, the Monitor removed Nepal from its list of producers.

Previously, in 2003 and 2005, Nepali officials told the Monitor that Nepal produced antipersonnel mines.[15]

Use, transfer, and stockpiling

In December 2009, the Minister for Peace and Reconstruction told States Parties that Nepal has not planted mines since the end of the insurgency in 2006.[16] He also said that Nepal does not “enable the transfer” of mines. Nepal is not known to have ever exported mines.

Nepal wrote to the Monitor in June 2010 that it is now only using antipersonnel mines for training purposes. It stated, “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]

During the conflict, the Nepal Army used antipersonnel mines, as well as improvised explosive devices (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 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.[18]  In June 2010, Nepal told the Monitor that it used mines in 53 locations and IEDs in 275 locations during the conflict.[19] The Nepal Police, Armed Police Forces, and the Nepal Army retain stocks of these IEDs.[20]

In December 2008, General Rukmang Katwal, the army’s Chief of Staff, told an ICBL delegation that Nepal had never used mines on its borders, and could not conceive of a situation that might necessitate such use. He acknowledged that the few thousand mines in Nepal’s stockpile could hardly afford any protection.[21]

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.[22] 

Although the former rebel Communist Party of Nepal/Maoist (CPN/M) became a part of the interim government in April 2007, its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) still exists.[23] There have been no reports of new use of antipersonnel mines, victim-activated IEDs, or booby-traps by the PLA since the May 2006 cease-fire. In the past, the PLA was expert at the manufacture and use of a variety of IEDs, including victim-activated, time-delayed, and command-detonated types.[24] Other armed groups continue to operate within the country, and manufacture and use bombs. There is no evidence that any of them have used or possess antipersonnel mines.

 



[1] It was formerly known as the Communist Party of Nepal/Maoist (CPN/M). It changed its name in January 2009 when it absorbed another Nepalese communist political party.

[2] CPA between Government of Nepal and CPN/M, 21 November 2006, points 5.1.1(i), 5.1.2 and 5.1.4. Earlier, the May 2006 bilateral cease-fire between the government of Nepal and the CPN/M, and accompanying Code of Conduct, committed both sides to forego use of mines.

[3] “Nepal declared free of mines five years after civil war” BBC, 14 June 2011, www.bbc.co.uk. Nepal continues to clear IED fields laid by the security forces during the civil war. See ICBL-CMC, “Country Profile: Nepal: Mine Action,” www.the-monitor.org.

[4] Letter from the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction to the NCBL, 23 February 2010.

[5] Statement by Nepal, Mine Ban Treaty Tenth Meeting of States Parties, Session on Universalization, 2 December 2010.

[6] NCBL meeting with Saligram Sharma, Under Secretary, Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, Kathmandu, 4 April 2011.

[7] Statement by Nepal, Mine Ban Treaty Tenth Meeting of States Parties, Session on Universalization, 2 December 2010.

[8] An Advisor to the Prime Minister later told the NCBL that the Permanent Mission of Nepal to the UN in New York decides how to vote. Telephone interview with Raghuji Panta, Advisor to the Prime Minister, 23 May 2010.

[9] ICBL/NCBL meeting at Ministry of Law and Justice, 11 January 2011. The draft penal code states, “any act to utilize landmines in any public places will be considered a crime, not exceeding 10 years or 100,000 Rs fine, the offender is liable for compensation” Section 143, Proposed Draft Penal Code, 20 May 2010.

[10] NCBL meeting with Krishna B., Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, Kathmandu, 27 May 2011.

[11] Nepali Congress, CPN (UML), Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum Nepal, Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum (Democratic),  Tarai-Madhesh Loktantrik Party,  Tarai-Madhesh Loktantrik Party Nepal,  CPN (ML), CPN (ML) – Samajbadi, Sadvawana Party,  Rastriya Prajatantra Party, CPN (Samyukta), Rastriya Janamorchha,  Rastriya Jana Shakti Party,  Nepal Sadvawana Party (Anandadevi),  Rastriya Jana Mukti Party,  Sanghiye Loktantrik Rastriya Manch, Nepali Janata Dal, Churebhawar Rastriya Yekata Party, Samajwadi Janata Party, Dalit Janajati Party, Nepal Pariwar Dal, Nepa: Rastriya Party,  Nepal Loktantrik Samajwadi Dal, and Bam Morchha Nepal.

[12] Statement by Rakam Chemjong, Minister for Peace and Reconstruction, Second Review Conference, Mine Ban Treaty, Cartagena, 4 December 2009.

[13] Letter No. GE/2010/576 from Hati Pd. Odari, Second Secretary, Permanent Mission of Nepal to the UN in Geneva, 21 June 2010.

[14] Statement by Nepal, Mine Ban Treaty Tenth Meeting of States Parties, Session on Universalization, 2 December 2010.

[15] See Landmine Monitor Report 2007, p. 936, and Landmine Monitor Report 2006, p. 1,022. In 2003, Brig.-Gen. Kul Bahadur Khadka told a visiting ICBL delegation that Nepal produced antipersonnel mines. In August 2005, a former government official told the Monitor that mines were produced at the weapons factory at Sunchari in Makwanpur district south of Kathmandu.

[16] Statement by Rakam Chemjong, Minister for Peace and Reconstruction, Second Review Conference, Mine Ban Treaty, Cartagena, 4 December 2009.

[17] Letter No. GE/2010/576 from Hati Pd. Odari, Permanent Mission of Nepal to the UN in Geneva, 21 June 2010.

[18] See Landmine Monitor Report 2007, pp. 936–937. The Monitor reported indicators of mine use by government forces as early as 1999.

[19] Letter No. GE/2010/576 from Hati Pd. Odari, Permanent Mission of Nepal to the UN in Geneva, 21 June 2010.

[20] Presentation by DSP Benu Prasad Pathak, Armed Police Force, NCBL Interaction Program, 10 January 2011.

[21] ICBL meeting with Gen. Rukmang Katwal, Nepal Army, Kathmandu, 14 December 2008. Notes by the Monitor.

[23] Under the terms of the CPA and the Monitoring of the Management of Arms and Armies agreement, the PLA was cantoned at seven sites and obligated to turn in all IEDs at designated storage locations a safe distance from the sites. Some observers believe some PLA cadres, and their arms, remain outside the UN camps. Shree Ram Dhakal said that all weapons and explosives were handed over to the UN, but that some might have been inadvertently left out. ICBL meeting with Shree Ram Dhakal “Prasanta,” Secretary, CPN/M, Kathmandu, 15 December 2008. Notes by the Monitor.

[24] Presentation by Brig.-Gen. Lok Bahadur Thapa, Nepal Army, “Mine Action in Nepal,” Mine Action and Implications for Peace and Development Conference, Phnom Penh, 12 March 2007.