+   *    +     +     
About Us 
The Issues 
Our Research Products 
Order Publications 
Multimedia 
Press Room 
Resources for Monitor Researchers 
ARCHIVES HOME PAGE 
    >
Email Notification Receive notifications when this Country Profile is updated.

Sections



Send us your feedback on this profile

Send the Monitor your feedback by filling out this form. Responses will be channeled to editors, but will not be available online. Click if you would like to send an attachment. If you are using webmail, send attachments to .

Poland

Last Updated: 05 January 2013

Mine Ban Policy

Mine ban policy overview

Mine Ban Treaty status

Ratification process concluded in December 2012

Pro-mine ban UNGA voting record

Voted in favor of UNGA Resolution 67/32 in December 2012, as in all previous years

Participation in Mine Ban Treaty meetings

Attended as an observer the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in May 2012 and the Twelfth Meeting of States Parties in December 2012

Key developments

Ratification process concluded; more stockpiles have been destroyed bringing the total amount from 200,013 to 13,585 antipersonnel mines

Policy

The Republic of Poland signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and in December 2012 concluded its domestic ratification process. As of 20 December 2012, Poland’s instrument of ratification had not yet been deposited with the UN. Poland’s policy on ratifying the treaty has changed over the years. In 2004, Poland’s goal was to ratify the treaty as early as 2006,[1] but in 2007 it was forecasting a delay of up until 2015 to complete ratification as it continued to develop alternatives to antipersonnel mines.[2] In 2009, Poland again changed course after its Council of Ministers agreed to a policy that set 2012 as the date of ratification.[3]

The draft ratification bill was approved by the Parliament on 10 November 2012,[4] approved by the President on 21 November 2012, and published in the National Gazette on 22 November 2012. The bill entered into force on 6 December 2012, 14 days after being published in the National Gazette.[5] In December 2012, Poland’s Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs attended the Twelfth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva, Switzerland, and announced the President signed the ratification bill. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the instrument of ratification would be deposited with the UN by the end of 2012.[6]  

The ratification bill includes a declaration in regard to interpretation of “assistance” in Article 1 of the convention. According to the declaration, “the mere participation in the planning or execution of operations, exercises or other military activity by the Polish Armed Forces, or individual Polish nationals, conducted in combination with the armed forces of states not party to the [Convention], which engage in activity prohibited under that Convention, is not, by itself, assistance, encouragement or inducement for the purposes of Article 1, paragraph (c) of the Convention.”[7]

The rationale document that accompanies the draft ratification bill explained how Poland plans to comply with various provisions of the convention. It specifies that requirements under the convention’s Article 9 will be addressed by Article 121 of the Penal Code which addresses relevant prohibitions and penal sanctions. The rationale also states that to fulfill obligations under Article 6 (International Cooperation and Assistance), relevant resources will be allocated annually in the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[8] 

Poland submitted its tenth voluntary Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report in 2012, which was undated but covered calendar year 2011.[9] The report contained information on Poland’s stockpiled antipersonnel mines and their destruction, and its international clearance activities.[10]

Poland is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines. Poland submitted an annual report in accordance with the protocol’s Article 13 in March 2012.[11] Poland ratified CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war in May 2011.

Production, transfer, use, stockpiling, and destruction

Since signing the Mine Ban Treaty in 1997, Poland has regularly stated that it does not produce, export, or use antipersonnel mines. In March 2006, Poland told the Monitor that current military doctrine does not foresee the use of antipersonnel mines, including in joint military operations or exercises with other states.[12]

In the past, Poland produced three types of antipersonnel mines and imported a fourth type. Poland exported antipersonnel mines until 1993. An export moratorium in 1995 was made permanent by cabinet decree on 7 April 1998, which was then superseded by a law adopted in September 2002.[13]

Poland began destroying its stockpile of more than one million antipersonnel mines in 2003.[14] In 2008, it destroyed 651,117 mines, or two-thirds of its stockpile.[15] This was a much more rapid destruction of stockpiles than previously planned.[16] Poland further reduced its stockpile to 200,013 mines in 2009.[17] No further reduction took place in 2010; however, according to a decision by the Minister of National Defense, Poland’s stockpiled antipersonnel mines are “not to be considered a mean[s] of warfare starting from the beginning of 2011.”[18] In 2011, Poland reduced its stockpiled to a total of 13,585 antipersonnel mines.[19] As part of its search for alternatives to mines, in 2008 Poland started a research project “aimed at the development of a modern and comprehensive system of engineering obstacles (barriers)” which might include “explosive devices controlled by an operator.” Poland spent PLN450,000 (US$189,878) on this project in 2008,[20] an additional PLN655,000 ($212,213) in 2009,[21] and a further €286,000 ($379,265) in 2010.[22] As of June 2011, the project was reported to be 60% completed.[23]

In May 2012, the Ministry of Defense said that Poland does not intend to retain any mines for research and training purposes.[24] Previously, Poland stated it planned to retain about 5,000 antipersonnel mines for training purposes.[25] In 2009, Poland used 326 empty antipersonnel mine casings to train demining squads for peacekeeping and stabilization missions,[26] up from 295 casings used in 2008,[27] and 144 in 2007.[28] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Monitor that imitation mine casings were used for training in 2010.[29]

Poland has acknowledged that it possesses Claymore-type directional fragmentation mines, and said that these are “meant exclusively for mine-controlled detonation…[which] excludes the possibility of accidental detonation.” The MON-100 is described in Poland’s first Article 7 report as a “[d]irectional fragmentation mine, if equipped with a MUW fuse attached to a tripwire.”[30]

 



[1] For details on the evolution of Polish policy since 1997, and especially from 2004 to 2007, see Landmine Monitor Report 2007, pp. 765–767.

[2] Letter from Janusz Stanczyk, Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Jody Williams, ICBL Ambassador, 26 January 2007. The Ministry of National Defense made an assessment that replacing antipersonnel mines with effective alternatives would require between eight and 13 years and cost more than PLN1 billion.

[3] See Council of Ministers, “Information on the state of readiness of the Council of Ministers to bind the Republic of Poland by the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction,” Protocol of Decisions, No. 7/2009, Section 8, subsection 16, 17 February 2009. For additional details, see Landmine Monitor Report 2009, pp. 865–866.

[4] Parliament of the Republic of Poland, 10 November 2012, http://www.sejm.gov.pl/Sejm7.nsf/PrzebiegProc.xsp?nr=508; and email from Monika Izydorczyk, Chief Expert, Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 November  2012.

[5] Email from Monika Izydorczyk, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 26 November  2012; and “Ustawa z dnia 10 października 2012 r. o ratyfikacji Konwencji o zakazie użycia, składowania, produkcji i przekazywania min przeciwpiechotnych oraz o ich zniszczeniu, sporządzonej w Oslo dnia 18 września 1997 r” (“The Act of 10 October 2012 on the ratification of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, signed in Oslo on 18 September 1997”), National Gazette, 22 November 2012, http://www.dziennikustaw.gov.pl/du/2012/1286/1.

[6]  Statement of Poland, Mine Ban Treaty Twelfth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 3 December 2012; and email from Lukasz Zielinski, Counselor, Permanent Mission of Poland to the UN, 18 December 2012. 

[7] Draft Ratification Bill, Parliament of the Republic of Poland, 21 June 2012, http://www.sejm.gov.pl/Sejm7.nsf/PrzebiegProc.xsp?nr=508.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Poland submitted previous voluntary Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 reports in 2011 (for calendar year 2010), 2010 (for calendar year 2009), in 2009 (for calendar year 2008), and on 14 April 2008, 6 April 2007, 3 May 2006, 11 May 2005, 12 May 2004, and 5 March 2003.

[10] Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2009), Forms B and J. All other forms were marked unchanged or not applicable.

[11] CCW Amended Protocol II Article 13 Report, 23 March 2012.

[12] Letter from Tadeusz Chomicki, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 22 March 2006. However, in January 2007 Poland said that it planned to install self-destruct or self-neutralization mechanisms on some antipersonnel mines. It has not referred to such plans since that time. In March 2008, officials stated that Poland does not rely on antipersonnel mines for the defense of its national territory or its bases abroad. See Landmine Monitor Report 2009, p. 867.

[13] “Ordinance of the Council of Minister of August 20, 2002 concerning the imposition of prohibition and restriction on transfer of goods and strategic importance for the state security,” Journal of Laws, 6 September 2002.

[14] Poland initially reported 1,055,971 stockpiled antipersonnel mines at the end of 2002. During 2003, it destroyed 58,291 POMZ-2(2M) mines due to expiration of shelf life. It destroyed another 12,990 stockpiled mines in 2005, again because their life cycle had expired.

[15] Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2008), Form B.

[16] In January and April 2007, Poland stated that it will gradually, over the next nine to 10 years, dismantle its stockpile of antipersonnel mines, destroying about 100,000 mines each year. According to a schedule made by the General Staff in 2007, Poland would disassemble about 125,000 mines each year from 2008 to 2010, and about 115,000 mines each year from 2011 to 2015. The Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 report submitted in 2008 stated that beginning in 2008 a total of 750,000 PMD-6 and POMZ-2(2M) mines will “be withdrawn from service and destroyed within 3–4 years.” Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Report, Form F, 14 April 2008. See also, Landmine Monitor Report 2008, p. 791.

[17] Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2009), Form B. The mines destroyed were 105,418 PMD-6 and 28,142 POMZ-2(2M). The remaining stock consisted of 107,082 PMD-6; 59,424 POMZ-2(2M); 13,585 PSM-1; and 19,922 MON-100 mines.

[18] Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2010), Form B.

[19] Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2011), Form B. The dismantled mines were PMD-6, POMZ-2(2M), and MON-100.

[20] Letter from Adam Kobieracki, Director, Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 23 April 2009.

[21] Response to Monitor questionnaire by Adam Kobieracki, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 8 April 2010. Average exchange rate for 2008: PLN1=US$0.42195; for 2009: PLN1=US$0.32399. Oanda, www.oanda.com.

[22] Letter from Tomasz Łękarski, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 June 2011. Average exchange rate for 2010: €1=US$1.3261. US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates (Annual),” 6 January 2011.

[23] Ibid.

[24] Meeting with Col. Jaroslaw Rubaj, Counsellor-Military Adviser, Permanent Mission, Geneva; Jaroslaw Ogrodzinski, Deputy Chief of Non-proliferation and Disarmament Division, Arms Control and Disarmament, Ministry of Defense, 25 May 2012.

[25] Ibid. This has been indicated also in Poland’s latest Article 7 report. See Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2010).

[26] Response to Monitor questionnaire by Adam Kobieracki, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 8 April 2010. He stated that PSM-1, PMD-6, POMZ-2, POMZ-2M, and MON-100 casings were being used for this purpose.

[27] Letter from Adam Kobieracki, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 23 April 2009.

[28] Letter from Grzegorz Poznanski, Deputy Director, Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 14 May 2008.

[29] Letter from Tomasz Łękarski, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 June 2011.

[30] Letter from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 February 2001; and Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Report, Form H2, 5 March 2003. The “MUW” is likely the MUV fuze.