United States of America

Mine Ban Policy

The United States of America has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. Its position has not changed since the Bush Administration announced its policy on the weapon in February 2004: “The United States will not join the Ottawa Convention because its terms would have required us to give up a needed military capability.”^[1] The use of any type of landmine, antipersonnel or antivehicle, that self-destructs and self-deactivates is permitted by the government indefinitely without any geographic restriction. The use of non-self-destructing antipersonnel mines is permissible until 2010, but only in Korea. The use of non-self-destructing antivehicle mines will be allowed globally until 2010, but only after presidential authorization.^[2] The use of non-detectable non-self-destructing landmines was prohibited on 3 January 2005.^[3]

On 5 December 2007, the US was one of 18 states that abstained from voting on UN General Assembly Resolution 62/41 supporting the universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. It has abstained on each annual pro-ban UNGA resolution since 1997. The US has not attended a Mine Ban Treaty-related meeting since June 2005.

The US is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines. It attended the Ninth Annual Conference of States Parties to the protocol in November 2007, and submitted an annual national report on 5 November 2007, as required under Article 13. The US is not yet party to Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. The government submitted Protocol V to the Senate for its advice and consent in June 2006, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held its first hearing on 15 April 2008.

The US did not attend the Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions in May 2008.

Production, Transfer, Stockpiling, and Use

In May 2008, the Vice Chief of Staff of the US Army stated that the XM-7 Spider Networked Munition would be procured in a configuration that only allowed command detonation.^[4] Previously, the Spider system contained a feature that permitted it to function in a victim-activated mode, making it incompatible with the Mine Ban Treaty.^[5] This would have constituted the first production of antipersonnel mines by the US since 1997. The US Campaign to Ban Landmines had for several years strongly objected to Pentagon plans to move forward with the victim-activation feature, and the US Congress had taken steps to block a decision on full-scale production of victim-activated Spider systems.^[6]

It is unclear if the decision on Spider system victim-activation will also apply to another landmine system being developed, the Intelligent Munitions System (IMS). Pentagon budget documents state that “IMS utilizes sensors linked to effects and is controlled over robust communications in either an autonomous mode or via Man-in-the-Loop control.” Budget justification materials from February 2007 note that IMS is “capable of unattended employment” in engaging its targets. The terms “unattended employment” and “autonomous mode” appear to be synonymous with victim-activation, and would make this system incompatible with the Mine Ban Treaty. ^[7]

Stockpiling

The US stockpiles approximately 10.4 million antipersonnel mines and 7.5 million antivehicle mines, the third largest landmine stockpile in the world after China and Russia. The stockpile has 1.56 million non-self-destructing landmines, including 1.16 million M14 and M16 antipersonnel mines and about 403,000 Claymore mines.

US Antipersonnel Mine Stockpile^[8]

Munition	No. of antipersonnel mines
Artillery Delivered Antipersonnel Mine (ADAM)	8,366,076
M14	696,800
M16	465,330
Claymore	403,096
Gator	281,822
Volcano (M87 only)	134,200
Ground Emplaced Mine Scattering System (GEMSS)	32,900
Pursuit Deterrent Munition (PDM)	15,100
Modular Pack Mine System (MOPMS)	8,824
Total	10,404,148

The US military stockpiles the M14 and M16 antipersonnel mines for use in any future war in Korea. US Army documents indicate about half of those mines are stored in the continental US. The US military also keeps in South Korea a substantial number of self-destructing, scatterable antipersonnel mines.^[9]

On 26 December 2007, the comprehensive US moratorium on the export of antipersonnel mines was extended for an additional six years, until 2014.^[10] US law has prohibited all antipersonnel mine exports since 23 October 1992, through a series of multi-year extensions of the moratorium.

Landmine Monitor previously reported there was uncertainty if the US planned to transfer some or all of its antipersonnel mines stockpiled in South Korea to the South Koreans as part of the termination of the War Reserve Stocks for Allies, Korea (WRSA-K) program.^[11] In June 2008, the South Korean government told Landmine Monitor, “Landmines are excluded from the negotiations between the ROK and US” regarding sale or transfer of War Reserve Stocks.^[12]

The last recorded use of antipersonnel mines by the US was in the first Gulf War in 1991.^[13] Landmine Monitor is unaware of any allegations or reports that US forces have used antipersonnel mines in combat operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, or elsewhere in 2007 or the first half of 2008.

Landmine/ERW Casualties

The US military uses the term improvised explosive device (IED) to describe nearly all explosive devices encountered by US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. In reporting casualties, US military officials make no distinction between victim-activated and command-detonated IEDs.^[14]

In Iraq in 2007, a total of 475 US military personnel were killed by attacks involving IEDs, according to Department of Defense casualty reports. Five of the casualties were the result of vehicle-born IED attacks. Mines were responsible for the deaths of two military personnel in 2007. In addition, two soldiers died from an accident involving unexploded ordnance (UXO).^[15] In 2006, 373 US military personnel were killed by IEDs in Iraq, and an additional four were killed by mines. Casualties continued in 2008: between 1 January and 1 July, a total of 104 US military personnel died as the result of IED attacks in Iraq. In addition, one soldier died from a “suspected landmine” explosion.^[16]

In Afghanistan in 2007, 25 US military personnel were killed by attacks involving IEDs; one soldier died from a mine explosion. In 2008 to 1 July, 31 US military personnel were killed as a result of IED attacks.^[17]

There were at least two casualties from ERW in the US in 2007; two men were killed when a Vietnam-era missile exploded in their home in Barstow, California. The men had removed the missile from the nearby Twentynine Palms military base while collecting scrap metal.^[18]

Casualties continued in 2008 when two adult men were injured when ordnance exploded at a metal recycling plant in Raleigh, North Carolina, on 12 February, and an adult man died on 18 February while restoring a civil war-era cannonball he had found.^[19] The military reported in 2008 that, while scavenging of military munitions had long been a problem at military bases, scrap metal collectors have been “motivated by soaring commodity prices to take greater risks” since 2006.^[20]

Victim Assistance

Comprehensive physical rehabilitation services, including medical care, mobility devices and training, are provided to soldiers injured while on active military duty. The Department of Veterans’ Affairs provides disability compensation ranging from US$115–$2,471 per month depending on the level of disability for veterans injured while on active duty.^[21] The department’s Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Service aims to help veterans with “service-connected” disabilities, including injuries caused by mines and ERW, to make a transition from military to civilian employment; this includes educational and vocational counseling.^[22]

In February 2007, the media reported inadequate care for disabled soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, one of the best known army facilities for physical rehabilitation services. Patients were found residing in substandard out-patient housing facilities and hundreds of wounded veterans who served in Iraq were unable to access medical services because of “mountains of paperwork.”^[23]

On 25 July 2007, the US President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors made six broad recommendations for “fundamental changes” to improve the military’s medical system and assistance for veterans. Recommendations included restructuring disability and compensation services and supporting the Walter Reed Army Medical Center by recruiting “first-rate professionals.”^[24] Despite plans for reform, in May 2008 Veterans for Common Sense asserted that the government systematically denied healthcare benefits promised to veterans. Internal Department of Veterans Affairs documents reported that in the six months leading up to 31 March 2008, 1,467 veterans died while waiting to learn if their disability claim would be approved by the government, and that veterans who appealed a decision to deny their disability claim had to wait on average nearly four and a half years for a decision on the appeal.^[25]

In June 2008, the government proposed reforms to the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act to give persons with disabilities greater access to public facilities.^[26] As of 31 July 2008, the US had not signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities or its Optional Protocol.

Support for Mine Action

US Mine Action Funding Fiscal Years 2006–2008 ($ million)^[27]

	FY 2006 (actual)	FY 2007 (actual)	FY 2008 (estimate)	FY 2009 (request)
Department of State (NADR)	55.44	51.04	65.95	see note
Department of Defense (OHDACA)	6.48	5.00	5.11	5.1
Slovenian International Trust Fund	9.9	6.79	12.77	see note
Department of Defense Research and Development	13.81	14.4	13.92	14.37
Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund	13.0	0	0	0
Lebanon Emergency Funding	9.63	0	0	0
Global War on Terror Supplemental Funding (for NADR and ITF)	0	7.0	0	0
Total	108.26	84.23	97.75	see note

Minus Research and Development

94.45

69.83

97.75

see note

Note: starting in fiscal year (FY) 2009, three previously separate NADR accounts, Humanitarian Demining (NADR-HD), International Trust Fund (NADR-ITF), and Small Arms/Light Weapons (NADR-SA/LW), will be combined into a single account for Conventional Weapons Destruction (NADR-CWD). The stated rationale is to “more appropriately reflect worldwide conventional weapons destruction efforts.”^[28]

Mine action priorities and mine action funding may become more difficult to identify, track and report on an annual basis as a result of this budget consolidation. Landmine Monitor is not aware of any measures taken by the US to ensure that funding levels for mine action and evaluation of mine action programming supported by US funds are not compromised by the new approach.

Mine action funding by country, fiscal year 2007 (US$)^[29]

The US government spent $84 million in FY 2007 on humanitarian mine action programs in 29 countries and areas. This is a decrease of $14 million compared with the previous fiscal year. One reason for the decrease was the reduction in the amount of special supplemental and emergency funding for Iraq. The two largest recipients of US funding are Afghanistan and Iraq: $13.5 million and $12 million respectively. While Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Eritrea, and Rwanda received assistance in FY 2006, they did not receive assistance in FY 2007. Benin, Burundi, Mauritania, and Senegal were new recipients in FY 2007. It is estimated that an additional $13 million will be added to funding efforts in FY 2008, primarily in Department of State programs.

US Funding for Mine Action, Fiscal Year 2007

Afghanistan	13,500,000		Kosovo	205,000
Albania	480,000		Lao PDR	2,555,000
Angola	4,514,000		Lebanon	1,500,000
Azerbaijan	3,023,000		FYR Macedonia	50,000
Benin	14,000		Mauritania	458,000
Bosnia and Herzegovina	3,000,000		Mozambique	440,000
Burundi	100,000		Senegal	702,000
Cambodia	3,944,000		Serbia	750,000
Chad	200,000		Sri Lanka	400,000
Colombia	1,631,000		Sudan	2,625,000
Croatia	2,009,000		Thailand	86,000
Estonia	157,000		Tunisia	214,000
Georgia	1,750,000		Vietnam	2,577,000
Guinea-Bissau	1,789,000		Yemen	375,000
Iraq	12,000,000

In addition to the bilateral assistance provided to countries, an additional $6.7 million was provided for global and multilateral projects.

Victim assistance funding

The Patrick J. Leahy War Victims Fund, managed by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), has been in operation in post-conflict and conflict-affected developing countries since 1989. The fund was established to provide a dedicated source of financial and technical assistance for civilian victims of war including survivors of mine and UXO incidents.^[30] In FY 2007, the fund contributed an estimated total of $10 million, including $8.6 million to programs in Afghanistan, Colombia, Laos, and Lebanon, as well as $1.4 million to numerous regional and international initiatives spanning multiple countries. The estimated budget for the fund in FY 2006 was $11.6 million. To date, the fund has provided more than $153 million to more than 40 countries.^[31]

Patrick J. Leahy War Victims Fund,
Allocations for FY 2007 (US$)^[32]

Afghanistan	350,000
Colombia	2,000,000
Laos	5,900,000
Lebanon	350,000
Multicountry	1,400,000

Funding for victim assistance is also provided through the International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF). In calendar year 2007, $1,146,657 of the US Department of State mine action funds were spent for victim assistance through the ITF; $1,809,196 was allocated in calendar year 2006.^[33]

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