Greece

Ten-Year Summary

The Hellenic Republic (Greece) became a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty on 1 March 2004. It relies on existing legal measures to implement the treaty. Greece failed to destroy its stockpile of 1.58 million antipersonnel mines by its deadline of 1 March 2008. It did not begin the destruction process until November 2008; had destroyed only 225,962 mines as of May 2009; and hoped to complete stockpile destruction by the end of 2009. Greece retains 7,224 mines for training purposes, but has yet to consume any of them.

Greece has made significant progress in clearing antipersonnel mines from its border with Turkey and expected to complete operations before the end of 2009, well in advance of its 2014 Article 5 deadline for clearance of mined areas.

Between 1999 and 2008, Landmine Monitor identified at least 108 landmine casualties (66 killed and 42 injured); the majority of casualties were non-Greek citizens. There has been no formal risk education program in Greece but minefields are marked and fenced.

Mine survivors received some services, particularly in terms of emergency medical care, but assistance in rehabilitation, psychological support, and socio-economic reintegration are limited. Greece has legislation protecting the rights of persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, and in the provision of other government services. Accessibility legislation was poorly enforced.

Mine Ban Policy

Greece signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 25 September 2003, becoming a State Party on 1 March 2004. Ratification makes the Mine Ban Treaty part of Greek domestic law.^[1] In 2006, Greece for the first time provided details about its national implementation measures, and specified which parts of existing criminal codes provide penal sanctions for treaty violations.^[2]

Greece attended the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2008 and the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in May 2009. On each occasion it made statements on its missed stockpile destruction deadline (see Production, trade, stockpiling, and destruction section below) and mine clearance. At the Ninth Meeting, it was named co-rapporteur of the Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education, and Mine Action Technologies.

Greece submitted its sixth Article 7 report on 30 April 2009, covering calendar year 2008.^[3]

Greece has not engaged in the discussions that States Parties have had on matters of interpretation and implementation related to Articles 1, 2, and 3 (joint military operations with states not party, foreign stockpiling or transit of antipersonnel mines, antivehicle mines with sensitive fuzes or antihandling devices, and mines retained for training).

Greece is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines. It submitted its annual report required by Article 13 on 3 November 2008. Greece is not party to CCW Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War.

Greece had not signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions as of 1 July 2009.^[4]

Production, trade, stockpiling, and destruction

Greece is a former producer of antipersonnel mines, and also imported them from Germany and the United States.^[5] Prior to becoming a State Party, Greece had a moratorium on the production and export of antipersonnel mines for a number of years.

In its Article 7 reports, Greece has declared a stockpile of 1,566,532 antipersonnel mines composed of five types: m² (214,374), DM31 (794,400), M16 (553,359), M14 (3,895), and Area Denial Antipersonnel Mine (ADAM) artillery shells (504).^[6] Each ADAM 155mm projectile contains 36 antipersonnel mines thus the 504 shells reported by Greece contain 18,144 mines, bringing the stockpile total to 1,584,172. An army official told Landmine Monitor that ADAM mines, which contain traces of depleted uranium, pose a problem because they must be frozen before destruction.^[7]

Greece did not meet its 1 March 2008 deadline for destruction of its stockpile of antipersonnel mines, and remains in violation of the treaty. It gave repeated assurances throughout 2007 that it would meet the deadline.^[8] In November 2007, Greece informed States Parties that it had “contracted a specialized private company” to destroy the mines, and said, “Our goal is to complete the destruction within the set deadline. You will be kept informed on the progress.”^[9] The deadline came and went without further communication to States Parties from the government.

In its 30 April 2008 Article 7 report, Greece stated: “The stockpiled Antipersonnel Mines (APM) have already been gathered and transferred in 26 final sites, from which they will be collected by the tendered private company, in order to be destructed.”^[10]

In June 2008, at the intersessional Standing Committee meetings, Greece informed States Parties that it had missed the deadline, but did not provide an explanation, citing only “complex and time consuming procedures, which were further delayed by changes intervened [sic].” Greece stated that the contract with Hellenic Defense Systems SA had still not been finalized, but was undergoing an audit and legal review.^[11]

In June 2008, officials told Landmine Monitor that the delays had been caused by “legal parameters,” as well as environmental concerns that required special destruction facilities. They said that the facilities and legislation needed for the destruction were in place and that no further delays were expected.^[12] The official military order for the destruction of the mines had been signed earlier in June,^[13] and the contract was finally signed on 25 June 2008.^[14]

On 1 August 2008, Landmine Monitor was informed that preparations were underway to initiate the transfer of the mines to Bulgaria, where the Videx company would destroy the mines.^[15] Greece also wrote to the President of the Eighth Meeting of States Parties, stating that it would complete the destruction of all stockpiled antipersonnel mines no later than 28 May 2009.^[16]

On 26 November 2008, Greece informed States Parties that 7,488 mines had been transferred to the destruction facility in Bulgaria, and that it believed all mines would be transferred and destroyed by the summer of 2009.^[17] The next day, it announced that the first 20,000 antipersonnel mines had been destroyed.^[18]

In its April 2009 Article 7 report, Greece stated that during 2008, a total of 24,868 stockpiled antipersonnel mines (all DM31) were destroyed, while a total of 107,510 had been transferred to Bulgaria for destruction.^[19]

On 25 May 2009, Greece told States Parties, “The operation on transfer and destruction…has begun [on 24 November 2008] and will be completed by the end of 2009.” When asked by the ICBL to clarify if both transfer and destruction would be done by the end of 2009, or just transfer, Greece replied that it hoped to be able to announce the completion of destruction by the Second Review Conference in November 2009.^[20]

It went on to say that a total of 1,568,159 mines would be destroyed.^[21] That number is 1,627 more mines than Greece has reported as stockpiling.^[22] Greece further said a total of 225,962 mines had already been transferred and destroyed and that another 50,000 would be transferred by the end of that week.^[23]

Mines retained for research and training

In its April 2009 Article 7 report, as well as previous reports, Greece indicated that it will retain 7,224 antipersonnel mines for training and development purposes: M14 (3,780), m2 (1,512), DM31 (1,512), and M16 (420).^[24] Greece did not use the expanded Form D for reporting on the intended purposes and actual uses of retained mines agreed at the First Review Conference in 2004. However, Greek officials in 2005 and 2006 provided a detailed rationale to Landmine Monitor of how Greece determined its requirement to retain 7,224 antipersonnel mines.^[25] It claimed that the mines are needed for the army to retain its ability to conduct counter-mine operations; the army must have “the operational ability to lay or to clear a typical minefield of 100 meter width by 60 meters depth, of the minimum possible density as this technical operation is prescribed by NATO field manuals.”^[26] Any emplacement of antipersonnel mines outside of the specific exceptions in Article 3 is outlawed under the Mine Ban Treaty.

Scope of the Problem

Contamination

Greece is affected by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW). The mine contamination consists primarily of 57 minefields laid by Greece in 1974 along the Evros river on the heavily militarized northeastern part of its border with Turkey, and has been maintained since then. A total of 24,751 antipersonnel mines were originally emplaced,^[27] as well as an unknown number of antivehicle mines; Greece has been removing only the antipersonnel mines since becoming a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty.^[28] The extent of residual contamination along the border with Turkey has not been reported, but in May 2009 Greece reported that 23,836 emplaced antipersonnel mines had been destroyed across 55 of 57 minefields.^[29]

Contamination elsewhere in the country consists not only of mines, but also of booby-traps and ERW remaining from World War II^[30] and the 1946–1949 civil conflict in the Western Macedonia and Epirus regions in the north of the country.^[31] The total size of contaminated areas in the north is not known. Greece has reported suspected areas covering 40,000 hectares (400km²).^[32] A survey in Western Macedonia in 2007, however, found a total of 786 suspected hazardous areas (SHAs), including some mined areas, of which 13 SHAs covering 310,000m² were subsequently cleared, leaving 773 areas to be demined.^[33]

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) also reported in 2004 that there are other suspected mine/ERW-affected areas on the mainland and various islands.^[34] No further information has been provided on these areas and this information was contradicted by defense officials in June 2008.^[35]

Greece’s Article 13 report under CCW Amended Protocol II refers to areas contaminated by mines in Western Macedonia and Epirus, although it notes that there are “no properly defined minefields in this area and no maps.”^[36] Greece has reported as “void” the section covering “areas suspected to contain mines” in its annual Article 7 reports.^[37]

Casualties

In 2008, there were at least four mine casualties in Greece. The four were Georgians who were killed in September while trying to cross a minefield near the village of Kastanies, Evros prefecture, at the border with Turkey.^[38] Greece reported that there were “no mine victims among the Hellenic population.”^[39] The last recorded mine casualties occurred in 2006 when four people were killed and five injured (all non-Greek citizens) while attempting to cross the Evros minefields.^[40] A Greek deminer was killed in 2005.^[41]

No new mine casualties were reported in 2009, as of 31 May.^[42]

The total number of mine casualties in Greece remains unknown. Between 1999 and 2008, the MoD reported 98 mine casualties, including 52 killed and 46 injured. All casualties were non-Greek migrants attempting to cross the Evros minefields.^[43] However, numbers might be higher: in 2007, the head of the Minefield Clearance Battalion, TENX, was reported saying that “104 illegal immigrants have been killed in Greek minefields since 1995 and another 187 have been severely injured.”^[44] The total number of Greek military personnel, including deminers, that were landmine casualties is unknown. However, between 1954 and 2007, at least 31 deminers were killed. From 1954 to 2002, 17 military personnel were injured in clearance operations.^[45]

Between 1999 and 2008, Landmine Monitor identified at least 108 landmine casualties, including 66 killed and 42 injured.^[46] The vast majority (105) of casualties were non-Greek, including at least 22 Iraqi nationals, 13 Turks, seven Pakistanis, six Georgian, three Burundian, two Moldovan, two Somali, two Iranian, one Mauritanian, one Palestinian, and one Tunisian. The nationality of 45 reported non-Greek casualties remains unknown. The majority of casualties occurred at the border between Greece and Turkey (102), two at the border with Bulgaria, and the location of four remains unknown. All casualties were caused by landmines.^[47]

Risk profile

According to Landmine Monitor data, at-risk groups are illegal immigrants or asylum seekers trying to cross the Evros minefields and, to a lesser extent, military personnel. Greece reported that illegal migrants become casualties “because they are led to the border along the river Evros at night and then instructed to ignore any mine fences and markings and walk into the Hellenic territory. Sometimes they are even aided in cutting the wire and led into minefields.”^[48]

Socio-economic impact

In 2007, the ERW-affected areas were said by a defense general staff official to have “no socio-economic impact” on the local population. However, it has also been noted previously that areas cleared in the Grammos and Vitsi mountains are used for pasture and leisure. In a June 2008, meeting with the ICBL, defense officials noted that the mountains were “very beautiful areas for recreation.”^[49] In 2007, forest fires in the mountains resulted in explosions, which impeded fire-fighting efforts.^[50]

Program Management and Coordination

There is no national mine action authority or mine action center in Greece.^[51] All clearance operations and their management fall under the responsibility of the MoD.^[52] The MoD and the Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity are responsible for ensuring the rights of mine survivors.^[53] An interministerial committee in February 2007, hosted by the MoD, proposed establishing a survivor assistance committee^[54] but no progress has been reported since.^[55]

Data collection and management

Information on mine action is stored in a database accessible only to the Army General Staff and Defense General Staff.^[56] Civilian and military casualty data is collected by the army.^[57] In 2009, for the first time, the MoD provided details of migrant casualties to Landmine Monitor.^[58] It is possible that casualties have been under-reported.^[59]

Plans

Strategic mine action plans

In June 2008, the MoD provided Landmine Monitor with a document in which it revealed plans to clear seven of the remaining 17 minefields in 2008, four in 2009, and six in 2010.^[60] In May 2009, however, Greece reported to the Standing Committee meetings that it would complete its demining obligations by the end of year, five years in advance of its Article 5 clearance deadline.^[61]

National ownership

Greece has been efficient in clearing antipersonnel mines along its border with Turkey in accordance with the strict requirements of the Mine Ban Treaty. National mine action legislation has not been adopted.

Greece has reported that the MoD complies with NATO standards for demining^[62] and that it takes into account international mine action standards.^[63]

Demining and Battle Area Clearance

Most clearance in Greece has been carried out by the military.^[64] In September 2007 to September 2008, Greek military engineering forces cleared 3,350 antipersonnel mines along Greece’s border with Turkey (the area cleared was not reported) as well as 926,575m² in the regions of Western Macedonia and Epirus in the northwest of the country.^[65] In 2007, a Greek commercial company, P.A.S.S. Defence, was contracted by the Western Macedonia regional authority to survey suspected land in that region and to clear 310,127m² of land confirmed to be contaminated.^[66]

Progress since becoming a State Party

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Greece is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 March 2014. Progress in meeting this obligation has been efficient, with clearance of antipersonnel mines along its border with Turkey reported to be almost completed as of May 2009, well in advance of its Article 5 deadline.

Questions remain, however, about the extent of Greece’s obligation to clear containing scattered Civil War-era mines elsewhere in the country. Greece’s Article 13 report under CCW Amended Protocol II refers to areas contaminated by mines in Western Macedonia and Epirus, though it notes that there are “no properly defined minefields in this area and no maps.” ^[67] Greece has reported as “void” the section covering “areas suspected to contain mines” in its annual Article 7 reports.^[68]

Risk Education

There is no formal risk education (RE) program in Greece. Greece reported that “all minefields along the border with Turkey in the Evros province are clearly defined and marked, well above any standard established by Amended Protocol II and the relevant NATO STANAGs [Standardization Agreements].”^[69] It also stated that “all minefields have a double fence and that “barbed wire was added to almost all the minefields of Evros.”^[70] The minefields are signposted in English and Greek^[71]but are not always clearly visible.^[72] The Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe expressed concern that “no action has been taken to avert other deaths.”^[73] One survivor reported that some parts of Evros minefields are not clearly signposted.^[74]

Victim Assistance

The total number of mine/ERW survivors in Greece is unknown. The vast majority of casualties are people trying to enter Greece illegally. The head of the clearance battalion reported that some 187 non-Greek citizens had been injured between 1995 and early 2007.^[75] There are no recent or reliable figures concerning Greek mine/ERW survivors. As of July 2009, there were four known landmine amputees residing in Greece. All were foreign nationals.^[76] It is not known how many other mine survivors have left the country.^[77]

In its Article 7 report submitted in 2009, Greece stated that it “offers, free of charge, health treatment through its National Health System to any person injured by landmines, irrespective of their legal status.”^[78] Some support has been provided to survivors, particularly in terms of emergency medical care, but Landmine Monitor found no evidence of full rehabilitative assistance made available to all known survivors.^[79] In 2008, during a visit to Evros prefecture, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe reminded Greece that “the authorities must provide a prompt and generous assistance [sic] to all mine victims, especially migrants.”^[80]

Mine casualties at the Evros border are evacuated and receive first-aid delivered by military personnel.^[81] They are treated at the hospital of Alexandroupolis or “other major hospitals” in northern Greece free of charge.^[82]

Continuing medical care for mine/ERW survivors remains problematic. In 2009, Greece maintained that rehabilitation of survivors, including provision of prosthetics, is undertaken by the military hospitals following the consent of the Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity.^[83] However, survivors reported that, in practice, they have to cover the costs of their healthcare and medicines or rely on the assistance of private citizens.^[84] Negotiations for an agreement between ministries to cover the cost of prosthetic devices for mine survivors began in 2006, but no significant progress was reported as of July 2009.^[85]

There were no psychological support or socio-economic reintegration opportunities for survivors.^[86] One survivor received a Greek language course organized for migrants and a computer class paid for by a private citizen.^[87] Special education for persons with disabilities remains limited.^[88] Unemployment remains a major social problem for persons with disabilities, with estimated 80% of disabled being unemployed.^[89] In 2008, the deputy ombudsperson for social welfare handled complaints related to persons with disability on employment, social security, and transportation.^[90]

Survivors with “humanitarian refugee”^[91] status may be eligible for a small disability benefit.^[92] As of July 2009, two survivors with refugee status received financial support^[93] of about €270 (US$398) every two months.^[94] Survivors without clear residency status rely on sporadic contributions from state institutions or public donations.^[95]

The Ministry of Interior reported that asylum applications by mine survivors are generally a top priority and deportation is excluded in such cases.^[96] However, human rights activists feared in the past they might have been deported.^[97] In 2008, the Council of Europe found “grave and systemic deficiencies in the Greek asylum practice” and stressed the need to improve refugee protection and access to the asylum procedure, especially in border areas, such as Evros.^[98]

In 2008, the Medical Center for the Rehabilitation of Torture Victims did not provide any support for mine survivors.^[99] In 2007, it had channeled Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity funds for rent payments of survivors. ^[100]

In 2009, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs allocated €17,000 ($25,034) to landmine survivors in Greece through the ICBL;^[101] the funds arrived in Greece on 28 August 2009.^[102] Consequently, survivors did not receive any state support in the first eight months of 2009.^[103]

Greece has legislation that protects the rights of persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, access to buildings, and in the provision of other government services; the legislation is enforced, but access to buildings for persons with disabilities is poorly enforced.^[104] There is a general lack of physical accessibility in Greece: only 5% of public buildings are accessible.^[105]

On 30 March 2007, Greece signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, but not its Optional Protocol. As of 1 July 2009, Greece had not ratified the convention.