Fifteen
of the forty countries in the Asia/Pacific region are States Parties to the Mine
Ban Treaty: Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Fiji, Japan, Kiribati, Malaysia,
Maldives, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, the Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, and
Thailand.
No State Party enacted domestic legislation to implement the Mine Ban Treaty
during the reporting period, but the Philippines has legislation pending. All
States Parties, except Bangladesh, Maldives, Nauru, and Solomon Islands have
submitted their initial Article 7 transparency reports and all have also
submitted required annual updates except Fiji.
Five countries have signed but not ratified the Mine Ban Treaty: Brunei, Cook
Islands, Indonesia, Marshall Islands and Vanuatu. In January 2002, an official
from the Cook Islands said that ratification legislation has been drafted.
Indonesia has also progressed toward ratification.
Twenty states remain outside the Mine Ban Treaty, and no country from the
region acceded to or ratified the Mine Ban Treaty in this reporting period.
Non-signatories include major antipersonnel mine users, producers, and
stockpilers, such as Burma (Myanmar), China, India, and Pakistan, and some
highly mine-affected countries such Afghanistan, Burma, Laos, Sri Lanka and
Vietnam.
Some developments, however, are encouraging. The cabinet of the new
transitional government of Afghanistan approved accession to the treaty on 29
July 2002, while the government of the newly established state of East Timor has
announced its intention to accede to the treaty as a matter of priority.
Twenty-three states from the region voted in favor of United Nations General
Assembly Resolution 56/24M in November 2001, calling for universalization and
implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. This group included eight
non-signatories: Afghanistan, Bhutan, Mongolia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea,
Singapore, Sri Lanka and Tonga. There were seven Asia/Pacific countries among
the 19 that abstained from voting: Burma, China, India, FS Micronesia, Pakistan,
South Korea and Vietnam. Other countries from the region were either absent or
unable to vote.
Nine countries of the region attended the Third Meeting of States Parties in
Managua, Nicaragua in September 2001, including non-signatory Laos. Thailand
was named by the meeting as the co-chair of the Standing Committee on General
Status and Operation of the Convention. Thailand has offered to host the Fifth
Meeting of States Parties in 2003, and from 13 to 15 May 2002, it hosted a
meeting on “Landmines in Southeast Asia,” to engage ASEAN countries
on landmines.
Use
India and Pakistan have laid large numbers of
antipersonnel mines along their common 1,800-mile border since December 2001, in
what appears to be one of the biggest mine-laying operations anywhere in the
world in recent years. In addition, it appears that in the Indian state of
Jammu and Kashmir, five armed non-state groups have been using landmines, and
that in other Indian states at least six other armed non-state groups have used
mines and/or Improvised Explosive Devices during the reporting period.
Governments and rebel groups have continued to use antipersonnel mines in
five other conflicts. Government forces in Burma continued to lay landmines
inside the country and along its borders with Thailand as part of a new plan to
“fence the country.” Three rebel groups not previously identified
as mine users were discovered using landmines in Burma in 2002, bringing the
total number of rebel groups using mines to thirteen. In Nepal, Landmine
Monitor recorded an increase in the use of homemade mines by the Maoist rebels,
and there continue to be serious indicators that government forces, both the
police and the army, are using antipersonnel mines. In the Philippines, at
least two rebels groups continued to use antipersonnel mines: the New
People’s Army and Abu Sayyaf.
In Sri Lanka, there have been no reports of new use of antipersonnel mines by
either government or rebel forces since cease-fires in December 2001. In the
fighting following 11 September 2001, there were reports of limited use of mines
and booby-traps by the Northern Alliance, Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters in
Afghanistan, but coalition forces, including the U.S., did not use antipersonnel
mines.
Production and Transfer
Eight of the 14 current producers globally are from
the Asia/Pacific region: Burma, China, India, North Korea, South Korea,
Pakistan, Singapore and Vietnam. Pakistan acknowledged that it has started
producing both new detectable hand-emplaced antipersonnel mines and new
remotely-delivered mines with self-destruct and self-deactivating mechanisms.
India has indicated that it is doing the same. China reported that it has
ceased the production of antipersonnel mines without a self-destruct capability.
South Korea has stated that it has not produced any antipersonnel mines,
including Claymore mines, after the year 2000. Singapore confirmed that it
continues to manufacture antipersonnel mines. Rebels groups and non-state
actors are believed to produce homemade antipersonnel mines in Burma, India,
Nepal, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka.
All of the producers have a moratorium on export in place or have stated that
they no longer export antipersonnel mines, except for Burma (Myanmar) and North
Korea. However, in April 2002, the state-owned Pakistan Ordnance Factories
allegedly offered two types of antipersonnel mines for sale in the United
Kingdom to a television journalist who posed as a representative of a private
company seeking to purchase a variety of weapons. In Thailand, two army
officers were arrested while allegedly trying to smuggle weapons including
antipersonnel mines.
Stockpiling and destruction
Some of the biggest stockpiles globally are in the
Asia/Pacific region: China (110 million), Pakistan (6 million), India (4-5
million) and the Republic of Korea (2 million). Other countries holding
stockpiles include Afghanistan, Burma, North Korea, Laos, Mongolia, Singapore,
Sri Lanka and Vietnam, as well as signatories Indonesia and Brunei, and States
Parties Bangladesh, Japan, and Thailand. Bangladesh has not disclosed the
number of mines in stockpile. Indonesia revealed that its stockpile numbers
16,000 antipersonnel mines. Armed non-state actors are believed to maintain
stockpiles of antipersonnel mines in Afghanistan, Burma, India, Nepal,
Philippines and Sri Lanka.
Japan had destroyed 605,040 antipersonnel mines by the end of February 2002.
In Thailand the total number of antipersonnel mines destroyed as of July 2002
was 266,245. Although Cambodia has declared completion of stockpile
destruction, officials continue to find, collect and destroy mines from various
locations; it destroyed 3,405 antipersonnel mines on 14 January 2002.
Malaysia hosted a Regional Seminar on Stockpile Destruction of Anti-Personnel
Mines and Other Munitions from 8–9 August 2001 in which 21 countries
participated, including eight non-State Parties. Australia has served as
co-chair of the Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction since September
2001.
Landmine Problem
In the region, sixteen countries are mine- and
UXO-affected, as well as Taiwan. Afghanistan is one of the most severely
mine/UXO-affected countries in the world, with an estimated 737 million square
meters of contaminated land. Post-11 September 2001 military operations created
additional threats to the population, especially unexploded U.S. cluster
bomblets and ammunition scattered from storage depots hit by air strikes, as
well as newly laid mines and booby-traps.
In Sri Lanka, uncleared mines threaten the safety of thousands of displaced
people returning home following the cessation of hostilities. Sri Lanka’s
Defense Secretary has estimated that there are some 700,000 mines in the ground.
The mine/UXO problem in Nepal appears to have worsened as the internal
conflict intensified in 2001 and the first half of 2002. Seventy-one out of 75
districts reported the presence of mines or UXO, compared to 37 last year.
In India, the mine-laying that started in December 2001 has prevented
villagers from tending their crops and livestock. A similar problem affects
villagers on the Pakistan side of the border. Residents of Pakistan’s
Federally Administrated Tribal Areas continue to face the presence of landmines
laid during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
Cambodia remains one of the world’s most affected countries. A
Landmine Impact Survey completed in April 2002 reveals that the number of areas
contaminated by mines and UXO is about 30% higher than estimated at the
beginning of the 1990s. About 46% of Cambodian villages have mine/UXO-affected
areas. The total suspected contaminated area is 4,466 million square meters.
In Laos, over 25 percent of villages are affected by the presence of
uncleared UXO contamination. A LIS completed in May 2001 identified 934
mine-contaminated areas located within 27 provinces of Thailand. In Vietnam,
the government has estimated that 16,478 million square meters of land remains
contaminated by landmine and UXO, nearly thirty years since the end of the
conflict. Nine out of fourteen states and divisions in Burma are mine-affected,
with a heavy concentration in eastern Burma; no systematic marking of mined
areas is done within Burma.
Mine Action Funding
The major mine action donors from this region are
Australia and Japan. Australia provided A$12 million (US$6.4 million) in mine
action funding for its financial year 2001-2002, a similar level to last year.
Japanese mine action funding fell about 40 percent in 2001, to 741 million
Japanese Yen (US$6.98 million). In 2001, New Zealand contributed NZ$2.3 (US$.95
million) to mine action, up from NZ$1.8 million in 2000. South Korea donated
$150,000 in 2001.
A funding shortfall for the mine action program in Afghanistan prior to 11
September 2001 had threatened again to curtail mine action operations, as it did
in 2000. Mine action operations were suspended after 11 September 2001. The
total of $14.1 million in mine action funding for 2001 represented the smallest
amount since 1992. However, since October 2001, about $64 million has been
pledged to mine action in Afghanistan.
In 2001, seventeen donors reported contributions to mine action in Cambodia
totaling more than $21 million. In 2001 and 2002 a number of donors resumed
funding of the Cambodian Mine Action Center, demonstrating renewed confidence
after past crises. According to UXO LAO, mine action funding for Laos in 2001
amounted to an estimated $7.5 million.
According to reports from donors, more than $25 million has been provided or
pledged for mine action in Vietnam in recent years. This includes the $11.2
million donated in March 2002 by the Japanese government to the Ministry of
Defense for mine clearance equipment to be used in infrastructure development
projects, such as the Ho Chi Minh highway. In 2001, some $5.7 million was
provided, including $3.5 million from the United States.
Thailand received more than $2.2 million from five donors in 2001 for mine
action. In Sri Lanka, most mine action activities had halted in 2000 due to the
escalation of fighting, and in 2001 only a small amount of funding was provided
to mine risk education activities. However, in the wake of the cease-fire
signed in February 2002, more than $1.7 million has been pledged to mine action
in Sri Lanka.
Mine Clearance
In 2001, mine action organizations in Afghanistan
cleared 15.6 million square meters of mined land and another 81 million square
meters of former battle areas, destroying a total of 230,077 antipersonnel mines
in the process. Mine clearance in Afghanistan halted briefly after 11 September
2001, and the mine action infrastructure suffered greatly during the subsequent
military conflict. But by March 2002, mine action operations had returned to
earlier levels, and have since expanded beyond 2001 levels.
In 2001, a total of 21.8 million square meters of land was cleared in
Cambodia, including 29,358 antipersonnel mines. In Laos, a total of 8.74
million square meters of land was cleared in 2001, including 82,724 explosive
remnants of war. About 3.8 million square meters of land was cleared in Vietnam
from 1999-2001, not including mine clearance by the Vietnamese Army. The
Thailand Mine Action Center reported that since the start of clearance
operations in July 2000, 4.4 million square meters of land had been cleared as
of June 2002. In Sri Lanka, the cease-fire may enable significant mine action
activities to get underway; mine clearance operations are currently conducted by
the Sri Lankan Army and the LTTE.
Mine Risk Education
Urgent needs for more mine risk education programs
were reported in Burma, India, Nepal and Pakistan. Significant MRE programs
continued in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Laos, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and
Vietnam, while smaller scale activities were conducted in Bangladesh, India,
South Korea, and Nepal. In 2001, 729,318 civilians received mine risk education
throughout Afghanistan, including refugees returning from Iran and Pakistan.
In Burma, a three-day mine information workshop, including MRE, took place in
Rangoon in February 2002. In Cambodia, the CambodianMine Action Center launched
a community-based mine/UXO risk reduction pilot project in October 2001. UXO
LAO community awareness teams visited 766 villages in 2001, reaching
approximately 182,000 persons, including 75,000 children, throughout Laos. In
Thailand, the Thailand Mine Action Center and three NGOs conducted MRE
activities reaching more than 77,000 persons.
Mine/UXO Casualties
Mine casualties were recorded in 13 of the 16
mine-affected counties in the Asia/Pacific: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma,
Cambodia, India, South Korea, Laos, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka,
Thailand and Vietnam.
In Afghanistan, the ICRC reported 1,368 mine casualties, up from 1,114
casualties in 2000. The Nepal Campaign to Ban Landmines registered 424
casualties from IEDs in 2001, a 57 percent increase from the year 2000. In
India, there were at least 332 new mine casualties reported in 2001, and another
180 mine casualties reported between 1 January and 17 June 2002. In Sri Lanka,
data collected from various sources indicates more than 300 new mine casualties
in 2001. In Pakistan, 92 casualties were registered, up from 62 in 2000.
In 2001, casualties continued to decrease in Cambodia where 813 casualties
were recorded, down from 847 in the year 2000. In Laos, UXO LAO recorded 122
casualties, up from 103 in the year 2000.
Survivor Assistance
In Afghanistan, according to the World Health
Organization, 65 percent of Afghans do not have access to health facilities.
Only 60 out of 330 districts have rehabilitation or socioeconomic reintegration
facilities for persons with disabilities, and even in those districts the needs
are only partially met. In Sri Lanka, an NGO called Hope for Children
introduced a mobile artificial limb manufacturing and fitting vehicle to provide
assistance in remote areas.
In Burma (Myanmar), the ICRC reported that in 2001 the country ranked third
out of their 14 prosthetic/orthotic programs worldwide for the highest number of
mine survivors receiving prostheses, after Afghanistan and Angola. In Laos, the
Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare formally approved the constitution of the
Lao Disabled People’s Association, after five years. In Vietnam, the
Community-Based Rehabilitation program expanded from forty to 45 provinces.
From 6-8 November 2001, the South East Asia Regional Conference on Victim
Assistance was held in Bangkok. The Conference was aimed to raise awareness of
the needs of mine survivors and to assist countries in the region in the
development of national plans of action.
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