Key
developments since May 2001: Belarus has reiterated its willingness to
accede to the Mine Ban Treaty as soon as it has received the necessary
assistance to enable it to destroy its stockpile of nearly 4.6 million
antipersonnel mines. In 2001, Belarus destroyed 3,276 stockpiled mines, and
cleared 3.5 million square meters of land, including 11,926 UXO and 65
antipersonnel mines. In March 2002, Canada donated 20 mine detectors to
Belarus—the first time the country has received international assistance
for its mine and UXO clearance.
MINE BAN POLICY
While Belarus has not acceded to the Mine Ban
Treaty, government officials have reaffirmed their support for the treaty on a
number of occasions.[1] In
September 2001, a representative of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
declared, “Belarusian public opinion and [the] Belarusian Government view
successful implementation of the Convention on the Prohibition of Antipersonnel
Mines as one of the important conditions for strengthening international
security.”[2] In January
2002, the Army Engineer Corps Chief of Staff said, “Belarus expresses a
willingness along with the international society to join the ban movement,
complying with the terms of the Ottawa Convention and to join it in the
foreseeable future.”[3]
Belarus claims that its accession to the Mine Ban Treaty is dependent on
finding environmentally safe technologies to enable the destruction of its 3.6
million PFM-1 and PFM-1S antipersonnel mines and receiving the necessary
funding.[4] Research into the
environmental effects of open-air detonation of PFM mines, which is being
carried out by the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD)
and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), is scheduled to be completed
by the end of 2002. According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Michael
Khvostov: “As soon as an environmentally safe technology of destruction of
PFM mines is identified and a formal agreement of cooperation between Belarus
and international donors is signed Belarus will immediately accede to the 1997
Mine Ban Treaty.”[5]
Belarus has consistently voted in favor of United Nations General Assembly
resolutions supporting the Mine Ban Treaty, including UNGA Resolution 56/24M
adopted in November 2001, which calls for universalisation of the treaty.
Belarus attended as an observer the Third Meeting of States Parties in
September 2001 and made a statement in support of the treaty. Belarus attended
the intersessional Standing Committee meeting on Stockpile Destruction in May
2001 and January 2002, with the sponsorship of the UNDP office in Minsk. At the
Standing Committee meetings in May 2002, Belarus was represented by Alexsandr
Baichorov from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Lieutenant-Colonel Igor
Lapchinsky from the Ministry of Defense.
Military and political authorities welcomed Landmine Monitor Report
2001. The Ministry of Defense expressed its gratitude to the Support Centre
for Associations and Foundations (SCAF)/Belarus Campaign to Ban Landmines (BCBL)
for support and cooperation in the elimination of the landmine problems in
Belarus.[6]
Belarus is a State Party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and
its original Protocol II on landmines. As reported in Landmine Monitor
Report 2001, Belarus is said to have completed domestic procedures for the
ratification of CCW Amended Protocol II on 7 October 1996, but has not yet
submitted the instrument of ratification “due to financial constraints on
its implementation.”[7]
Belarus participated as an observer in the Annual Conference of States Parties
to Amended Protocol II in Geneva in December 2001.
In 2001, Belarus requested support and cooperation with humanitarian demining
from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO)[8] but as of June 2002 it
had not received any response, official or unofficial.
PRODUCTION AND TRANSFER
The Ministry of Defense claims that Belarus has
never produced and will not produce or modernize antipersonnel mines or their
components, including Claymore-type mines or any other mines, in the
future.[9] Government officials
say that since 1992, Belarus has not exported antipersonnel
mines.[10]The current
moratorium on the export of all types of landmines—in place since
1995—has been extended to the end of
2002.[11] A decree at the
beginning of 1998 banned the transit of antipersonnel mines and certain other
goods through the territory of the Republic of
Belarus.[12]
STOCKPILING AND DESTRUCTION
Belarus’s mine stockpiles—concentrated
primarily in the Gomel region—consist of landmines left behind from the
Soviet era.[13] Details of
Belarus’s stockpile of nearly 4.6 million antipersonnel mines, including
3.6 million PFM and PFM-1S, were included in Landmine MonitorReport
2001.[14]
In 2001, Belarus destroyed 3,276 antipersonnel mines, including 3,244 PMN-2
blast mines, 17 MON-50, and 15 MON-200 directional mines. This is an increase
of more than 2,000 over the number destroyed the previous year
(1,216).[15] Between 1997 and
January 2002 Belarus destroyed, by detonation, a total of 11,459 antipersonnel
mines and booby-traps.[16] The
numbers and types destroyed are detailed in the following
table:[17]
Antipersonnel Mine Stockpiles and Stockpile Destruction
Belarus military officials argue that the MON series, OZM-72 and POMZ-2M
mines can be converted to command-detonated devices, which are not illegal under
the Mine Ban Treaty.[19]
Belarus has declared its intention, in spite of its economic problems, to
destroy some 900,000 antipersonnel mines (except for the PFM-1/1S type) without
international assistance.[20]
The government has estimated that it would need US$46 million to develop the
technologies necessary to carry out the destruction of all its stocks, including
PFM-1 mines.[21]
LANDMINE PROBLEM AND MINE CLEARANCE
Belarus is still contaminated by mines and
unexploded ordnance (UXO) left over from World War II. As reported in
Landmine Monitor Report 2001, the United Nations Mine Action Service
(UNMAS) conducted an assessment mission to Belarus in 2000. UNMAS found that
the majority of contaminated areas are agricultural lands and forests and that
UXO poses a greater threat than
landmines.[22]
The Ministry of Defense cleared 11,991 UXO and antipersonnel mines in 2001,
the largest number since 1994, and over 4,000 more pieces than were recovered in
2000.[23] Details of clearance
since 1992 are included in the table below.
[25] Other regions include
Gomel (802), Grodno (590), Mogilev (589), and Brest (500).
In 2001, a total area of 3.5 million square meters was cleared, most of which
could not previously be used for agricultural or other economic
purposes.[26]
The areas still needing to be cleared total some 350 million square
meters.[27] Belarus provided
UNMAS with a list of areas, in priority order, that remain to be cleared, broken
down by region and district. The list was reprinted in Landmine Monitor
Report 2001.[28] The most
affected are: Doubrovitsa district (172 km2) in Vitebsk; Slavgorod
district (36 km2) and Dribinsk district (24 km2) in
Mogilve; and Loyevsk district in Gomel (24 km2).
The primary responsibility for mine/UXO clearance in Belarus rests with the
Ministry of Defense.[29]
Deminers from the Ministry of Defense carry out planned clearance operations at
the request of local authorities. Deminers from the Ministry of Internal
Affairs are supposed to react to emergency calls.
In March 2002, Belarus received international humanitarian demining
assistance for the first time—20 modern mine detectors at a cost of
US$46,000 were donated to Belarus by Canada and a corresponding training of
Belarus deminers by international trainers, sponsored by Canada, took place in
April 2002.[30]
MINE AWARENESS/MINE RISK EDUCATION
Mine awareness is provided to the civilian
population in affected areas by the Ministry of Defense Explosive Ordnance
Disposal teams prior to the commencement of clearance
operations.[31] A proposal by a
group of NGOs, including BCBL and SCAF, to the Ministry of Education to include
mine awareness education in the curriculum for primary and secondary schools
conflicted with plans to reduce the existing national curriculum as Belarus is
moving from a six-day to a five-day school
week.[32] In spite of the fact
that 58 children were killed or injured in Belarus by landmines and UXO in the
ten years to 1999, UNICEF has not had any involvement with mine awareness issues
in Belarus due mainly to a lack of
resources.[33]
LANDMINE CASUALTIES
In 2001, three people were killed by UXO and four
others were injured, including one
child.[34] There were 105
mine and UXO victims recorded in Belarus between 1990 and 2001. Landmine Monitor
has a breakdown year-by-year, for injuries and fatalities, for adults and
children. For the entire period, 14 adults were killed and 33 injured and 23
children were killed and 35
injured.[35]
SURVIVOR ASSISTANCE
Medical, surgical, rehabilitation, and
reintegration services are available through the Ministry of Health network of
hospitals and healthcare
institutions.[36] In 2001, the
Belarus Prosthetic Rehabilitation Center produced 1,309 wheelchairs, 12,061
prosthetic devices, and 4,312 other assistive
devices.[37]
Despite the existence of prosthetic and rehabilitation facilities in Belarus,
according to Vladimir Yarmolik, the Executive Director of the Belarus Red Cross,
some 600 mine/UXO victims in Belarus are on the waiting list to receive electric
wheelchairs and other
devices.[38] The types of
prosthetic devices needed are not produced locally due either to a lack of
funding or to inadequate technology.
Physiotherapy and psychosocial rehabilitation facilities appear to be very
limited. Reintegration of survivors appears problematic, although companies are
requested to engage disabled people. The average monthly pension of a disabled
person in Belarus is roughly
US$48.[39] The Belarus Red
Cross considers the development of a mine victim assistance program one of its
priorities, but lacks the necessary
funding.[40]
[1] Statement by Ivan Grinevich, Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, to the Third Meeting of States Parties, Managua, 18-21
September 2001; Statement by Colonel Sergei Luchina, Chief of Staff, Engineers
Corps, Belarussian Armed Forces, to a press conference in Minsk, 19 January
2002; Statement by Vladimir Malevich, Permanent Representative of Belarus to the
United Nations in Geneva, to the Second Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 11-15
September 2000. See also Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p.
860. [2] Statement by Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, to the Third Meeting of States Parties, 18-21 September
2001. [3] Statement by Colonel Sergei
Luchina, Chief of Staff, Engineers Corps, Belarussian Armed Forces, Minsk, 19
January 2002. [4] Interview with
Vladimir Novosiad, Committee on State Legislation, House of Representatives,
National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, Minsk, 5 February
2002. [5] Interview with Michael
Khvostov, Belarussian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minsk, 11 February
2002. [6] Statement by Colonel Luchina,
Belarusian Armed Forces, 19 January
2002. [7] See Landmine Monitor Report
2001, p. 861. [8] Letter from Belarusian
Ministry of Defense to Support Centre for Associations and Foundations, 23 March
2002. [9] Letter no. 18/197 from the
Ministry of Defense to Support Centre for Associations and Foundations, 11
February 2002; see also Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p.
862. [10]
Ibid. [11] Decree no. 335 of the
President of the Republic of Belarus, “Introduction in the Republic of
Belarus Moratorium on Export of Landmines,” 22 August 1995; Decree no. 42
of the President of the Republic of Belarus, “About the Prolongation of
the Moratorium on Export of Landmines Till the End of 2002,” 4 February
2000. [12] Decree no. 27 of the Council
of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus, “About State Control Over Transit
Through the Territory of the Republic of Belarus of Specific Goods,” 10
January 1998, and Statement by Ivan Grinevich to the Third Meeting of States
Parties, Managua, 18-21 September
2001. [13] Letter from Ministry of
Defense, 11 February 2002. [14] See
Landmine Monitor Report 2001, pp.
862-863. [15] Ibid., p.
863. [16] Letter from Ministry of
Defense, 11 February 2002. [17]
Ibid. [18] The total of the chart
(4,586,525) is a slightly higher figure than previously reported (4,584,953)
despite the destruction of 3,276 mines in 2001. According to the Ministry of
Defense there were mistakes in the numbers provided to Landmine Monitor for the
last report. Interview with Colonel Sergei Luchina, Chief of Staff, Engineers
Corps, Belarusian Armed Forces, Minsk, 19 July
2002. [19] Interview with Colonel Sergei
Luchina, Chief of Staff, Engineers Corps, Belarusian Armed Forces, Geneva, 29
January 2002. [20]
Ibid. [21] Letter from Ministry of
Defense, 23 March 2002. For details of the potential difficulties in destroying
PFM-series mines see Landmine Monitor Report 2001, pp.
863-864. [22] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2001, p. 865. [23] Letter from
Ministry of Defense, 11 February
2002. [24]
Ibid. [25] Letter from Ministry of
Defense, 23 March 2002. [26] Interview
with Colonel Luchina, Belarusian Armed Forces, Minsk, 19 January
2002. [27] See Landmine Monitor Report
2001, pp. 866-867. [28]
Ibid. [29] For details of
Belarus’s mine clearance capacity, see Landmine Monitor Report 2001, pp.
865-868. [30] Interview with Colonel
Luchina, Belarusian Armed Forces, Minsk, 18 July
2002. [31] See Landmine Monitor Report
2001, p. 868. [32] Interview with Iouri
Zagoumennov, Director, Support Center for Associations and Foundations (SCAF),
Minsk, 18 July 2002. [33] Interview with
Neil Buhne, UN Resident Coordinator for Belarus, Minsk, 18 July
2002. [34] Interview with Colonel
Luchina, 5 February 2002; letter no. 18/197 from the Ministry of Defense to
Support Centre for Associations and Foundations, 11 February 2002; and
interviews with survivors. [35]
Landmine Monitor has full details of all the landmine survivors injured in
1999-2001. [36] For details see Landmine
Monitor Report 2001, p. 869. [37]
Interview with Larisa Andreeva, Head of Planning Department, Belarus Prosthetic
Rehabilitation Center, Minsk, 21 January
2002. [38] Interview with Vladimir
Yarmolik, Executive Director of the Belarus Red Cross, 29 March
2002. [39] Interview with Lilia
Vitskhovskaya, Center of Social Information, Minsk, 27 March
2002. [40] Interview with Vladimir
Yarmolik, Belarus Red Cross, 29 March 2002; see also Landmine Monitor Report
2001, p. 869. [41] For details see
Landmine Monitor Report 2001, pp. 869-870.
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