LM Report 2002

BHUTAN

Bhutan is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It has stated that its lack of institutional capacity has been the main obstacle to joining.^[1] At the intersessional meeting of the Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on General Status and Operation on 27 May 2002, Australia and Japan reported that Bhutan had responded positively to their diplomatic initiatives promoting universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty in the Asia-Pacific region.^[2]

Bhutan did not attend the Third Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in September 2001. Bhutan voted in favor of pro-ban UN General Assembly Resolution 56/24M in November 2001, as it had in previous years. Bhutan is not believed to use, produce, trade, or stockpile antipersonnel mines. However, the Royal Bhutan Army receives training from India and it is not known if this training includes mine laying and mine clearance techniques, or whether Indian forces stockpile mines in Bhutan to support training activities.

Bhutan apparently does not have a landmine problem. However, insurgents from the Assam state of India, including the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) maintain bases in southern Bhutan and reportedly possess landmines and/or improvised explosive devices.^[3]

On 31 July 2001, six Bhutanese nationals were killed and eight injured when a Bhutanese government vehicle triggered a mine in India’s Assam state, three kilometers from the India-Bhutan border. The dead included five Bhutanese forest officials and a student. The landmine was reported to have been planted by the NDFB.^[4] According to the police the attack could be a warning to the Bhutanese government which has been putting pressure on the NDFB to leave the country.^[5]

[1] Faxed correspondence from the Royal Government of Bhutan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 26 January 2001.
[2] Oral remarks to the Standing Committee, notes taken by Landmine Monitor researcher.
[3] See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 518, which named the United Liberation Front of Assam.
[4] “Indian militants kill six Bhutanese nationals in landmine blast,” Agence France Press (Guwahati, India), 31 July 2001; Wasbir Hussain “Six Bhutanese nationals killed in land mine explosion near India-Bhutan border,” Associated Press (Guwahati, India), 31 July 2001.
[5] “Indian militants kill six Bhutanese nationals in landmine blast,” AFP, 31 July 2001.

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