Brunei
Darussalam signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997, but has not yet
ratified. It did not attend the Third Meeting of States Parties in September
2001, or any of the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in January or May
2002. Brunei cosponsored and voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution
56/24M promoting the implementation and universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty
in November 2001, as it had in previous years. Brunei is not party to Amended
Protocol II to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Brunei responded to a letter from the ICBL on 17 June 2002, stating simply,
“I wish to inform you that Brunei Darussalam is not ready at this stage to
ratify the Convention.”[1]
Landmine Monitor requests for interviews with the Ministries of Defense and
Foreign Affairs have not received any response in 2000, 2001, and 2002.
Brunei attended the regional seminar Landmines in Southeast Asia hosted by
Thailand from 13-15 May 2002 in Bangkok, but made no public statements and would
not respond for the record to the Landmine Monitor researcher’s questions.
Brunei did not attend the regional stockpile destruction seminar held in
Malaysia in August 2001.
In 1999, the Ministry of Defense indicated that Brunei needed to retain the
option of using antipersonnel mines for security concerns. At that time, Brunei
stated that it has never used, produced or exported antipersonnel mines and has
a small stockpile largely for training
purposes.[2] The Army has an
Engineer unit.
[1] Letter from Pehin Dato Lim Jock Seng,
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Brunei Darussalam, to
Elizabeth Bernstein, Coordinator, ICBL, 17 June
2002. [2] Interview with Ministry of
Defense officials, 11 February 1999. See Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 449
for more details.
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