The use and export of anti-personnel landmines had fallen drastically since a global treaty to ban the scourge was adopted in Ottawa in 1999, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) said in a new report received in Johannesburg on Friday.
The report added that more than 34-million stockpiled anti-personnel mines have been destroyed by 61 states since the treaty was signed, including seven million in the past year.
According to the report the export of anti-personnel landmines has nearly ceased, the number of countries producing the weapon has decreased from 55 to 14. Mine clearance programs have expanded, there are fewer new mine casualties than in the past, and use of anti-personnel mines has fallen off.
”Perhaps the most encouraging development noted in this report is the decrease in the number of governments and rebel groups using anti-personnel mines,” Noel Stott, a representative for Mines Action Southern Africa, the South Africa ICBL affiliate, said.
Nine governments were reported to have used anti-personnel mines between May 2001 and 2002, compared to at least 13 governments the year before.
Two of the nine, Angola and Sri Lanka, stopped using the devices in 2002 when civil wars there ended in cease-fires and have not resumed their use.
Eight countries became States Parties to the Mine Ban (Ottawa) Treaty since the last ICBL report, including three that have recently used anti-personnel mines but now spurn the weapons — Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and Eritrea — as well as regional leaders Nigeria and Chile.
There are now 125 states parties to the treaty, and another 18 countries have signed, but not yet ratified, the agreement. More than a dozen governments have pledged to join in the near future, including Afghanistan, Greece, Indonesia, Turkey, and Yugoslavia.
The ICBL singled out non-treaty signatories India and Pakistan as especially deserving of criticism.
Since December 2001, both countries have engaged in massive new mine-laying operations along their common border, possibly the biggest anywhere in the world in decades, resulting in numerous civilian casualties.
These operations probably mean than more mines went into the ground globally than in the previous reporting period.
The ICBL also condemned extensive ongoing use of anti-personnel mines by the governments of Myanmar and Russia (in Chechnya), and lesser-scale ongoing use by Nepal and Somalia.
In addition, despite a declared use moratorium in place since 1996, Georgian forces apparently laid anti-personnel mines in the reporting period.
In Afghanistan, there were reports of limited use of mines and booby-traps by Taliban and al-Qaida fighters, as well as the Northern Alliance.
There were no instances of use of antipersonnel mines by the United States or coalition forces.
In another disturbing development, Iran, which ostensibly instituted an export moratorium on anti-personnel mines in 1997, has apparently provided mines to combatants in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Mine clearance organisations in Afghanistan are encountering many Iranian-manufactured antipersonnel mines dated 1999 and 2000.
Among Mine Ban Treaty States Parties, the ICBL is most concerned about the failure of Tajikistan to meet treaty requirements. It has not submitted required transparency reports, not adopted any national implementation measures, not started or even planned for stockpile destruction, and most disturbingly, has apparently consented to use of anti-personnel mines by Russian forces inside Tajikistan.
New casualties due to landmines or unexploded ordnance (UXO) were reported in 69 countries in 2001. A majority of these countries — 46 — were at peace, not war. The number of new mine/UXO casualties each year is now estimated by Landmine Monitor to be some 15 000 – 20 000 per year.
Landmine Monitor identified at least 7 987 reported new casualties in 2001, roughly the same number as in 2000, but many casualties continue to go unreported.
”While the number of new reported mine casualties in some of the worst affected countries has fallen in recent years, landmines continue to take an appalling civilian toll. The needs of hundreds of thousands of landmine survivors around the world will have to be met for decades to come,” said Sheree Bailey of Handicap International Belgium, co-ordinator for victim assistance for Landmine Monitor.
Ninety countries are affected by landmines and/or unexploded ordnance, including several from World War II.
In 2001 and early 2002, some form of mine clearance was underway in 74 of those countries. While on a global scale mine clearance and other mine action programs have expanded greatly over the past decade and particularly since 1997, a number of these programs have suffered financial crises recently.
Global mine action funding has totalled over $1,4-billion (R14-billion) in the past decade, including $237-million (R2,37-billion) in 2001.
However, the 2001 figure, which is roughly the same as in 2000, represents the first time since 1992 that a significant increase has not been registered.
”It is increasingly clear that at current levels of mine action funding and demining, many mine-affected states will not meet the ten-year treaty deadline for completion of clearance,” said Janecke Wille of Norwegian People’s Aid, acting chair of the ICBL Mine Action Working Group.
The 922-page Landmine Monitor Report 2002: Toward a Mine-Free World is the fourth annual report by the ICBL. On Monday the ICBL will present the report to diplomats attending the Fourth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva. – Sapa