DISCUSION DE LOS RESULTADOS

intersessionals at the expense of the time available for the SC MCRT.323

7.8 Promoting stockpile destruction

General course of events

In order to achieve its overall goal of a total ban, the Ottawa Convention obliges each State Party to dispose of its stockpiles of anti-personnel mines within four years after the treaty has entered into force for that State Party (Article 4). For 45 Ottawa states, including the Netherlands, the deadline for having destroyed their stockpiles was 1 March 2003.324 _{To stimulate the process a Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction}

was created in May 1999. In May 2001, the SC noted that 17 States Parties had not yet begun to destroy their stockpiles. By March 2003, 16 countries had still not fulfilled their obligation. This group included countries such as Turkmenistan that were apparently deliberately keeping amounts of anti-personnel mines for training purposes which exceeded the (unofficial) Ottawa norm of ‘several hundreds or thousands’ of training mines. Hence, there was growing concern that certain countries would not meet their stockpile destruction deadline. Against this background the SC on Stockpile Destruction decided to support countries in complying with the Ottawa stipulations and to consolidate the Ottawa standard.

During the fourth Meeting of States Parties in September 2002, the co-chairs (Australia and Croatia) and co-rapporteurs (Romania and Switzerland) of the SC on Stockpile Destruction decided that a Contact Group on Stockpile Destruction should be established. The Contact Group would meet in the margins of future intersessionals and annual meetings of the States Parties and would discuss the situation of those States Parties who were having difficulty meeting their Article 4 obligations within close deadlines.325 _{Since then, the number of States Parties that possess stockpiles has}

decreased steadily.

In the Landmine Monitor 2006 it was reported that as of July 2006, 138 of the then 151 States Parties did not have stockpiles of anti-personnel mines. Of these 138 States Parties, 74 had completed the destruction of stockpiles, whereas 64 States Parties had never had any anti-personnel mines. This left 13 States Parties with stockpiles to destroy. Their deadlines ranged from 1 January 2007 (Angola) to 1 June 2010 (Ukraine).

323 Moreover, critics of the SCE on Technologies for Mine Action had always stated that it was little more than a showcase for the industry. The Netherlands had also expressed its doubts on the added value of the SCE on Technologies for Mine Action, given its technical nature.

324 The deadline was determined by the provision that stockpiles should be destroyed no later than four years after the entry into force of the Ottawa Convention for the specific State Party (file 668235, 29 November 1999).

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All in all, Ottawa states had destroyed 39.5 million stockpiled landmines since the creation of the convention.326

Table 7.8 Dutch policies on stockpile destruction December 1997 – December 2006

Objectives In accordance with the treaty obligation: destruction of Dutch stockpiles and the funding of stockpile destruction projects in States Parties of the Ottawa Convention when assistance is requested.

Results In January 2003, the Netherlands formally announced it had destroyed its

entire stockpile of anti-personnel mines. The Landmine Monitor 2006 reported that as of July 2006, 138 of the then 151 States Parties did not have stockpiles of anti-personnel mines. There were 13 States Parties left with stockpiles to destroy.

Interventions Funding of several stockpile destruction projects. Sponsoring of a stockpile destruction project in Moldova.

Impediments Slow destruction of Dutch stockpiles of anti-personnel mines. High number

of anti-personnel mines (5,000) maintained by the Dutch government for training purposes.

Objectives

The Netherlands voiced its ambition to destroy all its stockpiles of anti-personnel mines in March 1996. That ambition followed from the unilateral decision to abolish the use of anti-personnel mines, after a review of the Dutch army’s needs for anti- personnel mines had demonstrated that the territorial defence of the Netherlands would not need anti-personnel mines. The Netherlands had to meet the formal deadline of stockpile destruction within four years from the date it ratified the Ottawa Convention. This meant that all anti-personnel mines had to be destroyed before 1 October 2003.327

A second objective regarding stockpile destruction was to assist other States Parties to destroy their stockpiles. In November 1999, Dutch priorities regarding the assistance of stockpile destruction projects in other countries were set in the context of the SC on Stockpile Destruction established in May 1999. At that time the Ministry of Foreign Affairs argued that stockpile destruction was an important issue, because it involved one of the first serious deadlines of the Ottawa Convention. The Netherlands aimed to assist countries to meet this deadline. Hence, in a memorandum it was communicated that the active attendance and reporting of the Dutch delegation to the SC would be appreciated. In addition, it was suggested that given the Dutch experience as co-rapporteur in the SC on Mine Clearance and Related Technologies, the Dutch delegation could assist the co-chairs and co-rapporteurs of this Standing Committee.

326 Landmine Monitor, 2006. 327 www.ICBL.org.

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Results

The Netherlands commenced destroying its own stockpile of 264,500 anti-personnel mines in 1996. For that purpose, several thousands of mines were transported to Germany and France.328 _{In January 2003, the Netherlands formally announced it had}

destroyed its entire stockpile of anti-personnel mines (apart from about 5,000 anti- personnel mines retained for education and training purposes under Article 3 of the Ottawa Convention). Furthermore, by giving financial assistance to stockpile destruction projects in other countries it supported six States Parties in meeting their stockpile destruction obligations on time.

Interventions

Since May 1999 the Netherlands’ initiatives on stockpile destruction have consisted mainly of giving assistance to stockpile destruction projects in States Parties. Until about 2002, these projects were primarily carried out and managed on a bilateral basis. As such, the Netherlands participated for example in a Canadian programme of stockpile destruction in Ukraine. However, internationally it was increasingly recognised that a regional approach would have concrete advantages. In reply to a Bulgarian request for assistance in stockpile destruction, the Dutch government stated that the Netherlands preferred to provide assistance through multilateral channels.In May 2006, in an official instruction to the Dutch delegation to the intersessional meeting it was stated that the Netherlands preferred funding stockpile destruction through specialised international organisations. To this end, a Euro-Atlantic

Partnership Council (EAPC) Trust Fund was created in 2000 and managed by the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency (NAMSA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The Netherlands contributed to five of the six anti-personnel stockpile destruction programmes conducted between 2000 and 2006:

1) The Netherlands contributed to stockpile destruction in Albania. This was the first project to be funded by the EAPC Trust Fund Project. The Netherlands was the first country that publicly committed itself to financially supporting the project. The project was led by Albania and Canada. The 1.6 million anti-personnel mines had been destroyed by April 2002.

1) The Netherlands sponsored a stockpile destruction project (including the destruction of anti-personnel mines, rocket fuel and munitions) in Moldova. In contrast to the project in Albania, the Netherlands and Moldova were jointly the lead nations. Therefore, during the SC on Stockpile Destruction in May 2001, the Dutch government called for other EAPC states to join the programme. The project involved the destruction of 11,872 anti-personnel mines; it was completed in December 2002. 3) The Netherlands contributed to a NAMSA-led stockpile destruction project in

Ukraine. This project was started in July 2002, led by Ukraine and Canada and managed by NAMSA. It led to the destruction of 400,000 anti-personnel mines and was completed in May 2003.

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4) The Netherlands contributed a destruction project in Tajikistan. The lead nations were Tajikistan and Canada and the project was managed by the UNDP. By the time the project ended in March 2004, 1261 anti-personnel mines had been destroyed. 5) The Netherlands contributed to the destruction of 1,320,620 anti-personnel mines

in Serbia and Montenegro. The project was started in April 2005 and was still running at the end of December 2006. By September 2006, 1,000,000 mines had been destroyed.

In addition to contributing to the EAPC Trust Fund, the Netherlands took some action regarding the stockpile destruction problems of Turkmenistan. There were

international concerns that Turkmenistan would not meet its deadline. In February, the Dutch put the problem to the government of Turkmenistan, but no significant information regarding the stockpile was provided. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested its embassy to approach the government of Turkmenistan again. The Dutch representative was instructed to treat this issue as an implementation problem, and not as a compliance problem, in the spirit of the convention. Technical support could be offered, if needed. At the end of February, Turkmenistan reported it had completed the destruction of its stockpile. At the same time, however, it announced that it had retained about 69,200 anti-personnel mines for training. One year later, in reaction to pressure from other States Parties and the ICBL, Turkmenistan announced it would destroy all its anti-personnel mines. In April 2005, the country reported it had completed the destruction.329

Also in addition to contribution to stockpile destruction projects, at the request of Canada the Netherlands gave a presentation in May 2000 in the SC on Stockpile Destruction about Dutch stockpiles used for training purposes. In May 2001 it gave a presentation on NATO’s EAPC Trust Fund stockpile destruction project in Moldova.

Impediments

The first impediment was the slow destruction of Dutch stockpiles of anti-personnel mines. The Dutch could officially confirm the destruction of all anti-personnel mines on 14 January 2003. Although the destruction was completed before the deadline of 1 March 2003, the pace of destruction was slow compared to other (Western) States Parties. The Netherlands ended up in the group of 22 States Parties that had destroyed their stockpiles in the year before the deadline; 40 States Parties had destroyed their stockpiles much earlier.330

The slow pace of destruction was mainly caused by the 272 so-called ‘Gator cluster munitions’ which contained a total of 5,984 BLU-92B anti-personnel mines. On 1 October 1999, the date the Ottawa Convention entered into force for the Netherlands,

329 Landmine Monitor, 2005. 330 Landmine Monitor, 2004:15.

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