Policy area: General Affairs
News item: Speeches

Group of Governmental Experts of the States Parties to the CCW
Intervention by Henrik Rée Iversen, Ambassador of Denmark, on behalf of the EU on “Mines Other than Anti-personnel Mines”,
Friday July 19th 2002

Mr. Coordinator,

I have the honour to take the floor today on behalf of the European Union. Furthermore, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe associated to the EU  - Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia - as well as Cyprus and Malta, also associated to the EU, align themselves to this statement.

Mr. Coordinator,

It is a great pleasure for me to see you once again in the important job of co-ordinating this years’ second session of the Group of Governmental Experts of the States Parties to the CCW on the issue of “Mines Other than Anti-personnel Mines” (MOTAPM, or AV mines as often referred to). The EU and its member states have full confidence in your capability to perform this difficult task, and you can rely on our full cooperation and support.

As you are aware, some aspects of the use of AV mines have already been addressed in Amended Protocol II of the CCW. In our opinion, however, there are definite shortcomings in the way the use of mines is regulated within the CCW framework at present. It is therefore about time to address the serious humanitarian problems caused by the irresponsible use of AV mines as well as the use of sensitive types of AV mines that can be easily detonated by contact with a person.

During the First session of the Group of Governmental Experts of the States Parties to the CCW in May 2002, important statements were made by many delegations. In this regard we learned that the most serious humanitarian problems are linked to the broader effects of AV mines. As pointed out by ICRC in working paper 9 and UNMAS in working paper 14, the threat from AV mines in practice impedes humanitarian agencies and others to perform their most needed assistance to civilians in many post-conflict areas. Roads are blocked or it is too dangerous to use them, hindering the provisions of food, medicine, shelter etc. to reach those in need. This has convincingly shown that in fact AV mines can cause serious humanitarian problems. Furthermore, it should be mentioned that AV mines might also constitute problems with regard to own and allies’ ongoing and possible future military ground operations. Those problems therefore urgently need to be addressed.

This being said, the EU acknowledges the fact that AV mines are legitimate weapons that serve important military purposes with regard to self-defence and other military operations. Consequently, the States Parties will have to seek solutions, which strike the right balance between military considerations and humanitarian concerns.

In the opinion of the EU it is therefore necessary that a legally binding instrument, e.g. a new protocol as proposed by some delegations, could soon be finalised. We are, of course, aware, that a number of questions have to be addressed and solved, but the task is clear, and the problems after all are of a relatively limited scope, wherefore a solution should hopefully be within reach.

The European Union has submitted to this second meeting of the expert group a new working paper on AV mines (CCW/GGE/II/WP.3, July 3rd 2002). The aim of this paper is to facilitate the consideration of delegations during this meeting by enumerating the different items and questions that on earlier occasions have been brought to the attention of the Group of Experts on AV mines.

In this paper the European Union suggests different measures, which may help to reduce the threat that AV mines pose to civilians. These measures seek to take into account both military and humanitarian needs.

The paper discusses three issues.

(Scope):

Regarding the scope of the humanitarian problem caused by the irresponsible use of AV mines, the EU looks forward to receiving, notably from the ICRC during this session, more data on the impact of AV mines. We look forward to deepening our deliberations on these issues with other States Parties as well as with the ICRC and relevant NGOs.

In this respect it would also be useful to discuss whether all AV mines have to be addressed or whether we could concentrate on certain types of AV mines. Furthermore, we have to explore measures to improve the “responsible use” of AV mines, and we have to address technical shortfalls. It will also be relevant to discuss the proper definition, i.e. would “Mines Other than Anti-personnel Mines” be the right name.

(Existing regulations):

Regarding the existing regulations, the EU paper contains a list of already existing regulations pertaining to AV mines in Protocol II and Amended Protocol II of the CCW in order to facilitate the discussion on shortfalls to be addressed.

(Possible measures):

Finally, regarding possible measures, the EU suggests a discussion on different kinds of “preventive measures” to reduce the risk to civilians caused by the operational practice of AV mines. To this end it is suggested that it should be explored whether existing regulations (for instance Protocol II and amended Protocol II) are sufficient or should be improved.

Furthermore, the impact of technical measures (such as detectability, self-destruction/self-neutralization or self-deactivation as well as sensitive fuses and anti-handling devices) has to be explored with an aim to reduce the risks to civilians. The EU looks forward to actively participating in the discussions of these matters in the Military Expert Group.

Regarding the issue of “post conflict measures” the EU continues to underline the importance of rapid and safe clearance of AV mines. Let me refer in this regard to the provisions that exist in Article 9, 10 and 12 of Amended Protocol II.

Finally, it is the hope of the EU that the Expert Group would take the opportunity of this session to explore whether further measures regarding provisions on technological co-operation and assistance should be taken in addition to the measures that exist in article 11 of Amended Protocol II.


Mr. Coordinator,

The EU repeats its sincere wish that States Parties would soon agree to take additional measures in order to reduce the serious humanitarian problems that AV mines pose to civilians during and after conflict situations.

I am confident that the Group of Experts on AV mines will make progress in further exploring such options under your highly respected guidance. I can assure you that the EU as well as the individual delegations of the Member States intends to participate actively in the coming deliberations of the Expert Group.

Thank you