Czech Republic

Mine Ban Policy

Last updated: 01 October 2012

The Czech Republic signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 26 October 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 April 2000. The former Czechoslovakia produced and exported antipersonnel mines. Production ceased in 1989 and a transfer moratorium was enacted in 1994. National implementation legislation entered into force on 3 December 1999 and the criminal code was amended to provide penal sanctions for violations of the treaty. In 2012, the Czech Republic submitted its 14th Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report.

The Czech Republic completed destruction of its stockpile of 324,412 antipersonnel mines on 15 June 2001, far in advance of its 1 April 2004 treaty-mandated destruction deadline. The Czech Republic initially retained 4,849 mines for training and development purposes, which was reduced to 2,443 by 2012.[1]

The Czech Republic attended the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November–December 2011 and the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in May 2012. In December 2011, the Czech Republic voted in favor of UN General Assembly resolution 66/29 on antipersonnel mines.

The Czech Republic is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.

The Czech Republic has no known mined areas, but unexploded ordnance (UXO) from World War II are still found. In 2004, the Czech Republic finished clearing two military areas contaminated by World War II UXO.

 



[1] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2011), Form D.