Oman
Mine Ban Policy
Policy
The Sultanate of Oman acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 20 August 2014, and the treaty entered into force for the country on 1 February 2015, making Oman the 162nd State Party.[1]
Oman reported that it had directed the law-making authority to create legislation that criminalized any violation of the treaty and had established a permanent committee for the implementation of the treaty at the office of the army chief of staff.[2] In its Article 7 transparency report, submitted in May 2017, Oman reported that it had taken several legal measures to implement the Mine Ban Treaty, including Sultan’s Order 26/2014 on joining the treaty. Oman also reported that it had included the treaty articles in Omani Penal Law and Military Judicial Law and ordered all military institutions to cease instruction on antipersonnel landmine use.[3] Oman has not provided any further update on the progress of its implementation legislation in recent Article 7 transparency reports. It submitted an updated Article 7 report in 2020 for calendar year 2019.[4]
Oman attended the Mine Ban Treaty’s Fourth Review Conference in Oslo in November 2019. Previously, Oman attended most of the treaty’s meetings of States Parties. At the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2018, it declared the completion of stockpile destruction.[5] Oman has also participated in many of the treaty’s intersessional meetings in Geneva.
During 2019, Oman also participated in two regional meetings on the treaty.[6]
Oman is not a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, nor the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
In November 2018, Oman announced that it had completed the destruction of its stockpiles ahead of its 1 February 2019 deadline.[7] Oman began the destruction process on 13 September 2015 and completed destruction on 25 September 2018. Oman destroyed 6,104 antipersonnel landmines in 2018.[8]
In its initial Article 7 transparency report in 2015, Oman declared a stockpile of 17,260 antipersonnel mines of Belgian, British, and German manufacture.[9] It has stated its intention to retain 2,000 antipersonnel mines for training and research purposes, and has established an implementation unit to organize stockpile destruction and clearance.[10] Oman noted in its initial Article 7 report that while it possessed an operational stock of Claymore mines, they were limited to command-detonation mode; however, Oman has not described in detail the specific measures it has taken to ensure that the mines can only be used in command-detonated mode, as has been urged by other States Parties.[11] Oman has not used the expanded Form D to provide details about the intended purposes, actual uses, and future plans for retained mines.
Officials previously stated that Oman has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines, but imported and used them in the past.[12]
[1] Oman’s Ambassador Lyutha Sultan Al-Mughairy deposited the accession instrument at the United Nations in New York on 20 August 2014. In a statement, she said the move “demonstrates that all States from all parts of the world have a role to play in ending the suffering caused by these insidious weapons.” Mine Ban Treaty Implementation Support Unit, “Oman becomes the 162nd State Party to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention,” 20 August 2014. Oman participated in the Ottawa Process leading to the Mine Ban Treaty and has remained sporadically engaged. The ICBL engaged with Oman on the Mine Ban Treaty for years, with visits to Muscat by its diplomatic adviser in 2012 and other representatives in 2007. In March 2014, Oman’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Youssef bin Alawi bin Abdullah, informed the Mine Ban Treaty envoy, Princess Astrid of Belgium, of the government’s decision to join the Mine Ban Treaty.
[2] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, August 2015.
[3] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form A, 8 May 2017. No details or names of laws were provided, nor copies of their texts.
[4] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, submitted in 2020, covering calendar year 2019.
[5] Statement of Oman, Session on Stockpile Destruction, Mine Ban Treaty Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 29 November 2018.
[6] Oman participated in a round table on the humanitarian procedures related to landmines, challenges and best practice on 12–14 March 2019 in Iran, and a global conference on victim assistance for antipersonnel landmines in Jordan on 10–12 September 2019. Details: Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, submitted in 2020 (covering calendar year 2019).
[7] Statement of Oman, Mine Ban Treaty Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 29 November 2018. Oman reiterated this information in its Article 7 report submitted in 2019.
[8] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, submitted in April 2019 (covering calendar year 2018), states that in 2018 Oman destroyed 502 No. 7 dingbat mines; 4,624 M409 mines; and 978 DM 31 mines.
[9] Oman listed a stockpile of 1,556 No. 7 (UK); 12,560 PRB M409 (Belgium); and 3,144 DM31 (German) antipersonnel mines. Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, August 2015. Translation by the Monitor.
[10] Oman stated the intention to retain 300 No. 7; 1,000 PRB M409; and 700 DM31 antipersonnel mines for training. Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, August 2015. The Article 7 report noted that there could be 99,000km2 of suspected hazardous areas containing antipersonnel and antivehicle mines and explosive remnants of war remaining from the 1962–1976 Dhofar rebellion.
[11] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, August 2015.
[12] Interview with Staff Cmdr. Maj. Elbarami, Ministry of Defense, Mine Ban Treaty Eighth Meeting of States Parties, at the Dead Sea, 19 November 2007.