BAN POLICY

Status of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty

The Mine Ban Treaty has a total of 164 States Parties, while 33 states have not yet joined.

The last countries to accede to the treaty were Palestine and Sri Lanka, both in 2017.

• In July 2023, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres published “A New Agenda for Peace,” a policy brief urging UN member states to work to “achieve universality of treaties banning inhumane and indiscriminate weapons” including the Mine Ban Treaty

Mine Use

Antipersonnel landmines were used by State Party Ukraine, and states not party Myanmar and Russia, in the reporting period (during 2022 and the first half of 2023).

• Ukrainian authorities are investigating the circumstances of its forces using antipersonnel mines in and around the city of Izium, in Kharkiv oblast, in 2022 when the city was under Russian control.
• Russia has used antipersonnel mines extensively in Ukraine since invading the country in February 2022, resulting in an unprecedented situation in which a country that is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty is using the weapon on the territory of a State Party.
• As in every year since it was first published in 1999, this annual report documents new use of antipersonnel mines by government forces in Myanmar.

Non-state armed groups (NSAGs) in at least five states—Colombia, India, Myanmar, Thailand, and Tunisia—also used antipersonnel mines during the reporting period. Additionally, new use has been attributed to NSAGs in countries in or bordering the Sahel region of Africa.

Production

The Monitor has added Armenia to its list of countries producing antipersonnel mines, bringing this list to a total of 12 states. All listed producers are states not party to the Mine Ban Treaty: Armenia, China, Cuba, India, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam.

• Most of the states listed as producers are not believed to be actively producing but have yet to commit to never do so in the future. India, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Russia appear most likely to be actively producing antipersonnel mines.

Stockpile Destruction and Mines Retained

Of the 164 States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, 94 states have officially completed destruction of their stocks of antipersonnel mines, destroying a combined total of 55 million antipersonnel landmines. Sri Lanka was the last State Party to destroy its stocks, in October 2021.

• Another 67 States Parties have confirmed that they have never possessed antipersonnel mines. State Party Tuvalu must provide an Article 7 transparency report to confirm its status.

States Parties Greece and Ukraine both possess stocks of antipersonnel landmines, but did not destroy any during the reporting period. They remain in violation of Article 4 of the Mine Ban Treaty, having failed to complete stockpile destruction by their respective four-year deadlines: Greece (1 March 2008), Ukraine (1 June 2010).

A total of 66 States Parties retain antipersonnel mines for training and research purposes. Two of these states—Bangladesh and Finland—each retain more than 12,000 mines, while another 23 states retain more than 1,000 mines each. Angola and Peru consumed a collective total of 1,142 retained mines in 2022, decreasing their retained mines to under 1,000 respectively.

Transparency Reporting

All except one State Party—Tuvalu—has provided an initial Article 7 transparency report for the Mine Ban Treaty, but less than half provide annual reports due by 30 April each year.

A total of 89 States Parties had not submitted a report for calendar year 2022, as of 15 October 2023. Most of these states have failed to provide an annual Article 7 report for two or more years. Only 75 States Parties have provided reports for 2022, reflecting a lower submission rate than in 2021.

THE IMPACT

Casualties

In 2022, at least 4,710 casualties of mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) were recorded (1,661 killed and 3,015 injured). The survival status was unknown for 34 casualties.

• Civilians made up 85% of all recorded casualties, where the military or civilian status was known (4,341). Children accounted for half (49%, or 1,171) of civilian casualties, where the age was recorded.
• In 2022, mine/ERW casualties were identified in 49 states and two other areas. Of these, 37 are States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty.
• State not party Syria recorded the highest number of annual casualties (834) for the third consecutive year. State Party Ukraine recorded the second highest total (608) and saw a ten-fold increase in the number of civilian casualties compared to 2021.
• Ukraine was followed by State Party Yemen and state not party Myanmar, which each recorded more than 500 casualties in 2022.

Contamination

At least 60 states and other areas are contaminated by antipersonnel mines.

• This includes 33 States Parties with current clearance obligations under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, in addition to 22 states not party and five other areas.
• At least 24 States Parties are also believed or known to have contamination arising from improvised mines. Ten of these states have yet to clarify if this contamination includes victim-activated devices, which are prohibited by the Mine Ban Treaty.

Clearance

States Parties reported clearing a total of 219.31km² of contaminated land in 2022, resulting in the destruction of 169,276 antipersonnel landmines.

• This represents an increase on clearance reported in 2021, when 132.52km² of land was cleared and 117,847 mines were destroyed.
• Cambodia and Croatia reported the largest clearance totals in 2022, clearing a combined total of more than 128.67km² of land and destroying 14,815 antipersonnel mines.
• Land release progress was negligible in many States Parties in 2022—with 12 clearing less than 1km², four not undertaking any clearance activities at all, and six not formally reporting on their Article 5 obligations. Twenty States Parties have deadlines to meet their Article 5 clearance obligations before or no later than 2025, while 13 States Parties have deadlines after 2025. Very few appear to be on track to meet these deadlines.
• Cambodia and Zimbabwe may still have a chance of meeting their clearance deadlines, of 31 December 2025.
• Croatia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand may still be able to meet their respective clearance deadlines, which are beyond 2025.
• Eritrea remains in violation of the Mine Ban Treaty due to its failure to submit an Article 5 extension request after missing its clearance deadline in 2020.

Risk Education

Of the 33 States Parties with clearance obligations, 28 reported providing, or are known to have provided, risk education to populations at risk from antipersonnel mine contamination in 2022.

• At-risk groups included those that moved regularly between different locations, such as nomads, hunters, herders, shepherds, and agricultural workers. Refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) faced a similar threat.
• People seeking natural resources for their livelihoods, and people deliberately engaging with explosive ordnance—such as scrap metal collectors—were also at risk.
• Only 10 of the States Parties with clearance obligations that submitted an annual Article 7 report for 2022 provided detailed information on risk education, including beneficiary data disaggregated by sex and age. The only State Party that requested an extension to its clearance deadline in 2023, Ukraine, did not include a plan for risk education in its (draft) request.
• Children remained at high risk and were a key target group for risk education providers in 2022, comprising 47% of all beneficiaries reached.

Victim Assistance

In 2022, healthcare and rehabilitation services remained under-funded and faced increasing and multiple challenges in many states, including accessibility, expertise, and supply of materials.

• Several States Parties with significant numbers of mine victims in need of assistance experienced massive disruption—and in some cases damage and destruction—to their healthcare systems in 2022, including Afghanistan, Sudan, Ukraine, and Yemen.
• Despite progress in integrating physical rehabilitation into national healthcare systems in some states, improving the sustainability of services, Monitor findings indicate that rehabilitation has not been a priority in many affected States Parties.
• Major gaps remain in access to economic opportunities for mine and ERW survivors in many of the States Parties where livelihood support was most needed.
• Survivors were reported to be represented in coordination activities in at least 15 States Parties in 2022. Yet the results of their participation were rarely reported upon.

SUPPORT FOR MINE ACTION

In 2022, global support for mine action totaled US$913.5 million, representing an increase of 52% ($314.5 million) from support provided in 2021. Of this total, $162.3 million went to activities in Ukraine.

• Seventeen affected states contributed a combined total of $115.1 million to their own national mine action programs, representing 13% of global funding.
• Thirty-five donors provided $798.4 million in international support to mine action. This represented a significant increase of 47% from total international contributions in 2021.
• The donor base remained largely unchanged from recent years—with the exception that Saudi Arabia entered the list of top 15 donors in 2022. These donors provided 97% of all international mine action funding, totaling $774.9 million.
• The United States (US) and the European Union (EU), the two largest donors in 2022, significantly increased their annual contributions.
• The top 10 recipients received $580.6 million and accounted for 73% of all international assistance. Ukraine headed the list of recipients in 2022, after Russia’s invasion.
• International assistance to international non-profit organizations accounted for 37% of total funding during 2022, with $295 million received. International assistance provided directly to national non-profit organizations accounted for less than 1% ($3.4 million).
• International support for victim assistance totaled $37.6 million, an increase of 47% on the 2021 total. However, this represented only 5% of total mine action funding. Half of all victim assistance support went to three states—Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen.
• States Parties with smaller mine contamination lacked support. Of the 12 States Parties with less than 5km² of contamination, only five—Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Palestine, Senegal, and Somalia—received funds for clearance in 2022.