Mr. President,
Stockpile destruction stands as a significant life-saving achievement of the Mine Ban Treaty. Collectively, states have destroyed over 55 million stockpiled antipersonnel landmines, protecting countless lives and limbs. However, Sri Lanka was the last state party to fulfill its obligation, destroying its stockpile in 2021.
Among the 164 states parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, 161 do not stockpile antipersonnel mines. This includes 94 states that have officially completed stockpile destruction and 67 which confirmed to have never possessed antipersonnel mines.
Yet, two states parties still hold a combined total of approximately 3.68 million antipersonnel mines: Ukraine (3,364,433) and Greece (325,413). Both countries are not in compliance with their Article 4 obligations, having missed their respective deadlines.
The ICBL welcomes the progress made by Greece thus far on their mine destruction. This is indeed good news that the physical destruction is ongoing and we hope the process will be completed as soon as possible, and hopefully by the 5th Review Conference.
We also thank Ukraine for providing update on the status of its remaining stockpiles. Recognizing the challenging circumstances, we ask Ukraine to take all possible steps to ensure these mines will not get out into the battlefield and will be destroyed as soon as it is feasible.
We ask the Mine Ban Treaty President and states parties, particularly those on the Committee on Cooperative Compliance, to continue to support both Greece and Ukraine in completing their obligations as soon as possible.
Tuvalu, the only state party that has not submitted an initial Article 7 report, must provide this transparency report to confirm it does not stockpile antipersonnel mines.
Furthermore, regarding mines retained for research and training under Article 3, it is noteworthy that 95 states parties do not retain any antipersonnel mines, including 41 that once did. This indicates a growing consensus that live mines are unnecessary for research and training.
However, 66 states parties still retain mines, with 25 of them holding over 1,000 mines each. Finland and Bangladesh top this list, each retaining more than 12,000 mines.
According to transparency reports as of June 14, 2024, only nine states have reported destroying any retained mines in 2023. Peru reported a destruction of 474 mines, the Czech Republic destroyed 362 mines, Germany destroyed 158 mines, and Croatia, 111 mines.
As in previous years, the ICBL reiterates its concern about the large number of states parties retaining mines without using them for permitted purposes, suggesting they are simply being stockpiled. These states should either use the mines for the allowed purposes or destroy them promptly.
Thank you.
