Fourth Committee Unanimously Approves Draft Resolution Urging States to Identify Areas Containing Mines, Other Explosive Remnants of War
The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) unanimously approved a draft resolution today, by which the General Assembly would urge all mine-affected States to identify all areas containing mines and other explosive remnants of war, and engage in clearance when possible.
By other terms of the text, titled “Assistance in Mine Action” (document A/C.4/70/L.8), the Assembly would request that all States support mine‑affected countries by providing reliable, predictable and timely contributions for mine action activities, as well as assistance for victims and mine-risk education, especially at the local level.
Introducing the draft resolution on behalf of the European Union, Poland’s representative said his delegation had done its best to ensure that the drafting process was transparent, inclusive and open to all countries wishing to make a contribution. The text reflected changes on the ground and would hopefully contribute to facilitating the work of the “everyday heroes” who put their lives at risk to eliminate the threat posed by mines and other explosive hazards.
Prior to the Committee’s action on the draft resolution, Dmitry Titov, Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, said that as many as 7.9 million people still lived in close proximity to areas affected by landmines, with the use of explosive devices in populated areas gaining more prominence as a feature of modern warfare.
Presenting the latest report of the Secretary-General on Assistance in Mine Action, he said that improvised explosive devices were increasingly being used, adding that, in addition to killing many non-combatants, those that failed to detonate added to the hazards that threatened civilians, impeding peacebuilding and recovery.
Agnès Marcaillou, Director of Mine Action Services, said that, when UNMAS was invited by an affected country, it provided support in a technical way, advising on equipment, training deminers and providing the right expertise to local volunteers. However, the agency must remain selective in its activities because it had neither the staff nor the funding to keep up with demand. Ancillary activities — including surveying affected areas, conducting risk education and coordinating victim assistance – also fell under the purview of UNMAS. Member States needed to strengthen their partnerships with UNMAS, which also required those in a position to fund it to do so, she said.
Afghanistan’s representative said his country had been struggling with the problem of landmines, explosive remnants of war — including improvised explosive devices — and their devastating consequences, for more than three decades. It remained one of the world’s most heavily mined countries, with an average of 33 Afghan civilians killed or injured by mines each month so far in 2015. The use of improvised explosive devices, a common tactic used by the Taliban and other terrorist groups, was another threat to civilian life.
Iraq’s representative said that, with 25 million mines, his country was one of the most heavily mined in the world, which undermined sustainable development and threatened lives and livelihoods. Entire villages were populated by amputees, he said, urging the international community to help Iraq demine its territory, carry out civilian awareness programmes and rehabilitate landmine victims.
Egypt’s representative emphasized that countries or entities that planted mines had a legal obligation to remove them, because the prohibitive cost of removing mines and other explosive devices went well beyond the capacity of many countries. With more than 22 million landmines that had caused more than 7,000 causalities, including 3,200 fatalities, and the loss of about 10 per cent of cultivated farmland for development, Egypt remained at the top of the list of affected countries.
Lebanon’s representative said that her country’s armed forces, in collaboration with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), had cleared approximately 4.8 square kilometres of mine-affected land and destroyed more than 35,000 unexploded mines and other ordnance. The Lebanon Mine Action Center was ready to share its success story and technical expertise in demining through partnerships with regional and international actors, in particular the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining and the French army.
Also speaking today were the representatives of Iran, Thailand, Mexico, Peru, New Zealand, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, China, Ukraine, Mali, Colombia, Japan, Libya, Croatia, Australia and the United Arab Emirates.
The Fourth Committee will reconvene at 3 p.m. on Monday, 19 October, to hold a general debate and take action on a proposal relating to the University for Peace, and to begin its general debate on international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.
Introduction of Report
DMITRY TITOV, Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, presented the report of the Secretary-General on assistance in mine action (document A/70/207), saying it warned of the still significant, and in some cases increasing, use of mines and other explosive devices. Worldwide, as many as 7.9 million people still lived in close proximity to areas affected by mines and other explosive remnants of war. One of the most concerning features of modern conflicts was the use of conventional explosive weapons in populated areas, he said. Furthermore, improvised explosive devices were increasingly being used. In addition to killing many non-combatants, explosives that did not detonate added to the hazards that threatened civilians, impeding peacebuilding and recovery. In countries such as Afghanistan, improvised explosive devices resulted in higher numbers of casualties than landmines.
Mine action remained at the core of the United Nations post-conflict humanitarian response, he continued. The number of requests for the Organization’s emergency humanitarian mine action assistance continued to grow, with the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) as the focal point for mine action. In that role, UNMAS led, coordinated and implemented a coherent, multi‑agency response, which reflected the changing realities on the ground. He reported that the international community worked closely with the United Nations system to achieve greater compliance on international legal instruments relating to mine action, whereby 162 countries had acceded to, or ratified, the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty; 93 States had joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions; and 121 States had ratified the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. However, “the rubber truly hit the road” only when those commitments were implemented, he said.
Emphasizing that the world body could and must do more, he said it should continue to secure Government-owned ammunition storage areas, which not only improved security, but also significantly reduced the risk of accidental explosions and, therefore, the killing or maiming of civilians. Secondly, Member States must implement targeted risk education, which provided people with life‑saving information and reduced their risk of getting killed by explosive remnants of war, including improvised explosive devices. Thirdly, the United Nations should mainstream assistance to victims and disabilities legislation. Finally, the Organization must accelerate the transfer of mine action functions to national actors and ensure that it was integrated into multilateral instruments, national plans and legislation. It was possible to bring an end to the devastation caused by landmines, he stressed. “Investing in mine action politically and financially yields immediate and long-term returns.”
Questions from the Floor
The representative of Iran asked about the technical assistance that the United Nations could provide through UNMAS, and whether UNMAS had the capacity to meet all the demands from countries in need. If not, he asked what Member States could do to update the capacities of UNMAS to meet the needs of the international community.
Mr. TITOV responded by saying that UNMAS could assist in knowledge transfer, surveying, reconnaissance and actual demining — a multifaceted array of activities. Mine action was taken up by a tiny group of practitioners, with just over 20 people in New York and thousands of national staff working in the field. However, that capacity could not fully support all the needs of all Member States.
AGNÈS MARCAILLOU, Director of Mine Action Services, added that, when UNMAS was invited by an affected country, it provided support in a technical way, advising on equipment, training deminers and providing the right expertise to local volunteers. However, UNMAS must remain selective in its activities because it had neither the staff nor the funding to keep up with demand. Ancillary activities — including surveying affected areas, conducting risk education and coordinating victim assistance — also fell under the purview of UNMAS. Member States needed to strengthen their partnership with UNMAS, which also required those in a position to fund it to do so, she said.
PREDRAG AVRAMOVIĆ, of the European Union, said that all 28 member States of the bloc were States parties to the Ottawa Convention, and, today, they were all co-sponsors of the draft resolution on assistance in mine action. He recalled that, in 2014, the Third Review Conference of the Ottawa Convention, held in Maputo, Mozambique, had allowed stakeholders to discuss the remaining challenges of mine action and to reaffirm their shared commitment to ending the suffering caused by the use of anti-personnel mines around the world.
The European Union would continue to provide political and financial support for the international community’s efforts towards that goal, he said. The bloc and its member States had contributed more than 600 million euros since the previous Review Conference, in Cartagena, Colombia, in 1999, which represented more than a third of the world’s financial assistance in mine action, making the European Union the leading donor in that area. “But our effort alone is not enough,” he emphasized, adding that combined assistance by international actors could increase the impacts of the different kinds of support that could be made available.
Turning to the draft resolution on assistance in mine action, he said it played a role in reaffirming the normative framework for the humanitarian mine action activities carried out by the United Nations system, with recognition of the coordinating role of UNMAS. He said he was pleased that the text’s humanitarian dimension had been strengthened and that it took into account the specific needs of refugees and internally displaced persons. He also welcomed its recognition of the humanitarian threat posed by improvised explosive devices following conflict, saying that the European Union delegation appreciated national, regional and subregional efforts, including those of the African Union.
VIRACHAI PLASAI (Thailand) recalled that 2015 marked the tenth observance of the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action. It was encouraging to note that the number of mine victims had decreased substantially from its peak 10 years ago. However, millions of people — especially those who were most vulnerable, living in conflict-prone least developed areas — were still affected by the menace of landmines and other explosive remnants of war. Mine action could not be viewed as a self-contained policy or programme, he emphasized. Rather, it was an essential enabling component of United Nations work, which cut across diverse issues of peace, security, humanitarian concerns and development.
He went on to say that the changing nature of mine action operations was a particular element of the Secretary-General’s report that deserved attention. With ongoing violent armed conflicts raging in many parts of the world, the threat of explosive hazards to civilians was even more widespread. That condition had made mine action — long thought to be a post-conflict task — a necessary operation, even during ongoing conflicts. Thailand therefore called upon all Member States involved in armed conflict to refrain from deploying explosive weapons in populated areas. On mine clearance, he said his country was committed to the goal of a zero-victim and mine-free country, noting that the Thailand Mine Action Centre had cleared more than 2,100 square kilometres of contaminated land in the last 15 years.
LORENA ALVARADO QUEZADA (Mexico) said her country was committed to the elimination of weapons that caused so much destruction and grief. To date, 162 countries had ratified the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. Only a minority of countries had not banned the production of landmines, and Mexico called on them to ratify the Ottawa and Oslo Conventions as soon as possible. International progress made included a drop in the number of victims, progress in the clearance of contaminated areas and an increase in assistance to victims. However, recent armed conflicts were still raging in areas where anti-personnel mines were found, and armed groups were increasingly using improvised explosive devices, she noted. Mexico recognized the important role of the UNMAS, she said, adding that its Mine Action Strategy was founded on a humanitarian approach and integrated support for victims. Mexico reaffirmed the importance of linking the synergies of the Conventions to comprehensive assistance for victims, which must be in compliance with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
GUSTAVO MEZA-CUADRA VELÁSQUEZ (Peru) described the strides that his country had made in a bid to comply with its obligations under the Ottawa and Oslo Conventions. Peru had destroyed thousands of landmines and updated its national demining standards, in addition to having seen a significant improvement in its mine clearance efforts, thanks to the use of manual and robotic clearance and the use of demining dogs. The country had also made significant progress on its border with Ecuador, and was working to share experience and best practices with that country, which had led both States to form a bi-national demining unit. Peru also had programmes for the reintegration of victims, he said, thanking the various donors who had helped in the process.
AHMED MAHDI (Iraq) said that, with 25 million mines, his was one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. That challenge undermined sustainable development and threatened lives and livelihoods. Noting that his country had entire villages populated by amputees, he asked the international community to shoulder its responsibility to help Iraq demine its territory and to ban the lethal weapons. Landmines had been used throughout the three wars carried out by the former regime, and in the new conflict carried out by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant/Sham (ISIL/ISIS). Iraq lacked sufficient data or maps showing the location of landmines and explosive remnants of war, but it was carrying out surveys and civilian awareness programmes, he said, adding that the country was also working to rehabilitate landmine victims. However, there remained insufficient international assistance in that area. Iraq had recently demined an area of 1 billion square metres, he said, reiterating the need for additional donor support.
AHMED ELSHANDAWILY (Egypt) said the problem of mines and other explosive devices continued to affect communities long after the end of conflict and posed great obstacles to development. The prohibitive cost of removing them went well beyond the capacity of many countries. Egypt’s long-standing position was that countries or entities that planted mines had a legal obligation to remove them, he emphasized. Egypt remained at the top of the list of affected countries, with more than 22 million landmines planted that had caused more than 7,000 causalities, including 3,200 fatalities, and about 10 per cent of cultivated farmland remaining unusable for development.
PETER HALL (New Zealand) said landmines and cluster munitions created a persistent sense of fear and insecurity that inhibited peacebuilding and prevented people from re-establishing their livelihoods. In 2015, New Zealand had contributed $1 million of untagged funding for the removal of mines and a further $500,000 to the urgent needs fund of UNMAS. He called for additional core or unmarked funding for the agency and for other United Nations entities to provide for the removal of mines and for education about their existence, in order to create space for humanitarian development, peace and the ability of displaced persons to return home.
MAYTHONG THAMMAVONGSA (Lao People’s Democratic Republic) said his country shared the United Nations vision of a world free of threats from explosive remnants of war. It remained one of the countries most affected by unexploded ordnance, which created obstacles to national development and livelihoods, especially in rural areas. A huge amount of resources was therefore required for their clearance. The Government had worked bilaterally with the United States, Japan and China, and since 2011, those three countries had provided funding and other assistance, including new technology and equipment, to help clear unexploded ordnances. He expressed appreciation to the international community for its support, but called further upon Member States to help his country rid itself of unexploded remnants of war.
HUANG DA (China) said that, as a full Contracting Party to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and its annexed protocols, his country attached great importance to the humanitarian concerns caused by landmines. China had carried out two massive demining campaigns in the border areas of its Guangxi and Yunan provinces, basically eliminating the threat to civilians. In addition, it had carried out its obligations on landmine production, use, marking and recording, and continued to destroy outdated anti-personnel landmines and other explosive ordinance that did not meet the requirements of Amended Protocol II. China did not export such non-conforming landmines, he said, adding that it attached importance to national capacity-building and victim assistance. The Chinese army continued, as planned, to destroy outdated anti-personnel landmines. In addition, China provided assistance to demining cooperation internationally, conducting training programmes in more than 40 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. It would hold a joint training session for Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Sudan and Zambia in 2015, he added.
VOLODYMYR MIALKOVSKYI (Ukraine) said that, as a result of the armed aggression by the Russian Federation and the offensive actions carried out by Russian-guided illegal armed groups operating in parts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of his country, Ukraine had to deal with drastically increased numbers of dangerous explosive remnants of war, which had caused severe casualties to civilians, including children. Today, however, some 5,900 hectares in eastern Ukraine had been cleared of mines. More than 26,200 explosive devices and mines planted by the Russian Federation had been destroyed, in addition to other explosive remnants of war left behind following artillery and mortar attacks.
DIANGUINA DIT YAYA DOUCOURÉ (Mali) said the people of his country lived daily with the threat of explosions because two thirds of its territory had been contaminated with mines. Terrorist groups in northern Mali had not hesitated to lay mines, improvised explosive devices and other munitions to undermine the Government’s efforts to implement the recent peace agreement. As the nation tried to recover from its difficulties, Mali understood the danger of anti-personnel mines, and was making every effort to eliminate them entirely. He said his delegation supported the draft resolution on assistance in mine action, noting that coordinated United Nations agencies and multilateral partners had helped to destroy 1,400 explosive devices and further trained the armed forces to remove mines.
MARÍA EMMA MEJÍA VÉLEZ (Colombia) said the 2015 draft resolution highlighted, for the first time, improvised explosive devices as a humanitarian threat as devastating as industrial mines and more difficult to distinguish with the naked eye. In Colombia the laying of mines had been carried out by armed non‑State actors during the conflict, having claimed 11,000 victims since 1990. Following the signing of the peace accord between the Government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), both parties had agreed to decontaminate the country, and through that agreement, they had been clearing all mines. Colombia condemned the laying of landmines, but a broad commitment by the international community was the only way in which the world could guarantee people the ability to “walk free” from the fear of explosive devices, she said.
KOJI MIZUMOTO (Japan) said that, in order to achieve the collective vision of a mine-free world, his country had been helping mine-affected countries to implement their treaty obligations. Since 1998, Japan had provided assistance in the order of $622 million to 50 countries and regions, including for the clearance of landmines, cluster munitions and other unexploded ordnance, as well as for risk reduction and victim assistance projects. Contamination by mines and explosive remnants of war remained a major security issue affecting civilian populations long after conflict ended. Japan had supported mine action efforts through the United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination Group on Mine Action, including the UNMAS, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). It had been the largest financial contributor to the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Action since 2013, he said, adding that on 1 January 2014, Japan had assumed the Chair of the Mine Action Support Group. It had hosted the Group’s annual meeting last week and had also pledged $3 million to the Gaza appeal for mine action support.
MAHMOUD SAIKAL (Afghanistan) said his country had been struggling with the problem of landmines, explosive remnants of war — including improvised explosive devices — and their devastating consequences, for more than three decades. Afghanistan remained one of the world’s most heavily mined countries, with an average of 33 Afghan civilians killed or injured by mines each month so far in 2015. The country remained littered with hazardous explosive devices in multiple areas, including those where conflict had long since ceased. Innocent civilians, including women and children, bore the highest risk.
Not only were mines detrimental to stability and post-conflict development, the risks they posed also impeded socioeconomic development, which was essential for basic sustenance in a war-torn country, he continued. Mines and explosive remnants of war obstructed access to basic services, facilities and infrastructure, and created severe challenges to land use for schools, crops and other productive activities. The use of improvised explosive devices, a common tactic used by the Taliban and other terrorist groups, was another threat to civilian life. Describing progress made by the country’s mine action programme, he noted that Afghanistan had submitted a request to the States parties to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty for an extension of its deadline for demining its territory, adding that all anti-personnel mines would be removed from Afghanistan in 10 years.
MOHAMED ELMODIR (Libya) said his delegation attached great importance to international mine action because his country had been suffering for a long time from landmines. Anti-personnel mines and improvised explosive devices were causing deaths and vast human suffering over large areas of land, preventing people from investing in the country and its further development. Since 2011, the armed struggle against the previous dictator had compounded Libya’s situation, he said, adding that the country hoped for close cooperation with the United Nations and friendly countries to remove the mines laid in the recent conflict, rehabilitate victims and raise awareness of the dangers of explosive devices. Libya called for a specific programme to help post-conflict countries as they developed their own national capacities.
DANIJEL MEDAN (Croatia), associating himself with the European Union, said he was deeply concerned about the continued use of mines and improvised explosive devices, and urged States to universalize the Ottawa Convention and related treaties without delay. Welcoming the Maputo Declaration and Plan of Action, he said that addressing victim assistance was critical. “Assistance to victims has to be dealt with in a broader context”, including development, humanitarian and other related international activities. It was also necessary to include survivors in decision-making on issues that affected them. Mine clearance often did not occur immediately following a conflict, but became part of a State’s long‑term development efforts. As a mine-affected country, Croatia stood ready to share its experiences with others, he said.
WAYNE SWAN (Australia) said his Government was committed to the Anti‑Personnel Mine Ban Convention, the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and the Convention on Cluster Munitions, in recognition of the terrible long-term humanitarian impact those weapons had on civilian populations. Since 2010, under the Government’s Mine Action Strategy, Australia had provided over $125 million to reduce or mitigate the threat and socioeconomic impact of landmines, cluster munitions and other explosive remnants of war. It had also funded other initiatives, including by partner organizations such as the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, he said, encouraging other States to integrate victim assistance into broader national policies so as to guarantee reliable, ongoing support for victims.
CAROLINE ZIADE (Lebanon) said the 7.9 million people living in proximity to areas contaminated with mines or explosive remnants of war and the additional 4.7 million who were at risk could not be left behind. Lebanon presented a clear example of a heavily contaminated area and of positive partnerships. The Lebanese Armed Forces, in collaboration with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), had cleared approximately 4.8 square kilometres of affected land and destroyed more than 35,000 unexploded mines and other ordnance. More could have been done if Israel had provided full data on the landmines it had planted in Lebanon and the locations of more than 4 million cluster munitions it had dropped on Lebanon in 2006. The Lebanon Mine Action Center continued its partnership with the UNMAS team to provide a rapid response to the threat of mines, she said, adding that her country was ready to share its success story and technical expertise in demining through partnerships with regional and international actors, in particular the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining and the French army.
JAMAL JAMA AHMED ABDULLA AL MUSHARAKH (United Arab Emirates) said that contamination by landmines and explosive remnants of war continued to pose a security risk, both in regions of conflict and locations where there was no conflict. Besides direct threats to civilians, mines also posed an environmental threat as well as social and economic challenges. Although there had been a one‑third drop in the number of victims, the United Arab Emirates remained concerned about the high number of people injured or killed by unexploded ordnance in areas not affected by conflict. A growing number of countries needed mine action assistance amid an increasing number of conflicts around the world, she said, inviting countries in a position to do so to provide funding or expertise on landmine clearance. The United Arab Emirates supported United Nations mine action activities and, since 2001, had been implementing the Solidarity Initiative by providing financial assistance to Lebanon and the Mine Action Fund. It had also contributed to governmental and non-governmental demining programmes in countries such as Afghanistan, she said.
Action on Draft Resolution
The Committee then took up a draft resolution entitled “Assistance in mine action” (document A/C.4/70/L.8).
BOGUSŁAW WINID (Poland) introduced the draft resolution on behalf of the European Union. Expressing gratitude to countries that had co-sponsored the text, he said his delegation had done its best to ensure that the drafting process was transparent, inclusive and open to all delegations wishing to make a contribution. The process had also benefited from the support of the United Nations Secretariat and UNMAS. Hopefully the draft resolution would facilitate the work of the “everyday heroes” who put their lives at risk in tackling the threat posed by mines and other explosive hazards.
The Committee then approved the draft resolution without a vote.