Serbia

Mine Ban Policy

The Republic of Serbia assumed the treaty commitments of the former Serbia and Montenegro following the Republic of Montenegro’s declaration of independence in June 2006.^[1] The former Serbia and Montenegro acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 18 September 2003 and became a State Party on 1 March 2004.

A new Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia entered into force on 1 January 2006. Articles 376 and 377 make the use, production, stockpiling, trade and transfer of antipersonnel mines a criminal offense. These two provisions also specify penal sanctions.^[2]

Serbia submitted an annual Article 7 transparency report on 27 December 2006 (due 30 April 2006), covering the period 1 July 2005 to 1 December 2006. The former Serbia and Montenegro had previously submitted two reports.^[3]

Serbia attended the Seventh Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2006, where it made statements during the general exchange of views, as well as the sessions on victim assistance and stockpile destruction. At the Seventh Meeting, Serbia became co-rapporteur of the Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction. Serbia also participated in the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in April 2007, making statements on victim assistance, mine clearance and stockpile destruction; it announced that the destruction of stockpiled mines from both the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Montenegro would be completed by 16 May 2007.^[4]

Serbia has re-confirmed the view of the former state union of Serbia and Montenegro that “mere participation” in military activities with states not party to the treaty which engage in activities prohibited by the treaty is not a violation of the treaty.^[5] Serbia has not made other statements on issues of interpretation and implementation related to Articles 1, 2, and 3 of the treaty (including what acts are prohibited by the ban on “assistance,” antivehicle mines with sensitive fuzes, and the acceptable number of mines retained for training).

Serbia is a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons, but not Amended Protocol II on landmines or Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. In March 2007 an official said the separation process has slowed down intended ratification of the protocols.^[6]

In March 2007 Serbian officials reaffirmed that the former Serbia and Montenegro did not produce any type of landmine after 1990.^[7] Serbia states that old facilities for landmine production have been successfully transformed for production of resources for civilian purposes.^[8] In the past, the former Serbia and Montenegro stated several times that mine exports halted in 1990.^[9]

Stockpile Destruction

After Montenegro’s declaration of independence, the two countries continued the stockpile destruction process initiated by the former Serbia and Montenegro in 2005 as a project of the Ministry of Defense and the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency (NAMSA).^[10]

On 16 May 2007, at a ceremony in Belgrade, Serbia announced it had completed the destruction of 1,404,819 antipersonnel mines stockpiled by both Serbia and Montenegro.^[11] An additional 10 mines were found and destroyed shortly thereafter.^[12] This was well in advance of the treaty deadlines of 1 March 2008 for Serbia and 1 April 2011 for Montenegro.

The mines destroyed included: 294,823 PMA-1; 169,400 PMA-2; 307,969 PMA-3; 580,411 PMR-2A; 4,787 PMR-3; 44,083 PROM-1; and 3,356 VS-50.^[13]

Of the 1,404,829 mines destroyed, a total of 1,205,442 were held in the Republic of Serbia and 199,387 in the Republic of Montenegro. Montenegro transferred the mines to Serbia for destruction, including approximately 40,000 after independence.^[14]

The mines were destroyed over the course of 21 months, starting on 17 August 2005 with the opening of a special facility in Kragujevac. Most were demilitarized, with the components targeted for civilian use. The total cost of the project was about €1.7 million (US$2.1 million). Canada and Austria were the lead donors, and others included Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Netherlands, Ireland, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.^[15]

The total number of destroyed mines reported in May 2007 is higher than the 1,392,425 stockpiled mines cited in Serbia’s December 2006 Article 7 report, and the 1,320,620 mines cited in the August 2005 report.^[16] The discrepancies are apparently explained by new findings of previously unaccounted mines.^[17]

Mines Retained for Training

When it completed stockpile destruction in May 2007 Serbia stated that it was retaining 5,565 antipersonnel mines for training and development purposes under Article 3 of the Mine Ban Treaty.^[18] The Ministry of Defense retains 5,104 of the mines and the Ministry of Interior 461.^[19]

In its December 2006 Article 7 report, Serbia indicated 5,307 mines would be kept, all by the Ministry of Interior. The former Serbia and Montenegro’s two reports cited a figure of 5,000, all held by the Ministry of Defense.^[20] A Ministry of Defense official told Landmine Monitor in March 2006 that the General Staff “would probably” order all retained mines to be destroyed at the end of the mine destruction program.^[21]

In May 2007 the Ministry of Defense stated that the mines are kept to train personnel engaged in peacekeeping missions and the testing of protective gear.^[22] But Serbia has yet to provide details on the intended purposes and actual uses of its retained mines, as agreed by States Parties at the First Review Conference in December 2004. Serbia did not utilize the new expanded Article 7 Form D on retained mines agreed by States Parties in December 2005.

The former Serbia and Montenegro acknowledged that it possessed MRUD (Claymore-type) directional fragmentation mines, but stated that the mines were only used in command-detonated mode, and therefore were not covered by the Mine Ban Treaty.^[23] It is not known how many of these mines now belong to Serbia and how many to Montenegro.

Landmine and ERW Problem

Serbia is contaminated with antipersonnel and antivehicle mines and also has extensive areas affected by cluster submunitions, large aerial bombs and other explosive remnants of war (ERW).^[24] The extent of mine contamination is relatively small, a legacy of the armed conflict associated with the break-up of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.

Minefields with a mixture of antipersonnel and antivehicle mines are located on the border with Croatia, extending from where Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina meet to the Belgrade-Zagreb highway in the municipality of Sid.^[25] The former Serbia and Montenegro’s initial Article 7 report claimed that there was originally six square kilometers of mine contamination containing 5,600 antipersonnel mines, an unspecified number of antivehicle mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO).^[26] By the end of 2006 demining had reduced the affected area by almost half, to an estimated 3.5 square kilometers containing 6,500 mines.^[27] In April 2007 the affected area in Sid was said to contain 4,120 antipersonnel mines and 2,280 antivehicle mines.^[28]

In addition, UXO from previous wars, mainly unexploded cluster bomblets from NATO air strikes in 1999, remain a significant problem. As of March 2007 cluster bomblets remained in six main areas of Serbia (Nis, Kraljevo, Kursumlija, Sjenica, Mount Kopaonik and Vladimirci), affecting approximately 23 square kilometers.^[29] A May 2007 report by Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) identified another six areas of suspected cluster submunition contamination. In addition NPA reports, “suspected areas in Bujanovac and Presevo Municipalities have not been considered in any formal surveys of submunition contamination. Many traces of cluster-munition use are still evident in the two municipalities….”^[30] Bujanovac and Presevo municipalities adjoin the Ground Safety Zone bordering Kosovo, and therefore fall under military jurisdiction instead of the Serbian Mine Action Center.^[31]

The 1999 NATO air strikes also scattered unexploded bombs across Serbia. In March 2006 the Serbian Mine Action Center reported that some 60 930-kilogram aerial bombs and other large projectiles were believed to be in the ground at a depth of up to 20 meters in 43 locations, as well as in the rivers Danube and Sava.^[32]

An explosion at the Ministry of Defense ammunition storage facility in Paracin on 19 October 2006 resulted in contamination of surrounding areas with UXO and led to classification of Paracin and Cuprija as suspected hazardous areas.^[33]

The mine/ERW contamination remaining in Serbia affects pastures, gardens, orchards, woods and agricultural land, much of it in already impoverished rural communities as well as in rivers and irrigation channels.^[34] People are said to be fearful as it has caused casualties among residents and their livestock, and damage to farm equipment. The presence of submunitions in some of the country’s ski resorts and national parks affects tourism, wildlife and the environment.

Mine Action Program

The Serbian Mine Action Center was established on 7 March 2002.^[35] The Law of Alterations and Supplementations of the Law of Ministries passed in August 2004 “determined the scope of work” of the Mine Action Center.^[36] It identified the center as a legal independent entity (not part of a ministry) and made it responsible for humanitarian demining, the collection and management of mine/UXO-related information (including casualty data) and the surveying of suspected contaminated areas. It also has the mandate to plan demining projects, conduct quality control and monitor operations, ensure implementation of international standards, license demining organizations and warn the population about mine/UXO dangers.^[37]

The Serbian Mine Action Center does not conduct demining directly or employ deminers but does undertake quality control of demining operations carried out by others. Demining is conducted in accordance with international standards by commercial companies and NGOs, after being selected through public tender procedures.^[38] The center has used version 3.190 of the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) since December 2004; although staff have been trained in version 4, this had not been installed as of April 2007.^[39]

The government of Serbia is said to supervise and direct the work of the Serbian Mine Action Center and appoints the director.^[40]

Strategic Mine Action Planning

The Serbian Mine Action Center prepares annual plans for demining which are implemented if funding is available. In 2007 the government was expected to draw up a longer term plan for clearance of all mines and cluster bombs in Serbia by 2012.^[41]

Demining

Seven commercial companies and NGOs were involved in demining in 2006 after selection through public tendering: Roehll (Germany), STOP Mines and UXB Balkans (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Enigma and DOK-ING Demining (Croatia), PMC Engineering (Serbia) and NPA. The armed forces undertake clearance of contaminated areas of military facilities but these operations are not followed or recorded by the Serbian Mine Action Center.^[42]

NPA extended its Croatian demining operation to Serbia in October 2006, aiming to release one million square meters of land on the border through technical survey and mine clearance. It employed 27 deminers and two medical support staff, and in 2006 deployed an MV-4 mini flail donated for a year by the Croatian producer of demining machines DOK-ING.^[43]

Demining in Serbia involves manual and mechanical assets and mine detection dogs. Reportedly, all operations and quality control were carried out in accordance with international standards.^[44] Demining operations in Serbia have received funding from international donors through the International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF).

Identification, Marking and Fencing of Affected Areas

The Serbian Mine Action Center surveyed several locations in Sid, Nis, Kraljevo, Kopaonik, Lucani and Belgrade to prepare clearance tasks for 2006, including nine minefield clearance projects in Jamena and Morovic villages (Sid municipality) covering 1,065,700 square meters and five battle area clearance projects in Kopaonik, Nis and Samaila villages near Kraljevo covering 1,401,400 square meters. The center also prepared two tasks for removal of large bombs buried more than five meters in the ground at two locations, Zvezdara in Belgrade and Lucani.^[45]

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the mine action center approached donors for funding to conduct survey and marking, then clearance, in Paracin and Jagodina where the army depot exploded.^[46]

Serbia and Montenegro’s initial Article 7 report claimed that: “Mined areas are properly marked with semi-permanent signs (poles with barbed wire)…. Local population has been informed and instructed….”^[47] Areas contaminated with cluster bomblets are only partly marked, reportedly because of the mountainous terrain.^[48] Serbian officials say the absence of any mine-related deaths or injuries in 2005 and 2006 show that mined areas are properly marked and that local awareness is satisfactory.^[49] NPA reported in May 2007 that, “Most of the affected areas are neither marked nor fenced, and the landowners or the local population living in the vicinity of the affected grounds are left to deal with the problem by themselves, relying solely on their common sense and bits and pieces of information.”^[50]

Mine/ERW Clearance

Seven minefield and battle area clearance projects in 2006 resulted in clearance of 1,224,150 square meters of land, according to the Serbian Mine Action Center. However, this includes the total area contracted for clearance in 2006, but not necessarily the amount of clearance executed in the year. Nine of the projects planned for 2006 were held over until 2007 because of lack of funds.^[51]

Clearance tasks completed in 2006 included three areas of Mount Kopaonik and four areas of Sid municipality bordering Croatia. The battle area clearance tasks in Kopaonik National Park resulted in clearance of 883,400 square meters and 70 cluster bombs in operations undertaken by UXB Balkans, B&H, DOK-ING, Enigma and PMC Engineering. The four mine clearance tasks in Sid resulted in clearance of 340,750 square meters and 181 mines, undertaken by UXB Balkans (16,550 square meters), STOP Mines (70,000 square meters) and Roehll (110,000 square meters) and NPA (144,200 square meters).^[52]

The Serbian Mine Action Center has quality assurance capacity and conducts monitoring during clearance operations. After clearance, it issues a certificate to the ITF, the donor and the local community which confirms that the land has been cleared according to international standards.^[53] NPA reported that demined areas in agricultural areas are used immediately after clearance.^[54]

Summary of Efforts to Comply with Article 5

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Serbia must destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but no later than 1 March 2014. In April 2007, at the Standing Committee meetings, Serbia stated that it was “planning to clear all minefields from its territory long before this deadline, namely by the end of 2008. This can be impeded only by the lack of funds.”^[55]

Mine Risk Education

Mine risk education (MRE) has not been a priority for either the Serbian Mine Action Center or international donors.^[57]

In December 2006 the Serbian Red Cross Society was asked by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to conduct a UXO awareness-raising campaign as emergency response to the ammunition depot explosion in Paracin in October.^[58] It organized MRE through local branches in Paracin, Cuprija and Jagodina, producing posters and leaflets, and providing short MRE sessions in schools and five affected villages.^[59]

Landmine/ERW Casualties

No new landmine/ERW casualties were reported in Serbia in 2006, unlike 2005 when there were two military casualties, due to a mine and a cluster submunition. No civilian mine/ERW casualties have been reported in Serbia (excluding Kosovo province) since 2004.^[60]

The total number of mine/ERW survivors in Serbia is not known. Available data indicated that there are more than 1,370 survivors; however it is not known how many of these live in Serbia.^[61] Most survivors are displaced people from the conflict in Kosovo or refugees from earlier hostilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[62] Landmine survivors have claimed that the government does not want to recognize them since the overwhelming majority fought in the covert wars in Bosnia and Croatia during the 1990s and existing records of the cause of their injuries are classified.^[63]

Data Collection

No comprehensive data collection mechanism for mine/ERW casualties or survivors exists in Serbia. At the Seventh Meeting of States Parties in September 2006 Serbia stated that the NGO Dobra Voljna (Goodwill) would initiate a one-year pilot project to gather data and needs assessments on approximately 1,000 mine/ERW survivors.^[64] Although the questionnaires had been prepared and the project was to start in September 2006, finishing on 31 May 2007, as of June no progress was reported.^[65] In 2006 Dobra Volja used the questionnaires to implement a survey for some 70-80 survivors on its own initiative.^[66]

Landmine Monitor has reported since 2004 plans to establish a database of mine/ERW casualties; also, this was one of Serbia’s 2005-2009 objectives.^[67]

In 2006 the Ministry of Health and the Republic Health Insurance Institute (RHII) adopted regulations for physicians issuing assistive devices which include reporting to assist data collection; it was expected that data would identify the number of people with disabilities, types of disability and levels of service.^[68]

Survivor Assistance

Lack of resources has affected the quality of healthcare services in Serbia. There is an urgent need to improve services through the training of medical staff, provision of equipment and medical supplies, and expert assistance.^[69]

The health insurances system entitles all citizens to free surgical and orthopedic treatment, but administrative procedures are complicated.^[70] The former Serbia and Montenegro had over 20 rehabilitation centers and some 30 prosthetic and orthotic workshops capable of treating mine/ERW survivors.^[71] Most mine survivors are treated at the Specialized Hospital for Rehabilitation and Orthopedic Prosthetics (formerly the Institute for Prosthetics) in Belgrade.^[72] There is a lack of survivor participation in the planning of rehabilitation activities and coordination.^[73]

Economic reintegration opportunities for mine/ERW survivors are limited; people with disabilities suffer from high unemployment, social exclusion and seldom have access to education. Only 13 percent of people with disabilities in Serbia “are given the opportunity to work;” some 70 percent live in poverty.^[74] In April 2007 Serbia reported the creation of units to evaluate the “vocational potential” of people with disabilities.^[75]

The majority of Serbian mine/ERW survivors are war veterans, most of whom receive a pension considerably higher than the average. However, in 2006 the pension was reduced.^[76] The survivor group Dobra Volja reported that the pension cuts affected the most vulnerable people with disabilities, particularly those receiving the lowest benefits.^[77]

Serbia has legislation protecting the rights of people with disabilities and it was reported that people with disabilities are involved in new policy efforts.^[78] In 2007 the government budget included additional funding for training people with disabilities in order to improve job prospects.^[79] In April 2006 the Ministry of Justice adopted the Law on Prevention of Discrimination against People with Disabilities.^[80] However, a 2006 European Commission (EC) report stated that, “Serbian policy on disability still fails to meet European standards.”^[81] As of July 2007 Serbia had not signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol which allows for the monitoring of disability activities.

Progress in Meeting VA24 Survivor Assistance Objectives

The former Serbia and Montenegro was identified at the First Review Conference in Nairobi as one of 24 States Parties with significant numbers of mine survivors, possessing “the greatest responsibility to act, but also the greatest needs and expectations for assistance” in providing adequate services for the care, rehabilitation and reintegration of survivors. Serbia has retained its status as a VA24 State Party.^[82] 

At the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in November-December 2005 Serbia and Montenegro presented its survivor assistance objectives for 2005-2009.^[83] At the May 2006 Standing Committee meetings Serbia and Montenegro presented revised objectives and said it had developed a time-based plan to realize the objectives.^[84] However, the April 2007 report of the Standing Committee co-chairs did not include those timeframes in reporting on Serbia’s revised survivor assistance objectives.^[85] Serbia presented an update at the Seventh Meeting of States Parties in September 2006 stating that since the presentation in May 2006, “nothing significant was changed” in its plans, although it referred to new legislation and a new plan for data collection.^[86]  Serbia’s delegation at the April 2007 Standing Committee meetings also stated that objectives were specific, measurable and time-bound.^[87]

Survivor Assistance Strategic Framework

Government agencies responsible for issues concerning landmine survivors and other people with disabilities include the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Affairs, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Justice and Republic Health Insurance Institute.^[89]

In 2007 a proposal for the establishment of a School of Prosthetics and Orthotics was presented to the World Health Organization and UNDP in Belgrade.^[90] Although Serbia announced its intention in 2006 to train psychologists and social workers in the specific needs of mine survivors, no training had started as of July 2007.^[91] In June 2006 four rehabilitation specialists attended a prosthetics/orthotics course at the Slovenian Rehabilitation Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia.^[92]

The NGO Dobra Volja (Goodwill) is the only association of landmine survivors in Serbia; it primarily provides peer-based psychosocial support and community advocacy for landmine survivors. Most beneficiaries are refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2006 Dobra Volja held workshops to encourage self-employment, purchased equipment for small businesses for mine survivors and adapted homes to improve accessibility. It assisted an estimated 300-400 people in 2006.^[93]

The Handicap International (HI) Self Help for Advocacy, Rights and Equal Opportunities in South East Europe (SHARE-SEE) program continued in 2006-2007.

Funding and Assistance

For Serbia the ITF allocated $2,552,291 (€2,031,594) or 8.8 percent of its funds in 2006, from donations by the EC, Germany, Slovenia, UK and US to the former State Union of Serbia and Montenegro; this was an increase from 2005 ($1,490,104).^[94] Included in the $2,552,291 total are funds for mine action in the Serbian province of Kosovo which is under separate UN administration; the portion allocated to Kosovo is not identified. The total excludes funding of the NAMSA project for destruction of the former Serbia and Montenegro’s stockpile of antipersonnel mines. Some 94 percent of funding for Serbia including Kosovo was spent on mine clearance and technical survey, six percent on structure support, and less than one percent on training.^[95]

Countries reporting donations for mine action in the former Serbia and Montenegro in 2006 include Germany: €200,000 ($251,260), Norway: NOK3,811,000 ($594,516), Slovenia: SIT1,619,000 ($8,419) and the United States: $1,110,000.^[96]

National Contribution to Mine Action

Serbia reported national funding for mine action totaling $770,897 (€613,625) in 2006, consisting of 9,817,000 dinars ($142,347) funding for Serbian Mine Action Center staff and running costs, and $628,550 via the ITF for mine clearance and victim assistance. National funding also provided SMAC employee insurance; SMAC premises are government-owned and no values were provided for these contributions.^[97]

ITF also reports that in 2006 Serbia contributed $628,550, but does not identify to which project to this was allocated.^[98]