Key
developments since May 2001: Mauritius submitted its initial Article 7
transparency report on 20 May 2002, indicating that the Special Mobile Force of
the Mauritius Police Force possesses 93 non-metallic antipersonnel mines.
MINE BAN POLICY
Mauritius both signed and ratified the Mine Ban
Treaty on 3 December 1997. Mauritius enacted domestic legislation, The
Anti-Personnel Mines (Prohibition) Act (No. 1 of 2001), prohibiting the use,
development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, and transfer of
antipersonnel landmines in April
2001.[1]
Mauritius submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report on 20 May 2002,
for the period 30 April 2001-30 April 2002. The report had been due on 27
August 1999; the delay was reported to be mainly
“administrative.”[2]
In October 2001, the National Humanitarian Law Committee was established
under the chairpersonship of the Prime Minister's Office. This
inter-ministerial Committee's task is to promote the effective
implementation, application, and dissemination of international humanitarian law
instruments, including the Mine Ban
Treaty.[3]
While the government did not participate in the Third Meeting of States
Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in September 2001 in Nicaragua, it was present at
all sessions of the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in January and
May 2002, represented by its Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva.
Mauritius cosponsored and voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution
56/24M, promoting the Mine Ban Treaty.
Mauritius acceded to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its
original Protocol II in May 1996 and attended the Second CCW Review Conference
in December 2001 in Geneva.
PRODUCTION, TRANSFER, STOCKPILING AND USE
Mauritius has never produced, exported or used
antipersonnel mines and “no area in the Republic of Mauritius is
known/suspected to be implanted with anti-personnel (or anti-tank)
mines.”[4]
There is no military as such in Mauritius. The Special Mobile Force, the
para-military element of the Mauritius Police Force, reported a stock of 93
non-metallic mines of Indian origin, brought into the country by the Indian
army.[5]Mauritius
reported that the mines are “retained for purpose of
destruction.”[6] Under
the Mine Ban Treaty, Mauritius is obliged to destroy all stocks of mines (other
than those retained for training) by 1 March 2003. Mauritius reported that as
of 30 April 2002, destruction was “not yet
programmed.”[7]
LANDMINE CASUALTIES
No Mauritian national is known to have been killed
or injured in an incident caused by landmines. Since May 2002, Mauritians
travelling to Marromeu, Beira, Mozambique, to work on a sugar estate, are issued
with notices in English and French warning them of the dangers and presence of
landmines. The practice previously was to warn expatriate workers
verbally.[8]
[1] For some detail on provisions of the
Act, see Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p.
105. [2] Response to Landmine Monitor
Questionnaire from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Cooperation,
Ref: TS/M/76/1, 26 June 2002. [3]
Ibid. [4] Article 7 Report, Form I, 20
May 2002. [5] Article 7 Report, Form B,
20 May 2002; information provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in their
response to the Landmine Monitor Questionnaire, Ref: TS/M/76/1, 26 June
2002. [6] Article 7 Report, Form D, 20
May 2002. [7] Article 7 Report, Form F,
20 May 2002. [8] E-mails from the Human
Resource Manager of Companhia de Sena, SARL, in Beira, Mozambique, 22 and 23 May
2002.
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