Key
developments since May 2001:The President of Mongolia
expressed support for the process to join the Mine Ban Treaty.
MINE BAN POLICY
Mongolia has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty.
According to an official press release, during a meeting with the new Canadian
Ambassador in January 2002, the President of Mongolia spoke of “a research
process to join the Ottawa Convention and noted that Mongolia would support
Canadian efforts and international joint societies to ban
landmines.”[1] The
President’s statement represents the highest-level expression of support
for accession made to date.
Also in early 2002, a Ministry of Defense official stated that Mongolia
“pursues a step-by-step approach towards the prohibition of APL use,
stockpiling and their destruction and fully supports the global movement on
banning landmines around the
world.”[2] A Ministry of
Foreign Affairs official confirmed that Mongolia continues to fully share the
aspirations to ban antipersonnel landmines and welcomes the entry into force of
the Mine Ban Treaty.[3]
Mongolia voted in favor of the November 2001 UN General Assembly resolution
supporting the Mine Ban Treaty. A delegation including officials from the
Ministry of Defense and Parliament planned to attend the Third Meeting of States
Parties in Managua in September 2001. However, participation was cancelled due
to the 11 September events in the United
States.[4] Mongolia
participated in the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional Standing Committee meetings
in January 2002, but not in May 2002. Mongolia attended the regional
seminar on landmine stockpile destruction held in Malaysia in August 2001.
Mongolia is a State Party to the original Protocol II on landmines of the
Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), but it has not yet ratified the 1996
Amended Protocol II. Mongolia participated in the Second Review Conference of
the CCW, but not the Annual Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II,
both in Geneva in December 2001.
On 27-28 June 2001, the government of Mongolia, with the support of the
Canadian government and the Landmine Monitor research team in Mongolia,
organized the conference on “Sharing our Future in a Mine Free
World.”[5] The conference
was the first event in Mongolia specifically addressing the issue of landmines.
At the conference, Colonel L. Gantumur, Head of the Ministry of Defense’s
Engineering Department, stated that while Mongolia’s military supports
joining the Mine Ban Treaty eventually, accession will not be possible until
alternatives to antipersonnel mines are found. He said that Mongolia has to
consider the position of its neighbors, particularly China and Russia, on the
Mine Ban Treaty, and has to consider the continued use of landmines in
situations of domestic unrest and terrorism within the region. He also stated
that Mongolia’s economic constraints limit availability of resources to
purchase modern military arms and machinery, and that the destruction of
landmine stockpiles would not be possible at present due to budgetary
constraints.[6]
Since the conference, the General Staff of the Armed Forces and the Ministry
of Defense have held informal exchanges of views on the Mine Ban Treaty and
landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO)
issues.[7]
A Seminar on International Humanitarian Law was held in October 2001,
financed by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and hosted by
the Mongolian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of Defense,
Parliamentarians, the Department of Law at the Mongolian State University, and
the School of Humanities participated in the seminar. Among other subjects,
participants briefly discussed the matter of antipersonnel landmines in
Mongolia.[8]
PRODUCTION, TRANSFER, STOCKPILING, AND USE
Mongolia states that it has not and does not
produce or transfer antipersonnel
mines.[9] There is no specific
domestic regulation prohibiting production, import, export, or transportation of
antipersonnel mines through Mongolian territory. A Ministry of Defense official
told Landmine Monitor that it is possible for the Mongolian Armed Forces to
adopt certain resolutions concerning non-transfer and/or non-manufacture of
antipersonnel mines.[10]
Colonel L. Gantumur echoed this possibility in a later
meeting.[11]
Mongolian defense officials have acknowledged that Mongolia has a large
operational stockpile of antipersonnel
mines.[12] The number of
antipersonnel mines in stockpile is confidential. Mongolia has revealed that it
has eleven types of antivehicle and antipersonnel mines, all purchased from the
former USSR between 1960 and 1985; 73.2 percent of the total are antipersonnel
mines.[13] The mines include
models PMN, OZM-3, and
POMZ.[14]
Defense officials state that Mongolia has never deployed and will never
deploy antipersonnel mines on its territory except for self-defense purposes,
and that in the event of armed conflict, landmines would be used only to protect
borders and strategic state
assets.[15]
LANDMINE/UXO PROBLEM, SURVEY, AND CLEARANCE
In 1998, a team from the United States Defense
Department and their Mongolian counterparts from the Ministry of Defense
concluded that Mongolia is not a mine-affected country, though other UXO are
present.[16] Ministry of
Defense officials have advised Landmine Monitor researchers that eighteen areas
in the country contain UXO resulting from World War II and the presence of the
former Soviet Army bases in Mongolia between 1960 and
1992.[17] One official has
stated that clearance operations are still not complete because Mongolian
authorities do not posess detailed data on the former Soviet Army
bases.[18] No signs or fences
demarcating contaminated areas have been placed to protect local residents and
animals. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there is no intention to
conduct additional mine/UXO
surveys.[19] To date, no
research or other related initiatives have been planned to ascertain the degree
of danger at the areas, or on necessary clearance
technology.[20]
CASUALTIES AND SURVIVOR ASSISTANCE
No new landmine or UXO casualties were reported in
2001. Incidents related to landmines and UXO around the country are to be
reported to the police department of the relevant province, and it is then the
responsibility of the police to report the incident to the Ministry of
Defense’s Engineering Department. But, the police department often fails
to report to the Engineering Department, and this precludes accurate data
collection on people injured or killed by landmines and
UXO.[21]
On average the Engineering Department receives three calls a year related to
suspected UXO/landmine issues. In 2001, in Baganuur, Tov aimag, the Engineering
Department destroyed explosives, including three TM-52 antivehicle mines, which
were found in the basement of a building used by the former Soviet Army prior to
1991. A 100 square kilometer radius was searched for landmines and
UXO.[22]
Emergency and continuing medical care, physical rehabilitation, other types
of social services and assistance to people injured by UXO is provided in
accordance with legislation such as the “Mongolian Law on Social
Welfare” and the “Law on Social Assistance for People with
Disabilities.”[23] These
laws do not include specific provisions for people with disabilities caused by
landmines or UXO.[24]
There are thirty-six non-governmental and six state organizations working
with and providing services for people with disabilities in Mongolia today.
Some of these organizations collect data on people with disabilities. However,
neither the State Statistical Office nor independent research units have any
data on people disabled as the result of UXO or landmine
incidents.[25]
Two cases have been reported. In 1999, in Tov aimag province, a
seven-year-old boy was killed by a piece of unexploded ordnance. No
compensation or any other support was given to the family by military or state
authorities. Also in 1999 in Tov aimag, a man lost one eye from an explosion
while he separated scrap metal at a recycling plant. The Ministry of Defense
provided no assistance.
[1] Press and Information Department of the
Presidency, Press Release # 17, Ulaanbaatar, January 2002,
p. 2. [2] Interview with Colonel L.
Gantumur, Ministry of Defense, Ulaanbaatar, 26 January 2001; Meeting with Col.
Y. Chiojamts, Director of Strategic Management and Planning Directorate,
Ministry of Defense, Ulaanbaatar, 7 February 2002. In June 2000, former
Minister of Foreign Affairs N. Tuya had proposed a step-by-step approach to the
Ministry of Defense, in which Mongolia would ratify Amended Protocol II to the
CCW in 2001, and accede to the Mine Ban Treaty in the second half of 2003,
before the first review conference in 2004. See Landmine Monitor Report 2001,
p. 558. [3] Meeting with G. Nemuun,
Attache, Department of Multilateral Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 29
March 2002. [4] Meeting with Col. Y.
Chiojamts, Ulaanbaatar, 7 February 2002.
[5] For more details on the conference,
see Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p.
559. [6] Statement by Col. Gantumur
Lhagva representing the Ministry of Defense, International Conference on
“Sharing Our Future in a Mine-Free World,” Ulaanbaatar, 27-28 June
2001. [7] Meeting with Col. Y.
Choijamts, Ministry of Defense, 7 February
2002. [8] Meeting with Ms. Altantsetseg,
Red Cross Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, 8 January
2002. [9] Interview with S. Bold,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ulaanbaatar, 7 February 2001. Interview with N.
Ouyndar, Head of Department of Foreign Relations, Ministry of Environment,
Ulaanbaatar, 6 February 2001. Meeting with Col. Y. Choijamts, Ministry of
Defense, 7 February 2002. [10] Meeting
with Col. Y. Choijamts, Ministry of Defense, 7 February 2002.
[11] Interview with Col. L. Gantumur,
Ministry of Defense, Ulaanbaatar, 26 January
2001. [12] Meeting with Col. Y.
Choijamts, Ministry of Defense, 7 February 2002.
[13] Handout provided by Col. Gantumur
Lhagva at meeting between Mongolian delegation, Canada’s DFAIT Mine Action
Team, and the NGO Mines Action Canada, Ottawa, 17 May 2001. The mines were
described as two types: fougasse and fragmentation antipersonnel
mines. [14] Interview with Col. L.
Gantumur, Ministry of Defense, Ulaanbaatar, 26 January 2001. Interview with Col.
Y. Choijamts, Ministry of Defence, 7 February 2002.
[15] Interview with Colonel L.
Gantumur, Ministry of Defense, Ulaanbaatar, 26 January
2001. [16] See Landmine Monitor Report
2001, p. 560. [17] Interview with Col.
L. Gantumur, Ministry of Defense, Ulaanbaatar, 26 January
2001. [18] Meeting with Col. Y.
Choijamts, Ministry of Defense, 7 February
2002. [19] Meeting with G. Nemuun,
Attache, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 29 March 2002.
[20] Meeting with Col. Y. Choijamts,
Ministry of Defense, 7 February
2002. [21] Interview with Colonel L.
Gantumur, Ministry of Defense, Ulaanbaatar, 26 January 2001.
[22]
Ibid. [23] Meeting with Colonel L.
Gantumur, General Staff of Armed Forces of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, 7 January
2002. [24] 1998 Mongolian Law on Social
Welfare; 1998 Amended Mongolian Law on Social Assistance for People with
Disabilities. [25] Meetings with the
following NGOs: B. Zinaamider, National Committee of People with Disabilities,
Ulaanbaatar, 21 January 2002; Z. Boldsaikhan, Mongolian Association of Blind
People, Ulaanbaatar, 30 January 2002; D. Adilbish, Mongolian Society of Invalids
with Orthopedic Disabilities, Ulaanbaatar, 31 January 2002; S. Sainbayar,
Mongolian Association of Disabled, Ulaanbaatar, 1 February 2002; O. Selenge,
Mongolian Association of Disabled Women, Ulaanbaatar, 4 February 2002.
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