10 December 2001

U.S. Presents Proposals to Strengthen CCW Treaty

Geneva -- The United States and a group of like-minded nations have proposed a new protocol to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) requiring that all anti-vehicle mines (AV mines) be made detectable, and that all remotely delivered anti-vehicle mines be outfitted with a self-neutralization device.

"We believe this makes sense from a military and from a humanitarian standpoint," said Edward Cummings, the head of the U.S. delegation to the Second CCW Review Conference, the body that will consider the proposal.

The initiative on anti-vehicle mines is one of three U.S. proposals at the December 11-21 CCW Review Conference, all of which are aimed at strengthening the convention and increasing the protection of non-combatants.

Cummings noted that anti-vehicle mines are not subject to the Ottawa Treaty, which bans only anti-personnel mines.

"The detectability of anti-vehicle mines decreases casualties among civilians, aid workers, peacekeepers and friendly military forces," Cummings said. "From a humanitarian standpoint, we believe that such a requirement would greatly facilitate the protection and clearance of anti-vehicle mines on roads used by civilian traffic and humanitarian relief organizations."

As of December 10, nine countries had joined the United States as co-sponsors of the draft text of the "Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines other than Anti-Personnel Mines." They are: Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Poland, Slovakia, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.

The protocol would require that all anti-vehicle mines produced after January 1, 2002 "incorporate in their construction a material or device that enables the mine to be detected by commonly-available technical mine detection equipment and provides a response signal equivalent to a signal from eight grammes or more of iron in a single coherent mass."

Mines produced before January 1, 2001 must be adapted to incorporate the same weight of detectable iron, or its equivalent, in a form that cannot easily be removed.

The proposed protocol would completely prohibit the use of remotely deployed mines "unless they are equipped with an effective self-destruction or self-neutralization mechanism and have a back-up self-deactivation feature."

It specifies that the self-neutralization device must "be designed and constructed so that no more than 10 percent of activated mines will fail to self-destruct or self-neutralize within 30 days after emplacement, and each mine shall have a back-up self-deactivation feature designed and constructed so that, in combination with the self-destruction or self-neutralization mechanism, no more than one in one thousand will function as a mine 120 days after emplacement."

The United States has submitted two additional proposals for strengthening the CCW, the international treaty that deals not only with mines but also with a range of other weapons deemed to be excessively injurious or particularly dangerous for civilian populations.

First, the U.S. is proposing a compliance mechanism to deal with legitimate complaints related to the misuse of mines, booby traps, and other devices regulated by the CCW.

Under the proposal, any party to the convention could ask the United Nations, acting as the treaty depository, to convene a "Compliance Meeting to conduct an inquiry to clarify and seek to resolve questions relating to compliance with the provisions of this Protocol concerning the use of mines, booby-traps and other devices."

Cummings said the U.S. proposal on compliance is "not intrusive, and includes important procedural protections to accommodate national security, operational and constitutional concerns, as well as to counter abuse."

Lastly, the United States, joined by the Netherlands and South Korea, will ask states parties to the CCW to consider expanding the scope of the convention so that its rules and restrictions apply in civil wars and internal conflicts.

"We think this makes good sense for many reasons," said Cummings. "As the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has pointed out, what is inhumane in the conduct of international wars cannot be humane in the context of civil strife. We are pleased that there has been increasing support over the past year for this proposal."

The texts of the U.S. proposals and related materials can be found on the U.S. Delegation website.