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5. International Legal Acts Connected with Mine Problems
The Republic of Belarus, being an active participant of the world process related to the solution of the mine problem, has taken the following steps in this direction: a) The moratorium on export of antipersonnel land mines of all types was declared for 2 years by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus on August 22, 1995 ( after that, the term of it was prolonged three times up to the year 2007); b) On October 17, 1996 the Protocol on Mines, Booby Traps and other Devices with Amendments of May 3, 1996 to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Specific Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects of 1980 (hereinafter Mine Protocol) was ratified by the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Belarus; On September 2, 2004, after passing instruments of ratification to the UN Secretary General, the Protocol II entered into force for the Republic of Belarus. c) On September 3, 2003 the Republic acceded to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Antipersonnel mines and Their Destruction (Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of Antipersonnel mines of December4, 1997); d) The Republic of Belarus annually submits answers to the Antipersonnel mines Questionnaire introduced by the FSC Decision №14/97. According to the Ottawa Convention, Belarus is obliged to destroy its antipersonnel mine arsenals i.e. more than 3,6 000 000 items (of which nearly 3,400 000 PFM-1 land mines) during 4 years, starting from March 1, 2004 (the date of its entry into force for the Republic of Belarus). The destruction of such APM stockpiles will require considerable financial expenses because the method of destruction by means of explosion is not applicable here due to the content of environmentally hazardous substances, in particular, cyanic acid in the PFM-1 antipersonnel land mines. At present, the Republic of Belarus is actively searching for financial and technical aid to dispose of Antipersonnel mines investigating two options, namely: Disposal of stockpiles of TNT-containing types of APMs is planned with support from representatives of Canada and NATO Engineering Logistics Department; Disposal of PFM-1 type of mines is planned with participation of the European Commission. Starting from 2004, Belarus has annually provided information within the Ottawa Convention on: changes in the national legislation regarding mines issues; antipersonnel mines stockpiles; stored or handed over antipersonnel mines; antipersonnel mines specifications and programs related to antipersonnel mines disposal. |
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