Bhutan declares itself free of landmines

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A selection of photos of Bhutan on Flickr

Geneva and Thimphu – Bhutan has become the latest state to declare that it has cleared all known anti-personnel mines in areas under its jurisdiction or control as required by the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, or Ottawa Convention, which bans the use, stockpile, production and transfer of these weapons. Bhutan did so over two years before its February 2016 deadline.

“It is therefore my privilege and honour to inform this gathering that in accordance with Article 5 of the Convention, Bhutan has cleared all the anti-personnel mines that were laid in its territory,” said the head of the Bhutanese delegation.

“Bhutan places high importance on the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention as a framework to find a lasting solution to the humanitarian and socio-economic problems caused by land mines.”

Bhutan began clearing mine fields even before joining the Convention. In 2005, Bhutan’s armed forces cleared a 30,000 square metre minefield in Zhemgang District. In addition, in 2010, Bhutan continued mine clearance in the Samdrup Jongkhar District. These lands were subsequently declared fit for normal human activity.

Bhutan is the 25th State Party to the Convention that has declared that it has completed implementation of its mine clearance obligation under the Convention. The vast majority of States once affected by anti-personnel mines have joined the Convention and almost half of these have now indicated that they have cleared all known mined areas.

Delegate of Bhutan to the Meetings of Standing Committees

Since entering into force, millions of square metres of once dangerous lands have been released for normal human activity and over 44.5 million stockpiled mines have been destroyed.