Equatorial Guinea submits its first report to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention overcoming a persistent compliance concern

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Geneva – Equatorial Guinea has submitted its initial transparency report to the United Nations Secretary General as required by the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention thereby addressing a compliance issue that has spanned almost a decade and a half.

The Convention requires that each State Party submit initial transparency information on matters such as stockpiled anti-personnel mines and areas contaminated by anti-personnel mines no later than 180 days following entry into force of the Convention for a particular State.

Equatorial Guinea, which joined the Convention in 1998, was obliged to provide this information by 27 August 1999.

Thanks to assistance provided by the Convention’s Implementation Support Unit (ISU), Equatorial Guinea was able to finally submit its initial report, which can be found on the Convention’s website.

“We are grateful that the Implementation Support Unit assisted Equatorial Guinea in the fulfilment of its Convention obligations,” said German Ekua Sima, First Secretary and Permanent Representative of Equatorial Guinea to the United Nations Office in Geneva.

“Equatorial Guinea takes its commitments seriously and considers the submission of its initial transparency report as a step forward in the recognition of the Convention.”

In its initial transparency report submitted on 7 July 2014, Equatorial Guinea reported that it had no stockpiled anti-personnel mines, or areas under its jurisdiction or control that were known or suspected to contain anti-personnel mines.

German Ekua Sima, of Equatorial Guinea signed the Maputo +15 Declaration during the Convention's Third Review Conference.

With Equatorial Guinea having submitted its initial report, only one State Party, Tuvalu, remains non-compliant with its initial transparency reporting obligation.

In addition, the Sultanate of Oman, which recently acceded to the Convention, will be required to submit its initial report by 30 July 2015.

The ISU is the process of supporting both States Parties in complying with their obligations.

Thanks to transparency information provided by States Parties, it is known that, since the entry into force of the Convention, millions of square metres of once dangerous land have been released for normal human activity and more than 47.5 million stockpiled mines have been destroyed.

The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention was adopted in Oslo in 1997, opened for signature in Ottawa the same year and entered into force on 1 March 1999.

To date, 162 States have joined the Convention.

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