Stockpile Destruction

MONDAY 20 JUNE

1. Opening of the meeting

The meeting was opened by its Co-Chairs, Renata Alisauskiene of Lithuania and Hossan de la Cruz of the Philippines. The Co-Chairs were supported by their Co-Rapporteurs, Petra Drexler of Germany and Daniela Bleoanca of Romania.

In opening the meeting, the Co-Chairs recalled that the Geneva Progress stated that States Parties (a) continued to express concern that four States Parties have failed to comply with the four-year deadline to destroy or ensure the destruction of stockpiled mines, (b) encouraged the early completion of stockpile destruction programmes and (c) recalled that the Cartagena Action Plan provides guidelines for getting back into the status of compliance.  The Co-Chairs also recalled that as of the close of the 10MSP, there were 152 States Parties that no longer held stocks of anti-personnel mines and that it was possible to account for the destruction of almost 44 million mines.

2. Update by States Parties in implementing Article 4

The following four States Parties which, as of the 10MSP, were in the process of complying with their Article 4 stockpile destruction obligations, provided updates on their efforts to comply with Article 4: Belarus, Greece, Turkey and Ukraine.

The following other States Parties and other delegations provided information on efforts to support stockpile destruction or otherwise shared views: Germany, Bulgaria, Norway, GICHD, Lithuania, ICBL, ICRC and UNMAS.

The Co-Chairs recalled that the Geneva Progress Report recorded “ambiguity with respect to Iraq’s stockpile status”. The Co-Chairs noted in particular that the Geneva Progress Report recorded that Iraq, in its initial Article 7 submission made in 2008, stated that it did not hold stockpiles but would further investigate this matter, and, that in its 2010 Article 7 submission, Iraq appeared to indicate that 690 stockpiled antipersonnel mines were held. Iraq provided an update on this matter.

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3. The destruction of previously unknown stockpiles

The Co-Chairs recalled that in Action #12 of the Cartagena Action Plan, it was agreed that “all States Parties will, when previously unknown stockpiles are discovered after stockpile destruction deadlines have passed, report such discoveries in accordance with their obligations under Article 7, take advantage of other informal means to share such information and destroy these mines as a matter of urgent priority.” No delegation took the floor under this item.

As concerns the destruction of previously unknown stockpiles, the Co-Chairs reported that, in collaboration with the ISU, they were in the process of offering their advice and support to one State Party which, at a recent regional workshop, indicated the recent discovery of previously unknown stocks.

4. Updates on other developments and initiatives in support of the stockpile destruction aspects of the Cartagena Action Plan

The Co-Chairs provided an opportunity for updates on other developments and initiatives in support of the stockpile destruction aspects of the Cartagena Action Plan. No delegation took the floor under this item.  

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5. Closing remarks

The Co-Chairs closed the meeting of the Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, noting that the little amount of time required by this Standing Committee is not indicative of the complexity of the issues that States Parties still face in achieving full implementation of Article 4. The Co-Chairs stated their commitment to continue their efforts in the time leading to the 11MSP to further promote implementation of Article 4.