XI - Problem
of Antipersonal Mines in Serbia
Since 1998 the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
co-ordinated the Yugoslav Campaign for Antipersonal Mine Ban
(anti-infantry mines). The latter is a member of the International
Campaign for Antipersonal Mines Ban, an international movement rallying
such national campaigns in over 70 countries. To date the biggest
achievement of this International Campaign was adoption of the
Convention on Ban on Antipersonal Mines Use, Production, Storage and
Trade and Destruction of Antipersonal Mines, in Ottawa on 3 December
1997. To date the Convention was signed by 138 countries in the world.
All states, parties to the Convention, relinquished the use of
antipersonal mines. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is not a
signatory to the Ottawa convention. It is the only regional country and
one of few European countries (in addition to Russia, Finland and
Turkey) which considers the use of antipersonal mines "a crucial factor
in the defence system of our country." First the Yugoslav Popular Army
and later the Yugoslav Army (YA) used to a large extent this kind of
weapons during wars waged in the Republic of Croatia, Bosnia and
Herzegovina and in Kosovo. Although other protagonists of the armed
conflicts used antipersonal mines, the YA used them indiscriminately,
which resulted in a heavy mine contamination of territories of former
Yugoslavia.
It is estimated that in the territory of Croatia
between 700,000 and 1,000,000 mines were laid, in Bosnia and Herzegovina
about 100,000 and 50,000 in the territory of Kosovo. To date 4,000 land
mine victims were reported in Croatia, 3,600 in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
3,600 and 500 in Kosovo. New casualties can be expected as some
estimates indicate that would take 25 years to de-mine all those areas.
As regards the territory of the Republic of Serbia no
official information (the Defence Ministry, Joint Staffs of the YA,
Federal Foreign Ministry) is available.
In its capacity of the Co-ordinator of the Yugoslav
Campaign for Mines Ban, Helsinki Committee for Human Rights repeatedly
tried to establish contacts with competent state bodies and get
information on this issue. But in 1998 and 1999 we received no reply
from them. Only in the late 2000 Helsinki Committee received a letter
from the Yugoslav Defence Ministry. The letter failed to give a precise
answer as to the mine-laying activities of the YA in the territory of
Serbia, but intimated that the YA, in line with the military doctrine in
place retained the right to "protect" the FRY borders by minefields both
in peace and in wartime. The latter also underscored that "when laying
the mines, the YA does that in a very professional way, in compliance
with international standards and the Protocol II of the Convention on
the Use of Conventional Arms" which means that "all the mine fields were
properly marked" and consequently "there were no casualties in the
minefields laid by the YA."
During its mid November 2000 visit to Sid Municipality
the Helsinki Committee team was informed of heavy mine contamination of
the entire border area between the municipality and the republic of
Croatia. Most mines were laid in village Jamena. Svetlana Marojevic,
head of Local Office of village Jamena told us that the YA had been
lying mines in the area throughout 1992, but marked only few minefields.
After the first casualties were reported in the area, the army came to
mark the incident site. In the 1992-1997 period 6 locals were heavily
injured in mining incidents. All six lost one leg, and two people died
in mine explosions. Added to the two dirt roads, a large arable area was
also heavily mined. There are also indications that area of Apatin
municipality and the border area with Hungary were also mined.
Despite strong disclaimers of the YA Joint Staffs
there are indications that the military industry is still producing
mines. Added to that readiness of the FRY to sign the Ottawa Convention
remains a major imponderable. In view of the aforementioned Helsinki
Committee through the Yugoslav Campaign wanted to bring pressure to bear
on the FRY authorities to sign the Convention. Thus we launched a major
awareness-raising campaign which in 1999 and 2000 comprised three
round-tables in Novi Sad, Podgorica and Pristina with a topic
"Antipersonal Mines Ban" and thereafter published a compendium of
authorised papers from the said round-tables.
Soon after formation of the new federal government
Helsinki Committee sent letters to the FRY President, the Federal
Defence Secretary and the Federal Foreign Secretary, asking them to take
a public stand on that issue. Helsinki Committee and other NGOs, members
of the Yugoslav Campaign and the Popular Movement "Otpor",
simultaneously launched a petition for signing of the Ottawa Convention.
In the early December 2000, on the third anniversary
of adoption of the Ottawa Convention, a press conference was organised
to raise awareness of the mine problems, mine contamination and mine
casualties in the neighbouring countries and in the FRY.
HCHRS |
