Summary

Non-signatory Belarus acknowledges the humanitarian rationale of the Convention on Cluster Munitions but has not taken any steps to accede. It has never participated in a meeting of the convention and has abstained from voting on the annual United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention.

Belarus has not produced cluster munitions, nor is it known to have used or exported them. It inherited a stockpile of cluster munitions from the Soviet Union but has not provided information on the types or quantities possessed.

Policy

The Republic of Belarus has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Belarus rarely comments on its position on joining the convention.[1] After the convention was adopted in 2008, Belarus said it “shares the humanitarian concerns” caused by cluster munitions but objected to the way that the convention was negotiated outside UN auspices.[2]

Belarus did not participate in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, and has never participated in a meeting of the convention.[3]

Belarus has abstained from voting on the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution supporting the implementation and universalization of the convention, most recently in December 2021.[4] Belarus has never explained why it abstains when other non-signatories vote for the non-legally binding resolution.

Belarus is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty, and completed the destruction of its stockpiled antipersonnel landmines in 2017.

Belarus is also a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), and in the past has expressed a preference for cluster munitions to be addressed through this framework convention.

Use, production, and transfer

In 2010, Belarus stated, “Our country is not a producer of cluster munitions.”[5] Belarus is not known to have used cluster munitions.

Since 2014–2016 Belarus has developed and produced the Polonez multi-barrel rocket launcher to replace older systems. This launcher is based on the A200 launcher system of Chinese design and reportedly uses a variety of 300mm rockets, including a “fragmentation armour piercing cluster.”[6] According to the database of arms transfers maintained by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Belarus exported six Polonez launchers to Azerbaijan in 2018. These weapons were used during the 2020 conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, but it is not known if cluster munition rockets were fired from these launchers.

Stockpiling

Belarus inherited a stockpile of cluster munitions from the Soviet Union, but it has never provided public information on the types and quantities that it possesses.[7]

According to Jane’s Information Group, the Belarusian Air Force has RBK-500 series cluster bombs.[8] Belarus also possessed Grad 122mm, Uragan 220mm, and Smerch 300mm surface-to-surface rockets, but it is not known if these include versions with cluster munition payload.[9] This uncertainty extends further as Belarus has exported its older Grad (to Angola and Turkmenistan) and Uragan (to Angola) multi-barrel rocket launchers since 2010.[10]

Policy

The Republic of Belarus acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 September 2003, becoming a State Party on 1 March 2004.

Belarus does not have specific national legislation to guide and enforce its implementation of the treaty, but reports that various articles of its Criminal Code are relevant, in addition to several decrees specific to antipersonnel mines.[1]

Since joining the Mine Ban Treaty, Belarus has participated in every Review Conference, and most meetings of States Parties and intersessional meetings. Belarus provided an update on its stockpile destruction process during the Fourth Review Conference held in Oslo in November 2019. This marked its last participation in a meeting of the Mine Ban Treaty. Belarus was invited to, but did not attend, the Nineteenth Meeting of States Parties held virtually in November 2021, and the intersessional meetings held in Geneva in June 2022.

Belarus has submitted a total of eighteen Article 7 transparency reports since acceding to the Mine Ban Treaty, submitting its most recent annual report in April 2022.

Belarus is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war (ERW). Belarus is not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Production and transfer

Upon joining the treaty in 2004, Belarus stated that it had not produced or exported antipersonnel mines since its independence in 1992, and that it had never used antipersonnel mines for protection of its borders or other purposes.[2]

Stockpiling and destruction

Belarus inherited a stockpile of approximately 4.5 million antipersonnel landmines after the break-up of the Soviet Union. It completed destruction of all its stockpiled antipersonnel mines in 2017.

From 2003 to the end of 2006, in cooperation with the Maintenance and Supply Agency of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and donor countries, Belarus destroyed 294,775 antipersonnel mines from stocks,[3] which constituted all of the landmines in its possession except for PFM-1 mines. A total of 217,133 landmines were destroyed by open detonation, while the POMZ-2 and POMZ-2M mines were disassembled at Belarusian industrial plants.

In 2006, Belarus also destroyed the victim-activated components of its 5,536 MON-type and 200,826 OZM-72 mines. Another 300,000 antipersonnel mines were destroyed from stocks between 1992 and 2003, before Belarus joined the treaty.

Belarus faced challenges in destroying its stockpile of 3,356,636 PFM-1 antipersonnel mines, and failed to meet its original stockpile destruction deadline of 1 March 2008.[4]

In November 2017, Belarus formally announced completion of stockpile destruction in compliance with its Article 4 obligations, at the Sixteenth Meeting of States Parties. This followed a statement by the Ministry of Defense on 5 April 2017 confirming that it had “fully fulfilled its international obligations under the Ottawa Convention” by completing the destruction of the stockpiled PFM-1 antipersonnel mines, with the support of the European Union (EU).[5]

Mines retained for research and training

In April 2022, Belarus reported that it retained 4,492 antipersonnel mines for research and training purposes: 1,486 PMN mines, 1,687 POMZ-2M mines, and 1,319 POMZ-2 mines.[6] According to Belarus, the antipersonnel mines have been retained for the training of mine detection dogs, testing of protective equipment and mine detectors, and training of personnel.[7]

Use

Upon joining the treaty in 2004, Belarus stated that it had never used antipersonnel landmines for protection of its borders or other purposes.[8] There is no credible information that Belarus has used antipersonnel landmines since joining the Mine Ban Treaty.

However, Belarus provided military support to Russia during its invasion of Ukraine from 24 February 2022, which has seen Russian forces use several types of antipersonnel landmines.[9] This is an unprecedented situation in which a country that is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty (Russia) is using the weapon on the territory of a party to the treaty (Ukraine).

As a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty, Belarus must ensure that its joint military operations with Russia do not violate the prohibition on assisting, encouraging, or inducing a state not party to engage in activities prohibited by the treaty. This means that it is prohibited for Belarus to:

• provide security, storage, transportation, or transit for antipersonnel mines;
• participate in planning for use of antipersonnel mines;
• commit to rules of engagement that permit use of antipersonnel mines;
• accept orders to use, request others to use, or train others to use antipersonnel mines; and
• knowingly derive military benefit from use of the weapon by others.

The Monitor is not aware of Belarus providing such assistance, either directly or indirectly, related to antipersonnel landmines since February 2022. However, Belarus should address these concerns with States Parties at a formal annual meeting of the treaty or in an updated Article 7 transparency report.

Casualty Overview

In 2016, there were three reported new ERW casualties in the Republic of Belarus. Two children were killed and one injured in an incident involving unexploded World War II ordnance.[1]

No landmine casualties have been reported in Belarus since 2004.

There were at least 6,199 mine/ERW casualties (2,678 killed; 3,521 injured) in Belarus from 1945 to the end of 2016.[2]

Casualties

Casualty Overview

In 2014, there were three reported new casualties of explosive remnants of war (ERW) in the Republic of Belarus. A man and a woman were injured in an incident involving tampering with unexploded World War II ordnance in their home in April.[1] Another man was killed while looking for World War II-era ERW in November.[2] No new casualties were identified in Belarus in 2013. In 2012, two ERW casualties were identified: a father and son were killed in a tampering incident caused by an unexploded grenade.[3] No landmine casualties have been reported in Belarus since 2004.

There were at least 6,194 mine/ERW casualties (2,676 killed; 3,518 injured) in Belarus from 1945 to the end of 2014.[4]

Victim Assistance

Most mine/ERW survivors in Belarus were injured by ERW left over from World War II or during military service in Afghanistan in the 1980s. The total number of mine/ERW survivors in Belarus is unknown, and it has not been reported how many of the 3,513 registered survivors are still alive.

There is no specific victim assistance coordination or planning in Belarus. The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection is the main government agency responsible for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.[5] The Ministry of Health and several other agencies also had a “State Programme on Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons” for the period from 2011 to 2015.[6]

As of 1 September 2014, Belarus had not signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).