Policy

The Kingdom of Bhutan acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 18 August 2005 and the treaty entered into force for the country on 1 February 2006. Bhutan has stated that the treaty is “self-enacting” under existing domestic law.[1]

In May 2013, Bhutan informed States Parties that “By the virtue of the Constitution of Bhutan, all international treaties and conventions are deemed as national laws. Furthermore, the Bhutan Civil and Criminal procedure code also contains relevant provisions, which would adequately cover implementation of the Convention for the time being.” The representative of Bhutan added, “the Royal Government will continue to adopt additional measures for implementation of the Convention as and when deemed necessary.”[2]

Bhutan has submitted three Article 7 reports to the treaty, in 2007, 2014, and 2018.

Bhutan attended the Fourteenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November–December 2015, where it provided an update on its stockpile destruction and mine clearance efforts. Bhutan has not attended any subsequent meetings of States Parties.

On 12 December 2019, Bhutan voted in favor of the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 74/61, promoting the universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty.[3]

Bhutan is not a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, nor the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Use, transfer, production, stockpiling, and retention

Bhutan’s initial Article 7 report, submitted in 2007, acknowledged that it had imported and used antipersonnel mines in the past but did not produce them.[4] At that time, Bhutan declared a stockpile of 4,491 antipersonnel mines, all of which it stated it would retain for training purposes.[5] In May 2013, Bhutan informed States Parties that it retained 490 antipersonnel mines, which was subsequently the amount reported in Bhutan’s 2014 Article 7 report.[6] Bhutan has reported that, “Annually officers and troops undergo a week long training on basic mine laying and mine clearing and few of them undergo specialized training in mine clearing and removable [sic] of IEDs [improvised explosive devices].”[7]

Bhutan informed States Parties in December 2012 that subsequent to the submission of their initial Article 7 report, they had destroyed 2,370 MNM-14 and 2,183 M-16 antipersonnel mines that were “either unserviceable or expired.”[8] The number of mines it destroyed after 2007 was greater than the total stockpile declared by Bhutan in its initial Article 7 report. No explanation regarding the decision to reduce its mines retained or the change in numbers was provided.

In 2018, Bhutan reported that it retained 211 antipersonnel mines for training purposes.[9] It has not provided any details on the disposition of 279 antipersonnel mines between its current and previous Article 7 report.

Bhutan’s treaty-mandated deadline for destroying any stockpiled antipersonnel mines was 1 February 2010.