Policy

The Kingdom of Denmark signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified it on 8 June 1998, becoming a State Party on 1 March 1999. No additional legal or administrative measures were deemed necessary for national implementation of the treaty beyond ratification.

Denmark has not attended the annual Meeting of States Parties since 2012, but it did attend the treaty’s Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014. Denmark did not attend the intersessional meetings in May 2019. It previously regularly submitted annual Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 transparency reports, but has not done so since 2016. Denmark is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines, as well as CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. Denmark is also party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Production, transfer, stockpiling, and retention

Denmark has stated that production of antipersonnel mines ceased in the 1950s, and that it has never exported antipersonnel mines. Companies involved in mine production in the past include the government company, Ammunitionsarsenalet, and private companies ALUTOP Aps, DEMEX Consulting Engineers A/S, HAI Aluksering Horsens A/S – HAI Aluksering Korsør A/S, Korona Plast Aps, Lindys Maskinfabrik A/S and Nea-Lindberg A/S.[1] The types and quantities produced have not been revealed.[2]

The Ministry of Defense indicates that Denmark has not imported antipersonnel mines since 1990, but does not give any information on the type, quantity, value, and date of imports.[3] According to correspondence from the Foreign Ministry, Denmark imported M14 mines (apparently from the United States, US) and DM 31 mines (apparently from Germany) in the 1950s and 1960s, and M18A1 mines (apparently from the US) in the 1980s.[4] U.S. government sources indicate that the U.S. exported 1,576 antipersonnel mines to Denmark between 1983 and 1992.[5]

Stockpile destruction of 266,517 mines was completed in December 1999, well in advance of the treaty deadline of 1 March 2003. Denmark initially retained 4,991 mines for training and research, but this number has consistently been reduced. In its Article 7 report submitted in 2016, Denmark reported that it retained 1,783 mines for training as of 31 March 2016.[6] Denmark has not submitted a transparency report since then. These mines are used for “research and development by Danish Defence Research Establishment,” and for training in mine detection.[7]

Denmark’s Article 7 reports have not included the M18A1 Claymore mines and FFV013 Claymore-type mines previously acknowledged to be in stock. The Ministry of Defense stated that these mines have all been modified to command-detonated mode, and are now treated and used only as an “area defense weapon” by the Army (M18A1) and the Air Force (FFV013).[8]

Denmark has never been an exporter of antipersonnel mines.[9] Past production of mines was for the use of the Danish army only.[10]