Policy

The State of Kuwait acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 30 July 2007, becoming a State Party on 1 January 2008.

As of October 2019, Kuwait has not submitted an annual update to its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 transparency report since 2011. In its last report, dated 24 May 2010, Kuwait indicated that efforts were “in progress to enact the required legislation to meet the elements of this convention,” but provided no further detail.[1] It indicated the same thing in its report dated May 2009. In July 2009, Kuwait stated that government “has submitted a draft Military Law to the Parliament in Kuwait to prohibit the possession of conventional weapons for those not authorized…”[2]

Kuwait has also cited elements of its existing law as serving to implement the Mine Ban Treaty. In a November 2009 letter, Kuwait cited three existing articles, stating that through these “the State of Kuwait enjoys the appropriate legal and administrative measures” in line with Article 9 on national implementation measures.[3]

Kuwait regularly attends meetings of the treaty, most recently the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2018, where it did not make a statement. However, Kuwait did not attend the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014. Kuwait also did not attend the intersessional meetings in Geneva in May 2019.

Kuwait is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its amended Protocol II on landmines, as well as Protocol V on explosive remnants. Kuwait is not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Stockpiling, destruction, production, transfer, and use

Kuwait is not known to have produced or exported antipersonnel mines. It did not declare any production facilities in its Article 7 reports.[4] Officials from the Ministry of Defense told the Monitor in 2002 that Kuwaiti forces have never used mines.[5]

In its initial Article 7 report of May 2008, Kuwait declared a stockpile of 91,432 antipersonnel mines, composed of six types.[6] In a July 2009 letter, Kuwait informed States Parties that it had destroyed its stockpile.[7] This was accomplished far in advance of its treaty-mandated deadline of 1 January 2012. The letter did not provide any details on the destruction process, such as the location and method of destruction, the quantities or types of mines destroyed, or the dates of initiation and completion of destruction. Kuwait’s Article 7 reports submitted in May 2009 and May 2010 do not report specifically on the destruction of the mines, nor do they report any mines transferred for the purpose of destruction. Both reports list “non” on the form for stockpiled mines.[8] In a statement at the Tenth Meeting of States Parties Kuwait affirmed that the destruction process was finished in June 2008.[9]

Kuwait has stated that it does not retain any mines for training purposes, and has not indicated in previous Article 7 reports that it retains mines.[10]