Policy

The Republic of Moldova signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified on 8 September 2000, becoming a State Party on 1 March 2001. Moldova has not enacted any legal measures to implement the treaty domestically as it believes that the 2002 Criminal Code covers all aspects necessary for adequate implementation of the treaty.[1]

Moldova has attended some meetings of the treaty, most recently the Fourteenth Meeting of States Parties in 2015. Moldova did not attend the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014.

In 2006, Moldova expressed its views on key issues of interpretation and implementation related to Articles 1, 2, and 3 of the Mine Ban Treaty, when it made strong statements in agreement with the positions of the ICBL and many States Parties.[2]

Moldova is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines. Moldova is also party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Production, transfer, stockpiling, and mines retained

Moldova has stated that it has never produced, imported, or exported antipersonnel mines, but it inherited mine stocks from the Soviet Union.[3]

It destroyed its stockpile of 13,194 antipersonnel mines inherited from the Soviet Union (types PMN, PMN-2, MAI-75, OZM-72, MON-50, and MON-100) in 2002, as part of a destruction program managed by the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency.[4]

In 2002, Moldova declared it would retain 849 antipersonnel mines for training. It reported destroying a number of these during 2004, indicating that 249 were retained for training. In 2006, Moldova destroyed the remaining 249 antipersonnel mines.[5]

Transdniester Region

Since a 1992 military conflict, the Moldova government does not control the Transdniester region, which accounts for 11% of the territory of Moldova; the region declared independence on 2 September 1990 as the Pridnestrovie Moldavian Republic (Pridnestrovskaya Moldavskaya Respublika, PMR). It has not been recognized internationally. Both sides used landmines when fighting broke out between Moldova and the PMR in 1992.[6] PMR forces maintain control of the Transdniester region, while a July 1992 cease-fire agreement established a tripartite peacekeeping force comprised of Moldovan, Russian, and PMR units; negotiations to resolve the conflict continue. The Russian (formerly Soviet) 14th Army has been based in the Transdniester region of Moldova since 1956.

Since 2003, Moldova has continuously stated that the implementation of the convention is limited to a part of its national territory, as “the Government of the Republic of Moldova has no information concerning the implementation of the Convention in the Transnistrian Region of the Republic of Moldova currently controlled by an anti-constitutional regime of Tiraspol.” Additionally, “the Government of the Republic of Moldova also doesn't have any information concerning antipersonnel mines belonging to the Russian Federation that are presently stockpiled in the Transnistrian region.”[7]