Poland
Mine Ban Policy
Policy
The Republic of Poland signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified on 27 December 2012, becoming a State Party on 1 June 2013.
Poland has reported that the Mine Ban Treaty, as an international agreement, is superior to domestic law once ratified and applies directly in Poland.[1] It has indicated that national implementation measures may be addressed through an amendment to the Penal Code.[2]
Poland regularly submits Article 7 transparency reports, and submitted 11 transparency reports prior to ratifying the treaty.[3] Poland served on the Committee on Cooperative Compliance in 2017–2018 and the Committee on Stockpile Destruction in 2014.
Poland has attended most meetings of the Convention, most recently the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2018. Poland also attended the Mine Ban Treaty Third Review Conference in Maputo, Mozambique, in June 2014. It did not attend the intersessional meetings in Geneva in May 2019.
Poland is not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Poland is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines.
Production, transfer, use, stockpiling, and destruction
Poland has regularly stated that it does not produce, export, or use antipersonnel mines.[4]
In the past, Poland produced three types of antipersonnel mines and imported a fourth type. Poland exported antipersonnel mines until 1993. An export moratorium in 1995 was made permanent by cabinet decree on 7 April 1998, which was then superseded by a law adopted in September 2002.[5]
In its initial Article 7 report provided in November 2013, Poland declared a stockpile of three types of antipersonnel mines: PSM-1, PMD-6, and MON-100.[6]
Poland completed the destruction of its stockpile in April 2016, more than a year before its treaty-mandated deadline.[7] Poland began destroying its stockpile of more than one million antipersonnel mines in 2003.[8] At the Mine Ban Treaty’s Third Review Conference in June 2014, Poland reiterated a previous announcement first made in 2012 that it had already completed destroying more than one million antipersonnel mines or 97% of its stockpile.[9] It stated that stockpile destruction was ongoing and would be completed “well before the 2017 deadline.”[10] It stated that the disposal of mines and their components was carried out in accordance with Polish labor and environmental protection standards.[11]
In its initial Article 7 report as a State Party submitted in November 2013, Poland confirmed that it is not retaining any antipersonnel mines for training and research purposes, as permitted under Article 3 of the convention.[12]
[1] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form A, 28 November 2013. The report also lists several domestic legal provisions on weapons controls and regulations of illegal materials as pertaining to the implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. Poland’s ratification legislation included a declaration with respect to interpretation of the ban on “assistance” contained in Article 1 of the Mine Ban Treaty. According to the declaration, “the mere participation in the planning or execution of operations, exercises or other military activity by the Polish Armed Forces, or individual Polish nationals, conducted in combination with the armed forces of states not party to the [Convention], which engage in activity prohibited under that Convention, is not, by itself, assistance, encouragement or inducement for the purposes of Article 1, paragraph (c) of the Convention.” Draft Ratification Bill, Parliament of the Republic of Poland, 21 June 2012.
[2] The rationale document also specifies that amendments to include antipersonnel mines will be made to Acts of the Council of Ministers of 3 December 2001 (Dz. U. Nr 145, poz. 1625, z późn. zm.) and 23 November 2004 (Dz. U. Nr 255, poz. 2557, zpóźn. zm.) on prohibitions and restrictions with regard to use, production, and trade of weapons, ammunition, and national security related goods. Draft Ratification Bill, Parliament of the Republic of Poland, 21 June 2012. Poland’s initial Article 7 report listed these and other domestic legal provisions as relevant to the implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty, but it is not clear that amendments have in fact been made to specifically include antipersonnel mines under their provisions.
[3] Poland submitted previous voluntary Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 reports in 2012 (for calendar year 2011), 2011 (for calendar year 2010), 2010 (for calendar year 2009), in 2009 (for calendar year 2008), and on 14 April 2008, 6 April 2007, 3 May 2006, 11 May 2005, 12 May 2004, and 5 March 2003.
[4] In 2006, Poland told the Monitor that current military doctrine does not foresee the use of antipersonnel mines, including in joint military operations or exercises with other states. Letter from Tadeusz Chomicki, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 22 March 2006. However, in January 2007 Poland said that it planned to install self-destruct or self-neutralization mechanisms on some antipersonnel mines. It has not referred to such plans since that time. In March 2008, officials stated that Poland does not rely on antipersonnel mines for the defense of its national territory or its bases abroad. See, Landmine Monitor Report 2009, p. 867.
[5] “Ordinance of the Council of Minister of August 20, 2002 concerning the imposition of prohibition and restriction on transfer of goods and strategic importance for the state security,” Journal of Laws, 6 September 2002.
[6] Poland has previously acknowledged possessing MON-100 Claymore-type directional fragmentation mines, and said that these are “meant exclusively for mine-controlled detonation…[which] excludes the possibility of accidental detonation.” The MON-100 is described in Poland’s first voluntary Article 7 report in 2003 as a “directional fragmentation mine, if equipped with a MUW fuse attached to a tripwire.”
[7] Statement of Poland, Mine Ban Treaty Fifteenth Meeting of States Parties, Santiago, November–December 2016.
[8] Poland initially reported 1,055,971 stockpiled antipersonnel mines at the end of 2002. During 2003, it destroyed 58,291 POMZ-2 (2M) mines due to expiration of shelf life. It destroyed another 12,990 stockpiled mines in 2005, again because their shelf life had expired.
[9] Statement of Poland, Mine Ban Treaty Third Review Conference, Maputo, 24 June 2014. In December 2013 and December 2012, Poland reiterated the announcement that it had already destroyed 97% of its stockpile of antipersonnel mines. In 2008, Poland announced destroying 651,117 mines, or two-thirds of its stockpile. This was a much more rapid destruction of stockpiles than previously planned. Poland further reduced its stockpile to 200,013 mines in 2009. No further reduction took place in 2010. In 2011, Poland reduced its stockpile to a total of 13,585 antipersonnel mines. As part of its search for alternatives to mines, in 2008 Poland started a research project “aimed at the development of a modern and comprehensive system of engineering obstacles (barriers),” which might include “explosive devices controlled by an operator.” As of June 2011, the project was reported to be 60% completed. See, statement of Wojciech Flera, Mine Ban Treaty Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 5 December 2013; statement by Amb. Remigiusz A. Henczel, Mine Ban Treaty Twelfth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 3 December 2012; Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2008), Form B; Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2009); Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2010), Form B; Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2011), Form B; response to Monitor questionnaire by Adam Kobieracki, Director, Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 8 April 2010; and letter from Tomasz Łękarski, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 June 2011.
[10] Statement of Poland, Mine Ban Treaty Third Review Conference, Maputo, 24 June 2014.
[11] Initial Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form F, 28 November 2013.
[12] Initial Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form D, 28 November 2013. Poland reiterated its intention not to retain any antipersonnel mines at the Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties in December 2013. Statement by Wojciech Flera, Minister Counsellor, Mine Ban Treaty Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 5 December 2013. This was confirmed previously in a statement by Amb. Henczel, Mine Ban Treaty Twelfth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 3 December 2012; and in a meeting with Col. Jaroslaw Rubaj, Counsellor-Military Adviser, Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva, and Jaroslaw Ogrodzinski, Deputy Chief of Non-proliferation and Disarmament Division, Arms Control and Disarmament, Ministry of Defence, 25 May 2012. In the past, Poland stated it planned to retain about 5,000 antipersonnel mines for training purposes. In 2009, Poland used 326 empty antipersonnel mine casings to train demining squads for peacekeeping and stabilization missions, up from 295 casings used in 2008, and 144 in 2007. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Monitor that imitation mine casings were used for training in 2010. This has been indicated also in Poland’s 2011 Article 7 report. See, Mine Ban Treaty Voluntary Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2010); and response to Monitor questionnaire by Adam Kobieracki, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 8 April 2010. He stated that PSM-1, PMD-6, POMZ-2, POMZ-2M, and MON-100 casings were being used for this purpose.