Policy

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Saudi Arabia has made no recent statements regarding its intentions toward the Mine Ban Treaty. In July 2008, Saudi Arabia told the Monitor that it “is still in the process of studying” the treaty.[1] In 2004, Saudi Arabia stated that it supports the humanitarian objectives of the treaty.[2]

Officials have previously stated that Saudi Arabia does not want to forego its option to use antipersonnel mines in the future.[3] In October 2010, the government stated, “the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia seeks the elimination and destruction of anti-personnel mines. The Kingdom has contributed over 4.5 million U.S. dollars to this cause.”[4] In December 2010, a Saudi official told the Monitor that “his country policy on landmine[s] has not changed.”[5]

Saudi Arabia abstained from voting on United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 74/61, which calls for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty, on 12 December 2019. Saudi Arabia has abstained from voting on the annual resolution since 1996.[6]

Saudi Arabia attended as an observer at the treaty’s Fourth Review Conference in Oslo, Norway in November 2019, but did not make any statements. Saudi Arabia has participated as an observer in most recent meetings of the treaty, including the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2018 and the online intersessional meetings in June–July 2020.

Saudi Arabia is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), but has yet to join its Amended Protocol II on landmines. Saudi Arabia is not a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Since 2016, sporadic reports of mine use and mine seizures have surfaced in southern Saudi Arabia along its border with Yemen, in Aseer and Jazan provinces. Saudi Arabia has attributed the use of mines on its borders to Yemeni Houthi rebels as well as smugglers.[7] In the majority of news reports, there is no attribution for the mine use. However, in December 2013, representatives of Saudi Arabia stated to the ICBL that they were not using mines on their border with Yemen.[8] In some cases, significant quantities of landmines have been seized.[9]

In 2008, Saudi Arabia stated to the Monitor, “the Kingdom has not produced nor exported any type of mines…The Kingdom possesses a stockpile of old anti-personnel mines however; these mines have never been used. There are no stockpiles of American-owned anti-personnel mines inside the Kingdom.” It went on to note that it has “a number of legislations and procedures…that regulate importing, producing and storing anti-personnel mines.”[10] Previously, in February 2002, a Saudi official confirmed for the first time that the country maintained a stockpile of antipersonnel mines, but no details were provided.[11]

Landmine Monitor has previously reported that Saudi Arabia is not known to have produced, exported, or used antipersonnel mines, but that it stockpiles a small number of mines which were imported in the past.[12]