United Arab Emirates
Mine Ban Policy
Policy
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty, although it has, on occasion, expressed interest in joining. In November 2007, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official told the ICBL that the UAE planned to join the treaty in the near future.[1]
The UAE attended, as an observer, the convention’s Fourth Review Conference in Oslo, Norway in November 2019, but did not make any statements. The UAE last sent observers to a Meeting of States Parties in December 2012. The UAE has never submitted a voluntary Article 7 report.
The UAE voted in favor of annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 74/61 in December 2019, calling for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty, as it has done for all previous pro-ban resolutions since 1996.[2]
The UAE is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and has adopted CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war, but not Amended Protocol II on landmines. The UAE is not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
The UAE has stated that it has not produced, used, or exported antipersonnel mines.[3] While some officials have said that the UAE does not have a stockpile of antipersonnel mines, the Monitor has received conflicting information from another governmental source.[4]
[1] Interview with Abdallah al-Naqbi, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mine Ban Treaty Eighth Meeting of States Parties, at the Dead Sea, Jordan, 22 November 2007.
[2] “Implementation of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction,” UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 74/61, 12 December 2019.
[3] Interview with Abdallah al-Naqbi, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mine Ban Treaty Eighth Meeting of States Parties, at the Dead Sea, Jordan, 22 November 2007.
[4] The Secretary of Defense stated in September 2004 there were no stockpiles. Email from Amb. Satnam Jit Singh, Diplomatic Advisor, ICBL, 7 October 2004. This was also claimed in a presentation by Ali al-Hosni, UAE military officer, at the Workshop on the Risks of Landmines and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW), Sharjah, 8–9 December 2003, organized by the Arab Network for Research on Landmines and ERW. In 2006, an official who asked not to be identified told the ICBL that there were some stockpiles of antipersonnel mines.