Arria-formula Meeting on Mine Action
Tomorrow (12 December), Security Council members will hold an Arria-formula meeting on mine action at the initiative of Japan. The expected briefers are Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix and the Permanent Representative of Cambodia to the UN, Ambassador Keo Chhea.
The meeting—which is titled “Safeguarding Lives, Sustaining Peace: Enhancing Mine Action for Stabilization, Protection, Recovery, and Inclusion”—will begin at 4:30 pm EST in the Trusteeship Council Chamber and will be broadcast live on UNTV. While attendance is open to non-Council member states and non-governmental organisations with UN accreditation, only the briefers and current Council members will be permitted to speak due to time constraints.
According to a concept note circulated by Japan, tomorrow’s meeting seeks to draw attention to recent and ongoing conflicts on the Council’s agenda where civilians suffer the effects of landmines, explosive remnants of war (ERW), and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) as well as the support needed by the affected governments and populations, UN mine action entities, and their partners.
Lacroix is expected to discuss the efforts of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and its contribution to the implementation of UN mandates. He may further discuss how other UN entities and civil society organisations respond to requests for assistance from affected states, and how the Security Council, affected governments, donors, and other stakeholders can maximise the potential of UN mine action.
Chhea is expected to speak about Cambodia’s mine action activities. He is likely to discuss his country’s efforts as the president of the Fifth Review Conference of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, which was held between 25 and 29 November. Chhea may also reflect on Cambodia’s efforts to eliminate landmines and ERW on its territory and lessons learned in this regard.
The concept note poses several questions to help guide the discussion, including:
- Are peace operations adequately equipped, informed, and trained to reduce the threat of landmines, ERW and IEDs?
- How can UN member states, the Security Council, the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), and the UN Secretariat incorporate mine action from planning to the drawdown and withdrawal of UN peace operations?
- What measures are required for women’s safe and active involvement in decision-making roles with regard to mine action?
- How can mine action programmes better address the specific vulnerabilities and needs of children in affected communities?
The Security Council regularly addresses issues related to mine action and the threat posed by ERW and IEDs in the context of UN peace operation mandates and country-specific discussions. The Council infrequently considers mine action on a thematic level, however.
The Council first considered mine action as a thematic issue at an open debate on 15 August 1996, which was followed by the adoption on 30 August of a presidential statement on demining in the context of UN peacekeeping. In this statement, the Council expressed its readiness to consider mine action-related concerns in country-specific situations and noted the importance of ensuring that mine action is reflected in the mandates and personnel planning for peacekeeping operations.
On 30 June 2017, the Council unanimously adopted resolution 2365, the first thematic resolution on mine action, which was initiated by Bolivia. The resolution recognised the threat posed by landmines, ERW, and IEDs to civilians and peacekeepers, emphasised the importance of providing relevant equipment and training to peacekeeping operations to reduce this threat, and called on parties to armed conflict to end “immediately and definitively any indiscriminate use of explosive devices in violation of international humanitarian law”.
It has been nearly four years since the Council addressed mine action or a related topic at the thematic level. On 26 March 2021, then-Council member Kenya organised an Arria-formula meeting on the protection of UN peace operation personnel from the threat posed by IEDs. In April of that year, then-Council member Viet Nam convened a ministerial-level open debate via videoconference on “Mine action and sustaining peace: Stronger partnerships for better delivery”. At that meeting, the Council adopted a presidential statement, in which it called on member states and other relevant stakeholders to strengthen their efforts to implement resolution 2365.
While discussion of mine action is common in country-specific situations and in the context of peacekeeping operations, some Council members are hesitant about adding it as another stand-alone thematic agenda item. It appears that an initiative in 2019 by then-Council members Belgium and the Netherlands to promote a second thematic resolution on mine action did not succeed because of US opposition to the inclusion of a regular reporting requirement. At present, 164 states (including 11 Council members) are party to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. Among Council members, China, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Russia, and the US are not parties to the convention.
