A piece of information APA released last year on Armenians laying mines in the occupied Azerbaijani territories has been verified under the auspices of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and included in the international report.
Director of “Azerbaijan Campaign to Ban Landmine” Public Union Hafiz Safikhanov told reporters Dec. 3.
Safikhanov said that they carried out an investigation on the information APA released under the auspices of the International Campaign. An inquiry was sent to the Armenian side. Armenia has confirmed this fact. The Armenians said that that the mine-laying operations are aimed at “preventing the subversive groups of the Azerbaijani Army”.
“In all cases, regardless of the purpose, it is a fact that the Armenians planted new mines. It allowed us to include illegal actions of Armenians into the reports and condemn them,” said Safikhanov.
Safikhanov noted that on December 3, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and Cluster Munitions Coalition (CMC) submitted the Landmine Monitor Report 2014 in 20 cities, including Baku. This report reflects the works done in connection with mines and UXOs from 1 September 2013 to 30 October 2014.
According to the report, more than 80 percent of countries (162 countries) are members of Mine Ban Treaty (Ottawa Convention). The United States, one of the countries with the world’s largest reserves of mine, made special statements twice during the reporting period that the issues related to joining the convention in the near future is being considered and only the issues required by the Convention will not applied to the Korean Peninsula. 35 countries including countries in the South Caucasus haven’t joined the Convention. The latest report says over this period the fact of mine use was recorded in only two states – Syria, Myanmar – and one separatist organization (Nagorno-Karabakh).
The report notes that demining operations were carried out in 54 countries and 185 square kilometers of territory was cleared of mines. 48 million mines and UXOs were destroyed after the adoption of Mine Ban Treaty (Ottawa Convention), a million of them in the last reporting period. 9 non-member states of the Convention – China, India, Israel, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, South Korea and the United States officially declared a moratorium on the export of anti-personnel landmines. Currently, mine production was recorded only in 11 countries. During the reporting period, 3 308 victims of mines and UXO were revealed in 52 countries around the world (including the 34 member countries of the Convention) and 3 unrecognized areas. 79 percent of victims of mines and UXO were civilians, 46 percent of them being women and children. During the reporting period, $ 647 mln was spent to solve problems caused by landmines.
/Apa/
