Britain in the dock over landmine supplies

Is Britain bending the anti-landmine rules?

Two years ago anti-landmine campaigners rang bells to celebrate the implementation of the Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel landmines.

But since then an estimated fifty thousand people have been killed or maimed by landmines, and NATO countries have been continuing to develop powerful anti-vehicle mines.

According to the report by Landmine Action, many of them operate as de facto anti-personnel mines and should therefore be banned.

Britain was one of the first countries to destroy its stocks of anti-personnel landmines, and likes to portray itself as a moral leader in this area.

Children can set them off

But according to the report, it is producing and stockpiling anti-vehicle mines which have such sensitive anti-handling fuses that they can easily be set off by civilians, such as children.

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"The Ottawa treaty is very clear," says Richard Lloyd of Landmine Action, "If a landmine functions as an anti-personnel mine then it is banned, and that's including anti-tank mines with these anti-handling fuses."

"If a civilian can accidentally set it off, then it is an anti-personnel mine and its banned, no question."

A consortium of companies, including BAE Systems, Hunting Engineering, Marconi, GEC Avionics, and Hughes Microelectronics, are also producing rocket launchers which can fire mines from a long distance.

Likely to be killed

Peter Herby, the coordinator of the mines unit at the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, claims this exposes civilians to great danger.

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"You could saturate an entire area around a city in a matter of minutes with these things," he said.

"If they are fitted with these sensitive anti-handling devices any civilian who walks through the grass or accidentally comes upon it is likely to be killed".

The report by Landmine Action says Britain is stockpiling three types of mines fitted with sensitive anti-handling fuses. It has 100,000 German AT-2 mines, 63,300 American shielder mines, and an unknown number of British barmines.

Should be banned

The AT-2 is considered so sensitive that Italy voluntarily destroyed all 45-thousand in its stocks, believing that they contravened the Ottawa Treaty.

Pressure to prove our mines are safe to civilians

The report says Britain is also procuring an American mine known as the hornet - but according to an executive from the US manufacturers Textron, the mine is "not yet technologically mature".

The executive added that it would not be advisable to pass near a Hornet minefield in a private car.

Landmine Action says if an anti-vehicle mine is so sensitive that it effectively works as an anti-personnel mine it should be banned.

Dangerous for civilians

Britain says it has checked all its stocks and is satisfied that they do comply with the Ottawa Treaty - but Richard Lloyd wants proof.

Trying to pinpoint the hidden killer

"We'd like to see the evidence of that. The manufacturers tell us otherwise, other countries' armed forces tell us otherwise.

"Britain still holds stocks of a mine that the manufacturers themselves say you shouldn't approach with anything metal on you. If that's not dangerous for civilians, then I don't know what is," he said.

Colin King was the British army's most senior bomb disposal expert, and now works as a consultant, advising several NATO countries, including the British Ministry of Defence.

Insufficient testing

He has a chilling message.

"Very very few people - even among senior military personnel and government scientists - really know exactly what stimuli are needed to set these mines off.

"I don't believe sufficient testing has been done, and if it has it certainly isn't public knowledge.

"If the mines currently held by Britain are safe, then they need to be demonstrated as such to groups like Landmine Action," he said.

No threat to people

The British Armed Forces Minister John Spellar insisted that its mines pose no threat to innocent civilians.

Defence minister John Spellar: "Our mines are legitimate"

"We retain anti-vehicle mines designed to actually stop vehicles of an enemy force trying to attack our people," he said.

"Its legitimate for them to have proper anti-handling devices - not something that will be set off by someone just stepping nearby, but actually by someone trying to move or disarm them."