17 regular meetings of member states of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Production, Transport and Storage of PP mines held in Geneva

Bosnia and Herzegovina request to extend the deadline for the removal of remaining mines and UXO by 2021 has been preliminary approved

In period 26-30.11.2018,  17th regular meeting of the state members of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use of PP Mines was held in Geneve, with more than 600 participants from 164 signatories of this document atended.

Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the members of the Mine Action Center in BiH and the Commission for Demining in BiH, also participated in the meeting.

At the meeting, as before, all Member States that have the problem of mine and UXO presented their current results and plans for the forthcoming period. Also discussed were the requirements for extending the deadline for removing the remaining mines and UXO, in particular 7 requests submitted by Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Cyprus, Sudan, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

The objective of the submitted request by BiH is to seek an extension of the next two years, thus providing that BiH should take about two years from the date of the application to obtain a clearer status regarding the remaining challenges, and to make a detailed plan and file a third request for an extension . Member States agreed that the presented plan is feasible, can be monitored, and clearly indicates which factors can affect its implementation pace. The meeting also emphasized that the plan is based on state budget allocations and dependent on sustainable international financing.

We recall that Bosnia and Herzegovina was among the first to sign the Convention on the Prohibition of PP Mines, and it was ratified in 1998. The Convention entered into force on March 1, 1999, at a time when Bosnia and Herzegovina became a member of the Ottawa Convention and took responsibility for demining, destruction of supplies, assistance to victims, and cooperation and assistance.

BiH fulfilled its obligations related to the destruction of mines in 2007, after 475,707 mines were destroyed. According to Article 5 of the Convention, Bosnia and Herzegovina has undertaken to destroy or ensure the destruction of all PP mines in areas under their control or jurisdiction, as soon as possible but not later than 1 March 2009. On March 26, 2008, Bosnia and Herzegovina filed a request for the extension of demining.

Extension is granted, and the deadline is fixed for March 1, 2009.

On April 25, 2018, Bosnia and Herzegovina submitted a new request for the extension of the demining period for another two years. An official decision on this matter will be made by the end of 2019, or at the next Revision Conference.