Team:Edinburgh/mapxmlaustralia



Australia <![CDATA[Australia signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, ratified on 14 January 1999, and the treaty entered into force for the country on 1 July 1999. National implementation legislation, the Anti-Personnel Mines Convention Act 1998, was enacted on 10 December 1998. Responsibility for treaty implementation and compliance is shared among the Departments of Foreign Affairs, Defence, and AusAID (Australia’s International Development Agency).

Australia stopped assembling antipersonnel mines in the early 1980s. It never exported mines. Australia destroyed its stockpile of 128,161 antipersonnel mines in five days in 1999. The Australian Army continues to use and train with command-detonated Claymore mines, and, according to the Department of Defence, has restrictions in place on their use in other than command-detonated mode.

In December 1997, Australia announced that its government-funded Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) would spend Australian $4 million over the next five years on “further research into mine detection and neutralization.” In its CCW Amended Protocol II Article 13 report, Australia said, “Within the Australian Department of Defence, the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and the Combined Arms Training Centre are developing new methods of clearing mines. Completion of this research will take a number of years. At this stage, Australia is not in a position to provide details, but will do so as soon as methods and technologies are refined.”

While Australia is mine-free, there have been a number of civilian and military casualties to landmines from overseas work, but no detailed data is available.

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