Team:Edinburgh/mapxmllesotho



Lesotho <![CDATA[The Kingdom of Lesotho signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified it on 2 December 1998. The treaty entered into force for Lesotho on 1 June 1999. Lesotho has not passed domestic implementing legislation, as the Internal Security Act of 1984 is deemed adequate at this stage.

Lesotho submitted its first Article 7 transparency report on 17 August 2000. It had been due on 27 November 1999. The report is five sentences long and does not make use of the standard reporting format. It states, “Lesotho is one of the lucky countries that has not been affected by the scourge of landmines. Lesotho does not use, buy or manufacture landmines, neither does she have stockpiles of mines.” The report also states that Lesotho believes landmines “fall within the category of weapons prohibited by international customary humanitarian law....” At the December 2000 meeting of the Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Lesotho issued a statement saying, “The Lesotho Defence Force does not and has never at any time kept stock of landmines. It does not even keep any even for purposes of training.”

The Lesotho Red Cross is an active member of the network of anti-landmine campaigns in southern Africa.

There are no reports of uncleared mines in Lesotho. ]]> <![CDATA[]]>