DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Transcription

1 DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO PROGRAMME PERFORMANCE Problem understood 8 8 Target date for completion of cluster munition clearance 7 7 Targeted clearance 7 7 Efficient clearance 7 7 National funding of programme 3 4 Timely clearance 5 5 Land-release system in place 7 7 National mine action standards 6 7 Reporting on progress 3 3 Improving performance 7 7 PERFORMANCE SCORE: AVERAGE PERFORMANCE COMMENTARY The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continued to move towards completing clearance of all areas contaminated by cluster munition remnants (CMR) in 2015, although the operational progress was not matched by a corresponding sense of urgency by the national mine action authorities. 76

2 CLUSTER MUNITION REMNANTS - SIGNATORY STATES RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION > The DRC should complete clearance of all CMR-contaminated areas by the end of 2016, the deadline it set in its strategic mine action plan. > The DRC should ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) as a matter of priority. > Greater efforts should be made to ensure the national mine action database is accurate, up to date, and effectively managed by the national authorities. > Mine action data should be recorded and reported according to International Mine Action Standards (IMAS) land release terminology. CONTAMINATION At the end of 2015, the DRC had four remaining areas with a total size of 3,840m 2 confirmed to contain CMR. Contamination is in Equateur province in the north-east of the country. 1 The DRC identified the areas, all of which are believed to contain BL755 submunitions, in a national survey conducted in According to Mines Advisory Group (MAG), CMR contamination has impeded agriculture and limited freedom of movement. MAG reported that its clearance of CMR and other unexploded ordnance (UXO) in areas of former Equateur and Katanga provinces in 2015 had increased access to firewood, enabled use of previously restricted land and new agricultural areas, and facilitated access to remote villages. MAG also completed clearance of a CMR strike very near to the only hospital in Moba, in what was Katanga province (renamed Tanganyika province as at July 2015). 3 Other ERW and Landmines The DRC is also affected by other explosive remnants of war (ERW) and a small number of landmines, as a result of years of conflict involving neighbouring states, militias, and rebel groups. Successive conflicts have left the DRC with UXO as well as significant quantities of abandoned explosive ordnance. 4 PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT The Congolese Mine Action Centre (Centre Congolais de Lutte Antimines, CCLAM) was established in 2012 with support from the United Nations Mine Action Coordination Centre (UNMACC) and the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS). 5 Since that time, UNMAS has provided capacity building support to CCLAM for its operations with a goal of full transition of all coordination activities to the Centre by the end of UNMAS has reported that the transfer of responsibility to CCLAM for coordinating mine action activities was completed in early Previously, UNMACC, established in 2002 by UNMAS, coordinated mine action operations through offices in the capital, Kinshasa, and in Goma, Kalemie, Kananga, Kisangani, and Mbandaka. 8 UNMACC was part of the UN Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) peacekeeping mission. UN Security Council Resolution 1925 mandated UNMACC to strengthen national mine action capacities and support reconstruction through road and infrastructure clearance. 9 In March 2013, Security Council Resolution 2098 called for demining activities to be transferred to the UN Country Team and the Congolese authorities. 10 As a consequence, UNMAS operated two separate projects after splitting its activities between, on the one hand, support for the government of the DRC and its in-country team, and, on the other, its activities in support of MONUSCO. 11 In accordance with Resolution 2147 of March 2014, demining is no longer included in MONUSCO s mandate. 12 DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO 1 from Colin Williams, Chief of Operations, UNMAS DRC, 6 May Response to questionnaire by Colin Williams, UNMAS, 19 May 2015; and CCM Article 7 Report (for 2012 and 2013), Form F. 3 from Llewelyn Jones, Director of Programmes, MAG, 7 May On 9 January 2015, the National Assembly of the DRC passed a law which enacted the proposed redistricting under the 2006 Constitution of the DRC s 11 provinces into 25 provinces, plus Kinshasa. The area where MAG was operational in Katanga province was renamed as Tanganyka province after the redistricting began to be implemented in July Christophe Rigaud, RDC: le découpage territorial a voté à l Assemblée ( DRC: territorial subdivision voted on at the Assembly ), Afrikarabia, 10 January 2015, at: com/wordpress/rdc-le-decoupage-territorial-vote-a-lassemblee/; and from Fabienne Chassagneux, Regional Director, West and Central Africa, MAG, 15 July UNMAS, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Support to UN Country Team and the Government, updated January 2015, at: org/programmes/drc. 5 Response to Cluster Munition Monitor questionnaire by Michelle Healy, UNMACC, 29 April from Colin Williams, UNMAS, 29 May 2015; and UNMAS, DRC, Support to UN Country Team and the Government. 7 UNMAS, About UNMAS Support of One UN and the GODRC, March 2016, at: 8 UNMAS, DRC, Overview, updated August UN Security Council Resolution 1925, 28 May UN Security Council Resolution 2098, 28 March UNMAS, DRC: Support to UN Country Team and the Government. 12 UN Security Council Resolution 2147, 28 March 2014; and UNMAS, DRC Overview, updated April 2014, at: 77

3 Strategic Planning The DRC s national mine action strategic plan for set the goal of completing clearance of all areas contaminated with anti-personnel mines or unexploded submunitions by the end of MAG deminer clearing land inside Moba Hospital, Tanganyika Province. MAG DRC Operators Five international operators are accredited for mine action in the DRC: DanChurchAid (DCA), Handicap International (HI), MAG, Mechem, and Norwegian People s Aid (NPA), along with a national demining organisation, AFRILAM. 14 MAG was the only operator to conduct detailed CMR survey and clearance activities in the DRC in Throughout the year, it deployed between two and four ten-strong technical teams, depending on funding, as well as two community liaison teams. 15 Standards No developments were reported regarding mine action standards or guidelines specific to CMR survey or clearance in As at May 2016, National Technical Standards and Guidelines for mine action had been developed, but still not finalised. The draft version does not contain CMR-specific provisions. 16 Quality Management UNMAS and MAG reported that no external quality assurance (QA)/quality control (QC) activities were carried out on any CMR tasks in 2015, due to an inability to travel to remote areas. 17 MAG stated, however, that in 2015 an internal QA/QC process was carried out twice a week. 18 Information Management The CCLAM assumed responsibility from UNMAS for information management in January Subsequently, despite many years of capacity building support from UNMAS, and from NPA in 2015, data from the national mine action database in response to research queries showed limited signs of improvement, but continued to vary significantly from operators records, and in some cases was partial or even unusable. 13 DRC, Plan Stratégique National de Lutte Antimines en République Démocratique du Congo, ( National Mine Action Strategic Plan in DRC, ), Kinshasa, November 2011, p. 28, at: drc.org/img/pdf/plan_strategique_lam_ pdf. 14 from Julien Kempeneers, Deputy Desk Officer, Mine Action Department, HI, 14 April from Colin Williams, UNMAS, 3 June Responses to questionnaire by Pehr Lodhammar, NPA, 18 May 2015; Julia Wittig, Programme Officer, MAG, 29 May 2015; and Johan Strydom, Project Manager DRC, Mechem, 13 May s from Colin Williams, UNMAS, 6 May 2016; and Fabienne Chassagneux, MAG, 15 July from Llewelyn Jones, MAG, 7 May

4 CLUSTER MUNITION REMNANTS - SIGNATORY STATES LAND RELEASE The total amount of CMR-contaminated area released in 2015 was 0.075km 2, compared to 0.065km 2 in Survey in 2015 MAG reported cancelling 65 suspected hazardous areas (SHAs) through non-technical survey in 2015 and confirming as hazardous two SHAs with a total size of 75,845m 2 in Katanga (Tanganyika) and Equateur provinces (see Table 1). 20 Table 1: CMR survey in Operator SHAs cancelled Areas confirmed Area confirmed (m²) MAG (Katanga/Tanganyika) 4 1 7,772 MAG (Equateur) ,073 Totals ,845 Clearance in 2015 MAG cleared a total of 75,845m 2 of CMR-contaminated area in 2015, the majority of which 68,073m 2 was in Equateur province, with a further 7,772m 2 in Katanga/Tanganyika province, and a total of 65 submunitions (see Table 2). 22 In 2014, MAG cleared 65,510m 2 of CMRcontaminated area, destroying 38 submunitions. 23 In September 2015, NPA one BL755 submunition as part of an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) spot task in Tanganyika province. 24 According to UNMAS, Mechem also two submunitions during EOD spot tasks in NPA reported destroying a further two BL755 submunitions in Tanganyika province in February DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO Table 2: Clearance of CMR-contaminated areas in Operator Areas cleared Areas cleared (m²) Submunitions APM UXO MAG (Katanga/Tanganyika) 1 7, MAG (Equateur) 1 68, Totals 2 75, APM = Anti-personnel mines 19 Ibid.; and response to questionnaire by Julia Wittig, MAG, 29 May from Llewelyn Jones, MAG, 7 May Ibid. UNMAS did not report any data for CMR survey in DRC in UNMAS informed Mine Action Review and Cluster Munition Monitor information is taken from our data base following weekly reports received from MAG so may not be completely accurate or complete, and indicated data provided by MAG should be reported instead. s from Colin Williams, UNMAS, 6 and 26 May from Llewelyn Jones, MAG, 7 May Response to questionnaire by Johan Petrus Botha, Technical Operations Manager, MAG, 1 June from Pehr Lodhammar, NPA, 12 April from Colin Williams, UNMAS, 6 May from Pehr Lodhammar, NPA, 12 April from Llewelyn Jones, MAG, 7 May UNMAS reported that MAG cleared one CMR-contaminated area with a total size of 58,685m 2, destroying in the process 55 submunitions, one anti-personnel mine, and 24 items of UXO. s from Colin Williams, UNMAS, 6 and 26 May

5 ARTICLE 4 COMPLIANCE As at 1 June 2016, the DRC was a signatory but not a state party to the CCM. As such, it does not have a treaty-mandated deadline for clearance. Nonetheless, the DRC has obligations under international human rights law to clear CMR as soon as possible, in particular by virtue of its duty to protect the right to life of every person under its jurisdiction. 28 The DRC s national mine action strategic plan for set the goal of clearing all areas contaminated with anti-personnel mines or unexploded submunitions by the end of The Government of the DRC, through CCLAM, which operates under the Ministry of Interior, is seconding members of the armed forces to MAG for CMR survey and clearance. 30 MAG stated that its priorities in 2016 would be to locate and confirm all remaining SHAs where CMR are suspected within North Ubangi and South Ubangi provinces (formerly Equateur province). 31 It did not expect its funding to change in UNMAS has asserted that the DRC was on track to meet its national mine action strategic plan goal of completing clearance of CMR contamination by the end of In May 2016, however, MAG expressed doubts, noting that remaining CMR-contaminated areas were very remote, with limited access and difficult terrain. 34 In March 2016, Japan donated US$2 million to UNMAS for mine action in the DRC. UNMAS reported that the contribution represented 40% of the DRC programme s 2016 budgetary needs and would allow UNMAS to deploy two MTTs in five selected provinces where no explosive clearance capacity currently exists. 35 In May 2016, UNMAS reported that a total of US$2.45 million had been secured for demining activities in 2016, with additional support from the Netherlands and Sweden, and in-kind support from Switzerland. 36 UNMAS pledged to continue to engage with donors to secure additional funding The DRC is a state party to the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 6(1) of which stipulates that: Every human being has the inherent right to life. It is also a state party to the 1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, Article 4 of which provides that Every human being shall be entitled to respect for his life and the integrity of his person. 29 DRC, National Mine Action Strategic Plan in DRC, , Kinshasa, November 2011, p Response to questionnaire by Julia Wittig, MAG, 29 May from Llewelyn Jones, MAG, 7 May Ibid. 33 from Colin Williams, UNMAS, 6 May from Llewelyn Jones, MAG, 7 May UNMAS, The People of Japan Contributes $2 Million to support United Nations Mine Action Activities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Press release, 18 March UNMAS, About UNMAS Support of One UN and the GODRC, May 2016, at: 37 UNMAS, The People of Japan Contributes $2 Million USD to support United Nations Mine Action Activities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Press release, 18 March 2016, at: pdf. 80