Written question asked by Andrew Smith (Labour) on Tuesday, 25 October 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 27 October 2005. It was answered by Adam Ingram (Labour) on Thursday, 10 November 2005 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Ottawa Convention

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent progress has been made in fulfilling the UK's obligations under the Ottawa Convention on landmines.

Answer: The United Kingdom completed its destruction of its stockpiles of anti-personnel mines in October 1999 and only retains a number of anti-personnel mines under Article 3 of the Ottawa Convention for the development of, and training in, mine detection, mine clearance, or mine destruction techniques. Under the Ottawa Convention, the UK is also required to clear all anti-personnel mines from its territory by March 2009. The only UK territory affected is in the Falkland Islands. Discussions have taken place with the Government of Argentina to agree a joint feasibility study, including a field survey of the Islands. A decision on how to proceed will be made once the results of the feasibility study are known.

Secondary information