Post-conflict time: defusing ticking time bombs for a safe return of displaced populations
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 27 June 2024 (22nd sitting) (see Doc. 15995, report of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and
Displaced Persons, rapporteur: Mr Domagoj Hajduković). Text adopted by the Assembly on
27 June 2024 (22nd sitting).
1. The Parliamentary Assembly is appalled
by the Russian Federation’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine,
the latest in a series of dreadful wars which have scarred Europe
since the 20th century. This tragedy reminds us of the fragility
of peace on our continent and the importance of never ceasing our
efforts to protect and consolidate our democratic societies.
2. Deploring the brutal violence and destruction of the war against
Ukraine, and recalling Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations,
the Assembly reiterates the legitimate right of its member States
to defend their territorial integrity against ongoing or imminent
aggression with all their might and all the means at their disposal,
and calls on the international community to uphold its efforts to
support Ukraine in every way possible.
3. All conflicts have immediate devastating consequences on civilians
and on territories, not least through the widespread use of explosive
weapons, especially cluster munitions. They also bring the long-term consequences
of the explosive remnants of war, particularly landmines and unexploded
ordnance. The use of explosive weapons in populated areas often
results in the displacement of people within and across borders, and
later impedes their voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return.
4. Explosive ordnance has long-term effects on civilians, including
physical, psychosocial and mental-health damage. Civilians are too
often the collateral victims of conflicts and, post conflict, of
landmines and explosive remnants of war. Among them are migrants
on their migration routes, with women and children being particularly
exposed and paying a heavy price.
5. The Assembly refers to the “Memorandum on the human rights
consequences of the war in Ukraine” issued by the former Council
of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, in July 2022,
in which she regretted that, despite some areas having been marked
off by warning signage, injuries of civilians through explosive
remnants of war were said to occur on a daily basis.
6. Beyond the human toll, the use of explosive weapons has devastating
effects on civilian infrastructure and services. Their use destroys
infrastructure, such as roads, schools, healthcare facilities, housing
and other civilian objects, and has devastating effects on the functioning
of essential services, such as drinking water, sanitation, food,
gas and electricity supply systems.
7. Moreover, the use of explosive weapons has a catastrophic
impact on agriculture and the environment as a whole. The components
of explosive weapons and their remnants contaminate soils, subsoils
and water sources. They spread beyond populated areas, poisoning
flora and fauna, and have a significant impact on entire ecosystems,
which may take years, if not decades, to remedy.
8. Considering these multiple and cumulative factors, it is clear
that landmines and unexploded ordnance have both immediate and long-term
effects on the displacement of populations, raising also the crucial
issue of a voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return to
homelands.
9. The Assembly welcomes the treaties and customary international
humanitarian law dealing with disarmament and the ban on arms and
weapons, as well as those dealing with the repatriation of forcibly displaced
populations. It also welcomes the domestic laws issued by member
States aimed, inter alia,
at clearing their territories of landmines and unexploded ordnance.
10. Welcoming the start of the border delimitation process between
Armenia and Azerbaijan, based on the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration,
the Assembly recalls the absolute necessity to “negotiate a process
of delimitation and demarcation of the border and examine the possibility
of creating a demilitarised zone” as underlined in
Resolution 2391 (2021) “Humanitarian
consequences of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan / Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict”.
11. The Assembly welcomes the establishment of the Register of
Damage Caused by the Aggression of the Russian Federation against
Ukraine (the Register), which has started receiving claims for damage,
loss or injury caused since 24 February 2022.
12. The Assembly notes with satisfaction that victims of landmines
and unexploded ordnance will thereby be able to submit claims to
the Register, including claims related to violations of personal
integrity (such as the death of an immediate family member or serious
personal injury) and loss of property, income and livelihood, including
claims related to the inability to use agricultural land contaminated
by landmines and other explosives. The Assembly also appreciates
that “demining and clearance of unexploded ordnance” is an approved
category for the submission of claims for compensation by the State
of Ukraine (including its regional and local authorities, State-owned
or controlled entities) for expenses related to the removal of landmines
and unexploded ordnance, as well as other related categories, such
as environmental damage and depletion or damage of natural resources.
13. The Assembly hails the good practices put in place by several
member States to remove landmines and unexploded ordnance, and the
related policies aimed, inter alia,
at informing populations on how to recognise and react to the presence
of landmines and unexploded ordnance. These can serve as examples
for other States grappling with the presence of such remnants of
war.
14. The Assembly draws the attention of member States to the Council
of Europe’s expertise on issues of the human rights of displaced
populations and migrants, and particularly the reports, country
visits and recommendations of the Commissioner for Human Rights
and of the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Migration
and Refugees.
15. Conscious of the existing barriers for ensuring a voluntary,
safe, dignified and sustainable return of populations, the Assembly
calls on member States to enact appropriate legislation and develop
clear guidelines aimed at ensuring that both rural and urban territories
are cleared of explosive remnants of war, and more specifically
to:
15.1 consider ratifying anti-personnel
landmines and anti-cluster munitions conventions of the United Nations,
if they have not yet done so,
inter alia:
15.1.1 the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the
Use of Certain Conventional Weapons which may be deemed to be Excessively
Injurious or to have Indiscriminate Effects, and all its additional
protocols (I to V) (Geneva Convention, 1980);
15.1.2 the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling,
Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction
(Oslo Convention, 1997);
15.1.3 the Convention on Cluster Munitions (Dublin Convention,
2008);
15.2 adopt and fully implement legislation prohibiting investments
in the cluster munitions and anti-personnel landmines industries;
15.3 adopt and effectively implement legislation that prohibits
under any circumstances the use, development, production, stockpiling
or transfer of anti-personnel mines and of cluster munitions, and that
obliges the safe and verified destruction of existing stocks of
such ordnance.
16. In the same spirit, the Assembly calls on member States to
develop or improve actions aimed at clearing territories of landmines
and unexploded ordnance, and more specifically to:
16.1 develop further humanitarian
demining operations, including international co-operation in demining
coalitions, and further assist States in need, in particular, today,
Ukraine;
16.2 develop awareness-raising campaigns aimed at informing
civilians, including displaced persons prior to return, about the
dangers of landmines and unexploded ordnance, with a particular
focus on women, children and workers especially exposed to such
ordnance;
16.3 develop guidelines on how civilians can recognise and
react to explosive remnants of war, such as landmines and unexploded
ordnance;
16.4 train the authorities and in particular law-enforcement
officials on how to react and protect civilians in the presence
of explosive remnants of war.
17. The Assembly calls on member States to support civilians who
are victims of landmines and unexploded ordnance, through the development
– and provision to States in need, such as Ukraine – of specialised emergency
medical care, rehabilitation, psychological and psychosocial support.
18. The Assembly calls on member States to facilitate the voluntary,
safe, dignified and sustainable return, and reintegration of forcibly
displaced persons by:
18.1 providing
sufficient assistance aimed at covering the basic needs of these
persons, such as housing, food, water, sanitation and medical care;
18.2 reconstructing civilian infrastructure, including the
rehabilitation of schools, as well as the provision of construction
tools, household items and agricultural tools, seeds and fertilisers;
and
18.3 boosting job markets through incentives, especially through
the recognition of qualifications acquired abroad, and through educational
and skills training programmes.
19. The Assembly underlines that ensuring the voluntary, safe,
dignified and sustainable return of forcibly displaced populations
requires the consultation and involvement of the displaced persons
themselves on the conditions of their repatriation, for example
by facilitating visits to the area prior to a definitive return
in order to reassure them about the safety and material conditions
in place.
20. To foster voluntary returns, the Assembly suggests the establishment
of agreements involving – depending on each situation – governments
of the countries of refuge and of origin, representatives from the displaced
population, civil society and international organisations such as
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees under its international
durable solutions mandate for refugees and other displaced persons.
21. In order to avoid such forced displacements in the first place,
the Assembly calls on member States to ensure that their armed forces,
and those of their allies, never deploy explosive weapons in populated
areas, unless sufficient mitigation measures can be taken to reduce
the consequences of such use on civilian lives and infrastructure,
in line with the recommendations of the International Committee
of the Red Cross.
22. The Assembly further encourages member States to raise awareness
through the endorsement, dissemination and implementation of the
Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians
from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive
Weapons in Populated Areas (Dublin, 2022).
23. The Assembly observes with great concern the increasing use
of unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as combat drones, for indiscriminate
attacks against civilian populations. It calls on member States
to consider implementing rules on the responsible use of combat
drones, in particular when they are loaded with munitions with wide-area
effects.
24. Recalling the Reykjavik Declaration adopted during the 4th Summit
of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe held on
16 and 17 May 2023, the Assembly underlines the need to ensure human rights
linked to the protection of the environment. The Assembly therefore
calls on member States to mainstream a constant consideration of
the environmental dimension in their mine and weapons policy development,
and, in particular, to:
24.1 join
and fully implement the 1976 United Nations Convention on the Prohibition
of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification
Techniques;
24.2 develop environmentally oriented demining policies covering
land and sea territories, and comprising both military and humanitarian
demining operations, if necessary in co-operation with international
institutions or consortiums, such as United Nations agencies or
private structures, and with a particular focus, today, on the recovery
and rebuilding of Ukraine.
