Page 49 - karabag raporu eng

On-Site Investigation Report on Human Rights in Karabakh

which is designed or of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary
suffering.” According to the regulations under this Protocol, each State Party
or party to the conflict is responsible for all mines laid by it and undertakes
to clear, remove, destroy, or preserve them; all information concerning mine-
fields, mined areas, mines, booby-traps, and other devices shall be recorded
in accordance with the provisions of the technical annex, and all such re-
cords will be retained by the parties to a conflict, who shall, without delay
after the cessation of active hostilities, take all necessary and appropriate
measures, including the use of such information, to protect civilians from
the effects of minefields, mined areas, mines, booby-traps, and other devices
in areas under their control; in the event that the parties withdraw from the
other’s territory, the retained information shall be disclosed as soon as se-
curity interests permit.

However, with the aforementioned Convention, the parties could not reach
a consensus on the complete prohibition of anti-personnel landmines. In
conclusion, as a result of the prohibition campaign implemented due to the
aforementioned dangers of landmines, the “Convention on the Prohibition
of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and
on their Destruction” (Ottawa Convention), also known as the “Mine Ban
Convention”, entered into force on 1 March 1999. It is the convention, to
which 164 countries are parties, on the prohibition of the use, stockpiling,
production, and transfer and on the destruction of anti-personnel mines
against the growing mine problem in the world. Under the Convention, each
State Party is required to make its best efforts to identify all areas under its
jurisdiction or mandate that are known or suspected to have been laid an-
ti-personnel mines. Although Azerbaijan and Armenia are not parties to the
Convention, to which a total of 164 countries are parties, the Convention is
important within the framework of the combat of the world countries against
mines.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), an independent and
impartial humanitarian organisation whose mandate is defined in the 1949
Geneva Conventions, plays a leading role in the development of regulations
on the use of certain weapons. A study on “Customary International Human-
itarian Law” was conducted by the ICRC, and a List of Customary Rules of
14
International Humanitarian Law consisting of 161 articles was prepared. To
this extent, Rule 82 states that a party to the conflict using landmines must
record their placement, as far as possible, and Rule 83 states that at the end
of active hostilities, a party to the conflict which has used landmines must

14 https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/other/customary-international-humanitarian-law-i-icrc-eng.pdf

47