Finland starts getting rid of infantry land mines

Defence forces to adopt new mine use doctrine this year

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Finland is starting the destruction of its infantry anti-personnel land mines this year, says Colonel Harri Kauppinen of the Finnish Army Staff.
      “The infantry mines will be destroyed in annual consignments in such a way that they will all have been destroyed by 2016.”
      The elimination of the mines is prompted by the Ottawa Convention banning infantry land mines, which Finland joined late last year. The treaty takes effect in July.
     
Colonel Kauppinen notes that training of military personnel in the use of the mines ended at the beginning of the year.
      However, even with the ban in force, soldiers need to be able to recognise the mines and military engineers need to know how to clear them away. To this end, the Ottawa Convention allows Finland to keep more than 16,000 mines, which should be enough for training purposes for the coming two decades.
     
The task facing the Defence Forces is extensive, as Finland’s armouries have about a million infantry land mines, each of which contain a few hundred grams of explosive material.
      The elimination of the mines will occur in connection with mass detonation camps held annually in the north of Finland for the elimination of obsolete or ageing munitions.
     
The Defence Forces started work on revising the official Finnish mine doctrine last year. Kauppinen said that a draft mine doctrine will be made public this year.
      Under the old doctrine, infantry land mines were deployed for protection of areas that are otherwise weakly defended, and to protect anti-tank mines, which are not covered by the Ottawa Convention.
     
The new mine doctrine concentrates on mines that target enemy vehicles and tanks.
      Finland’s anti-tank mines now have “intelligent” detonators, and some have charges that make it harder for an enemy to clear them away.
     
The Ottawa Convention has led to the destruction of about 45 million mines so far in the more than 150 countries that have signed the treaty.
      Of Finland’s neighbours, Russia has not yet joined the convention. Some countries, including Belarus, Ukraine, and Greece, have not met their obligations under the treaty.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finland officially renounces infantry land mines (28.11.2011)
  Government reached preliminary agreement on joining Ottawa Treaty in 2012 (8.9.2004)
  Finland to join land mine ban (16.11.2011)
  Tuomioja slams critics of land mine treaty (6.9.2011)
  Finland cancels plans to use cluster weapons to replace infantry land mines (12.8.2011)

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