Land mines in the Falkland Islands
There were approximately 30,000 land mines laid in British overseas territory of the Falkland Islands by Argentinian forces following their 1982 invasion.
In the following years the mine fields were fenced off and, with human access limited, became havens for Falklands flora and the native penguin population.
Argentinian forces invaded the Falkland Islands, a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic, in April 1982.
[11] During the demining operation at least six improvised booby traps were recovered, consisting of tripwires connected to TNT charges.
[15][6]: 44 As human access had been prevented to these areas they became de facto nature reserves, popular with Magellanic and gentoo penguins who were not heavy enough to trigger the mines.
[17]: 801 The Falkland Islands lost their air link to South America, provided through Chile, in March 1999 following the October 1998 arrest of former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet in London.
The British subsequently engaged with the Argentine government to improve co-operation in the South Atlantic and, on 14 July 1999, issued the Anglo-Argentine Joint Statement.
[3] The Ottawa demining deadline was subsequently amended, at the request of the British government, to 1 March 2019 and then to 1 June 2021, due to the high cost and slow outputs of clearance work.
[23] The manual clearing processes commenced in 2009 with Dynasafe-Bactec (renamed Safelane Global in 2018) carrying out the clearance work and Fenix Insight conducting quality, safety, environmental and progress monitoring.
[3][22][24] More than 100 demining team members, largely Zimbabwean, were involved in the operation, each working for six-hour days in which they cleared around 5 linear metres (16 feet) of a mine field each.
[2][3][22] Argentinian mine-laying records and maps created by the British Army's Royal Engineers after the war were used to guide the demining operation.
[15] The Argentinian records are not entirely reliable, as they were made at a time of great activity on the Falklands and later translated from Spanish by the British Army.
[2] Early operations were largely focused on the mine fields closest to Stanley, many of which were on public-access recreation land.
[33] A celebratory event to mark the clearance took place on 14 November at Yorke Bay, which was the final area to be cleared.
[34] After completion of the works the UK committed to provide £36 million to fund land mine clearance in other countries, including Zimbabwe.
[35] In November 2020 the Argentine government criticised the British operation, claiming that it was a violation of the 1976 United National General Assembly resolution 31/49 that called upon the two countries to "refrain from taking decisions that would imply introducing unilateral modifications in the situation".
[18][36] Argentina had previously raised formal complaints at the annual Ottawa Convention regarding the British operation.
[18] In June 2021 the Executive Council of the Falkland Islands approved the removal of the 77 kilometres (48 mi) of former minefield fencing and associated signage.
By the end of 2021 Fox Bay West had been cleared, works near to penguin nesting sites took place outside of breeding season.
