Thirty-one of the 35 countries in the Americas region are States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty. In this reporting period, since May 2001, three countries ratified the treaty: St. Vincent and the Grenadines (1 August 2001), Chile (10 September 2001), and Suriname (23 May 2002). There are two signatories remaining in the region, Guyana and Haiti. A parliamentary motion for ratification of the treaty has been submitted to the National Assembly in Guyana. According to a Haitian official in June 2002, the ratification procedure was on a “fast track.”
Cuba and the United States remain the only two countries in the region completely outside the Mine Ban Treaty.
Brazil, Colombia, and Costa Rica enacted national implementation legislation in this reporting period. They join Canada, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Trinidad and Tobago, which had previously done so.
In the reporting period, several countries submitted initial (and in some cases subsequent) Article 7 transparency reports: the Bahamas, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Panamá. Only Barbados, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela have not yet submitted an initial Article 7 Report.
The Third Meeting of States Parties was held in Managua, Nicaragua in September 2001. Twenty-one countries of the region attended, including non-signatory Cuba. As President of the Third Meeting of States Parties, Nicaragua has also served as chair of the Mine Ban Treaty Coordinating Committee since September 2001. Sixteen countries attended the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in January and May 2002 in Geneva, including Cuba. Since September 2001, Canada and Honduras have co-chaired the Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and Socio-Economic Reintegration, and Colombia has served as co-rapporteur of the same committee. Perú has been co-rapporteur of the Standing Committee on General Status and Operation of the Convention. Canada continued to coordinate the Universalization Contact Group and to chair the intersessional Sponsorship Fund.
Twenty-seven countries in the region voted in support of UN General Assembly Resolution 56/24M in November 2001, and six countries were absent during the vote. Cuba and the United States were the only countries in the region among the 19 countries worldwide that abstained. In June 2002, OAS member states adopted three landmine resolutions in support of: mine action in Ecuador and Perú; the OAS AICMA program in Central America; and the Western Hemisphere becoming a landmine-free zone.
In November 2001, Perú hosted the XI Iberoamerican Summit, attended by the 21 member nations. The 43rd point of the Lima Declaration focused on the landmine problem in the region and reaffirmed commitments to eliminate the problem and to improve the situation of mine survivors. In December 2001, representatives of the region attended a conference on “Mine Action in Latin America” in Miami.
In June 2002, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense of the Andean Community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, and Venezuela) met in Lima and issued the “Lima Commitment.” In the Lima Commitment, six points were outlined related to the Mine Ban Treaty, including complete destruction of stocks, establishing national programs for victim assistance and socioeconomic reintegration, and a call for non-state actors to comply with the international norm against antipersonnel mines.
Colombia remains the only country in the region where there is evidence that landmines are currently being used. The FARC-EP and UC-ELN rebel groups, as well as AUC paramilitaries, continue to use antipersonnel mines, apparently on an increased basis in 2001 and the first half of 2002.
Cuba and the United States are among the 14 remaining producers of antipersonnel mines in the world. It is not known if Cuba’s production lines were active in 2001 and 2002. Cuba states that it does not export mines, but has not yet adopted a formal export moratorium. The United States has not produced antipersonnel mines since 1997 but reserves the right to do so. The US has had a legislative prohibition on export since 1992.
Colombian guerrilla groups continue to produce homemade antipersonnel mines and other improvised explosive devices.
Twelve countries in the region have stockpiles of antipersonnel mines. This includes the two non-signatories (Cuba and US), one signatory (Guyana), and nine States Parties (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela). Stockpile destruction is underway in each State Party except for Suriname and Venezuela.
Ecuador and Perú completed stockpile destruction in September 2001, joining Canada, Guatemala, and Honduras. The Bahamas, Costa Rica, and Dominican Republic officially confirmed that they do not possess stockpiles of antipersonnel mines.
Argentina, in July 2002, reported a stockpile of 96,513 antipersonnel mines, 7,343 more mines than previously reported. It did not destroy any stockpiled mines in 2001 or early 2002, but has developed a destruction plan. Brazil reported destroying 13,649 antipersonnel mines in 2001, leaving a stockpile of 30,748 as of 31 December 2001.
Chile has not yet revealed the number of antipersonnel mines it has in stock, but has reported destroying 14,000 mines in September 2001. In May 2002, Chile announced that 50 percent of its stockpiled antipersonnel mines would be destroyed by August 2002 and the remaining half would be destroyed before the end of 2003. Chile also stated that it had already destroyed 16,000 antipersonnel mines.
In its initial Article 7 Report of March 2002, Colombia reported a stockpile of 20,312 landmines; no mines were destroyed in the reporting period, but Colombia is preparing a destruction plan. El Salvador reported the destruction of 1,291 stockpiled antipersonnel mines in 2000, but none in 2001, leaving 5,344 in stock. Landmine Monitor estimates that Guyana has a stockpile of approximately 20,000 antipersonnel mines.
Nicaragua destroyed 50,000 stockpiled antipersonnel mines in 2001 and another 25,000 in April and June 2002; it plans to destroy its remaining 18,313 mines by September 2002. Suriname has acknowledged a small stockpile of antipersonnel mines, believed to number 296 as of July 2002, but the Ministry of Defense is still conducting an inventory. Uruguay destroyed 432 antipersonnel mines from May 2000 to June 2002, leaving 1,728 in stock. A Venezuelan government official told Landmine Monitor that the Army and Navy stockpile approximately 40,000 antipersonnel mines.
The United States has the third largest stockpile of antipersonnel mines in the world. The US stockpiles approximately 11.2 million antipersonnel mines, including about 10 million self-destructing mines and 1.2 million “dumb” mines.
Brazil has retained 17,000 antipersonnel mines for training and development purposes, the highest number of any State Party. Brazil has said that these mines “will be destroyed in training activities during a period of ten years after entry into force of the Convention for Brazil, that is by October 2009.” However, Brazil only consumed 450 of these mines in 2000, and five in 2001.
Argentina originally declared that it would retain 13,025 mines for training purposes. In April 2002, Argentina told Landmine Monitor that it plans to empty the explosive content pf 12,025 of these mines to make them inert, and therefore they should no longer be counted as retained mines. Argentina also revealed that the Army will keep 1,160 FMK-1 antipersonnel mines to use as fuzes for antivehicle mines, apparently for training purposes.
Ecuador revised the number of mines it is retaining for training purposes from 16,000 to 4,000. In May 2002, Perú reported that it is retaining 4,024 mines, instead of 5,578. El Salvador previously reported that it would not retain any mines, but now indicates it will retain 96.
In the reporting period, Canada facilitated stockpile destruction in a number of countries around the world, including Ecuador and Perú.
Ten countries in the region are known to be mine-affected: Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Perú; as well as the disputed Malvinas/Falkland Islands. A television documentary appears to have established that mines are also present on the Argentine side of its border with Chile.
At least 256 of Colombia’s 1,097 municipalities in 28 of the 31 departments in the country are believed to be mine-affected, an increase from 168 municipalities reported in 2000. Nicaragua estimated that, as of March 2002, there were 61,875 mines left in the ground and 184 kilometers of land along the border still to be cleared. According to Costa Rica’s September 2002 Article 7 Report, an estimated 1,800 mines remain in the ground.
The United States remained the largest single donor country to global mine action in 2001, although its funding fell $13.2 million, to a total of $69.2 million. Canada’s contributions to mine action increased C$6.3 million to a total of C$24 million (US$15.5 million).
The OAS regional program for demining in Central America received $4.7 million in funding in 2001, a decrease from $4.9 in 2000. The Costa Rica program in particular suffered a funding crisis. Contributions to the OAS program for demining in both Ecuador and Perú totaled $1.59 million in 2001, an increase from $772,347 in 2000. In its fiscal year 2001, the United States provided $1.76 million for mine action in Ecuador and $1.66 million for Perú.
Landmine Monitor noted some type of mine clearance activities during the reporting period in Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Perú. Limited military mine clearance for tactical purposes was noted in Colombia.
As of June 2002, Nicaragua had cleared more than 2.5 million square meters of land and 78,374 mines. In June 2002, the Perúvian Army completed mine clearance along 18 kilometers of the Zarumilla Canal on the border with Ecuador, finding 906 mines and 1,259 UXO. Ecuador reports that 4,439 mines were cleared between March 2001 and April 2002.
The demining program in Costa Rica has suffered a serious financial crisis since December 2001, which has resulted in a disruption and suspension of operations. The target date of July 2002 for completion of clearance will not be met. In Honduras, clearance operations originally targeted for completion in 2001 are now scheduled to be completed by the end of 2002. Honduras reports that, as of April 2002, it had met 98.6 percent of its mine clearance objectives. Nicaragua now expects to complete mine clearance in 2005, not 2004 as previously estimated. In Guatemala, completion of the National Demining Plan is scheduled for 2005.
Colombia is developing a National Plan for mine clearance, and expects clearance to take 20 years; officials have stated that Army minefields around strategic sites will not be cleared while the war continues.
In October 2001, Argentina and the UK agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of a feasibility study on mine clearance in the Falklands/Malvinas, and a joint working group was set up.
To aid in clearance activities, IMSMA, a mine action informational system, was installed in Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Perú in 2001, and in Colombia and Guatemala in 2002. In the first half of 2002, the GICHD established its first regional support center in Managua, Nicaragua in order to assist IMSMA users throughout Latin America.
The US has sponsored the creation of a “Quick Reaction Demining Force,” based in Mozambique.
Mine risk education programs were carried out in Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Perú, and, to a limited extent, in Chile, Costa Rica, and El Salvador. National Armies and government agencies conducted MRE in Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Perú, while local organizations were reported to conduct MRE in Colombia, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.
From January 2001 to the end of June 2002, landmine/UXO casualties were reported in Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador (UXO only), Guatemala (UXO only), Nicaragua, and Perú. In this reporting period, landmine/UXO casualties also include nationals coming from mine-free countries, and in some cases from other mine-affected countries, killed or injured while abroad engaged in military or demining operations, peacekeeping, or other activities. Casualties of this nature were reported for Canada, Honduras, Perú, and the United States. In 2001 and the first half of 2002, incidents during clearance operations or in training exercises caused casualties among deminers in Colombia and Nicaragua.
Colombia has by far the greatest number of new landmine/UXO casualties. For the first ten months of 2001, the Colombian government reported a total of 243 mine incidents involving antipersonnel mines and UXO, with 43 people killed and 158 injured, up from 83 casualties reported for all of 2000. According to media reports, 129 casualties in Colombia were reported in the first half of 2002. In Nicaragua, there were 16 casualties in 2001. In Chile, three civilians were injured and one military officer was killed in landmine incidents. In Perú, in 2001 and through June 2002, six civilians were injured and one killed in five mine incidents.
Governmental assistance to landmine and UXO survivors in the Americas is generally of poor quality. Resources for civilian casualties are often inadequate or absent, while for the most part, limited resources are available to military and police personnel. A marked urban bias in health care resource allocation amplifies the problems.
In El Salvador, the National Family Secretariat, headed by the First Lady of El Salvador, is implementing a Law of Equal Opportunities for Disabled Persons. In Honduras, a new orthopedic workshop commenced production in San Pedro Sula. In Nicaragua, efforts are being made to ensure that survivor assistance becomes an integral part of the public health system, and of other State institutions including the Ministry of the Family, the Institute for Youth, and the National Technological Institute.
The Canada/PAHO/México tripartite victim assistance project in Central America continues in Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador.
