| <EUROPEAN COMMUNITY | INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS> |
The Organization of American States (OAS) Mine Action Program (Spanish acronym - AICMA) is an integrated effort to assist OAS Member States in addressing the continuing problems caused by the existence of antipersonnel landmines. The Program developed from the Assistance Program for Demining in Central America (PADCA), which was created in 1991 at the request of the mine-affected countries of Central America. Since its initiation, AICMA has incorporated the previously existing demining program into its structure, while serving as the focal point for the OAS on all landmine issues throughout the Americas. Through its mandates, the OAS General Assembly has extended the goals of the Program to include the total elimination of landmines and the conversion of the Western Hemisphere into an antipersonnel-landmine-free zone. It has also called on the component organizations of the Inter-American System to participate in the development of programs to support mine risk awareness and preventive education, the physical and psychological rehabilitation of victims, and the socio-economic reclamation of demined zones.
Since May 1995, responsibility for the general coordination and supervision of the Program has been assigned to the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy (UPD), with the technical support of the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB). The main responsibilities of the UPD include fund raising in the international community, financial management, political and diplomatic coordination, and ensuring that all essential components of each national demining project are available and functioning properly. The IADB is responsible for organizing the international team of about 30 supervisors from OAS Member States that provide technical support, training and certification of demining procedures in the beneficiary countries in accordance with international standards.
A distinctive feature of the Program is its multilateral nature, with progress due, in large measure, to the support of member states including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Venezuela, and the United States, and the contributions of international donors, including Australia, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the Russian Federation, South Korea, Spain, and Sweden, among others. Over the course of 2001, these contributions amounted to approximately US$6.8 million. Although total contributions for the year represented a high point for the program, this amount fell approximately US$ 3.5 million short of projected requirements. The negative impact of this shortfall on operations was significant, particularly in Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua.
The Program also relies upon a significant level of coordination with international and non-governmental organizations. In the past year, AICMA worked with a number of entities on significant mine action projects, among these are the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Center for International Rehabilitation, the Mine Action Information Center (MAIC) of James Madison University and the Survey Action Center.
Guatemala. AICMA supported mine and unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance operations with the participation of the Volunteer Firemen’s Corps, the Guatemalan Army, demobilized members of the former insurgent organization (Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unit - URNG) and international supervisors from the IADB. Following the completion of operations in the department of Quiché, demining activities were shifted to the department of San Marcos in September 2001. These departments represent the most seriously affected regions of the country and have been given the highest priority in the National Plan for Demining and Destruction of UXO. Coverage and clearance of all high-priority areas is programmed for completion in 2005.
Honduras. The completion of clearance operations along the Nicaraguan border was anticipated by December 2001. However, poor weather, adverse soil conditions and maintenance difficulties with medical evacuation aircraft resulted in the reprogramming of demining activities through 2002, when the last remaining mined areas along the border with Nicaragua are expected to be cleared.
Nicaragua. Demining units supported by AICMA destroyed over 5,000 mines in 2001, the highest annual total since program initiation in 1993. By January 2002, the Nicaraguan Army reported that of more than 135,000 mines originally emplaced, about 63,000 remained to be destroyed. AICMA continued to provide funding for the demining activities of three 100-member demining units, a 50-member independent demining platoon and a 10-dogs with handlers canine mine detection unit. To complement manual and canine assets, a mechanical mine clearance capability was added in September 2001 using equipment provided by the Government of Japan. In view of these developments, the goal of the Nicaraguan Government continues to be completion of its National Demining Plan by the end of 2004.
Costa Rica. Since late 2000, demining operations have been hampered by the unavailability of air medical evacuation support. Moreover, the lack of donor support for the Costa Rican program led to a suspension of activities in January 2002. Despite a lack of funding, completion of a national impact survey is expected in August 2002 and will form the basis for future OAS support requests to the donor community.
Ecuador. AICMA established a coordination office in mid-2001 and began evaluations of Ecuadorian demining unit safety, technical procedures and equipment requirements. With assistance from the AICMA national coordinator, the Ecuadorian Army developed a two-year operational demining plan. In accordance with the plan, clearance operations in 2002 will focus on six specific mined areas in the department of El Oro and an additional 53 mined areas along the border with Peru. The IADB has requested its members provide military personnel to form a team of international monitors to be formed and deployed by mid-2002.
Peru. Upon establishment of a coordination office in mid-2001, initial program expenditures were used to support medical and life insurance for deminers conducting operations in the area of the Zarumilla Canal. In February 2002, the Peruvian Army finalized plans for the reinitiation of demining work in Tumbes, Sullana and the Cordillera del Condor. AICMA worked with Peruvian and Ecuadorian demining authorities to ensure that operations on both sides of the border will be closely coordinated. In addition, IADB instructors conducted training courses for both army and National Police deminers prior to reinitiating mine clearance operations with international monitoring in mid-2002.
The mine risk awareness programs supported by AICMA, aim to reduce the risk of death and injury by promoting safe behavior, and also to facilitate solutions to the high risk behavior that is observed in some of the affected communities. The program recognizes the importance of increasing the involvement of affected communities in mine awareness initiatives. In Central America, it is important to highlight the double benefit obtained by the participation of the affected communities in the landmine awareness activities. Not only do community members learn about the danger of landmines, but also, in specific cases where no landmine records exit, the communities are the main sources of information for the location of the mined areas and explosive devices. The Mine Risk Awareness Education for the Civilian Population campaign was strengthened through community visits, a variety of national radio messages and school programs. In each of the recipient countries, AICMA personnel visited schools in affected areas to provide mine risk awareness classes and distribute informational material. Local radio campaigns aimed at conveying mine awareness messages were conducted in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua for the second consecutive year. In April 2001, AICMA and UNICEF hosted a seminar in Nicaragua on mine risk education, entitled “A Single Voice.” A working group composed of seminar participants subsequently developed a national accident prevention guide as well as materials to be used in national mine risk awareness campaigns. The materials were approved by the National Demining Commission and produced using funds from both AICMA and UNICEF.
The "Program for Care to Victims of Mines and Explosive Devices" was established in Nicaragua with the assistance of the Government of Sweden in 1997. Since its inception, the program has addressed specific needs of over 350 landmine victims who have no social security or army benefits with transportation from their communities to the rehabilitation center, lodging, nourishment, prostheses, therapy, and medications. The program maintains victims’ records that include personal identification, home community, type of injury, type of prosthesis, account of the accident, and, in most cases, photographs of the victim. This program has provided care for people who otherwise would be left with no chance of rehabilitation and reintegration into productive life. In addition, limited, immediate medical support has been provided to mine accident survivors using medical personnel and resources of the Nicaraguan demining units until the victims can be assisted through the OAS Victim Assistance Program. Last year, 139 people received rehabilitative or specialized medical attention through this program.
In conjunction with the National Technological Institute of Nicaragua (INATEC), AICMA developed a proposal for the Post-Rehabilitation Job Training Project. The goal is to provide technical job training to landmine victims who have received physical and psychological rehabilitation assistance through the OAS program. With the assistance of the Office of Mine Action Initiatives and Partnerships of the U.S. State Department, Global Care Unlimited, a non-profit organization established by a group of New Jersey students and teachers, has agreed to “adopt” a group of landmine survivors selected by INATEC to participate. INATEC will coordinate training at national facilities in courses of eight months’ duration that will include auto mechanics, computer skills, carpentry, shoemaking, tailoring and cosmetology.
The role of AICMA in promoting the elimination of stockpiled antipersonnel mines in the Western Hemisphere continued to grow in 2001. For this purpose, Canada contributed US$448,616, while Australia provided US$38,917 to support efforts by requesting Member States to destroy their stockpiles prior to the Third Meeting of the States Parties to the Ottawa Convention in Managua in September 2001. This project, known as the “Managua Challenge,” saw the completion of stockpile destruction by Peru of over 313,000 mines in a four-month period, with monitoring by several international organizations including the OAS. Ecuador destroyed some 154,344 mines with the support of technical experts provided by the Governments of Canada and Nicaragua by September 2001, joining Honduras as OAS member states finalizing the process before the Third Meeting of the States Parties. Nicaragua also destroyed an additional 40,000 mines by March 2002, leaving some 26,813 mines of the original 136,813 in the Nicaraguan inventory to be destroyed by the end of 2002.
The Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) database, which was developed in collaboration with the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), was expanded significantly over the past year. Using the IMSMA database, the Program in Nicaragua completed a socio-economic impact survey for the department of Nueva Segovia, the most seriously mine-affected political division in the country. Outputs from the survey were made available through the Internet, and impact studies of the other mine-affected departments in Nicaragua have been initiated. In the future, data for Honduras and Costa Rica will also be added, and establishment of separate databases in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia is underway. In January 2002, a regional support office for IMSMA, staffed by the GICHD, was set up within the AICMA Nicaragua office.
AICMA continued to promote the interest expressed by OAS General Assembly resolutions in the universalization of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction. AICMA headed the OAS delegation which participated in the Third Meeting of the States Parties to the Ottawa Convention, held in Managua in September 2001. The AICMA delegation also participated in the meetings of the Standing Committees held in Geneva in January and May 2002.
The Colombian Government formally requested technical and financial assistance from the OAS in complying with its obligations under the Ottawa Convention. The most likely areas of assistance include mine risk awareness education, landmine victim assistance, and mine database establishment and maintenance. AICMA representatives met with Colombian officials during the first quarter of 2002 to begin coordination of support details.
