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Key developments since May 2001: On 31 October 2001, Brazil enacted national implementation legislation, Law 10.300. After September 2001, Brazil began its stockpile destruction program and destroyed 13,194 mines by the end of the year. The target for completion is July 2002. Brazil is retaining 16,545 antipersonnel mines for training, the highest number of any State Party. Brazil has made important interpretive statements on antivehicle mines with antihandling devices, on joint military operations with non-State Parties, and on foreign stockpiling and transit of antipersonnel mines.
Brazil signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified on 30 April 1999. The treaty was promulgated by the President on 5 August 1999 (Decree 3.128) and it entered into force on 1 October 1999.
On 31 October 2001, Brazil enacted national implementation legislation, Law 10.300, which took effect on 1 November 2001. The law “prohibits and establishes as criminal offences all activities on national territory involving antipersonnel landmines, including use, development, production, transfer, stockpiling and any commercial activities,” with the exception of those carried out by the Armed Forces according to Article 3 of the Mine Ban Treaty. It includes four to six years imprisonment or a fine with the possibility that the penal sanction will increase by a third if a public servant is responsible (civilian or military), and will increase by half in the case of repeat offenders.[1]
Brazil attended the Third Meeting of States Parties in Nicaragua in September 2001. In a statement to the plenary, Brazil announced that the Ministry of Defense had formulated a national stockpile destruction plan and destruction would soon commence.[2]
Brazil actively participated in the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in January/February 2002 and May 2002. At the 1 February 2002 meeting of the Standing Committee on General Status and Operation of the Convention, Brazil made a number of statements pertaining to interpretation of the treaty. On Article 1(c), which states that a State Party may “never under any circumstances ... assist, encourage or induce, in any way, anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party,” Brazil said that the article:
...clearly bans joint operations with non-States Parties that may involve the use of anti-personnel mines. Even if the States Parties involved in such operations do not participate directly and actively in the laying of anti-personnel mines, the operations should be considered illegal if the use of landmines by a non-State Party is of direct military benefit to those States Parties. In the absence of such a broad interpretation of the term "assist," Article 1 would contain a serious and unfortunate loophole. All States Parties should commit strictly to observe the provisions of Article 1, which would include giving the term "assist" as broad an interpretation as possible.[3]
With respect to the stockpiling and transit of foreign-owned mines, Brazil stated that:
[I]ndefinite retention by a State Party of foreign-owned anti-personnel mines on territory under its national control and jurisdiction is incompatible with the spirit and letter of the Convention. Under a literal interpretation of Article 4, States Parties would not be obligated to destroy foreign-owned mines held on their national territory, given that Article 4 states that States Parties are obliged only to destroy mines they "own or possess," or that are under their "jurisdiction and control." Article 1, however, does set forth a broad obligation to never "stockpile, retain or transfer to anyone, directly or indirectly, anti-personnel mines." Brazil is of the view that the latter obligation applies to foreign-owned landmines. Brazil has no foreign anti-personnel mines on its territory and will never, under any circumstances, allow any transiting of anti-personnel mines on its national territory for purposes that are banned by the Convention. We call upon other States Parties to undertake a similar pledge.[4]
Brazil submitted its annual Article 7 transparency report on 30 April 2002, covering the period from January to December 2001 and including voluntary form J.
Brazil cosponsored and voted in support of UN General Assembly Resolution 56/24M on 29 November 2001, in support of the Mine Ban Treaty. Brazil participated in a conference on “Mine Action in Latin America” in Miami from 3-5 December 2001.[5] Captain Carlos Machado Gouvêa of the Brazilian Army and an Operations Officer with MARMINCA in Central America made a presentation on MARMINCA’s activities.
Brazil is a State Party to Amended Protocol II (Landmines) to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW). It participated in the third annual meeting of States Parties to Amended Protocol II and also participated in the Second CCW Review Conference, both in December 2001. Brazil submitted its Article 13 annual report for Amended Protocol II (dated 3 October 2001) on 10 December 2001, which covers the period August 2000 to October 2001.
The ICBL and Landmine Monitor researchers from the Americas region met in Brasilia from 9-11 December 2001 for their annual regional meeting, which was hosted by the Associação do Jovem Aprendiz (AJA). On 11 December, the campaigners and researchers participated in a roundtable on landmines in the region, hosted by the Human Rights Commission of the Chamber of Deputies of the National Congress. Officials from the Brazilian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense, the Brazilian Army, deputies from the National Congress, and diplomatic representatives from countries including Canada, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Norway, Peru, and the U.S. also participated.
Federal Deputy Marco Rolim, a member of the Human Rights Commission, participated in the roundtable and on the same day made a statement in the Chamber of Deputies in support of the Mine Ban Treaty in which he called for the government to exercise complete transparency in implementation of the treaty.[6] On 12 December 2001, Deputy Rolim wrote to the Minister of Defense requesting information on implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty, including stockpiles, mine destruction plan, number of mines produced in the last ten years, list of Brazilian producers, and number of Brazilian landmines exported in the past. As of June 2002, the Minister of Defense had not responded to the request.[7]
The Brazilian Campaign to Ban Landmines (Campanha Brasileira Contra Minas Terrestres, CBCM) continues to advocate for full and transparent implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty and assistance for mine-affected countries that received Brazilian-manufactured antipersonnel mines. CBCM members represented the ICBL at the Second World Social Forum held in Porto Alegre from 23-28 January 2002. They held a photo exhibition, staffed an information table and collected signatures for the Youth Against War Treaty, as well as delivering a presentation during a Forum seminar, "For a Society without Arms."
Brazil is a former producer, exporter, and importer of antipersonnel landmines. The April 2002 Article 7 Report states that Brazil has not produced or exported landmines since 1989. It identifies Química Tupan S.A. and IBQ Indústrias Químicas (formerly Britanite Indústria Química Ltda) as companies formerly engaged in landmine production.[8] It also states, “There are no APM production facilities to be converted or decommissioned in Brazil,” but does not provide information on previous conversion efforts.[9]
According to previous Landmine Monitor reports and information from Article 7 Reports submitted by other countries, Brazilian antipersonnel mines have been planted in the ground or held in stockpiles in Ecuador, Mozambique, and Nicaragua [10]
Landmine Monitor has found no evidence of use of antipersonnel mines in Brazil, including areas near the Colombian border. Brazil states that there are no mined areas in its national territory.[11]
Brazil reports that as of 31 December 2001, it had a stockpile of 30,748 antipersonnel mines, including 26,616 Belgian-manufactured MAP NM M409 mines and 4,132 Brazilian-manufactured MAP NM T-AB-1 mines.[12] Of that stockpile, 16,545 are being retained for training purposes, leaving a total of 14,203 mines to be destroyed.
In its “National Plan for the Destruction of AP Landmines,” Brazil named eight locations throughout the country where stockpile destruction will take place, with a completion date scheduled for the end of July 2002.[13] No further information on the destruction schedule was provided. Landmine Monitor Brazil and CBCM have requested to participate as observers in the stockpile destruction events, but have not yet received a response.
At the Third Meeting of States Parties in September 2001, Brazil said that stockpile destruction would commence soon, and that by July 2002, all stockpiled mines would be destroyed, “except those retained strictly for training purposes.”[14]
According to the 2002 Article 7 Report, 13,194 MAP NM M409 mines were destroyed between September and December 2001, in accordance with the national plan, including 9,385 mines not previously reported under Article 7 “because they already were operationally disabled.”[15]
Brazil originally retained 17,000 antipersonnel mines for training purposes -- the highest number of mines retained for training by 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.”[16]
While Brazil is retaining enough mines to consume 1,700 per year in training activities, in the year 2000 it destroyed 450 MAP NM M409 mines, and in 2001 it destroyed five MAP NM T-AB-1 mines for training purposes.[17]
At the Third Meeting of States Parties, Brazil stated that it has no antivehicle mines “with sensitive anti-handling devices that may be unintentionally detonated by individuals” and said it repudiates their use on “humanitarian grounds.”[18]
Brazil is not mine-affected. It continues to participate in international humanitarian mine action efforts on a bilateral and multilateral basis. In 2001, Brazil reported that eleven Brazilian military officers were on duty in the OAS Assistance Mission for Mine Clearance in Central America (MARMINCA).[19] Brazil states that its officers have constituted nearly half of MARMINCA’s foreign experts.[20] Brazil has also participated in mine clearance activities with UNAVEM in Angola. In April 2002, Brazil said that it is “currently exploring new options for cooperation in international humanitarian demining activities.”[21]
On 2 January 2002, Brazil’s Ambassador to the OAS presented a voluntary contribution of $305,392 to the OAS Assistant Secretary General.[22] According to the OAS press release, the funds will be used for a variety of OAS-related activities, including the demining program in Central America.
The Engineering Section of the Army School of Specialized Instruction (Escola de Instrução Especializada) has offered a four-week training course on landmine detection and mine clearance to Brazilian Army and Navy personnel since 1996. During the course, a simulated minefield called PED (Pista Escola de Desminagem) is utilized. The Engineering Section also uses “modern mine detectors such as AN 19/2 recently received.”[23]
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[1] Lei nº 10.300, de 31 de Outubro de 2001 “Proíbe o emprego, o desenvolvimento, a fabricação, a comercialização, a importação, a exportação, a aquisição, a estocagem, a retenção ou a transferência, direta ou indiretamente, de minas terrestres antipessoal.” See Brazil, Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form A, submitted 30 April 2002. See http://www.presidencia.gov.br/civil-03/LEIS-2001/L10300.htm.
[2] Brazilian Intervention, Third Meeting of States Parties, 18-21 September 2001, Managua. See http://www.gichd.ch/mbc/all_meetings/3msp/agenda_and_speeches.htm.
[3] Brazilian Intervention, January 2002 intersessional Standing Committee meetings. See http://www.gichd.ch/pdf/mbc/SC_jan02/speeches_gs/Brazil_article%201.pdf.
[4] Ibid.
[5] The Conference was sponsored by: the U.S. Department of Defense; the Mine Action Information Center of James Madison University; the Organization of American States (OAS); the US Southern Command; and the US Department of State. See http://hdic.jmu.edu/conferences/latinamerica/.
[6] Landmine Monitor has a copy of Federal Deputy Rolim’s Statement to the Chamber of Deputies.
[7] Landmine Monitor has a copy of Federal Deputy Rolim’s Request for Information to the Minster of Defense.
[8] Article 7 Report, Form E, submitted 30 April 2002.
[9] Ibid.
[10] See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 110 (Mozambique) and p. 328 (Ecuador) and Landmine Monitor Report 1999, p. 266 (Nicaragua).
[11] Article 7 Report, Forms C, F and I, 30 April 2002.
[12] Ibid., Form B.
[13] Ibid., Form F.
[14] Brazilian Intervention, Third Meeting of States Parties, 18-21 September 2001, Managua. See http://www.gichd.ch/mbc/all_meetings/3msp/agenda_and_speeches.htm.
[15] Article 7 Report, Form G, 30 April 2002.
[16] Ibid., Form D.
[17] Ibid., Form G.
[18] Brazilian Intervention, Third Meeting of States Parties, 18-21 September 2001, Managua. http://www.gichd.ch/mbc/all_meetings/3msp/agenda_and_speeches.htm.
[19] CCW, Article 13 Report, Form B, 3 October 2001.
[20] Article 7 Report, Form J, 30 April 2002.
[21] Ibid.
[22] OEA Comunicado de Prensa C-001, “Brasil entrega contribución a fondos voluntarios de la OEA,” 2 January 2002; see http://www.oas.org/OASpage/press2002/sp/Año2002/enero2002/C002.htm.
[23] Cap. Eng. André Luiz Vieira Cassiano, “Especialização em Desminagem no Exérccito Brasileiro,” Revista Realengo (magazine of the Escola), Nº11, ABR/MAI/JUN 2001.
