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Key developments since May 2001: The demining program in Costa Rica has suffered a serious financial crisis since December 2001, which has resulted in a suspension of operations. National implementation legislation, “Prohibition of Antipersonnel Mines” took effect on 17 April 2002. Costa Rica submitted its first Article 7 Report, which confirmed that Costa Rica has no stockpile of antipersonnel mines. The OAS expects to complete a national impact survey in August 2002.
Costa Rica signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, ratified on 17 March 1999 and the treaty entered into force on 1 September 1999. On 18 March 2002, the Legislative Assembly approved Decree 8231, “Prohibition of Antipersonnel Mines,” which serves as national implementation legislation. On 17 April 2002, the law was published in the Official Gazette and thus entered into force.[1] The law comprehensively prohibits antipersonnel mines and provides for penal sanctions of 3-6 years imprisonment for violations, with the possibility of an increase of 25 percent in prison time if the antipersonnel mine is used to threaten national security, public infrastructure, or transport vehicles.[2]
Costa Rica attended the Third Meeting of States Parties in Nicaragua in September 2001, but did not make any statement. In November 2001, Costa Rica cosponsored and voted in favor of pro-ban UN General Assembly Resolution 56/24M. Costa Rica participated in a conference on “Mine Action in Latin America” in Miami, from 3-5 December 2001.[3] The director of the Mine Clearance Program in the Ministry of Public Security made a presentation on Costa Rica’s experience in mine clearance.[4] Costa Rica did not attend the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in January 2002, but a representative from the Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva participated in the May 2002 meetings.
Costa Rica’s initial Article 7 transparency report was due 27 February 2000. It submitted its first report on 3 September 2001; it does not indicate the reporting period. On 20 February 2002, it submitted another report, with older past information, covering 1996 to 1999. Costa Rica has not yet submitted an annual Article 7 Report covering calendar year 2001, which was due by 30 April 2002.
Costa Rica is a State Party to Amended Protocol II (Landmines) to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and participated in the third annual meeting of State Parties to Amended Protocol II of the CCW in December 2001. It has not submitted its Article 13 annual report for Amended Protocol II. Costa Rica did not participate in the Second CCW Review Conference in December 2001.
Costa Rica has never produced, imported, stockpiled, or used antipersonnel mines.[5] Though Landmine Monitor had believed this to be the case, Costa Rica’s September 2001 Article 7 Report is apparently the first official confirmation of this information. The country’s landmine problem is a result of mines laid on the northern border not by Costa Ricans, but by forces involved in the Nicaraguan conflict.
According to the September 2001 Article 7 Report, an estimated 1,800 mines remain to be demined in the zones of Pocosol, Upala, and La Cruz, between border markers two and twenty on the northern border.[6] Affected areas include the sectors of Los Chiles, Tablitas, Isla Chica, La Trocha, Pocosol, San Isidro, Tiricias, Cóbano, La Victoria, and Pueblo Nuevo, which are mainly agricultural lands near the border.
The OAS Unit for the Promotion of Democracy, through its Program for Integral Action against Antipersonnel Mines (AICMA, Acción Integral Contra las Minas Antipersonal), is responsible for coordinating and supervising the Assistance Program for Demining in Central America (PADCA, Programa de Asistencia al Desminado en Centroamérica), with the technical support of the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB).
The IADB is responsible for organizing a team of international supervisors in charge of training and certification, known as the Assistance Mission for Mine Clearance in Central America (Misión de Asistencia para la Remoción de Minas en Centro América or MARMINCA).
PADCA and MARMINCA have mine action programs in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In Costa Rica, the Ministry of Security is responsible for clearance operations, along with PADCA/MARMINCA.
For the 2001 budget, the OAS PADCA program raised approximately $4.72 million from the United States ($1.27 million), Norway ($1.15 million), Canada ($979,232), Sweden ($639,964), United Kingdom, ($271,971), Spain ($255,340), Italy ($100,000), and Japan ($45,000).[7] This represents a decrease from $4.92 million raised in the year 2000.
The OAS PADCA program has suffered a serious financial crisis since December 2001,[8] which has led to a suspension of mine clearance operations in Costa Rica. In his 12 March 2002 report to the OAS Committee on Hemispheric Security, the Coordinator of the OAS Mine Action Program, Colonel (Ret.) William McDonough, reported that:
[S]ince late 2000, demining operations [in Costa Rica] had been hampered by the inconsistent availability of air medical evacuation support. Moreover, the lack of renewed donor support for the Costa Rican program led to a suspension of all activities in January 2002. Although the small AICMA office remains open and three international supervisors are on hand, further OAS support to the program in Costa Rica is suspended until dedicated donor funding can be obtained.[9]
The OAS AICMA Coordinator for Costa Rica, Leda Marín, told Landmine Monitor that mine clearance operations were suspended in early December 2001 and will not be continued until funding becomes available to, among other items, pay insurance ($10,000) for 38 deminers working in Upala.[10] Funds have been made available ($6,500) for the maintenance of the office in Upala.[11] In March 2002, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the OAS were in discussions with several governments regarding funding of $150,000 to continue with operations in Upala and to complete the planned program in La Cruz de Guanacaste.[12]
Despite a lack of funding, the OAS expects to complete a national impact survey in August 2002. This will form the basis for future OAS support requests to the donor community.[13]
According to the OAS AICMA National Coordinator, since 1996 OAS funding for the mine clearance program in Costa Rica has received $134,000 annually. Funds have been used to pay insurance for deminers, to maintain the AICMA office in Upala, to purchase and repair basic equipment, to cover services for OAS AICMA supervisors, and to cover the salary of a driver.[14] The salaries of OAS AICMA supervisors are paid directly by their respective governments.
In January 2001, prior to the funding crises, the Minister of Public Security told Landmine Monitor that mine clearance was due to be completed in July 2002.[15] With the suspension of activities and lack of funding, this target date cannot be met.
In 2001, mine clearance operations were carried out by the Ministry of Public Security in Los Chiles (Sector 1), Upala (Sector 2) and La Cruz (Sector 3), in which 131,641 square meters of land was cleared. [16]
In 2002, following the suspension, some limited operations have been underway since January, and after a small contribution was received from Japan in July 2002.
Since the mine clearance program started in Costa Rica in 1996, 338 antipersonnel mines cleared, including 17 mines since September 2001.[17]
The Ministry of Public Security and the OAS, in coordination with the Ministry of Education, is continuing a mine risk education campaign in the mine-affected regions. In the year 2000, the education campaign focused on the small towns of Cuatro Esquinas, Medio Queso, San Isidro, and La Guaria.[18]
Mine risk education is done in local schools, with neighbors as well as students and teachers participating. The campaign includes educational materials such as posters, photos and fake landmines. The OAS also distributes pencils, notebooks, physical education uniforms, and other materials that have mine awareness messages.
While the local population now has some knowledge about the landmine problem, it should be noted that migrants and visitors to the mine-affected regions do not and are therefore especially vulnerable.[19] According to officials at the Ministry of Public Security, the major target population for mine risk education carried out in community meetings are school-aged children.[20] According to the latest Article 7 Report, these mine risk education activities have resulted in students themselves warning rural school teachers of a mine or UXO found, and teachers in turn inform the authorities.[21]
There were no new mine victims recorded in 2001 or in the first quarter of 2002. Records of mine casualties are not kept systematically, but one source cites an overall total of eight deaths and ten wounded due to landmines, which the OAS IADB believes is consistent with available information.[22]
According to an official in the Ministry of Public Security, a helicopter and two small airplanes owned by the Costa Rican Police are available to provide emergency transportation for those injured by mines.[23]
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[1] Ley 8231, “Prohibición de Minas Antipersonales.” See Diario Oficial La Gaceta, Costa Rica, 17 April
2002. See http://imprenal.go.cr/gaceta/DocumentosWord/PLLE_17_04_2002.DOC.
[2] Artículo 6, “Delitos,” Ley 8231, “Prohibición de Minas Antipersonales,” 17 April 2002.
[3] The Conference was sponsored by the US Department of Defense; the Mine Action Information Center of James Madison University; the Organization of American States; the US Southern Command; and the US Department of State. See http://hdic.jmu.edu/conferences/latinamerica/.
[4] “Mine Action in Latin America” Conference, Panel VIII: Future Challenges, “Costa Rican perspectives,” Captain Freddy Hernández Drummond, Miami, 3-5 December 2002.
[5] Article 7 Report, points 2, 4, 5, and 8, submitted 3 September 2001.
[6] Ibid., point 3.
[7] In previous years other donors to the program have included: Argentina, Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Honduras, and the Netherlands. “OAS Mine Action Program: Statement of Contributions Received by December 2001, 1992-2001,” Non-official table provided in email to Landmine Monitor (HRW) from Carl Case, OAS, 18 June 2002.
[8] See “Proyecto de Resolución: Apoyo al Programa de Acción Integral Contral las Minas Antipersonal en Centroamérica,” AG/doc 4094/02, 15 May 2002. Document prepared for the XXXII OAS General Assembly, Bridgetown, Barbados, 2 June 2002,
http://www.oas.org/xxxiiga/espanol/documentos/docs_esp/AGdoc4094_02.htm
[9] Colonel (Ret.) William McDonough, “Report of the Organization of American States Mine Action Program to the Committee on Hemispheric Security,” OAS, Washington, DC, 14 March 2002.
[10] Interview with Leda Marín, OAS AICMA Coordinator for Costa Rica, Coronado, 18 February 2002.
[11] Telephone interview with Leda Marín, OAS AICMA Coordinator for Costa Rica, 27 March 2002.
[12] Interview with Carlos Cordero, Vice Director of the Multilateral Policy Branch of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, San José, 22 March 2002.
[13] See OAS appendix in this edition of Landmine Monitor.
[14] Telephone interview with Leda Marín, OAS AICMA Coordinator for Costa Rica, 27 March 2002.
[15] Interview with Rogelio Ramos, Minister of Public Security, San José, 24 January 2001.
[16] Interview with Captain Wilson Gueders, OAS MARMINCA Supervisor, Upala, 13 February 2002.
[17] La Nación (San José), 18 September 2001, p. 12/A
[18] Interview with Major Luis Carlos Calvo, Coordinator of the Mine Clearance Program, Ministry of Security, Los Chiles, 13 February 2001.
[19] Ibid.
[20] Interview with Commissioner Mario Calderón, Director of Special Operations Command, and Captain Santamaría, Coordinator of the Mine Clearance Program, Ministry of Public Security, San José, 26 March 2002.
[21] Article 7 Report, point 5, 3 September 2001.
[22] Carlos Hernández, “Detectan minas en Upala. Campesinos no siembran por temor a explosiones,” La Nación, 28 October 2000; Email to Landmine Monitor (HRW) from William McDonough, Coordinator, PADCA, Organization of American States, 26 July 2001.
[23] Interview with Erick Lacayo, Ministry of Public Security, San José, 25 March 2002.
