| <ECUADOR | EQUATORIAL GUINEA> |
Key developments since May 2001: Legislation to implement the Mine Ban Treaty domestically has been drafted. El Salvador submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report on 31 August 2001 and an annual updated report on 29 April 2002. El Salvador reported the destruction of 1,291 stockpiled antipersonnel mines in 2000, leaving 5,344 in stock. In November 2001, an interagency committee on the Mine Ban Treaty was established, with responsibility for liaising with national and international organizations on demining and mine survivor rehabilitation.
El Salvador signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997, the instrument of ratification was deposited on 27 January 1999, and the treaty entered into force for El Salvador on 1 July 1999.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maria Eugenia Brizuela de Ávila, provided Landmine Monitor with an eight-page report dated 11 February 2002 in response to the information on El Salvador contained in Landmine Monitor Report 2001.[1] According to the report, an Interagency Committee on International Humanitarian Law coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has developed a draft legislation law that will penalize violations of the Mine Ban Treaty.[2] The law had not yet been presented to the national Legislative Assembly as of July 2002.
In November 2001, an interagency committee on the Ottawa Convention (Comité Nacional Intersectorial para el seguimiento de la Convención de Ottawa) was established, with representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense and the National Civil Police.[3] According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the committee is the official body charged with liaising with national and international organizations on demining and mine survivor rehabilitation.[4]
El Salvador attended the Third Meeting of States Parties in Managua, Nicaragua in September 2001, with a delegation led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. In El Salvador’s general statement, Minister de Ávila emphasized the “urgent necessity to create a permanent fund for landmine victims” and the need for moratoria on production, as well as a UN General Assembly resolution urging transparency in relation to this.[5]
El Salvador cosponsored and voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 56/24M in support of the Mine Ban Treaty in November 2001. A representative of the Salvadoran Army attended the “Mine Action in Latin America” conference in Miami, from 3-5 December 2001.[6] El Salvador participated in the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in January and May 2002.
On 31 August 2001, El Salvador submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report (originally due by 27 December 1999), which reported on the period from 1 June 2000 to 31 August 2001. It subsequently submitted its annual updated Article 7 Report on 29 April 2002, which reported on the period from 1 September 2001 to 31 March 2002.
In December 2001, El Salvador presented a list of 21 mine clearance experts from the Armed Forces El Salvador to the UN Department of Disarmament Affairs in response to a request from the UN Secretary General regarding Article 8 (9) of the Mine Ban Treaty. These are individuals that could participate in any future fact-finding mission carried out under Article 8 (Facilitation and Clarification of Compliance).[7]
While El Salvador is a State Party to Amended Protocol II (Landmines) to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) it did not attend the CCW meetings held in December 2001.
El Salvador reports that it has not produced antipersonnel mines and has no facilities to produce any type of mines.[8] El Salvador is not known to have exported antipersonnel mines in the past. El Salvador imported considerable quantities of antipersonnel mines, including M-14, M-26, and M18A1 Claymore mines, all manufactured by the United States.[9] The guerrillas of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) made significant numbers of homemade antipersonnel mines or improvised explosive devices. Both the government and FMLN forces used mines throughout the 1980-1992 conflict.
El Salvador previously reported that in the period from March 1993 through 1994, the Division of Arms and Explosives (DAE, División de Armas y Explosivos) of the National Civilian Police (PNC, Policía Nacional Civil) destroyed all remaining antipersonnel mines stockpiled by the Salvadoran Armed Forces. In April 1997, El Salvador reported this destruction to the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS).[10]
In May 2001, however, Landmine Monitor received a detailed response from the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces of El Salvador, General Alvaro Antonio Calderón Hurtado, which reported that El Salvador had a stockpile of 5,657 antipersonnel landmines, including 4,937 M-14 and 720 M-26 antipersonnel mines, stockpiled in different parts of the country.[11]
In its Article 7 Report submitted 31 August 2001, El Salvador reported different numbers for its stockpile: 5,408 antipersonnel landmines, including 4,873 M-14 mines, 46 M-26 mines, and 489 M-18 mines.[12] It is unknown why the numbers of M-14 and M-26 mines are smaller, since no stockpile destruction was reported.
In its subsequent Article 7 Report submitted 29 April 2002, El Salvador reported a stockpile of 5,344 antipersonnel landmines, reflecting the destruction of 64 M-14 mines (see below). Thus, the stockpile consisted of 4,809 M-14 mines, 46 M-26 mines, and 489 M-18 mines.[13]
El Salvador prepared a stockpile destruction plan in early 1999, and by July a total of 1,291 mines were transferred to the Hacienda El Angel in the department of La Paz for destruction.[14] Destruction was supposed to start in June 2000, but was delayed until November 2000, when 64 M-14 and 1,227 M-18 mines were destroyed.[15]
The method of destruction was reported as demolition in an isolated area following Ministry of Environment guidelines. No representatives of the media or civil society are believed to have witnessed the destruction.
Another 1,229 mines (including 740 M-14 and 489 M-18 mines) were transferred for destruction at the end of 2001. Destruction of these mines was scheduled to take place in January 2002, but was delayed until August 2002.[16]
The Joint Chiefs of Staff indicated in May 2001 that stockpile destruction would be completed no later than July 2003.[17] The deadline mandated by the Mine Ban Treaty is 1 July 2003.
In its initial Article 7 Report, El Salvador indicated that no antipersonnel mines would be retained for training under Article 3 of the Mine Ban Treaty. The second Article 7 Report, however, indicates that 96 antipersonnel mines will be retained for training (50 M-14 mines and 46 M-26 mines).[18]
Concerns have been expressed in the past that some stockpiles of antipersonnel mines could exist outside of the control of the government in the hands of bandits or in hidden arms caches.[19] In August 2001, for example, media reported that a large “tatú” (hidden or abandoned weapons cache) was found one kilometer east of Moropala school, on the road to Juacarán, in Moropala de Concepción Batres canton, Usulután department.[20] The tatú was assumed to have been buried during the war and subsequently exposed by rains. A local peasant alerted the Division of Arms and Explosives of the PNC, which removed and destroyed the weapons, including homemade “quitapié” (foot-removing) mines.
According to an October 2001 media report, local residents in San Fernando, in the department of Morazán in the east of the country, found a tatú in Ocotillo canton, which included initiators for mines and other munitions.[21] The head of police in Morazán was quoted as saying, “We have discovered weapons in several places in San Fernando and believe there are more; I believe that the best option is to do a sweep of the entire zone.”
The Foreign Minister’s report to Landmine Monitor in February 2002 provided more details on the past mine clearance program than previously available. The National Demining Plan was implemented by the government between March 1993 and January 1994 with participation by the government, Armed Forces, and FMLN, with support from the UN Office in El Salvador (ONUSAL) and UNICEF.[22]
During the first phase of the plan (named the “Program for the Prevention of Accidents by Mines and other Explosive Artifacts” or “PAM 1”), mine affected areas were identified and marked off with the collaboration of the Armed Forces and FMLN. Prevention messages developed by UNICEF were broadcast on radio and television. In the second phase of the plan (named “PAM 2”), the government contracted a Belgian company, International Danger Disaster Assistance (IDAS), to clear the mines and 9,511 antipersonnel mines were subsequently cleared from 425 minefields covering an area of 438 square kilometers, at a cost of $4.6 million.[23] In addition, the Salvadoran Armed Forces cleared minefields from around military bases and economic centers, destroying 8,590 antipersonnel mines.[24]
Upon completion of the National Demining Plan in 1994, IDAS, along with the Armed Forces, FMLN and ONUSAL, guaranteed that 97 percent of the mines were cleared. The Foreign Minister said that this made El Salvador “the first Central American country to be certified as free of antipersonnel mines,”[25] although a few months earlier she had acknowledged, “We still have three percent left to demine and we will do it; the Armed Forces, NGOs and civil society together.”[26] In May 2001, Lt. Col. José Ernesto Alas Sansur of the Armed Forces also told Landmine Monitor that, “IDAS did not guarantee us complete mine clearance, so that El Salvador has three percent of mines in those identified minefields whose removal and destruction is complex.”[27]
In its Article 7 Reports, in the form requesting information on locations of mined areas, El Salvador states, “There is no information in this category.”[28] In the form requesting information on the destruction of antipersonnel mines that are cleared from the ground, El Salvador reports “not applicable.”[29] The 2002 Article 7 Report also states, “El Salvador is considered to be free of mines, according to the company that carried out mine clearance in the country.”[30]
However, a UK-based mine clearance NGO named the International Demining Group (IDG) and its Salvadoran NGO partner, the Foundation for Cooperation and Community Development (CORDES, Fundación para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Comunal de El Salvador) have identified approximately 150 square kilometers for consideration for level one survey and/or demining operations in the departments of Chalatenango, Cabañas, Cuscatlán and Usulután, including 53 previously “unknown or unrecorded” mine locations.[31]
In May 2001, a national media report noted that explosions of antipersonnel mines and other UXO abandoned during the war continued, as did the list of victims to the conflict.[32] Marcos Alfredo Valladares, then the Attorney General in the Office for Human Rights, told the reporter, “Many have concluded that country is mine-free, but that is in contrast to reality.”[33]
The Chief of the Arms and Explosives Division of the PNC, Sub-Commissioner Hugo Salinas, told media that while he was convinced that the country was mine-free, he accepted there were isolated cases of antipersonnel mines and UXO found.[34] He was quoted as saying, “There are no formal programs, what we do is survey the zone where there has been information on the presence of abandoned explosives provided by the locals.” Salinas also discussed limitations faced by his division, such as lack of personnel and resources, including only having three mine detectors in poor condition. The Division of Arms and Explosives keeps a list of landmines and UXO reported and destroyed. In 2000, reportedly 575 explosive UXO were gathered, of which 177 were destroyed and 298 deposited in stockpiles for future destruction.[35]
The Ministry of Defense and the Division of Arms and Explosives of the PNC are the authorized national institutions responsible for clearance of any mines and UXO that might be found.[36] The Army started clearance operations in October 2001 from an area in the department of Cuscatlán where Doctors Without Borders (Médicos sin Fronteras) had reported that rural residents could not use the land because of the presence of mines.[37] The Army cleared an area of 30 blocks (manzanas) in an operation that took two months, but no mines or UXO were found.
The Foreign Minister reported that in November 2001 the International Demining Group presented a project titled, “Pilot Program for a Level I and II Survey on Humanitarian Mine Action” to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense and National Civilian Police, with the “objective of carrying out a study on the issue in El Salvador.”[38] Another source states that a pilot demining program in El Salvador by IDG was due to be implemented in late 2001 in coordination with CORDES in Suchitoto and Chalatenango.[39]
Since 1997, El Salvador has contributed twenty military mine action supervisors to the MARMINCA mine clearance efforts by the OAS in Central America, including four supervisors in 2001 and four in 2002.[40] El Salvador also provides mine clearance personnel to the UN mission in Kuwait (UNIKOM).[41]
The government maintains that since 1994, the Division of Arms and Explosives of the PNC has carried out educational campaigns for the prevention of mine accidents on a permanent basis in schools throughout the country.[42]
There is no official information available on landmine and UXO casualties in El Salvador.[43] However, in May 2001, a legislative assembly deputy told Landmine Monitor that there were approximately two incidents per month in rural areas because of UXO, and that in 2000 there were 25 casualties from incidents involving antipersonnel mines or UXO.[44] In a March 2002 media report, the Chief of Emergencies at Hospital Bloom in San Salvador, Dr. Carlos Gabriel Alvarenga, reported that 27 children had been admitted to the hospital with injuries caused by uxo.[45]
In 2001, three UXO incidents were reported in the media, in which five people were killed and two injured. On 27 February 2001 three children were killed by an unidentified explosive while looking for crayfish in El Carrizal canton, San Simón, in the department of Morazán.[46] On 26 May 2001 one peasant was killed and another injured by a reported “military grenade,” in Piedra Grande Arriba canton in northern Zacatecoluca.[47] On 9 October 2001, a 14 year-old youth was killed and his 9 year-old brother severely injured after a US-manufactured fragmentation grenade they were handling exploded in San Eugenio canton in Sonsonate. [48]
Casualties continue to be reported in 2002: on 29 April, a municipal worker in San Salvador lost his hand and damaged his left eye after inadvertently detonating a homemade grenade (“granada hechiza”) while cleaning out a sewage drain with a shovel.[49]
In El Salvador, persons with disabilities are treated within the regular health care system. However, in many villages and poor urban areas access to medical care and rehabilitation is limited.[50]
The Center for Professional Rehabilitation of the Armed Forces (CERPROFA, Centro de Rehabilitación Profesional de la Fuerza Armada) rehabilitates military and former military personnel.[51] CERPROFA has offered technical support to Guatemala to establish a similar center and manufactures prostheses for war-disabled in Honduras and Nicaragua.[52] The mental health clinics of the various military units also provide psychological support for personnel
El Salvador had created a committee to oversee implementation of a program within the framework of the Canada-Mexico-PAHO tripartite project.[53] Since April 1999 the committee, which is coordinated by Salvadoran Institute for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled (ISRI- Instituto Salvadoreño de Rehabilitación de Inválidos), has carried out a number of activities including workshops on community based rehabilitation in Metapán and La Palma, Chalatenango; a workshop on clinical aspects of community-based rehabilitation in Metapán; and training for two physiotherapists from the Association of War Disabled of El Salvador.[54]
The Landmine Survivors Network (LSN) program has two community-based outreach workers, who are landmine survivors, to work with individual survivors to assess their needs, offer psychological and social support, and educate families about the effects of limb loss.[55] As of April 2002, LSN El Salvador has identified 62 landmine survivors in the departments of San Salvador and La Libertad. According to LSN, the survivors’ most common needs are wheelchairs, assistance with housing repairs and maintenance, medicines, crutches, prostheses, and assistance in finding employment.[56] In 2001, LSN directly assisted 46 people, including 19 landmine survivors, made contact with 96 others, including 39 landmine survivors, and developed a national services directory used to link survivors to rehabilitation services.[57]
The Association of the Organization of Disabled of El Salvador (PODES, Asociación Promotora de la Organización de Discapacitados de El Salvador) has been producing prosthetic and orthotic devices since 1993, and currently has 22 employees, including 16 war disabled. As of July 2002, PODES had assisted a total of 1,655 people, including 1,043 war disabled. Of the war disabled, 617 people were injured by antipersonnel mines, of which five percent were women. In addition to its workshop in San Salvador, PODES has smaller workshops in Morazán, Usulután, Cabañas, Cuscatlán, Chalatenango and Santa Ana. PODES has created a Social Fund to assist poor disabled persons. PODES is currently seeking additional funding support to maintain and further develop its programs.[58] The Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) provides annual financial support and training assistance to PODES.[59]
The Trust for the Americas/AICMA/OAS, together with the Ministry of Labor and the National Council for the Fundamental Care of People with Disabilities implements a program of vocational training and assistance in job placement for people with disabilities. More than 300 people have received computer training, with more than 45 trainees subsequently being employed.[60]
On 18-19 June 2001, prosthetics technicians from El Salvador attended the First Regional Conference on Victim Assistance and Technologies, organized by the OAS and the Center for International Rehabilitation (CIR), in Managua, Nicaragua.[61] CIR has developed a Lower Extremity Distance Learning program for prosthetic technicians in El Salvador which also includes a clinical component implements by a qualified prosthetist who provides hands-on training.[62]
The National Family Secretariat (Secretaría Nacional de la Familia), headed by the First Lady of El Salvador, is implementing a Law of Equality of Opportunities for Disabled Persons (Ley de Equiparación de Oportunidades para Personas con Discapacidad).[63]
In El Salvador’s general statement to the Third Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, the Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasized the “urgent necessity to create a permanent fund for landmine victims”.[64]
| <ECUADOR | EQUATORIAL GUINEA> |
[1] Maria Eugenia Brizuela de Ávila, Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador, Report for El Salvador for 2002, 11 February 2002. Landmine Monitor received the report in a letter from Ambassador Víctor Manuel Lagos Pizzati, Permanent Mission of El Salvador to the UN in Geneva, dated 6 March 2002. Hereinafter cited as, “Minister of Foreign Affairs Report, 11 February 2002.”
[2] This is the Comité Interinstitucional de Derecho Internacional Humanitario de El Salvador (CIDIH-ES). Minister of Foreign Affairs Report, 11 February 2002, p. 4.
[3] Minister of Foreign Affairs Report, 11 February 2002, p. 6.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Statement by Maria Eugenia Brizuela de Ávila, Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador, to the Third Meeting of States Parties, Managua, Nicaragua, 18-21 September 2001, pp. 1-4.
[6] Col. Carlos Eduardo Cáceres Flores attended. The Conference was sponsored by the US 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/.
[7] Minister of Foreign Affairs Report, 11 February 2002, p. 6.
[8] Article 7 Report, Forms E and H, 31 August 2001; and Article 7 report, Forms E and H, 29 April 2002.
[9] The US State Department has reported that from 1982-1990, the US provided El Salvador 4,410 M-14s, 720 M-24s and 47,244 M18A1s. Fact Sheets, “US Landmine Sales By Country” and “Foreign Military Sales of US Mines,” received by Human Rights Watch on 23 February 1994.
[10] See Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 269.
[11] Response to Landmine Monitor questionnaire by General Alvaro Antonio Calderón Hurtado, Chair, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Armed Forces of El Salvador, 8 May 2001.
[12] Article 7 Report, Form B, 31 August 2001. The difference is 64 fewer M-14 mines, 674 fewer M-26 mines, and reporting for the first time of 489 M-18 Claymore mines.
[13] Article 7 Report, Form B, 29 April 2002. The difference is 64 fewer M-14 mines than the previous Article 7 report.
[14] Article 7 Report, Forms A, D and F, 31 August 2001; and Article 7 Report, Forms A and D, 29 April 2002. El Salvador states that it had destroyed some stockpiled mines previously. According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Salvadoran Armed Forces destroyed 1,010 M-14 antipersonnel mines in 1996 under “Operation Borbollón.” The Minister of Foreign Affairs indicated this total included mines removed from the ground by deminers as well as stockpiled mines. Minister of Foreign Affairs Report, 11 February 2002, p. 3.
[15] Article 7 Report, Forms A and G, 31 August 2001; Minister of Foreign Affairs Report, 11 February 2002, p. 3. The M-18 Claymore mines were apparently destroyed because of their unstable condition. See, Article 7 Report, Form A, 29 April 2002.
[16] Article 7 Report, Forms A and D, 29 April 2002. Landmine Monitor went to print before this destruction was scheduled to occur. The M-18 Claymore mines are being destroyed because of their unstable condition. Article 7 Report, Form A, 29 April 2002.
[17] Response to Landmine Monitor questionnaire by General Alvaro Antonio Calderón Hurtado, Chair, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Armed Forces of El Salvador, 8 May 2001. See also Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 336.
[18] Article 7 Report, Form D, 31 August 2001; and Article 7 Report, Form A and Form D, 29 April 2002.
[19] Graeme Goldsworthy and Dr. Frank Faulkner, “This Hard Land: A Renewal of Humanitarian Mine Action in El Salvador,” in “Landmines in Central & South America,” Journal of Mine Action, Issue 5.2, Summer 2001, p. 21. See also Landmine Monitor Report 2001, pp. 336-337.
[20] Carlos Montes, “Hallan artifactos explosivos,” La Prensa Gráfica (San Salvador), 7 August 2001; Rosa Fuentes, “PNC halló varias granadas en ‘tatú,’” El Diario de Hoy (San Salvador), 7 August 2001.
[21] Evelyn Granados, “Destruyen tatú en Morazán,” El Diario de Hoy (San Salvador), 31 October 2001.
[22] Minister of Foreign Affairs Report, 11 February 2002, p. 2.
[23] Ibid.
[24] Ibid.; Response to Landmine Monitor questionnaire by General Alvaro Antonio Calderón Hurtado, Chair, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Armed Forces of El Salvador, 25 January 2001.
[25] Minister of Foreign Affairs Report, 11 February 2002, p. 2.
[26] Statement by Maria Eugenia Brizuela de Ávila, Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador, to the Third Meeting of States Parties, Managua, Nicaragua, 18-21 September 2001, p. 2.
[27] Interview with Lt. Col. José Ernesto Alas Sansur, Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces, San Salvador, 18 May 2001.
[28] Article 7 Reports, Form C, 31 August 2001 and 29 April 2002.
[29] Article 7 Reports, Form F and G, 31 August 2001 and 29 April 2002.
[30] Article 7 Report, Form C, Nota, 29 April 2002.
[31] International Demining Group, “Pilot Programme: A proposal for community-based humanitarian mine action and development,” December 2000. Landmine Monitor has a copy of the proposal. See also, Graeme Goldsworthy and Dr. Frank Faulkner, “This Hard Land: A Renewal of Humanitarian Mine Action in El Salvador,” in “Landmines in Central & South America,” Journal of Mine Action, Issue 5.2, Summer 2001, pp. 22-23.
[32] Ana Lidia Rivera, “La muerte a flor de tierra,” Vértice, El Diario de Hoy (San Salvador), 20 May 2001.
[33] Marcos Alfredo Valladares, PDHH, in Ana Lidia Rivera, “La muerte a flor de tierra,” Vértice, El Diario de Hoy (San Salvador), 20 May 2001.
[34] Sub-Commissioner Hugo Salinas, Division of Arms and Explosives of the PNC, in Ana Lidia Rivera, “La muerte a flor de tierra,” Vértice, El Diario de Hoy (San Salvador), 20 May 2001.
[35] Ana Lidia Rivera, “La muerte a flor de tierra,” Vértice, El Diario de Hoy (San Salvador), 20 May 2001.
[36] Minister of Foreign Affairs Report, 11 February 2002, p. 1.
[37] Ibid., p. 6.
[38] Ibid.
[39] Graeme Goldsworthy and Dr. Frank Faulkner, “This Hard Land: A Renewal of Humanitarian Mine Action in El Salvador,” in “Landmines in Central & South America,” Journal of Mine Action, Issue 5.2, Summer 2001, p. 25.
[40] The 20 supervisors constitute nine percent of the total contributions to the program from regional countries, and include: two in 1997 and 1998, and four in 1990, 2000, 2001 and 2002. “Contributing Countries (International Supervisors) to the OAS Program of Demining in Central America,” Table provided in email to Landmine Monitor (HRW) from Carl Case, OAS, 18 June 2002.
[41] Minister of Foreign Affairs Report, 11 February 2002, pp. 3-5.
[42] Ibid., p. 6. In both Article 7 Reports, however, El Salvador reports “not applicable” in the form for measures adopted to warn the population. Article 7 Report, Form I, 31 August 2001; and Article 7 Report, Form I, 29 April 2002.
[43] Minister of Foreign Affairs Report, 11 February 2002; and response to Landmine Monitor questionnaire by General Alvaro Antonio Calderón Hurtado, Chair, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Armed Forces of El Salvador, 8 May 2001.
[44] Interview with Deputy Pablo Parada Andino, Legislative Assembly, San Salvador, 28 May 2001.
[45] Néfer Muñoz, “Un total de 95 niños salvadoreños sufrieron heridas de bala el pasado mes de enero, según el Gobierno,” Europa Press (Madrid), 1 Marzo 2002.
[46] Ana Lidia Rivera, “La Muerte a flor de tierra,” Vértice, El Diario de Hoy (San Salvador), 20 May 2001.
[47] Mauricio Bolaños, “Un muerto y un herido al explotar ‘granada militar,’” La Prensa Gráfica (San Salvador), 29 May 2001.
[48] Victor Maldonado, “Un muerto y un lesionado por explosión de granada,” El Diario de Hoy (San Salvador), 9 October 2001.
[49] Guadalupe Hernández, “Empleado municipal pierde su mano derecha. Mi mente la tengo para seguir adelante,” El Diario de Hoy (San Salvador), 8 May 2002.
[50] For more details see Landmine Survivors Rehabilitation Database – El Salvador, accessed at www.lsndatabase.org; see also Landmine Monitor Report 2001, pp. 341-342.
[51] Minister of Foreign Affairs Report, 11 February 2002, p. 2.
[52] Statement by Maria Eugenia Brizuela de Ávila, Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador, to the Third Meeting of States Parties, Managua, Nicaragua, 18-21 September 2001, p. 3.
[53] The program involves representatives of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance, the Salvadoran Institute for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled (ISRI), the University of El Salvador, Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Education, the Association of War Disabled of El Salvador (ALGES), and the National Commission for the Integrated Care of Persons with Disabilities (CONAIPD). Minister of Foreign Affairs Report, 11 February 2002, p. 4.
[54] Minister of Foreign Affairs Report, 11 February 2002, p. 5.
[55] Response to Landmine Monitor Survivor Assistance Questionnaire, LSN El Salvador, 3 March 2002.
[56] Email to Landmine Monitor from LSN El Salvador, 2 April 2002.
[57] Response to Landmine Monitor Survivor Assistance Questionnaire, Berta Alicia Flores, Social Worker, LSN El Salvador, 13 March 2002.
[58] Email to Landmine Monitor (MAC) from José Leonidas Argueta Roldan, Executive Director, PODES, 2 July 2002.
[59] Email to Landmine Monitor (HRW) from William Brown, Deputy for Administration, Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, 23 July 2001.
[60] ICBL Portfolio of Landmine Victim Assistance Programs, accessed at www.landminevap.org.
[61] “Ayudarán más víctimas de minas antipersonales. Primera conferencia regional de rehabilitación technología,” El Nuevo Diario (Managua), 19 June 2001.
[62] ICBL Portfolio of Landmine Victim Assistance Programs, accessed at www.landminevap.org.
[63] Minister of Foreign Affairs Report, 11 February 2002, p. 5.
[64] Statement by Maria Eugenia Brizuela de Ávila, Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador, to the Third Meeting of States Parties, Managua, Nicaragua, 18-21 September 2001, pp. 1, 4.
