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Key developments since May 2001: A seminar on the Mine Ban Treaty took place in Georgetown in May 2002. A parliamentary motion for ratification of the treaty has been submitted to the National Assembly.
Guyana signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997, but has not yet ratified. The Speaker of the National Assembly told Landmine Monitor that a parliamentary motion for ratification of the treaty had been submitted to the National Assembly, but the motion had not yet been tabled for approval.[1] Canada has indicated that it anticipates Guyana will ratify the treaty without objection once unrelated state-level political issues are resolved.[2]
In July 2001, the Permanent Mission of Guyana to the UN in New York told Landmine Monitor that, “Guyana, although not directly affected by landmines, has always and will continue to support international efforts to put an end to the use of landmines.”[3] In November 2001, Guyana cosponsored and voted in support of UN General Assembly Resolution 56/24M, calling for universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty; Guyana had voted in favor of similar pro-ban resolutions in recent years.
Guyana did not attend the Third Meeting of States Parties in September 2001 in Nicaragua, or the intersessional meetings in January and May 2002 in Geneva.
On 7 May 2002, a seminar on implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty was held in Georgetown, hosted by the Canadian High Commission and the Embassy of the Netherlands, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Guyana.[4] Representatives from the Guyana Defence Force, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs, the Attorney General’s Chambers, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Guyana Red Cross Association participated in the seminar. Guyana’s Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Elisabeth Harper, and Canada’s Ambassador for Mine Action, Daniel Livermore, addressed the seminar.
Guyana is not a State Party to Amended Protocol II (Landmines) to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Guyana is not known to have ever produced or exported antipersonnel mines. Landmine Monitor estimates that Guyana has some 20,000 antipersonnel mines stockpiled. According to a Guyana Defense Force official, some, if not all, of the stockpiled antipersonnel mines are PMB-2 mines manufactured by North Korea.[5]
Guyana is not mine-affected.
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[1] Brief submitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Mine Action Seminar, 7 May 2002; interview with Ralph Ramkarran, S.C., Speaker of the National Assembly, Georgetown, 27 June 2002.
[2] “Universalization News,” Newsletter of the Ottawa Convention’s Universalization Contact Group, Volume 1, Issue 3, June 2002, p. 1.
[3] Letter to Landmine Monitor (MAC) from Sonia Elliot, Charge d’affaires a.i., Permanent Mission of Guyana to the United Nations, New York, 27 July 2001.
[4] “Guyana urged to ratify Ottawa Convention banning landmines,” Starboek News (Georgetown), 8 May 2002.
[5] Interview with Guyana Defence Force official who requested anonymity, Georgetown, June 2002.
