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Key developments since May 2001: Suriname ratified the Mine Ban Treaty on 23 May 2002. Suriname is conducting an inventory of its small stockpile of antipersonnel mines.
Mine Ban Policy
Suriname signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified on 23 May 2002. The treaty will enter into force for Suriname on 1 November 2002. Suriname’s initial Article 7 transparency report will be due by 30 April 2003.
Suriname 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. Suriname was absent from the vote on the pro-ban UN General Assembly Resolution 56/24M in November 2001.
On 9 May 2002, a seminar was held in Paramaribo on implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. The seminar was organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross, Canada, and the Netherlands, in cooperation with the government of Suriname. Suriname’s Minister of Defense, Ronald Assen, opened the seminar. It received good local media coverage. Suriname deposited its instrument of ratification two weeks after the seminar.[1]
The Disarmament Division of the Ministry of Defense is in charge of initiating mechanisms for the development and/or adaptation of national legislation to implement the treaty domestically, with the support of the Ministry of Justice and Police.[2]
Suriname is not believed to have ever produced or exported antipersonnel mines. Suriname’s Ministry of Defense has acknowledged a small stockpile of antipersonnel mines, believed to number 296 as of July 2002, but the Ministry of Defense is still conducting an inventory.[3]
During Suriname’s internal conflict from 1986 to 1992, an estimated 1,000 antipersonnel mines were laid in the country. The Army of Suriname cleared nearly all mined areas after the conflict, with the assistance of the OAS, who provided technical assistance, Brazil, who donated mine clearance equipment and provided technical support, and the Netherlands, who provided financial support. Rebel forces used homemade mines during the conflict, but have reportedly removed all of them.
According to the Minister of Defense, some 13 antipersonnel mines emplaced by the Army on 26 February 1987 remain uncleared at Stolkertsijver, about fifty kilometers east of Paramaribo, because dense vegetation made clearance too difficult.[4] Warning signs around the area are still intact and the Ministry of Defense has an agreement with local veterans that they will monitor the area and alert the Ministry to any unusual activity or trespassing.[5] Suriname lacks the proper equipment to remove the remaining mines.
At least two landmine casualties in Suriname have been recorded, one soldier and one civilian, but no more details were available.[6]
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[1] “Universalization News,” Newsletter of the Ottawa Convention’s Universalization Contact Group, Volume 1, Issue 3, June 2002, p. 1.
[2] Interview with Captain John Achong, Disarmament Division, Ministry of Defense, Paramaribo, 16 July 2002; telephone interview with Inez Huyzen-Sedney, Legal Affairs Department, Ministry of Justice and Police, 18 July 2002.
[3] Interview with Major Jozef Laurens, Engineering Division, Ministry of Defense, Paramaribo, 16 July 2002.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Notes from the Mine Action Seminar sent to Landmine Monitor (MAC) by Sheila Ketwaru-Nurmohamed, gender and development consultant, 14 May 2002.
