Key developments: Bolivia reported that the process for enacting domestic implementation legislation was underway. On 7 April 2006, the President of Bolivia promulgated the National Plan for Equality and Equal Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities.
The Republic of Bolivia signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, ratified on 9 June 1998, and became a State Party on 1 March 1999.
Bolivia has no national legislation in place to implement the Mine Ban Treaty. However, in May 2006, Bolivia reported that domestic legislation related to arms, ammunition, and explosives including penal sanctions, was awaiting approval by the National Congress.[1] Once this law is enacted, special regulations will be passed to prohibit the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of antipersonnel mines in accordance with the Mine Ban Treaty. Bolivia also reported that administrative steps have been taken to optimize the performance of the office responsible for implementation of the treaty.[2]
On 9 May 2006, Bolivia submitted an Article 7 transparency report.[3] This is only Bolivia’s third Article 7 report since the initial report was submitted on 8 November 1999; several of the updates required annually have not been received by the UN, leaving a period of five years unreported. Previously, the government had informed Landmine Monitor on several occasions that annual Article 7 updates were in preparation, but only one was received by the UN.[4]
Bolivia did not attend the Mine Ban Treaty’s First Review Conference in November-December 2004 or the Sixth Meeting of States Parties held one year later in Zagreb, Croatia. It was, however, present at the May 2006 intersessional Standing Committee meetings.
Bolivia has not engaged in the extensive discussions that States Parties have had on matters of interpretation and implementation related to Articles 1, 2 and 3. Thus, it has not made known its views on the issues of joint military operations with non-States Parties, foreign stockpiling and transit of antipersonnel mines, antivehicle mines with sensitive fuzes or antihandling devices, and the permissible number of mines retained for training.
Bolivia is a State Party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines. It participated in the protocol‘s Seventh Annual Conference of States Parties on 23 November 2005, but did not provide an Article 13 national measures report.
Bolivia has stated several times that it has never produced, exported or used antipersonnel mines and it has no stockpiles, including any mines retained for training.[5] This includes Claymore mines and other munitions that may function like antipersonnel mines such as antivehicle mines with antihandling devices, or improvised explosive devices (IEDs).[6] In 2002 and 2003, there were numerous reports of use of IEDs called cazabobos (fool-catcher booby-traps) by coca leaf-growing farmers (cocaleros) against security forces in the Chapare region of north-central Bolivia.[7] There have been no reports since that time.
Bolivia is not mine-affected. However, Chile mined its side of the border with Bolivia in the 1970s, particularly in 1978 during a territorial dispute.
Chile and Bolivia do not agree on the extent of the problem along their common border. According to Chile, 22,998 antipersonnel mines in 42 minefields were emplaced on its side of the border.[8] Bolivia has asserted that at least 196,727 antipersonnel mines were in 15 minefields, covering an area of at least 3,158,100 square meters on the Chilean side of the border.[9] A July 2005 media report quoted the Bolivian Vice Minister of Defense as stating that, “the [Bolivian] Armed forces know of 196,727 antipersonnel mines located in 15 minefields, which we have registered using a ‘geomatic process’ [science of gathering and using geographic information] of the Geographic Institute.”[10]
A local informant told Landmine Monitor in March 2006 that it was doubtful that there was a residual cazabobo problem in the Chapare, since improvised explosive devices “had been used in a targeted manner and not indiscriminately.”[11]
On 21 July 2005, Chile began clearing its border with Bolivia at Tambo Quemado in region I, with the goal of destroying 3,300 antipersonnel mines and 1,100 antivehicle mines in two minefields. Bolivia’s then Minister of Defense attended the ceremony at Tambo Quemado marking the initiation of mine clearance operations, with his Chilean counterpart.[12] Clearance operations were expected to be completed at the end of 2006; and the remaining 40 minefields along the border are expected to be cleared by 2012.
On 28 February 2006, when Chile began mine clearance operations in Llullaillaco National Park along the border with Argentina, Bolivia’s Minister of Defense who participated in the opening ceremony with counterparts from Chile and Argentina declared, “I believe that [demining] is an auspicious gesture of friendship: demining to end all the barriers that have disunited us and to start with a new course.”[13]
Police have been responsible for deactivating IEDs in the Chapare region.[14] According to a March 2004 media report, approximately 100 police officers had been trained to neutralize these explosives.[15] Landmine Monitor was not able to obtain information on the number of IEDs destroyed by the police in 2004 or 2005.[16]
Landmine Monitor has not identified any new landmine casualties in Bolivia in 2005 and to June 2006.
The total number of landmine casualties in Bolivia is not known. Since 1999, Landmine Monitor has verified only one landmine incident in Bolivia. On 26 May 2000, a peasant from Jankomarca, Villarroel province, in La Paz department, lost part of his left foot while crossing the border.[17] Between 1995 and 1997, landmines reportedly killed three Bolivian peasants.[18]
IEDs have posed a greater threat to the population than landmines in Bolivia. For example, more people were killed and injured by IEDs used by the cocaleros in 2003 (seven killed and 83 injuries recorded) than have been killed or injured in total by Chilean landmines along the common border.[19]
Basic health services exist in the border area with Chile, while more specialized services including surgery can be found in the capitals of departments such as La Paz, Oruro and Potosí.[20] However, access to healthcare and insurance has been limited for people with disabilities, and the government has lacked the financial resources to provide healthcare to them. According to the Ministry of Health, while training in physiotherapy, prosthetics/orthotics and occupational therapy is available, interest in training for the care of people with disabilities has been low among medical staff and students.
According to the Ministry of Defense, treatment and full rehabilitation of injured military personnel is the responsibility of the Antinarcotics assistance (NAS), and is available at the Fioanni Clinic in Santa Cruz. In the case of disability, Articles 114 and 118 of the Fundamental Law of the Armed Forces (Ley Orgánica de las Fuerzas Armadas, LOFA) cover provisions for treatment, rehabilitation and compensation.[21] But reportedly, these provisions have not been sufficient. In 2005, a soldier, who was blinded and lost part of his arm because of a cazabobo IED in Chapare in 2003, received a military pension of BOB1,000 (US$130). The soldier was living and studying to be a chef at the Aprecia School for Blind and Visually Disabled Children (Aprecia Escuela para Niños Ciegos y Deficientes Visuales) of the Santa Cruz Rehabilitation Center.[22]
Organizations working with people with disabilities in Bolivia included the Bolivian Confederation of Persons with Disabilities, the Bolivian Association of Integrated Sports and the Christian Fraternity of Ill and Disabled Persons.
Bolivia has legislation to protect the rights of people with disabilities, including Law 1678 of 15 December 1995. Article 17 established the National Committee of Disabled Persons (Comité Nacional de la Persona con Discapacidad, CONALPEDIS), as a decentralized body of the Ministry of Human Development, responsible for coordinating issues relating to people with disabilities.[23] CONALPEDIS receives cases of alleged violations of disability rights and passes these on to the ombudsperson for disability or to relevant ministries. Compliance with current legislation has been low and CONALPEDIS does not have the financial and human resource capacity to carry out all the necessary monitoring activities.[24]
On 7 April 2006, the President of Bolivia promulgated the National Plan for Equality and Equal Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (Plan Nacional de Igualdad y Equiparación de Oportunidades para Personas con Discapacidad).[25]
It includes legal measures to guarantee equal access for disabled people in five categories: social and cultural awareness, social rights (health and education), economic rights, personal and social capacity-building, and institutional and organizational development. The plan stipulates that 10 percent of employees in government offices must be people with disabilities. The plan also stipulates specialized medical treatment, improved accessibility, access to education, awareness-raising, increased government resources, and review of the legal framework for people with disabilities, as the government considers that the “reintegration of people with disabilities is not only an obligation towards people with disabilities, but a necessity for the country.[26]
The Bolivian government also supports the UN Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities, and endorsed the creation of a national committee to promote the convention.[27]
[1] Article 7 Report, Form A, 9 May 2006. The Permanent National Committee for the Application of Humanitarian International Law (Comisión Permanente para la Aplicación del Derecho Internacional Humanitario) told Landmine Monitor it is promoting the approval of this law prohibiting the use of certain weapons, including antipersonnel mines. Email from International Committee of the Red Cross Regional Office, Lima, 3 May 2006.
[2] Article 7 Report, Form A, 9 May 2006.
[3] The report itself is dated 13 April 2006 and covers the period from October 2005 to April 2006. Previous reports were submitted on 10 October 2005 (for January-September 2005), and on 8 November 1999 (for January-November 1999). This leaves the period from 9 November 1999 to January 2005 unreported.
[4] An Article 7 report for calendar year 2001 was reportedly submitted to the UN in May 2002, but not posted on the UN website. See Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 112. Landmine Monitor was also informed that a report was being prepared in March 2003, but this report was also not posted. See Landmine Monitor Report 2003, p. 114; response to Landmine Monitor from Amb. Gonzalo Montenegro, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, faxed on 24 March 2003; response by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 7 April 2004, p. 1.
[5] Article 7 Report, Form E, 9 May 2006; response by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 7 April 2004, p. 2; response to Landmine Monitor from Amb. Jorge Soruco Villanueva, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, faxed on 22 March 2001; Article 7 Report, 8 November 1999.
[6] Response by Ministry of Defense, 22 March 2001.
[7] A list of casualties from IED use by cocaleros for the period October 2002-November 2003 was received by Landmine Monitor on 30 August 2004, from Gen. César López Saavedra, General Commander of the Army, forwarded by Edgar Pinto Tapia, General Director of Multilateral Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, pp. 187-188.
[8] Chilean Ministry of Defense press release, “Ejército inició desminado humanitario en Tambo Quemado con la presencia de los ministros de defense de Chile y Bolivia” (“Army begins humanitarian demining in Tambo Quemado with the presence of the Chilean and Bolivian ministers of defense”), 21 July 2006, www.defense.cl, accessed 9 June 2006.
[9] In 2001, the Bolivian Ministry of Defense provided Landmine Monitor with detailed information on all 15 minefields. The number of mines and the area was not included for many of these minefields, therefore the total number of mines and the total contaminated area could be higher, according to Bolivian records. See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, pp. 277-279. In May 2002, Bolivia’s Ministry of Defense told Landmine Monitor that the country has no detailed maps of mined areas in the border region, as these areas are located on Chilean territory. See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 189.
[10] “Bolivia pide vigilancia neutral de desminado de frontera con Chile” (“Bolivia asks for neutral monitoring of demining of the border with Chile”), Los Tiempos (Bolivian newspaper), 21 July 2005, www.lostiempos.com.
[11] Email from a local informant who requested anonymity, 27 March 2006.
[12] Chilean Ministry of Defense press release, “Ejército Inició Desminado Humanitario en Tambo Quemado con la presencia de los Ministros de Defensa de Chile y Bolivia” (“Army begins humanitarian demining in Tambo Quemado with the presence of the Chilean and Bolivian Ministers of Defense”), Santiago, 21 July 2005; “El retiro de explosivos se inicia hoy en Tambo Quemado” (“Removal of explosives begins today in Tambo Quemado”), Los Tiempos (Cochabamba), 21 July 2005.
[13] Chilean Ministry of Defense press release, “Ministro Ravinet y su homólogo boliviano encabezan inicio de desminado humanitario en parque nacional Llullaillaco” (“Minister Ravinet and his Bolivian counterpart head beginning of humanitarian demining in Llullaillaco national park”), Antofagasta, Chile, 28 February 2006. See report on Chile in this edition of Landmine Monitor.
[14] See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 190.
[15] “Hay 100 desactivadores de cazabobos” (“There are 100 fool-catcher booby-trap deactivators”), El Deber (Santa Cruz), 15 March 2004.
[16] See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 190, for information on IED clearance prior to 2004.
[17] “Bolivian national injured by an antipersonnel mines on border with Chile,” Agence France-Presse (La Paz), 27 May 2000. See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 190, for details of an alleged antipersonnel landmine incident involving a Bolivian and Chilean crossing the border.
[18] El Diario, 21 September 1997.
[19] See Landmine Monitor Repot 2004, pp.187-188, for details of IED use and incidents.
[20] Response from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 22 March 2001.
[21] Response by Ministry of Defense, 7 April 2004, p. 2-3.
[22] Juan Carlos Montaño E., “Florentino Chipana Desafío a la adversidad” (“Florentino Chipana challenges adversity”), El Deber (Santa Cruz), 27 June 2005.
[23] Congress of Bolivia, “Ley de la Persona con Discapacidad del 15 de diciembre de 1995,” Law No. 1678, www.solobolivia.com.
[24] CIR, “Bolivia country profile,” International Disability Rights Monitor, 2004.
[25] Sistema Legislativo Informático Boliviano, “Decreto Supremo No. 28671, Establece el Plan Nacional de Igualdad y Equiparación de Oportunidades para Personas con Discapacidad” (“Supreme Decree No. 28671, establishes the Nacional Plan on Equality and Equal Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities”), 7 April 2006, www.bolivialegal.com, accessed 13 June 2006.
[26] See Antonio Peredo Leigue, “La discapacidad sin obstáculos” (“Disability without obstacles”), Tinku, 11 April 2006, www.tinku.org, accessed 13 June 2006.
[27] CIR, “Bolivia country profile,” International Disability Rights Monitor, 2004.