Bogotá, Colombia
26-30 January 2004
Members of the research network of the International Campaign To Ban Landmines (ICBL) from the Americas met in Bogotá, Colombia from 26-30 January 2004. This was the third in a series of regional meetings planned to prepare the sixth annual Landmine Monitor report. The participants engaged in internal meetings to prepare the 2004 report and strategize on advocacy activities in the lead-up to treaty’s First Review Conference. They also met with government and United Nations officials, held a regional seminar, and undertook a field visit to a mine affected community in Antioquia department.
This marked the first time that the ICBL has been to Colombia, the most challenging country in the region for the campaign in terms of adherence to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. Previous meetings in the region have been held in Buenos Aires (November 2000), in Brasilia (December 2001) and in Santiago (November 2002). Colombia is a State Party to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, but it is the only country in the region where armed non-state actors (guerrillas of the ELN and FARC, and paramilitary groups) regularly lay antipersonnel mines. The ICBL took the opportunity to draw attention to the urgent need for Colombia to accelerate destruction of its 23,451 antipersonnel mines, the inadequacy or lack of survivor assistance programs, and the need to initiate humanitarian mine clearance in the country.
On Monday, 26 January, a small ICBL delegation met with government officials covering the landmines issue from the Antipersonnel Mine Observatory (Observatorio de Minas Antipersonal) in the Vice-President’s Office, as well as Colombian Army officers.
On Tuesday, 27 January, the ICBL participants met with representatives of UN agencies, the OAS, and OIM, at UNICEF, where they heard brief presentations on their various mine action activities in Colombia. UNICEF’s country director for Colombia and Venezuela, Manuel Manrique, congratulated the participants for their work in monitoring implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty and asked Landmine Monitor to try and provide research into where paramilitary forces in Colombia obtain landmines, where they laid them, and what happens to the weapons following demobilization. The OAS has recently opened a three-person mine action office in Bogotá.
On Wednesday, 28 January, ICBL participants held a morning roundtable discussion, ‘On the Road to Nairobi,’ together with the Campaña Colombiana Contra Minas (CCCM) in a downtown hotel. Approximately 70 people attended from the OAS, Colombian Red Cross, numerous NGOs, UNICEF, and diplomatic representatives from the embassies of Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Panamá, Switzerland, and Uruguay. The Director of Multilateral Affairs in the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Colombia, Miguel Camilo Ruiz Blanco, presented on the government of Colombia’s plans and priorities on the road to Nairobi. The Canadian Ambassador, Jean-Marc Duval, spoke and later hosted a lunch reception.
Local and regional media covered the event, highlighting in particular the ICBL’s call for an end to antipersonnel mine use in Colombia by rebels and paramilitaries. Media coverage included El Tiempo (the national daily newspaper), RCN and Caracol (national television networks), and further away in Brazil, Italy, and Spain. The ICBL presented a translation of the Landmine Monitor Report 2003 country updates from the region, as well as the Executive Summary in Spanish.
On Thursday, 29 January, the ICBL participants visited the poor, mine-affected community of Zaragoza northeast of Medellín in the department of Antioquia. The municipality has had 35 mine incidents in the past two years, including casualties and other instances of reporting on mines. All the survivors we met were injured in 2001, 2002 or 2003. UNICEF and CCCM organized the visit, including the provision of transportation by plane and helicopter. UN security protocols were followed for the field visit and UNICEF staff person Diana Roa Castro, formerly CCCM, provided the ICBL participants with a briefing on the landmine situation in Zaragoza and security procedures.
In Zaragoza, landmine survivors made emotional and powerful presentations on their experiences and current situation, most are living under dire socio-economic circumstances. The survivors and municipal authorities, including the mayor, had done a considerable amount of preparation for the visit, which they said was the first time an international delegation had come to talk with them about any of their problems. Their recommendations/requests included access to housing and education, initiation of a small-scale skills training for some of the survivors as goldsmiths, the establishment of a national lottery for mine victims, and a call to convince parties to the conflict, including recently demobilized paramilitary groups to disclose where their mines are laid.
On Friday, 30 January, the ICBL participants attended an event for the ‘Seeds of Hope’ program at the rehabilitation NGO CIREC (Centro Integral de Rehabilitación de Colombia). The program aims to empower and train disabled persons, including landmine survivors, to become leaders in their communities. The ICBL participants also took a tour of the center, which is Colombia’s only integrated rehabilitation facility for persons with disabilities.
In the afternoon, the participants concluded their week of activities in a discussion with CCCM’s departamental/regional coordinators and mine survivors from around the country. Each ICBL participant partnered up with a CCCM departmental coordinator in an attempt to continue their relationship and support each other’s work.
The ICBL participants are grateful to the Campaña Colombiana Contra Minas (CCCM), especially Álvaro Jiménez Millán, María Clara Ucrós, and Camilo Serna Villegas, CIREC, especially Jeannette Perry de Saravia, and UNICEF, especially Diana Roa Castro, as well as to the Landmine Monitor’s Americas research coordinator, Charlie Avendaño, and the ICBL Program Officer, Jackie Hansen, for their expert and dedicated hosting of the week’s events. Their support was greatly appreciated, as was their tremendous hospitality.
ICBL members participated from around the region (from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, the United States, and Venezuela). Thirteen Landmine Monitor researchers participated for the following countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panamá, Perú, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Three research coordinators attended: Mary Wareham of HRW, Sheree Bailey of HIB, and Wenche Brenden of NPA.
Also see the ICBL Press Release "Campaign deplores continued mine use in Colombia"
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Posted by Briana Wilson at 19:55, 02 March 2004