Mine Action — Removing Landmines

For the past several years, the OAS has been coordinating an international program to remove tens of thousands of antipersonnel landmines that pose a threat to civilians in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Now the Organization is in the early stages of coordinating mine action programs in Ecuador and Peru. 

These two countries, which resolved their longstanding border dispute in 1998, both have national efforts underway to clear their territory of landmines. The OAS-coordinated effort will greatly increase their demining capacity, channeling international funds, equipment and training personnel to the area.  

The agreement for the program in Ecuador was signed in March 2001 by that country’s Foreign Minister, Heinz Moeller, and OAS Assistant Secretary General Luigi Einaudi. A similar agreement with Peru was signed at the OAS in May by Secretary General César Gaviria and Peruvian Ambassador Manuel Rodríguez. International donors have pledged funds to get the programs underway. 

In both countries, efforts will focus on various fronts: Landmine risk awareness education for the civilian population; support for minefield surveying, mapping, marking and landmine removal; victim assistance and socioeconomic reintegration of formerly mined zones; stockpile destruction; support for a total ban on the production, use and stockpiling of antipersonnel landmines; and establishment of a mine action database. Each country is estimated to have about 120,000 mines in the ground. In recent months, both countries have been destroying stockpiled mines—Peru had some 313,000 and Ecuador 154,000—with the goal of completing the process by the Third Meeting of States Parties to the Ottawa Convention, which will be held in Nicaragua September 18-21, 2001. 

The Central American Experience 

The OAS has gained extensive experience in mine action in Central America, where it has supported continuous demining operations since 1995. Based in Managua, Nicaragua, the Assistance Program for Demining in Central America operates as a partnership involving the OAS, the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB) and mine-clearing personnel from the affected countries. It receives funding and personnel support from many OAS member and observer countries.*  

The OAS, through its Unit for the Promotion of Democracy (UPD), manages the program, identifying, obtaining and delivering the resources that are needed, including funds, equipment and personnel. The IADB oversees mine-clearing operations, working with field supervisors from various countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Venezuela. The actual mine clearing is done by teams of trained soldiers, security forces or other personnel from the affected country. 

More than 85,000 mines are still believed to be buried in Central America, the vast majority in Nicaragua. Mine removal is being carried out in that country by the Nicaraguan Army, both as part of the OAS-coordinated, internationally funded effort and in a direct bilateral effort funded by several donors. It is estimated that operations will be completed in Nicaragua by 2004. Honduras and Costa Rica are expected to be free of landmines in 2001 and 2002, respectively. The effort is expected to take longer in Guatemala, where unexploded ordnance such as grenades, mortars and bombs pose a threat. As in the case of Ecuador and Peru, the OAS mine action program in Central America goes beyond the minefields themselves to include mine awareness education, victim assistance, data collection and other activities. 

Jody Williams, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for campaigning against antipersonnel landmines, visited Honduras and Nicaragua in January 1999 to observe the OAS-sponsored mine-clearing activities. Later she told the OAS Permanent Council that the nations of the hemisphere have shown “leadership and commitment” on this issue. With the exception of the United States and Cuba, all the nations of the Americas have signed the Ottawa Convention banning antipersonnel landmines. As of August 2001, 29 nations in the hemisphere had ratified the treaty, called the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction. 

*The following countries have donated funds, equipment or personnel to OAS-coordinated mine action efforts: Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, El Salvador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela. Various non-governmental organizations have also made contributions.

For more information:
Col. (Ret.) Bill McDonough,
OAS Mine Action

Phone   (202) 458-3524

Fax: (202) 458-3545.

demining@oas.org 
wmcdonough@oas.org

Last updated: September 2001