The Organization of American
States created in 1992 a Program for Assistance to Demining in Central America (PADCA)
as a response to requests from Central American countries affected by
antipersonnel mines such as, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala.
Since then, the Program evolved within its eminently humanitarian vision of
reestablishing safe, secure, and productive living conditions for mine-affected
populations. Within six years and considering the negative mine impact upon
development, human rights, gender equality, and the needs of children and
adolescents, PADCA expanded into a program for Comprehensive Action against
Antipersonnel Mines (AICMA for its initials in Spanish) with greater
capabilities.
A distinctive aspect of the AICMA Program is
its eminently humanitarian nature, seeking to reestablish safe and secure living
conditions for mine-affected populations, reduce the risk and dangers of
unexploded ordnance (UXO) and antipersonnel mines, and return previously mined
land to productive use. Additionally, the Program is multilateral in nature in
that, in addition to beneficiary countries, a number of donor and contributing
countries, international organizations, and non-governmental entities
participate in this effort.
The program for Comprehensive Action against
Antipersonnel Mines (AICMA) is available to all OAS Member States. Its Director
works out of OAS Headquarters in Washington, D.C. through Regional Coordinators
in Managua and Bogota. Currently, AICMA assists national demining plans in
Nicaragua, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru designed to fulfill their national and
international obligations.
AICMA carries out
Mine Action in:
· Mine
Risk Education for mine affected communities
· Technical
Assistance in humanitarian demining, including locating and mapping sites
· Destruction
of Stockpiled Mines
· Victim
Assistance including physical and psychological rehabilitation as well as
socioeconomic reintegration of cleared lands or communities
· Development
of Mine Action database
· Destruction
of munitions, small arms and explosive remnants of war (ERW)
· Support
for the Ban on Antipersonnel Mines
