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CANADA SUPPORTS DEMINING IN NICARAGUA AND COLOMBIA THROUGH THE OAS

The government of Canada reaffirmed its commitment to humanitarian mine action in the Americas, carried out through the Organization of American States (OAS), by contributing (U.S.) $638,000 in new funding for demining activities in Nicaragua and Colombia.

“Canada has been one of the most consistent and important donors in humanitarian demining operations in Latin America, ” said William McDonough, Director of the OAS Office of Humanitarian Mine Action. Since the signing of the Ottawa Convention against landmines in 1997, Canada—through its Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)—has supported OAS efforts in this area with contributions of more than $7.6 million dollars.

“As a result of Canada’s humanitarian aid and the support of 15 other donor countries, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala and Suriname have declared their territories free of the impact of mines and unexploded ordnance,” McDonough explained.

In Nicaragua, the new Canadian contribution of $234,000 will cover operational expenses during the first quarter of 2007 for one of the five OAS-supported humanitarian demining units working along the border with Honduras.

The projected conclusion of mine-clearance operations in Nicaragua by the end of this year would make Central America the first region in the world to be freed from the impact of antipersonnel mines. Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala and El Salvador are already considered landmine-free.

The Canadian contribution will also support landmine victims’ physical and psychological rehabilitation, as well as their economic and social reintegration. The program has assisted more than 900 people with prostheses and orthotic devices, and has provided vocational training to more than 200 victims, through the National Technological Institute.

Colombia, for its part, received about $404,000 to train and equip a new demining unit consisting of 40 sappers from that country’s armed forces. In coordination with the OAS and the Observatory of Mines in Colombia, this unit will be dedicated exclusively to humanitarian mine-clearance operations in order to eliminate all minefields under the control and jurisdiction of the Colombian armed forces.

In Colombia, which has an average of three landmine accidents a day, the funds will also support assistance programs for victims through the Integral Rehabilitation Center of Colombia (CIREC in Spanish).

Since 1991, the OAS Mine Action Program has supported humanitarian demining operations in the hemisphere with the technical assistance of the Inter-American Defense Board.

Reference: E-031/07