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Press Release

OAS CONTINUES SUPPORTING ANTI-LANDMINE EFFORTS IN HONDURAS

At the request of the government of Honduras, the Office of Humanitarian Mine Action of the Organization of American States (OAS) will continue supporting that country’s efforts to respond to reports about the presence of landmines, documented through preventive education efforts in the area bordering Nicaragua.

The Director of the Office of Humanitarian Mine Action, William McDonough, indicated that the OAS, in coordination with Honduran authorities, will address seven pending complaints about antipersonnel landmines located in the Aniwas and San Andrés communities, in the departments of Olancho and El Paraíso. McDonough reaffirmed the OAS commitment “to continue supporting Honduras in its efforts to attend to landmine survivors and to address complaints that are reported, with the help of the international community.”

In its October 2004 “Declaration on the Humanitarian Demining Program in Honduras,” the Honduran government stated that it had met with its obligations under Article 5 of the Ottawa Convention, which includes the destruction of landmines in all suspicious areas identified at that time by the Honduran authorities. The government’s actions have also fulfilled the mandates of OAS General Assembly resolutions on Humanitarian Mine Action, established since 1993.

Since 2006, with support form the United States government, the OAS has carried out preventive education efforts that raised landmine awareness in 18 communities of the Paraíso, Danlí and Trojes municipalities, in the department of El Paraíso, and Catacamas, in Olancho. Those communities are located within five kilometers of minefields located in Nicaragua. During this process, 16 reports were documented verifying the presence of 41 landmines and 136 explosive artifacts.

In order to provide a prompt response and work in coordination with the national authorities, the OAS—with resources provided by the Italian government—supported efforts carried out recently by the Armed Forces of Honduras to destroy these artifacts which threatened citizens’ security.

Similarly, with financing from the United States, the OAS has been providing assistance to landmine accident survivors in Honduras for their physical rehabilitation. From August 2006 through March 2007, the OAS program provided rehabilitation services to the 40 survivors identified thus far.

The last registered landmine accident to claim a Honduran victim took place on November 25, 2005. Jesús Cruz Velásquez, from the San Francisco de la Lodosa community, died instantly while traveling through the Nicaraguan border region on a hunting trip.

Reference: E-103/07