The
Organization of American States (OAS) Mine Action Program (Spanish acronym -
AICMA) is an integrated effort to assist OAS Member States in addressing
the continuing problems caused by the existence of antipersonnel landmines. The
Program developed from the Assistance Program for Demining in Central America
(PADCA), which was created in 1991 at the request of the mine-affected countries
of Central America. Since its initiation, AICMA has incorporated the previously
existing demining program into its structure, while serving as the focal point
for the OAS on all landmine issues throughout the Americas. Through its
mandates, the OAS General Assembly has extended the goals of the Program to
include the total elimination of landmines and the conversion of the Western
Hemisphere into an antipersonnel-landmine-free zone. It has also called on the
component organizations of the Inter-American System to participate in the
development of programs to support mine risk awareness and preventive education,
the physical and psychological rehabilitation of victims, and the socio-economic
reclamation of demined zones.
PROGRAM COORDINATION
Since May 1995, responsibility for the general
coordination and supervision of the Program has been assigned to the Unit for
the Promotion of Democracy (UPD), with the technical support of the
Inter-American Defense Board (IADB). The main responsibilities of the UPD
include fund raising in the international community, financial management,
political and diplomatic coordination, and ensuring that all essential
components of each national demining project are available and functioning
properly. The IADB is responsible for organizing the international team of
about 30 supervisors from OAS Member States that provide technical support,
training and certification of demining procedures in the beneficiary countries
in accordance with international standards.
A distinctive feature of the Program is its multilateral nature, with
progress due, in large measure, to the support of member states including
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,
Peru, Venezuela, and the United States, and the contributions of international
donors, including Australia, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain,
Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the Russian Federation, South Korea,
Spain, and Sweden, among others. Over the course of 2001, these contributions
amounted to approximately US$6.8 million. Although total contributions for the
year represented a high point for the program, this amount fell approximately
US$ 3.5 million short of projected requirements. The negative impact of this
shortfall on operations was significant, particularly in Costa Rica, Honduras
and Nicaragua.
The Program also relies upon a significant level of coordination with
international and non-governmental organizations. In the past year, AICMA
worked with a number of entities on significant mine action projects, among
these are the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), the Geneva
International Center for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), the United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Center for International Rehabilitation, the
Mine Action Information Center (MAIC) of James Madison University and the Survey
Action Center.
HUMANITARIAN DEMINING
Guatemala. AICMA supported mine and
unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance operations with the participation of the
Volunteer Firemen’s Corps, the Guatemalan Army, demobilized members of the
former insurgent organization (Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unit - URNG)
and international supervisors from the IADB. Following the completion of
operations in the department of Quiché, demining activities were shifted
to the department of San Marcos in September 2001. These departments represent
the most seriously affected regions of the country and have been given the
highest priority in the National Plan for Demining and Destruction of UXO.
Coverage and clearance of all high-priority areas is programmed for completion
in 2005.
Honduras. The completion of clearance operations along the Nicaraguan
border was anticipated by December 2001. However, poor weather, adverse soil
conditions and maintenance difficulties with medical evacuation aircraft
resulted in the reprogramming of demining activities through 2002, when the last
remaining mined areas along the border with Nicaragua are expected to be
cleared.
Nicaragua. Demining units supported by AICMA destroyed over 5,000
mines in 2001, the highest annual total since program initiation in 1993. By
January 2002, the Nicaraguan Army reported that of more than 135,000 mines
originally emplaced, about 63,000 remained to be destroyed. AICMA continued to
provide funding for the demining activities of three 100-member demining units,
a 50-member independent demining platoon and a 10-dogs with handlers canine mine
detection unit. To complement manual and canine assets, a mechanical mine
clearance capability was added in September 2001 using equipment provided by the
Government of Japan. In view of these developments, the goal of the Nicaraguan
Government continues to be completion of its National Demining Plan by the end
of 2004.
Costa Rica. Since late 2000, demining operations have been hampered
by the unavailability of air medical evacuation support. Moreover, the lack of
donor support for the Costa Rican program led to a suspension of activities in
January 2002. Despite a lack of funding, completion of a national impact survey
is expected in August 2002 and will form the basis for future OAS support
requests to the donor community.
Ecuador. AICMA established a coordination office in mid-2001 and began
evaluations of Ecuadorian demining unit safety, technical procedures and
equipment requirements. With assistance from the AICMA national coordinator, the
Ecuadorian Army developed a two-year operational demining plan. In accordance
with the plan, clearance operations in 2002 will focus on six specific mined
areas in the department of El Oro and an additional 53 mined areas along the
border with Peru. The IADB has requested its members provide military personnel
to form a team of international monitors to be formed and deployed by
mid-2002.
Peru. Upon establishment of a coordination office in mid-2001, initial
program expenditures were used to support medical and life insurance for
deminers conducting operations in the area of the Zarumilla Canal. In February
2002, the Peruvian Army finalized plans for the reinitiation of demining work in
Tumbes, Sullana and the Cordillera del Condor. AICMA worked with Peruvian and
Ecuadorian demining authorities to ensure that operations on both sides of the
border will be closely coordinated. In addition, IADB instructors conducted
training courses for both army and National Police deminers prior to
reinitiating mine clearance operations with international monitoring in
mid-2002.
MINE RISK AWARENESS EDUCATION
The mine risk awareness programs supported by
AICMA, aim to reduce the risk of death and injury by promoting safe behavior,
and also to facilitate solutions to the high risk behavior that is observed in
some of the affected communities. The program recognizes the importance of
increasing the involvement of affected communities in mine awareness
initiatives. In Central America, it is important to highlight the double
benefit obtained by the participation of the affected communities in the
landmine awareness activities. Not only do community members learn about the
danger of landmines, but also, in specific cases where no landmine records exit,
the communities are the main sources of information for the location of the
mined areas and explosive devices. The Mine Risk Awareness Education for the
Civilian Population campaign was strengthened through community visits, a
variety of national radio messages and school programs. In each of the
recipient countries, AICMA personnel visited schools in affected areas to
provide mine risk awareness classes and distribute informational material. Local
radio campaigns aimed at conveying mine awareness messages were conducted in
Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua for the second consecutive year. In April
2001, AICMA and UNICEF hosted a seminar in Nicaragua on mine risk education,
entitled “A Single Voice.” A working group composed of seminar
participants subsequently developed a national accident prevention guide as well
as materials to be used in national mine risk awareness campaigns. The
materials were approved by the National Demining Commission and produced using
funds from both AICMA and UNICEF.
VICTIM ASSISTANCE
The "Program for Care to Victims of Mines and
Explosive Devices" was established in Nicaragua with the assistance of the
Government of Sweden in 1997. Since its inception, the program has addressed
specific needs of over 350 landmine victims who have no social security or army
benefits with transportation from their communities to the rehabilitation
center, lodging, nourishment, prostheses, therapy, and medications. The program
maintains victims’ records that include personal identification, home
community, type of injury, type of prosthesis, account of the accident, and, in
most cases, photographs of the victim. This program has provided care for
people who otherwise would be left with no chance of rehabilitation and
reintegration into productive life. In addition, limited, immediate medical
support has been provided to mine accident survivors using medical personnel and
resources of the Nicaraguan demining units until the victims can be assisted
through the OAS Victim Assistance Program. Last year, 139 people received
rehabilitative or specialized medical attention through this program.
In conjunction with the National Technological Institute of Nicaragua
(INATEC), AICMA developed a proposal for the Post-Rehabilitation Job Training
Project. The goal is to provide technical job training to landmine victims who
have received physical and psychological rehabilitation assistance through the
OAS program. With the assistance of the Office of Mine Action Initiatives and
Partnerships of the U.S. State Department, Global Care Unlimited, a non-profit
organization established by a group of New Jersey students and teachers, has
agreed to “adopt” a group of landmine survivors selected by INATEC
to participate. INATEC will coordinate training at national facilities in
courses of eight months’ duration that will include auto mechanics,
computer skills, carpentry, shoemaking, tailoring and cosmetology.
STOCKPILE DESTRUCTION
The role of AICMA in promoting the elimination of
stockpiled antipersonnel mines in the Western Hemisphere continued to grow in
2001. For this purpose, Canada contributed US$448,616, while Australia provided
US$38,917 to support efforts by requesting Member States to destroy their
stockpiles prior to the Third Meeting of the States Parties to the Ottawa
Convention in Managua in September 2001. This project, known as the
“Managua Challenge,” saw the completion of stockpile destruction by
Peru of over 313,000 mines in a four-month period, with monitoring by several
international organizations including the OAS. Ecuador destroyed some 154,344
mines with the support of technical experts provided by the Governments of
Canada and Nicaragua by September 2001, joining Honduras as OAS member states
finalizing the process before the Third Meeting of the States Parties. Nicaragua
also destroyed an additional 40,000 mines by March 2002, leaving some 26,813
mines of the original 136,813 in the Nicaraguan inventory to be destroyed by the
end of 2002.
MINE ACTION DATABASE
The Information Management System for Mine Action
(IMSMA) database, which was developed in collaboration with the United Nations
Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian
Demining (GICHD), was expanded significantly over the past year. Using the
IMSMA database, the Program in Nicaragua completed a socio-economic impact
survey for the department of Nueva Segovia, the most seriously mine-affected
political division in the country. Outputs from the survey were made available
through the Internet, and impact studies of the other mine-affected departments
in Nicaragua have been initiated. In the future, data for Honduras and Costa
Rica will also be added, and establishment of separate databases in Peru,
Ecuador and Colombia is underway. In January 2002, a regional support office for
IMSMA, staffed by the GICHD, was set up within the AICMA Nicaragua office.
ADVOCACY FOR THE LANDMINE BAN
AICMA continued to promote the interest expressed
by OAS General Assembly resolutions in the universalization of the Convention on
the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of
Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction. AICMA headed the OAS delegation
which participated in the Third Meeting of the States Parties to the Ottawa
Convention, held in Managua in September 2001. The AICMA delegation also
participated in the meetings of the Standing Committees held in Geneva in
January and May 2002.
COLOMBIAN REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE
The Colombian Government formally requested
technical and financial assistance from the OAS in complying with its
obligations under the Ottawa Convention. The most likely areas of assistance
include mine risk awareness education, landmine victim assistance, and mine
database establishment and maintenance. AICMA representatives met with
Colombian officials during the first quarter of 2002 to begin coordination of
support details.
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