Key
developments since May 2001: Perú has played a leadership role in
the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional work program, and in promotion of full
implementation of the treaty. Perú served as co-chair of the Mine Ban
Treaty Standing Committee on Mine Clearance until September 2001 and since then,
has served as co-rapporteur of the Standing Committee on General Status and
Operation. In September 2001, Perú completed destruction of its
stockpiled antipersonnel mines. It reduced the number of mines retained for
training to 4,024, and destroyed a total of 322,892 mines. In June 2002, the
Peruvian Army completed mine clearance along 18 kilometers of the Zarumilla
Canal on the border with Ecuador.
MINE BAN POLICY
Perú signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3
December 1997, ratified on 17 June 1998, and the treaty entered into force on 1
March 1999. On 16 May 2002, Perú submitted its third Article 7 Report,
covering the period from March 2001 to March
2002.[1] It included
information in optional Form J.
While Perú has reported thirteen different implementation measures,
there is no specific legislation in place to implement the Mine Ban
Treaty.[2] A number of
provisions in Perú’s Criminal Code apply to possession and trade in
weapons and include criminal sanctions; these would apply to antipersonnel
mines.[3]
Perú attended the Third Meeting of States Parties in September 2001,
where it announced completion of its stockpile
destruction.[4] Representatives
from Perú’s diplomatic mission in Geneva and the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs attended the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in
January and May 2002.
Perú continued to play a leadership role in the intersessional work
program in general. It served as co-chair of the Standing Committee on Mine
Clearance and Related Technologies, along with the Netherlands, from September
2000 to September 2001. Following the Third Meeting of States Parties, it took
on the role of co-rapporteur of the Standing Committee on the General Status and
Operation of the Convention, together with Austria.
[5]
At the May 2002 meeting of the Standing Committee on General Status and
Operation, Perú made an intervention with respect to Article 2 of the
Mine Ban Treaty (on the issue of antivehicle mines with antihandling devices),
in which it encouraged States Parties to evaluate their positions taking into
account humanitarian aspects, and to make an “authentic
interpretation” of the Mine Ban Treaty according to its spirit as well as
its letter.[6]
At the Standing Committee meetings in May 2002, Perú and the ICRC
organized a Spanish-language information seminar on the Mine Ban Treaty and
related topics such as antivehicle mines, explosives remnants of war, and the
Convention on Conventional Weapons and its protocols, which was attended by
government representatives from the region, as well as the OAS, ICRC, GICHD, UN,
and ICBL.
Perú cosponsored and voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution
56/24M in support of the Mine Ban Treaty on 29 November 2001.
Perú is a State Party to Amended Protocol II of the Convention on
Conventional Weapons (CCW). It participated in the third annual meeting of
State Parties to Amended Protocol II of the CCW and the Second CCW Review
Conference, both in December 2001. Perú submitted its annual Article 13
report, on 10 December 2001.
Bilateral and Regional Initiatives
Perú continues to promote implementation of
the Mine Ban Treaty in bilateral and regional efforts. On 9 September 2001, the
Perú-Chile Permanent Committee on Consultations and Policy Coordination,
which was established in July 2001, met for the first time, with the Ministers
of Foreign Affairs and Defense of both countries
participating.[7] One of the
first measures agreed on was to hold simultaneous stockpile destruction events
on 13 September 2001 in Calama, Chile and Pucusana,
Perú.[8] The Ministers
agreed on a ten-point declaration that included a commitment to eradicate
landmines from their common border as soon as
possible.[9]
On 23-25 November 2001, Perú hosted the XI Iberoamerican Summit,
attended by the 21 member
nations.[10] The
43rd point of the Lima Declaration focused on the landmine problem in
the region and stated, “[T]aking into account the devastating effect of
antipersonnel mines on civilian populations, we highlight the importance of the
Third Meeting of State Parties and reaffirm our expectations for finding
solutions to eliminate this problem, to improve the situation of victims and
facilitate their reinsertion in the socioeconomic life of their countries. In
this sense, we make a call to States that have the necessary resources and
technologies to continue to provide assistance.”
Representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Army attended a
conference on “Mine Action in Latin America” in Miami, from 3-5
December 2001, where Army and Ministry of Foreign Affairs representatives made a
presentation on Peruvian perspectives in mine
action.[11]
On 17 June 2002, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense of the Andean
Community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú and Venezuela) met in Lima
and issued the “Lima
Commitment.”[12] In the
Lima Commitment, six points were outlined related to the Mine Ban Treaty,
including complete destruction of stocks, establishing national programs for
victim assistance and socioeconomic reintegration, and a call for non-state
actors to comply with the international norm against antipersonnel mines.
On 25 June 2002, Chile’s Minister of Foreign Affairs met with
Perú’s Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense in Lima. In a
joint press release, the Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to eradicate
antipersonnel mines, according to the requirements of the Mine Ban Treaty, and
expressed satisfaction that Chile had decided to implement a national mine
clearance plan to eradicate mines along the common
border.[13]
PRODUCTION, TRANSFER AND USE
The Navy’s Center for Weapons Manufacturing
used to produce antipersonnel mines. Perú has reported that production
facilities were permanently closed in
1997.[14] The National Police
also produced antipersonnel mines, but stopped in
1994.[15] In its most recent
Article 7 report, Perú disclosed that antipersonnel mines were also
manufactured at the “Los Cibeles” Police
Barracks.[16]
A senior Ministry of Defense official told Landmine Monitor that Perú
never exported antipersonnel
mines.[17] In the past,
Perú imported mines from Belgium, Spain, the United States, the USSR, and
Yugoslavia.
In mid January 2002, a Newsweek magazine article reported that
guerrillas from one of Colombia’s main guerrilla groups, the Fuerzas
Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo (Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army, FARC-EP) were seen deep in the Peruvian
jungle 450 kilometers from the border with Colombia, equipped with weapons
including landmines.[18]
Perú maintains that it did not use landmines during the “Cenepa
Conflict” with Ecuador in
1995.[19]
STOCKPILING AND DESTRUCTION
On 13 September 2001, the Engineering Service of
the Army destroyed the final 27,025 antipersonnel mines from Perú’s
stockpiles. The destruction took place at Quebrada Cruz del Hueso in
Lurín, in the department of
Lima.[20] Government officials,
diplomats, and representatives of international and regional agencies attended
the event. By completing this task ahead of the Third Meeting of State Parties,
which opened on 18 September 2001, Perú met the key “Managua
Challenge” goal.[21]
Perú destroyed a total of 321,730 antipersonnel mines, all in a period
of three and a half months, from 30 May to 13 September 2001. An additional 926
antipersonnel mines were destroyed in December 2001, in keeping with a decision
to reduce the number of mines retained for training purposes, bringing the total
to 322,892 destroyed mines.[22]
In May 2002, Perú reported that it is retaining 4,024 antipersonnel
mines for training.[23] This
represents a decrease of 1,554 mines from the number previously
reported.[24] The Army has
retained 4,000 antipersonnel mines: 500 PMD-6 (USSR-manufactured), 775 CICITEC
(Perú), 600 M18-A1 Claymore (USA), 100 M35 C/ESP M5 (Belgium), 525 M-409
(Belgium), 500 PMA-3 (former Yugoslavia), 500 PMD-6M (USSR), and 500 POMZ-2M
(USSR).[25] The other 24 mines
are CICITEC mines being retained by the National Police DIVSAM-DEXA
(División de Seguridad de Activación de Minas-Dispositivos
Explosivos de Autoprotección).
Destruction of Perú’s Stockpiled Antipersonnel
Mines[26]
Perú is affected by landmines on the
northern border with Ecuador, as a result of the border conflict in 1995; on the
southern border with Chile; and in two coastal departments (Lima and Ica) and
five departments in the Andean Highlands (Cajamarca, Huancavelica, Junín,
and Puno) where the Armed Forces and National Police laid mines around public
infrastructure and electrical
installations[27] during
Perú’s internal conflict of the 1980s and early 1990s. Past
reporting by Landmine Monitor has provided extensive detail of the landmine
problem and affected areas.[28]
Landmine Monitor has found no evidence of mine-affected areas in regions along
the border with Colombia.
In May 2002, Perú provided additional information on departments in
the northern border areas that are suspected mine-affected, due to mine
incidents in the areas. These include six suspected areas in Tumbes, three in
Piura, four in Amazonas and six in
Loreto.[29] With respect to the
departments of Amazonas and Loreto, Perú reported that it did not use
mines before, during, or after the 1995 “Cenepa Conflict,” and that
it does not possess maps or registries of mines in these
areas.[30]
Perú’s mine problem has been affected by climate changes such as
El Niño. Heavy rainfall along the border with Ecuador creates the danger
of mine displacement.[31] It is
also suspected that in the south, Chilean mines might have been displaced into
Peruvian territory by rain and erosion. According to an official at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the landmine problem along the border with Chile
was not included in the Article 7 Report because Perú had not laid mines
there.[32]
Most mine incidents occur in the departments of Huancavelica, Ica,
Junín, and Lima, and, according to the Office of the Ombudsman
(Defensoria del Publico) which published the first national independent study
about the landmine problem in Perú, the mined areas around the electrical
towers pose a greater threat for the civilian population than mine-affected
areas along the northern
border.[33]
In March 2002, the ICRC and Ombudsman were reported as saying that people in
the highlands often take down the protective fencing around the electrical
towers to use it in their own fields. Then mine incidents occur when cattle
enter the area to graze, and people ignore the warnings and try to recover their
animals.[34]
The DEXA antipersonnel mine, used in the tens of thousands around the
electrical towers, is believed to pose the greatest threat to civilians because
it looks like a container which people usually associate with food or
humanitarian aid supplies.[35]
Children mistake the DEXA for toys or try to use them as toy
boxes.[36]
MINE ACTION FUNDING
In its fiscal year 2001, the United States provided
over $1.66 million for mine action activities in
Perú.[37] This
contribution covered the costs of US Special Operations Forces “train the
trainer” programs, as well as provision of vehicles and equipment for
demining.[38]
In addition, in 2001 contributions to the OAS Assistance Program for Demining
in both Ecuador and Perú totalled $1.59 million ($594,000 from Japan and
$1 million from the US).[39]
This represents an increase from $772,347 contributed for the year 2000
($272,437 from Canada and $500,000 from the US), and $198,000 for 1999 (from
Canada).
Total contributions for the “Managua Challenge” project, which
assisted stockpile destruction by Perú, Ecuador, and Honduras prior to
the Third Meeting of State Parties in September 2001, totaled $487,533 ($448,616
from Canada and $38,917 from
Australia).[40]
In May 2002, officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that the
National Police and the electric energy company ETECEN had signed a $371,000
agreement for mine clearance around 350 ETECEN high-tension
towers.[41] A $100,000 OAS
contribution will be used for insurance for the demining personnel, equipment,
food, and lodging.[42] In its
2002 budget, ETECEN allocated $45,136 to purchase mine incident insurance for
Divsam-Dexa personnel.
MINE ACTION COORDINATION AND PLANNING
Perú is in the process of establishing the
Peruvian Center for Mine Action, to be known as “Contraminas.”
Contraminas is already preparing a draft mine action
plan,[43] and setting up an
Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA)
database.[44] Until Contraminas
is officially launched, coordination of mine action activities in Perú
remains the responsibility of the Mine Action Working Group, made up of the
Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense, and established in September
1999.[45]
In February 2002, the Peruvian Army drafted a plan for the continuation of
mine clearance along the border with Ecuador, as well as around the electrical
towers inside the country.[46]
Periodic visits by AICMA personnel are planned to provide assistance to this
effort until a joint OAS-IADB technical team is established in mid-2002.
In May 2002, the Office of the Ombudsman asserted to Landmine Monitor that
there is no coordination among the various institutions that deal with landmine
issues.[47] It also said the
absence of the landmine issue in the media is a problem, and this is because the
issue is not an urban problem; victims are usually poor people from the interior
of the country.[48]
MINE CLEARANCE
Border with Ecuador
As part of the peace
agreement of 26 October 1998, Perú and Ecuador agreed to demine the
border under the supervision of the Ecuador/Perú Multinational
Observation Mission, MOMEP.[49]
Mine clearance operations are the responsibility of Peruvian Army Engineers.
The demining battalion has 140 persons, in ten teams of fourteen each,
trained in 1999 with the support of the US and
Spain.[50] Perú reported
that by the end of 2001, 95 people (officers and NCOs) had been trained in mine
clearance and stockpile
destruction.[51] Between May
1999 and June 2000, the Engineering School of the Peruvian Army conducted five
courses on demining and on stockpile
destruction.[52]
Perú has completed three important mine clearance projects along the
Ecuadorian border. The first, between January and March 1999, involved clearance
of 82,814 square meters of land, and destruction of 438 mines, in order to
permit placement of border markers between the two
countries.[53]
The second, completed between October 1999 and March 2000, together with
Ecuador, involved mine clearance of a 7.1 kilometer-long and 5 meter-wide trail
that joins the Tiwinza Memorial, located on the Peruvian side of the border,
with Ecuador.[54] Some 963
antipersonnel mines were destroyed in the demining operation, which cost
$2,854,012.[55]
The third project, initiated in July 2001, involved mine clearance of the 18
kilometers of the Zarumilla Canal and its source at La Palma. In 2002, further
clearance took place because flooding in December 2001 raised concerns about
possible displacement of
mines.[56] On 14 June 2002, the
Army declared clearance of Zarumilla Canal complete and said that 906 mines and
1,259 UXO had been
found.[57]
Electrical Towers
Mine clearance operations around public
infrastructure and high-tension electrical towers is the responsibility of the
electrical companies and executed by a specialized division of the National
Police, DIVSAM-DEXA.
Clearance of 178 mined high-tension towers owned by the private electricity
company EDEGEL was completed on 16 February 2001, and 9,168 mines were
destroyed, according to the National
Police.[58] Between March and
December 2001, DIVSAM-DEXA destroyed 212 mines laid around eight high-tension
towers owned by ETECEN.[59]
As noted above, the National Police and the electric energy company ETECEN
have signed an agreement to demine 350 ETECEN high-tension
towers.[60] The clearance of
the towers is being carried out with the support of the OAS, and priority is
being given to transmission lines located around populated
centers.[61]
DIVSAM-DEXA and ETECEN have also carried out inspections and installed barbed
wire and concrete barriers around high-tension electrical towers. Officers at
the DIVSAM-DEXA’s Santa Inés base submit reports, including photos,
on the status of warning signals and barbed wire fencing around mined electrical
towers.
According to officials at DIVSAM-DEXA, in October 2001, nineteen National
Police personnel participated in their eighth training course on mine clearance.
In early 2002, DIVSAM-DEXA organized a short refresher course on mine clearance
and first aid for all DIVSAM-DEXA
personnel.[62] Between April
and May 2002, the first phase of an OAS training course on humanitarian demining
was held with support from MARMINCA instructors. Forty individuals were trained
in mine clearance and another 30 in planning humanitarian demining operations. A
second phase will train officers to supervise operations, and will update
DIVSAM-DEXA procedures.[63]
MINE RISK EDUCATION
Army personnel are in charge of mine risk education
(MRE) campaigns in communities close to the border with Ecuador. They work with
bilingual teachers, and produce and disseminate magazines, posters, and other
graphic materials.[64] MRE
activities take place in schools and local communities.
In 2001, DIVSAM-DEXA conducted 63 MRE activities including eleven in
Huancayo, Junín department; eleven in Huancavelica; nine in Pisco, Ica
department; and 32 in the department of
Lima.[65]
DIVSAM-DEXA and ETECEN published a safety brochure that includes mine risk
education messages. The brochure contains little visual information and does
not accurately depict an antipersonnel mine. It is written in Spanish, but in
remote areas such as Huancavelica department, most of the population speaks the
local language (Quechua) and in addition, there is a high illiteracy rate. The
brochure also includes emergency numbers in Huancavelica and other cities but
many of Huancavelica’s villages lack telephone
service.[66]
LANDMINE CASUALTIES
In 2001, four civilians were injured in three
landmine incidents (two incidents in Chilean territory and one in
Perú):
On 7 April 2001, a 23-year old Peruvian civilian attempting to illegally
enter Chile with two companions stepped on a mine in Escritos ravine in Chilean
territory, six kilometers east of border marker
5.[67] He was taken to the
hospital in Arica (Chile) by Chilean authorities, where his right leg was
amputated.
On 6 November 2001, a 34-year old Peruvian citizen severely injured both his
legs after stepping on an antipersonnel landmine while entering Chile illegally
at Quebrada de Escritos.[68]
He was then taken to the Juan Noé hospital in Arica (Chile).
On 19 December 2001, two 13-year-old shepherds crossed a protection fence
around a high-tension electrical tower at Paso Mullaca, in Tayacaja, in
Huancavelica department.[69]
The children grabbed an “orange box”, a DEXA AP mine containing 120
grams of TNT, which exploded. One child lost his right arm and some fingers of
his left hand while the other child was blinded. ETECEN and the ICRC provided
medical services, including a prosthesis, at no cost for one child while the
other child’s medical expenses were paid by
ETECEN.[70]
As of
June 2002, two civilians had been injured and one killed in two mine incidents
in 2002, (one incident in Ecuadorian territory and one in Perú):
On 2 January 2002, two children, aged 10 and 11 years received severe
injuries, including to their eyes, in an explosion caused when they pulled a
string on a device on the side of an electrical tower some twenty meters from
their home.[71] ETECEN covered
their medical expenses in both
cases.[72]
On 10 January 2002, a 19-year old Peruvian died after stepping on a landmine
in Ecuadorian territory, when he was returning home after crossing the border to
seek work. The incident occurred in Kanga, close to the Cenepa River and three
hours from Shaime. He received first aid in a nearby town but died some hours
later while being transferred to another health
center.[73]
There
were no reported Perúvian military or police casualties in 2001 or
2002.[74]
A project to establish a national registry of landmine casualties did not
start in 2001.[75] Officials
from the DP told Landmine Monitor that there is no coordination yet between the
National Institute for Rehabilitation and the Ministry of Health to determine
causes of trauma or injury of patients they
received.[76] The ICRC Lima has
kept records of mine incidents and casualties in the country since 1992.
According to a March 2002 media report, between 1992 and 2001 the ICRC recorded
64 civilians injured by mines laid around high-tension electrical towers; most
of them were children.[77]
SURVIVOR ASSISTANCE AND DISABILITY POLICY AND PRACTICE
The Army and the National Police provide medical
assistance, physical rehabilitation, and prostheses to their personnel injured
by mines. Assistance for civilians is more limited, particularly in rural areas
close to the border with Ecuador and in the central highlands. Most mine and
UXO survivors are children from extremely poor rural areas, who face problems
with social, economic and educational reintegration following medical care and
physical rehabilitation.[78] In
general their relatives do not have the economic resources available for
transportation or to accompany the child for medical treatment, and their
capacity to provide psychological support to a person in need of additional
attention in the home is limited. Huancavelica, one of the most heavily
affected departments is also the poorest department in the country, with some of
the highest rates of
illiteracy.[79]
In 2001, the ICRC provided prostheses for two new mine survivors, and to May
2002, supplied two pairs of crutches and four
prostheses.[80] The ICRC also
covered the medical expenses of 21 people, six of whom had been injured by
landmines or UXO.[81]
An agreement between the National Rehabilitation Institute in Callao and the
ICRC has allowed mine survivors to receive physical therapy at the Institute, as
well as rehabilitation including psychological support and skills training in
areas such as shoe repair, computers or
knitting.[82] Most mine
survivors, however, are very poor and do not have the funds needed to start a
business when they return to their community after rehabilitation, and depending
on the injury suffered and the location of their community, also some survivors
cannot return to school.[83]
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs invited CONADIS (National Council for the
Integration of Persons with Disabilities) to provide a representative to assist
in the development of a National Plan for Victim Assistance, but it declined due
to a lacks of funds to do this
task.[84]
Perú has enacted a number of measures related to disabled persons,
including mine
survivors.[85]
[1] The first report was submitted on 2 May
2000, covering up to March 2000. The second report was submitted on 4 May
2001, covering March 2000-March
2001. [2] Article 7 Report, Form A, 4
May 2001; interview with Dr. Marcela Arriola, Chairperson, National Commission
of International Humanitarian Law Application (CONADIH), 31 May
2002. [3] Interview with the Air Force
General Luis Raygada Cáceres, member of the Working Group Foreign
Affairs-Defense, Lima, 25 April
2001. [4] Statement by Minister Heli
Pelaez Castro, Head of Delegation of Perú, to the Third Meeting of States
Parties, Managua, 18 September 2001. [5]
Gustavo Laurie, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Perú to the United
Nations in Geneva, served as the co-rapporteur at the January and May 2002
meetings. [6] Notes taken by Landmine
Monitor (MAC) at the Standing Committee meeting on the General Status and
Operation of the Convention, 31 May
2002. [7] “Dan primer paso reducir
gastos militares,” El Comercio, Lima, 10 September
2001. [8] Ibid.; Patricia Kadena,
“Chile ratifica que comprará más aviones F16 y
fragatas,” La República, Lima, 10 September 2001;
“Simbólica destrucción de minas,” El Mercurio de
Calama, Calama, Chile, 13 September 2001; “Ejército destruye 14,000
minas antipersonales en el norte de Chile,” AFP (Calama), 13 September
2001. [9] “Cancilleres y ministros
de Defensa de Perú y Chile acuerdan erradicar minas,” AFP (Lima), 9
September 2001. [10] The summit included
countries of Central and South America, as well as Spain and Portugal. See
http://xicumbre.rree.gob.pe and Iberoamerican States Organization at
www.oei.es/xicumbredec.htm. [11]
Presentation by Colonel Celso Salazar Lloreda of the Perúvian Army and
Chief of the Countermine Office, and Mrs. Stella Maris Chirinos Llerena, Third
Secretary, Vice-Directorate of OAS and Hemispheric Affairs, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, at the Panel on Future Challenges, “Perúvian
Perspectives,” 5 December 2001. See
http://hdic.jmu.edu/conferences/latinamerica/. [12]
“Compromiso de Lima” (aka the “Andean Letter for Peace and
Security towards Limits and Control of External Defense Spending”), 17
June 2002, at: www.rree.gob.pe; see also Statement by Ambassador Jorge
Voto-Bernales, Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, at the Conference
on Disarmament, 27 June 2002. [13]
Comunicado de Prensa Conjunto and “Canciller de Chile realiza visita
oficial a nuestro país,” Nota de Prensa 100-02, Minsterio de
Relaciones Exteriores del Perú, 25 June 2002.
[14] Article 7 Report, Form E, 16 May
2002. [15] Ibid. Past production by the
National Police was not reported in Perú’s initial Article 7
Report, though it was reported in Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 296.
[16] Article 7 Report, Form E, 16 May
2002. [17] Telephone interview with
General Raúl O’Connor, Director, Information Office, Ministry of
Defense, 19 April 2000. [18] Sharon
Stevenson, “The FARC's Fifth Column,” Newsweek, 15-21 January
2002. [19] Article 7 Report, Form C, 16
May 2002. [20] “Record of
Destruction of Antipersonnel Landmines.” Document certifying the
destruction, dated 13 September
2002. [21] “Perú culmina
destrucción de 321,368 minas antipersonales”, La República,
(Lima), 13 September 2001, “Perú culmina destrucción de
minas antipersonales, anuncia ministro”, AFP (Lima), 13 September 2001,
“Respuesta por la vida” El Peruano (Lima), 14 September 2001;
“Minas antipersonales peruanas ya son historia, Expreso, (Lima), 14
September 2001 “Ni una mina más en el arsenal”, El Comercio,
(Lima) 14 September 2001. [22] Article 7
Report, Form G, 16 May 2002. Perú had indicated a total of 315,312
stockpiled mines in its 2001 Article 7 Report, but in its 2002 report stated
that following further evaluation by the Ministry of Defense, and the discovery
of an additional number of CICITEC and P4 A1 mines, the total number of mines in
stock, and subsequently destroyed was 322,892. Article 7 Report, Form G, Nota,
16 May 2002, and Article 7 Report, Form B, 4 May
2001. [23] Article 7 Report, Form B and
D, table 1, 16 May 2002. [24] Article 7
Report, Form D, table 1, 4 May 2001. Of the 1,554 mines, it appears that 462
were destroyed before September 2001 (50 PMA-3 mines, 50 PMD-6M mines, 108 Navy
M-16 mines, and 254 other Navy mines variously designated MA, MGP30 or AP60510),
then 926 were destroyed in December 2001 (again various Navy mines). The
remaining mines no longer listed as retained are likely M18A1 Claymore mines
that are no longer classified as antipersonnel mines.
[25] Article 7 Report, Form B and D,
table 1, 16 May 2002. The 100 M-35 mines being retained were not listed in the
May 2001 Article 7 Report. [26] Based on
Article 7 Report, Form G, 16 May 2002; and “33,421 Minas Antipersonas
Fueron destruídas por el Ejército,” Editorial, Actualidad
Militar, No. 412, June-July 2001. The article is available at
www.ejercito.mil.pe in the publications
section. [27] For details on the more
than 53,000 antipersonnel mines laid around 1,655 high-tension electrical towers
in six departments, see Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 379; Article 7 Report,
Form C, Table 2, 16 May 2002. The Article 7 Report does not provide additional
information on electrical towers in the Paramonga area of Lima, or areas in the
former Armed Forces training center in La Chira, Lima, that are suspected to be
mine-affected. [28] For more details see
Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp.
298-299. [29] Article 7 Report, Form C,
Table 2, 16 May 2002. [30]
Ibid. [31] Interview with Advisor Manuel
Talavera, Subdirector of International Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and
member of the Foreign Affairs-Defense Working Group, Lima, 24 April 2001;
interview with Daniel Soria and Susana Klien, Commissioners of the
Constitutional Affairs Department at the Ombudsman Office, Lima, 15 May
2002. [32] Interview with Manuel
Talavera, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lima, 10 May
2002. [33] Defensoría del Pueblo,
Informe Defensorial N° 35: El problema de las minas antipersonales dentro
del territorio nacional, March 2000; interview with Commissioners Daniel Soria
and Susana Klien, Defensoría del Pueblo, Lima, 15 May
2002. [34] Gastón Agurto,
“Jaque a las Torres,” Caretas, No. 1713, Lima, 21 March
2002. [35]
Ibid. [36] Interview with Dafne Martos,
ICRC, 3 May 2002; Special Report by Julia María Urrunaga, “Meshac y
Pedael buscaban pita para sus trompos,” El Comercio (Lima), 20 January
2002; Julia María Urrunaga, “Víctimas de las minas
olvidadas,” El Comercio, Lima, 20 January
2002. [37] US Department of State,
“To Walk the Earth in Safety: The United States Commitment to Humanitarian
Demining,” November 2001, p.
38. [38]
Ibid. [39] “OAS Mine Action
Program: Statement of Contributions Received by December 2001, 1992-2001,”
Non-official table provided in email to Landmine Monitor (HRW) from Carl Case,
OAS, 18 June 2002. [40] Colonel William
McDonough. “Report of the OAS-Mine Action Program to the Committee on
Hemispheric Security,” 14 March
2002. [41] Interview with Minister
Manuel Talavera and First Secretary Hugo Contreras, 10 May 2002; also Aide
Memoire of Foreign Affairs, given to Landmine Monitor (Perú) on 10 May
2002; letter from Colonel Alfredo Miranda to Landmine Monitor (Perú), 17
May 2002. [42]
Ibid. [43] Email to Landmine Monitor
(Perú) from First Secretary Hugo Contreras, Chair of the International
Security and Disarmament Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 21 May
2002. [44] In 2001, the Geneva
International Center for Humanitarian Demining trained a police officer, a
cartographer and an Army Engineer technician to use the IMSMA software. GICHD,
“Updates on Activities between January and December 2001,” 31
December 2001, p. 4. [45] Aide Memoire
given by the Foreign Affairs Minister to Landmine Monitor (Perú) on 10
May 2002. [46] Colonel William
McDonough. “Report of the OAS-Mine Action Program to the Committee on
Hemispheric Security,” 14 March
2002. [47] Interview with Commissioner
from the Office of the Ombudsman, 15 May
2002. [48]
Ibid. [49] Telephone interview with
Minister Manuel Talavera, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 7 June
2002. [50] US Department of State,
“To Walk the Earth in Safety,” November 2001, p.
38. [51] CCW Article 13 Report, 10
December 2001, p. 7. [52]
Ibid. [53] Statement by the
Perúvian Delegation to the Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Geneva,
9 May 2001. [54] Telephone interview
with Minister Manuel Talavera, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 7 June 2002; CCW
Article 13 Report, 10 December 2001, p. 6; Aide Memoire given by Chancellery to
Landmine Monitor (Perú), 10 May 2002, p.
2. [55] CCW Article 13 Report, 10
December 2001, p. 7. [56] Aide Memoire
provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Landmine Monitor (Perú),
10 May 2002, p. 2. [57] Milagros
Rodríguez, “Culminan desminado humanitario en 18 kilómetros
de la frontera norte,” El Comercio, Lima, 15 June 2002; Ministry of
Foreign Affairs Press Release 91-02, “Ejército Perúano
entregará desminado del canal de
Zarumilla.” [58] Interview with
Pilar Campana, EDEGEL SA, Lima, 22 February 2001; Letter from Colonel Miranda to
Landmine Monitor (Perú), 17 May
2002. [59] Letter from Colonel Miranda,
DIVSAM-DEXA, to Landmine Monitor (Perú), 17 May 2002. Article 7 Report,
Form G, Table 2, 16 May 2002, reports this as 236
mines. [60] Interview with Minister
Manuel Talavera and First Secretary Hugo Contreras, 10 May 2002; also Aide
Memoire of Foreign Affairs, given to Landmine Monitor (Perú) on 10 May
2002; letter from Colonel Alfredo Miranda to Landmine Monitor (Perú), 17
May 2002. [61] Letter from Colonel
Alfredo Miranda, DIVSAM-DEXA to Landmine Monitor (Perú), 17 May 2002;
interview with Major Víctor Andrés Patiño and Commander
Silva, DIVSAM-DEXA, 21 May 2002. [62]
Letter from Colonel Miranda, DIVSAM-DEXA to Landmine Monitor (Perú), 17
May 2002. [63]
Ibid. [64] Article 7 Report, Form I, 16
May 2002. [65] Letter to Landmine
Monitor (Perú) from Colonel Alfonso Miranda and Major Víctor
Patiño, DIVSAM-DEXA, 27 May
2002. [66] Landmine Monitor researcher
observations. [67] “Cuando
intentaba entrar ilegalmente a Chile. Perúano resultó herido por
mina antipersonal,” La Tercera (Santiago, Chile), 9 April 2001;
“Pierde pie derecho por ingresar en forma ilegal a Chile,” El
Comercio (Lima), 10 April 2001; Editorial, “Frontera con Chile,” La
Industria de Trujillo (Trujillo), 11 April
2001. [68] “Perúano herido
por mina antipersonal al entrar a Chile” El Mostrador (Santiago), 7
November 2001. [69] Article 7 Report,
Form J, table 2, 16 May 2002. [70]
Ibid. [71] Julia María Urunaga,
“Meshac y Pedael buscaban pita para sus trompos” (Meshac and Pedael
were looking for some string for their spinners) in El Comercio (Lima), 20
January 2002. A March 2002 report by DIVSAM-DEXA defined the device as an
“anti-escalation” device. See Report
028-2002-DIRSEG/JESSEE-DIVSAMDEXA-APO of 2 March 2002, submitted to the
Ombudsman, Walter Albán, who requested information to the Ministry of the
Interior on 14 January 2002. [72]
Article 7 Report, Form J, table 2, 16 May 2002.
[73] “Joven Perúano pierde
la vida al pisar mina” in La Hora (Zamora, Ecuador), 15 January
2002. [74] Perú did not include
information on any casualties in the Army or National Police in its May 2002
Article 7 report. DIVSAM-DEXA officials did not reported or recorded any
antipersonnel mine casualties. Landmine Monitor Interview with Major
Patiño and Commander Silva from Divsam-Dexa, National Police, Lima, 21
May 2002. For details on Army and National Police mines casualties in the
period from 1990 to 2000 see Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p.
384. [75] The planned project was
reported in Perú’s Article 7 Report, Form J, submitted 4 May 2001
and the institutions to be included were the National Council for the
Integration of Persons with Disabilities (CONADIS), the Ombudsman’s Office
of Perú, the Army, National Police, the National Confederation of the
Disabled CONFENADIP, the Association for the Development of Disabled Persons,
and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Perú
office. [76] Interview with Daniel Soria
and Susana Klien, Commissioners of Constitutional Affairs of the Ombudsman
Office, 15 May 2002. See also Agurto, Gastón. “Jaque a las
torres” in Caretas N° 1713, 21 March 2002. The document notes that
the Ministry of Health has no official records of landmine casualties in the
country. [77] Agurto, Gastón.
“Jaque a las torres” in Caretas (Lima), N°1713, 21 March
2002. [78] Interviews with Daniel Soria
and Susana Klein, Office of the Ombudsman, and Dafne Martos, ICRC. See also
testimonies of survivors’ relatives in “Niños deben cambiar
prótesis cada seis meses”, El Comercio (Lima), 21 January 2002. A
relative is quoting as saying “if I do not work on the crops, what do my
children eat?” [79] See “El
reino de la desesperanza”, Somos magazine (Lima), 1 June 2002, pp.
18-24. [80] Information provided to
Landmine Monitor by Fanny Díaz, Medical Assistance Program, ICRC, 17 May
2002. [81] ICRC Special Report, Mine
Action 2001, ICRC, Geneva, July 2002, p.
29. [82] Information provided to
Landmine Monitor by Fanny Díaz, Medical Assistance Program, ICRC, 17 May
2002. Since 1989, the medical assistance program of the ICRC has used the
infrastructure of the Ministry of Health of Perú for medical or surgical
treatment of persons injured by armed violence or antipersonnel
mines. [83] “Historias de vidas
mutiladas” (Stories of mutilated lives) and “Niños deben
cambiar de prótesis cada seis meses,” in El Comercio (Lima), 21
January 2002. [84] Email from Luis
Miguel del Aguila Umeres, Gerencia de Cooperación y Proyectos, Consejo
Nacional de Integracion de la Persona con Discapacidad (CONADIS) to Landmine
Monitor, 14 June 2002. [85] See Landmine
Monitor Report 2001 p. 385.
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