Guatemala

Mine Ban Policy

The Republic of Guatemala signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 26 March 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 September 1999. In 1997, Guatemala passed Legislative Decree 106–97, which comprehensively prohibits antipersonnel mines and their composite parts.^[1]

Guatemala did not attend the Eighth Meeting of States Parties in Jordan in November 2007. Guatemala participated in the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in June 2008, but did not make any statements.

As of June 2008, Guatemala had not submitted its annual updated Article 7 report for calendar year 2007, due 30 April 2008. It also did not submit an Article 7 report for calendar year 2006, but has previously submitted six reports.^[2]

Guatemala has said that it supports the interpretations of the ICBL and many States Parties regarding Articles 2 and 3, that antivehicle mines with sensitive fuzes or sensitive antihandling devices that function like antipersonnel mines are prohibited by the treaty, and that mines retained for training should number in the hundreds or thousands or less, and not tens of thousands.^[3] Guatemala has not articulated its views on Article 1 and the issue of what acts are not allowed under the prohibition on “assistance” with banned activities.

Guatemala is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines. It attended the Ninth Annual Conference of States Parties to the protocol in November 2007 and submitted its annual report required by Article 13 in August 2007. Guatemala has not yet joined CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.

Guatemala has reported that it never produced, imported, stockpiled or used antipersonnel mines, and that it has no antipersonnel mines for training or development purposes.^[4] No use of antipersonnel mines has been recorded since internal armed conflict concluded in December 1996.

Guatemala participated in the Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions in May 2008 and adopted the treaty text.

Landmine/ERW Problem

At the Standing Committee meetings in May 2006, Guatemala declared that it had met its Article 5 obligations, having cleared all known antipersonnel mines from its territory.^[5] Guatemala’s contamination was a result of internal conflict that spanned 36 years, leaving a small number of mines and a larger quantity of explosive remnants of war (ERW), mostly unexploded ordnance (UXO).^[6] The only recorded minefield in the country was cleared in 1996 by the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union (Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca), the UN and the Guatemalan Army, before Guatemala signed the Mine Ban Treaty. With the completion of its national demining plan in December 2005, Guatemala has no known mined or battle areas. Since then Guatemala has only received reports of ERW.^[7]

Mine Action Program

Coordination and management

The Demining Coordination Commission (Comisión Coordinadora del Desminado) and the Executive Coordinating Unit (Unidad de Coordinación Ejecutiva, UCE), which had been in charge of implementing the National Demining Program, ceased operations in October 2007.^[8] Since that date, the Volunteer Firefighters Corps and the National Police channel reports of suspected mines or ERW from the civilian population to the Army Engineer Corps, which is responsible for any required clearance and destruction of mines and ERW.

Prior to completion of the National Demining Program, demining operations received logistical and funding assistance from the Organization of American States (OAS) and technical assistance from the Assistance Mission for Mine Clearance in Central America (Misión de Asistencia para la Remoción de Minas en Centro América, MARMINCA). After completion of the program, OAS/MARMINCA staff left the country. If supervision is required in the future, Guatemala has stated it would use nationals formerly employed by OAS/MARMINCA.^[9]

Demining

Since December 2005, clearance operations have been limited to responding to public reports of UXO. From January through April 2007, three ERW were reported and destroyed in San Luis Ixcán.^[10] Since UCE’s closure in October 2007, there is no longer an entity responsible for the collection of data on the clearance and destruction of ERW, nor are there any risk education activities. Guatemala has not reported how many devices were cleared in 2007. According to the Volunteer Firefighters Corps, however, as of April 2008, more than two years after Guatemala declared it had cleared all known mined areas, no reports of new or previously unknown mined areas had been received.^[11]

Landmine/ERW Casualties

Landmine Monitor did not identify any new mine/ERW casualties in Guatemala in 2007 and through May 2008. The last reported ERW casualties occurred in 2005 (two people killed and seven injured) and no mine casualties have been reported since the December 1996 cease-fire.^[12]

In 2005 and 2006, officials indicated that Guatemala would take steps to identify mine/ERW survivors and their needs;^[13] no progress appeared to have been made as of March 2008.^[14] The number of mine/ERW casualties remains unknown.

In 2007, Guatemalan disability groups reported that persons with disabilities may make up 12–14% of the population. A 2005 national survey completed found a lower disability prevalence rate (3.7%).^[15]

Landmine/ERW Risk Education

In its 2007 CCW Article 13 report, Guatemala reported that it had conducted awareness activities for the civilian population during clearance activities and that it “contemplated” a risk education course for the military, based on materials by the International Committee of the Red Cross.^[16]

Victim Assistance

Access for persons with disabilities to healthcare, rehabilitation, education, and employment opportunities remained limited, especially in rural areas.^[17] The Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare stated that the health sector suffered from fragmentation; insufficient and unevenly distributed funding; weak strategic planning among government bodies; and little civil society involvement in planning and prevention.^[18] Reportedly, only 10% of persons with disabilities completed primary education and 51% were illiterate. National social insurance only covered disabled military personnel or those disabled while working for the government.^[19]

The protection of the rights of persons with disabilities is inscribed in Guatemala’s constitution and in specific legislation; it was not enforced due to “inadequate resources, corruption and a dysfunctional judicial system.”^[20] The National Council for the Assistance of Persons with Disabilities (Consejo Nacional para la Atención a las Personas con Discapacidad, CONADI), is the national agency responsible for promoting disability policy but no government resources were committed for the implementation of its initiatives.^[21]

Guatemala signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol on 30 March 2007, but had not ratified either as of 31 July 2008. Reasons for this included transition to a new government in 2007 and a lack of political will.^[22]

There are no specific programs providing assistance to mine/ERW survivors, nor a specific strategic framework. A national policy for disability was formulated in 2006 and its central objective was “to create opportunities for the integration and participation of persons with disabilities in Guatemalan Society.”^[23] CONADI and other disability actors were not able to identify government progress in service provision for persons with disabilities in 2007.^[24]

Guatemala stated in its 2007 CCW Article 13 report that the Center for the Assistance to Army Disabled of Guatemala (Centro de Atención a Discapacitados del Ejército de Guatemala, CADEG) provided medical and psychological rehabilitation to disabled military forces. It noted that several international organizations and NGOs work to respond to the needs of mine survivors.^[25]

Transitions, an NGO, continued its rehabilitation services, education programs, job training, and sports programs for persons with disabilities. They also operated a workshop producing and repairing assistive devices, staffed by persons with disabilities.^[26] In 2007, Transitions had a budget of US$345,000; the number of beneficiaries was unknown.^[27]

The Guatemalan Association for Persons with Disabilities (Asociación Guatemalteca de Personas con Discapacidad, AGDP) provided micro-credits to 20 persons with disabilities in 2007. They also coordinated advocacy efforts to increase government support for health services, special education, and programs promoting self-sufficiency and independence of persons with disabilities.^[28]

In May 2008, the Polus Center started with the establishment of a wheelchair satellite office with outreach workers to identify people in need of wheelchairs, take their measurements and order wheelchairs from the Polus Center workshop in Leon, Nicaragua. The office will be managed by a person with disabilities and will make repairs and adjustments. Mine/ERW survivors are among the expected beneficiaries.^[29]

Support for Mine Action

Landmine Monitor is not aware of any comprehensive long-term cost estimates for fulfilling victim assistance needs in Guatemala. Residual mine clearance funds have been provided by the national government, and support from the OAS has been discontinued following the completion of the National Demining Program in 2007.^[30] There is no strategic framework for providing assistance to mine/ERW survivors.^[31]

National support for mine action

The National Demining Program finished in 2007. Guatemala has not reported annual national contributions to mine clearance in 2007. Funding for residual mine clearance in 2006 was reported to be $60,000.^[32]

Guatemala reported providing in-kind support in 2007 to the OAS Program for Comprehensive Action against Antipersonnel Mines.^[33] From September 2006 to August 2007, two members of the Guatemalan Army served as MARMINCA demining supervisors.^[34] Guatemala did not report the value of the contribution.