Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Republic of Peru signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 26 September 2012. The convention entered into force for Peru on 1 March 2013.

It is not known if specific legislation will be undertaken to enforce the provisions of the convention.

Peru’s initial Article 7 report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions is due by 28 August 2013.

Following an interagency review of the convention in 2009 and 2010, draft ratification legislation was introduced in the National Congress in late 2010 and approved on 14 March 2012 by Legislative Resolution No 29843.[1]

Peru’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rafael Roncagliolo Orbegoso, deposited the instrument of ratification with the UN in New York during the opening of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on 26 September 2012; in his statement, he described the ratification as “a concrete sign of Peru’s contribution to the strengthening of the rule of law” and called on all states to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[2]

As one of the small core group of nations that took responsibility for the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Peru hosted an international conference on cluster munitions in Lima in May 2007.[3] Since 2008, Peru has continued to support the convention. It attended the convention’s Third Meeting of States Parties in Oslo, Norway in September 2012, where it provided an update on ratification.

Peru participated in intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in April 2013, where it made a statement on universalization, noting that the convention has helped to develop the principles of distinction and proportionality under international humanitarian law.[4]

Peru has not made a national statement expressing concern at Syria’s use of cluster munitions, but it voted in favor of a UNGA resolution on 15 May 2013 that strongly condemned “the use by the Syrian authorities of...cluster munitions.”[5]

Peru is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, and transfer

Peru is not known to have ever used, produced or exported cluster munitions.

Stockpiling and destruction

The status and precise composition of Peru’s current stockpile of cluster munitions is not known. In May 2007, the minister of defense publicly disclosed that the Peruvian Air Force possesses stockpiles of CB-470 cluster bombs of South African origin, BME-330 cluster bombs of Spanish origin, and RBK-500 cluster bombs of Russian/Soviet origin.[6]

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Peru is required to declare and destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible but not later than 1 March 2021.

Peru did not provide any updated information on the composition of its stockpile or preparations for stockpile destruction at meetings of the convention held in September 2012 or April 2013. Peru has stated since 2011 that it is conducting an inventory of its stockpiled cluster munitions and working on a plan for their destruction.[7] In April 2012, Peru stated that it was “calculating the amount of resources, both national and international cooperation, which will be required to gradually destroy all stockpiles within the convention’s deadlines.” It noted that personnel responsible for the destruction process would require training.[8]

Retention

Peru has said it intends to retain cluster munitions for the purposes of training in detection, clearance and destruction techniques, but has not yet identified the number of cluster munitions or submunitions to be retained.[9]

Contamination and Impact

Mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) contamination in the Republic of Peru are the result of internal armed conflict and a border war with Ecuador in the 1990s.

Mines

Peru has had two distinct mine problems, although a third arose in 2012 as a result of torrential rains in Chile. The first threat is located in the Condor Mountain Range in the sparsely populated Amazon basin, where, in 1995, antipersonnel mines were placed along the border in the regions of Amazonas, Cajamarca, Piura, and Tumbes during an armed conflict with Ecuador.[1]

In May 2010, Peru and Ecuador exchanged additional information about mined areas on their common border. In its Article 7 report covering 2010, Peru included reference to 13 mined areas located in Ecuador (see mine action section of the Ecuador country profile) and 10 previously unreported areas located in Peru in the districts of Cahuide, Chiquieza, and Pacahacutec.[2] In 2012, Ecuador provided information that 48 mined areas previously thought to be in Ecuador were located in Peru. After adding the 48 mined areas, Peru revised its remaining contamination to 64 mined areas containing 13,325 antipersonnel mines as of April 2013.[3]

Remaining mined areas in Peru as of April 2013

The second mine problem was located in the center of Peru where, in the 1980s, mines were planted to protect infrastructure against attacks from non-state armed groups.[4] In total, 2,518 electricity pylons, three antenna transmitters, one electricity substation, three high-security prisons, and two police bases were mined.[5] In April 2012, the national police finished clearing the two police bases in Santa Lucia and Tulumayo, which represented completion of clearance of all mined infrastructure.[6]

Although Peru’s primary mine problem is on the northern border with Ecuador, in early 2012 a mine incident shifted attention to its border with Chile in the south and to the impact of mines planted by Chile close to the border with Peru in the 1970s. In February 2012, torrential rains and flooding in the Arica-Parinacota region in northern Chile caused antipersonnel and antivehicle mines from the 1970s to surface near the main highway linking Arica, Chile, with Tacna, Peru in an area called Quebrada de Escritos.[7] In response, Peru and Chile commissioned Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) to clear the mined area.[8] NPA completed clearance of approximately 300 mines in December 2012.[9]

Mine Action Program

Key institutions and operators

The national mine action authority is the CONTRAMINAS Executive Council, comprised of representatives of the Ministries of External Relations, Defense, Education, Health, Interior, and the National Council for the Integration of Disabled Persons (Consejo Nacional para la Integracion de las Personas con Discapacidad, CONADIS). The CONTRAMINAS Executive Council, chaired by the Ministry of External Relations, sets strategy and priorities and also approves plans and budgets.[10] Under the Ministry of External Relations, CONTRAMINAS coordinates planning and operations to meet Peru’s Mine Ban Treaty obligations, including clearance.[11]

CONTRAMINAS is responsible for overall management and day-to-day coordination of mine action activities. The OAS has assisted Peru in mine clearance since May 2001. The Assistance Mission for Mine Clearance in South America (Misión de Asistencia a la Remoción de Minas en América del Sur, MARMINAS), established by the Inter-American Defense Board in May 2003 to support mine clearance in both Ecuador and Peru, provides technical advice to the OAS and monitors demining operations. The OAS provides observers to support the Peruvian army’s clearance operations.[12] In early 2013, donors informed the OAS and Peru that they would discontinue funding. As a result, the OAS planned to close its mine action component in Peru at the end of 2013.[13]

Land Release

The Peruvian Armed Forces General Directorate of Humanitarian Demining (Director Ejecutivo de la Dirección General de Desminado Humanitario del Ejército de Perú) is responsible for clearance of the border with Ecuador.[14] With the completion of mine clearance of the infrastructure in April 2012, it was planned that national police deminers from the specialized unit of the national police, the Security Division of CONTRAMINAS (División de Seguridad, DIVSECOM), would be transferred to the border operations to work with the army deminers.[15] As of June 2013, demining units of the national police had not been moved to the border and the latest plans under consideration were to install the former deminers from the national police as quality controller officers on the border.[16]

Five-year summary of clearance[17]

Mine clearance in 2012

In 2012, Peru cleared 10 mined areas covering 13,791m² and destroyed 4,021 antipersonnel mines in mined areas close to the border with Ecuador.[18] This was considerably less than in 2011. According to CONTRAMINAS, clearance operations in 2012 moved to the Cenepa river area, located at a higher elevation. This required the installation of a new camp, transporting of equipment, and the construction of bridges and heliports before demining could begin and thereby resulted in a lower output than in 2011.[19] In June 2013, clearance capacity consisted of 60 deminers from the army.[20]

In December 2012, NPA completed mine clearance operations in Tacna in southern Peru close to the border with Chile. NPA found and destroyed 261 antipersonnel mines and 72 antivehicle mines (a total of 333 mines).[21]

In 2011, the national police completed clearance of the prison in Huacariz, Cajamarca city, and in April 2012 it completed clearance in Huanuco department at the two remaining police prisons.[22]

Compliance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty (and in accordance with the eight-year extension request granted in 2008), Peru is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 March 2017.

On 29 February 2012, Peru’s Minister of Defense Alberto Otárola reportedly said the border with Ecuador “would be free of landmines by 2016.” He continued, “I think in 2016 or 2017 we can say that our borders will be free of mines, as all the boundaries of democratic countries that respect the right to life of its citizens, must be.”[23] In May 2012, at the Intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva, Peru said they would clear all remaining mined areas “as quickly as possible.”[24]

It remains unclear if Peru can meet its Article 5 deadline in 2017.[25] The 48 mined areas found to be in Peruvian territory rather than in Ecuador increased the area and number of mines to clear. In addition, the low output of 13,791m² cleared in 2012 casts some doubt on whether Peru can clear the 64 remaining areas by 2017 with its current capacity. CONTRAMINAS is reviewing its operational plans in light of the additional mined areas from Ecuador.[26]

Quality management

CONTRAMINAS conducts quality control on all completed clearance tasks.[27]

Casualties and Victim Assistance

Victim assistance commitments

The Republic of Peru is responsible for a significant number of survivors of landmines, including survivors of victim-activated improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and explosive remnants of war (ERW) who are in need. Peru has made a commitment to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty.

Casualties Overview

The Monitor identified four new casualties from a victim-activated IED in Peru in 2012.[1] In April, four soldiers from the antipersonnel mine deactivation unit of the Peruvian army were involved in an incident with a victim-activated IED, also referred to as a “homemade mine,” in the region of the River Apurímac, River Ene valley, and Mantaro (VRAEM).[2] One casualty was reported for 2011, also from a victim-activated IED.[3]

The last confirmed casualties caused by factory-made mines in Peru occurred in 2007.[4] Since then, most of the casualties identified have been caused by victim-activated IEDs in areas of coca cultivation.[5]

There were two Peruvian mine casualties in the Arica and Parinacota region of Chile, near the border with Peru, in 2012 and 2013. In May 2012, a man was killed when his car hit an antivehicle mine.[6] Another man was injured by an antipersonnel mine in August 2013.[7]

The total number of mine/IED and ERW casualties recorded in Peru since 1991 is 439 (53 killed; 382 injured; four unknown).[8]

Victim Assistance

Between 1991 and the end of 2012, there were at least 382 mine/ERW survivors in Peru.[9]

Victim Assistance in 2012

In 2012, some efforts were underway to decentralize services, increase access to physical rehabilitation, and register mine/ERW survivors and other persons with disabilities in government social programs such as medical insurance and pensions. However, access to services remained difficult for survivors throughout the year because most were living in extremely remote and rural areas. In December, Peru approved a national law for persons with disabilities, aligned with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

Assessing victim assistance needs

In 2012, the Peruvian Center for Mine Action (Centro Peruano de Acción contra las Minas Antipersonales, CONTRAMINAS), with support from the international NGO Polus Center, continued to verify and update information on mine/ERW victims and their needs based on the information collected through a survey in 2009 and 2010. Between February and May 2013, survivors who previously had received support for income generating activities were visited to determine the success of their projects and assess any additional needs for economic inclusion.[10]

Victim assistance coordination[11]

CONTRAMINAS held several bilateral victim assistance coordination meetings in 2012 on an “as-needed” basis to coordinate and monitor the provision of victim assistance over the course of the year. Meetings included other government ministries, the National Disability Council (CONADIS), victim assistance service providers such as the National Institute of Rehabilitation (Instituto Nacional de Rehabilitación, INR) and the Polus Center, and survivor associations.[12] There was also a regional meeting of relevant victim assistance stakeholders, including survivors, in Huancayo in September 2012.[13]

In April 2013, CONTRAMINAS and CONADIS co-hosted a national victim assistance meeting with support from the Mine Ban Treaty’s Implementation Support Unit. The meeting brought together mine victims, persons with disabilities and their representative organizations, along with government and NGO participants from rural and remote areas of Peru to ensure the explicit inclusion of mine victims and their perspectives in Peru’s Plan for Equal Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities.[14]

In 2012, CONTRAMINAS and the Polus Center continued implementing Peru’s national victim assistance work plan, developed in 2010.[15] The plan’s objectives include providing individualized support for socio-economic reintegration for all registered survivors and strengthening local healthcare and rehabilitation facilities in mine affected areas.[16]

Peru provided updates on victim assistance and disability policy at the Twelfth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva in December 2012 and at the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in May 2013.[17] Peru provided information on progress in victim assistance through its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report.[18]

Inclusion and participation in victim assistance

The Association of Victims and Survivors of Minefields (Asociación de Victimas y Sobrevivientes de Campos Minados, AVISCAM) was inactive in 2012.[19] Survivors were involved in national and regional meetings when relevant. Survivors and other persons with disabilities participated in the national victim assistance meeting in April 2013. Survivors were involved in identifying other survivors so they could be registered to receive services and in providing training to other survivors.[20]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

As in previous years, medical facilities and the country’s main rehabilitation center were centralized in the capital, while most survivors were based in rural communities. The time and expense of traveling to these services prevented most survivors from accessing them.[21]

In 2012, CONTRAMINAS continued to assist survivors in securing medical assistance and in applying for national health insurance and/or disability pensions.[22] Many survivors found the application process for national health insurance and pensions to be complicated and the coverage itself very limited.[23]

Physical Rehabilitation, including prosthetics

In January 2013, the INR officially opened the newly built national rehabilitation center offering comprehensive rehabilitation services, including prosthetics, occupational therapy, and psychological support. The facility was built with funds from Japan and a national contribution from Peru. The new center was located more centrally within Lima and in a safer part of the city than the center’s previous location.[24] However, it remained inaccessible to most survivors living in rural, remote areas.

In 2012, the ICRC Special Fund for the Disabled (SFD) sponsored the costs of rehabilitation, including transport and accommodation, for some survivors from remote areas of Peru, but some recipients did not take advantage of the assistance due to the additional costs associated with being away from home for long periods.[25] The Organization of American States (OAS) also supported the rehabilitation costs for some survivors in 2012.[26] In early 2013, the Polus Center began a multi-year training course at the INR to increase the staff capacity through periodic modular trainings.[27]

In 2012, the INR created a traveling team of rehabilitation specialists to assess the rehabilitation capacity of regional hospitals, establish norms for minimal levels of rehabilitative attention, and determine gaps in staffing and equipment that prevented those hospitals from reaching the norm. As of April 2013, the traveling teams were developing budgetary proposals for the costs needed to ensure that all regional hospitals could provide basic rehabilitation services.[28] In the province of Junin, a region with a high number of mine/ERW survivors, the Polus Center supported the Daniel A. Carrión Hospital to develop its physical rehabilitation capacity with new equipment and staff training.[29]

Economic Inclusion

Through the end of 2012, CONTRAMINAS and the Polus Center developed individual economic inclusion plans for approximately one-third (106) of all registered survivors and provided education and training and/or micro-finance to start small businesses.[30] In the first quarter of 2013, CONTRAMINAS and the Polus Center monitored the results of the economic inclusion projects and found that 98% were successful.[31]

The Polus Center strengthened the capacity of the regional employment center in Junin, providing equipment, tools, and materials for vocational training courses. It also provided training to the center in adapting courses and occupational counseling for persons with disabilities and established a quota of 15% if its spaces for persons with disabilities, including mine/ERW survivors.[32]

Laws and Policies

On 24 December 2012, Peru approved the national Law for Persons with Disabilities, aligned with the CRPD. The law establishes budgetary requirements and quotas for various government ministries to ensure the promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities.[33] It mandates that all public spaces must be accessible, though few efforts were made in 2012 to remove barriers to access.[34] As of May 2013, efforts were underway to revise Peru’s Plan for Equal Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities in line with the new law.[35]

In 2012, CONADIS launched the pilot program Accessible Tumbes (Tumbes Accesible). Multidisciplinary “traveling” teams, made up of medical professionals, educators, psychologists, social workers, and rehabilitation technicians, travelled to the province of Tumbes, close to Peru’s border with Ecuador and near mine affected areas. The teams visited persons with disabilities in their homes, assessing their needs and the obstacles they face in accessing services, and providing immediate attention as needed.[36] The outcomes of the pilot program are to be used to develop regional disability policies and programs that can be replicated throughout the country.[37]

Peru ratified the CRPD on 30 January 2008.

In 2012, Norway, Belgium, a regional development bank Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF),[1] and the United States (US) contributed a combined total of US$2,025,490 to mine action activities in the Republic of Peru, of which $1,009,379 was allocated to clearance activities and $1,016,111 dedicated to victim assistance. In 2012, the US also allocated $800,000 for victim assistance in Peru.[2]

The CAF contributed $500,000 to Peru’s mine action program in both 2011 and 2012.

The government of Peru contributed $2 million in 2012 to the mine action program.[3]

International contributions: 2012[4]

Summary of contributions: 2008–2012[5]