Policy

Guinea-Bissau signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 22 May 2001, becoming a State Party on 1 November 2001. In December 2004, the Minister of Foreign Affairs said Guinea-Bissau was planning to enact domestic legislation to implement the treaty,[1] but in July 2007, the director of the National Mine Action Coordination Center (CAAMI) told the Monitor that the government would not adopt a new law as the treaty automatically became national law under the constitution, making mine-related crimes subject to existing penal sanctions.[2] Guinea-Bissau has reported that the Mine Ban Treaty was approved by parliament on 13 December 2000 and subsequently by the office of the president by a decree, thus entering the Convention’s obligations into law in Guinea-Bissau.[3]

Guinea-Bissau submitted its 10^th Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report in 2011. As of 1 October 2012, it had yet to provide the annual updated report due April 2012.

Guinea-Bissau attended the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Phnom Penh in November–December 2011, as well as the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in May 2012.

Guinea-Bissau is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war, but it has not submitted an Article 13 report for Amended Protocol II.

Production, transfer, stockpiling, and retention

Guinea-Bissau has reported that it never produced or exported antipersonnel mines. On 17 October 2005, Guinea-Bissau destroyed the last of its 10,654 stockpiled antipersonnel mines, just ahead of its stockpile destruction deadline of 1 November 2005.[4]

In December 2011, Guinea-Bissau demonstrated transparency by reporting that an ammunition storage assessment conducted jointly with the UN Mine Action Service had identified a small number of additional stockpiled antipersonnel mines in the military bases of Quebo and Gabu.[5] Seven PMN mines were found, as well as two boxes containing an undetermined number of POMZ-2 mines. Guinea-Bissau stated its intention to destroy them no later than 31 March 2012, but as of September 2012 the Monitor had not received a confirmation that the mines had been destroyed. Under the Cartagena Action Plan, a State Party that discovers stockpiled mines after the expiration of its deadline must share such information with States Parties as soon as possible and destroy the mines as a matter of urgent priority.

In its 2008 Article 7 report, Guinea-Bissau reported having retained 109 mines for training purposes.[6] However, 100 of these—50 POMZ-2 and 50 PMD-6—were listed as “disarmed.”[7] In its 2009 report, Guinea-Bissau stated that the 50 POMZ-2 mines had been recycled for metal use, and the 50 PMD-6 mines had also been destroyed.[8] In its subsequent Article 7 reports, Guinea-Bissau listed only nine mines as retained for training: six PMN, one M409, and two M969 mines. Most recently, in 2011, Guinea-Bissau reported that there was no training underway.[9]

Use

There have been no reports of use of antipersonnel mines in Guinea-Bissau since March and April 2006, when a faction of the Senegal-based Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (Mouvement des Forces Démocratiques de la Casamance, MFDC) fled from Senegal and laid both antipersonnel and antivehicle mines in northern Guinea-Bissau.[10]

Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Republic of Guinea-Bissau signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 29 November 2010, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 May 2011.

In May 2013, Guinea-Bissau stated that it considers existing laws sufficient to implement both the Convention on Cluster Munitions and the Mine Ban Treaty, and said that sanctions for any violations are addressed by the country’s penal code.[1]

As of 27 June 2014, Guinea-Bissau still had not submitted its initial Article 7 transparency measures report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, originally due by 28 October 2011. In September 2013, Guinea-Bissau indicated that it was preparing the report.[2] In May 2013, it said the report had not been submitted due to lack of information on stockpiled cluster munitions.[3]

Guinea-Bissau participated in some meetings of the Oslo Process that created the convention, including the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008, where it supported other African states in opposing efforts to weaken the convention text and joined in the consensus adoption of the text.[4]

Guinea-Bissau has continued to engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, including the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013. Guinea-Bissau has attended every intersessional meeting of the convention in Geneva, including those held in April 2014.

Guinea-Bissau participated in a regional meeting of the convention in Lomé, Togo in May 2013, where it condemned the Syrian government’s use of cluster munitions.[5]

Guinea-Bissau voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 68/182 on 18 December 2013, which expressed “outrage” at Syrian government’s “continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights” including the use of cluster munitions.[6]

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

Guinea-Bissau has yet to provide its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention, including the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions, and the need for retention of cluster munitions and submunitions for training and development purposes.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

In 2008, Guinea-Bissau stated that it does not use or produce cluster munitions.[7] Guinea-Bissau possesses cluster munitions of Soviet origin, but the size and content of the current stockpile is not known.[8] In June 2011, the director of Guinea-Bissau’s National Mine Action Coordination Center (Centro Nacional de Coordenação da Acção Anti-Minas, CAAMI) said that it was conducting an inventory of the quantities, types, and origins of the stockpile held at an air force base in Bissau City.[9] RBK-series air-dropped bombs and PTAB-2.5 submunitions were among munitions ejected by an explosion at the Paiol de Bra ammunition storage facility on the outskirts of Bissau City in 2000.[10]

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Guinea-Bissau is required to destroy all its stockpiled cluster munitions as soon as possible, but not later than 1 May 2019.

In September and May 2013, Guinea-Bissau stated that it had requested assistance from the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) to destroy its stockpile, but the political situation in the country had stalled the process.[11] In September 2013, it appealed to States Parties to assist stockpiling destruction efforts, stating that it “alone cannot address this challenge, we need solidarity of international community, and from others States Parties and not parties.” Guinea-Bissau said that a February 2011 technical assessment by UNMAS found the weapons held at armed forces locations to be “stockpiled in very bad conditions.”[12] In the absence of an Article 7 report, Guinea-Bissau has not indicated if it will retain cluster munitions for training purposes as permitted by Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Action points based on findings

·         Dedicate increased national and international funding to address the needs and promote the rights of mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) survivors and other persons with disabilities. Over the last decade, there has been little progress overall in improving access and quality of assistance to survivors in the Republic of Guinea-Bissau due to lack of funds and of government support.

·         Ensure that broader programs, such as international cooperation for post-conflict reconstruction and political stabilization efforts, reach the most vulnerable members of society, including survivors and other persons with disabilities.

·         Empower mine/ERW survivors and other persons with disabilities to advocate for equal opportunities and increased access to assistance.

Victim assistance commitments

Guinea-Bissau is responsible for a significant number of landmine survivors, cluster munition victims and survivors of other ERW who are in need. Guinea-Bissau has made commitments to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty and Convention on Conventional Weapons Protocol V; it also has victim assistance obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Casualties

Casualties Overview

In 2013, 10 mine/ERW casualties were recorded in Guinea-Bissau, all within the Region of Oio. Two incidents were caused by ERW, resulting in a total of nine casualties, a man and eight children.[1] In April 2013, a 13-year-old boy was killed by a landmine. The number of casualties in 2013 was twice the number of mine/ERW casualties that occurred in 2012.

There were a total of 1,533 casualties from mines/ERW reported, dating from 1963 to December 2013.[2] However, this was not believed to be a comprehensive figure.[3] An estimated 80% of all casualties have been male, the majority of whom were farmers.[4] No information was available on whether the figure included both military and civilian casualties.

Cluster munition casualties

While the total number of casualties from cluster munitions is not known in Guinea-Bissau, there were 11 casualties in 1998 during an attack on a weapons depot; the explosion that caused the casualties involved cluster munitions.[5]

Victim Assistance

As of December 2013, there were more than 1,410 mine/ERW survivors recorded in Guinea-Bissau. Some of these may have already died, but it is likely there are many more unrecorded.[6]

Victim assistance coordination

In 2013, the National Mine Action Coordination Center (Centro Nacional de Coordenação da Accão Anti-Minas (CAAMI), the national focal point for victim assistance, found its efforts to coordinate victim assistance largely stymied due to a lack of national or international resources.[7] Mine/ERW survivors were included in a target of the National Poverty Reduction Strategy 2011–2015 that aims for the “equal opportunity for rehabilitation, and reintegration of all persons with disabilities (victim of armed dispute or conflict, included the mine/ERW injured people),” their full participation in the socio-economic reconstruction, and the re-establishment of their rights and dignity.[8]

At the end of 2013, Guinea-Bissau presented the objectives of the National Victim Assistance Strategy for the first time. The objectives included establishing a new coordination mechanism on victim assistance in the country, implementing a new national data collection system, strengthening current victim assistance programs, increasing mobilization of donor funds to such programs, and increasing employment levels of survivors in national and international organizations.[9]

Guinea-Bissau provided updates on its progress and challenges in assisting victims at the Fourth Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Lusaka in September 2013.[10] At the Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, Guinea-Bissau presented the objectives of its national victim assistance plan and appealed to the international community for technical and financial assistance for its implementation.[11]

Inclusion and participation in victim assistance

In 2013, mine/ERW survivors were included in the planning and provision of victim assistance through representative organizations such as the Persons with Disabilities’ Federation of Associations of Defense and Advocacy which represents 12 organizations of persons with disability, or the Persons with Disabilities’ Association for the Struggle for National Freedom.[12]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Aside from the opening of a new rehabilitation center in the capital in 2011, there has been little progress overall in improving access and quality of assistance to survivors in Guinea-Bissau in recent years due to lack of funds and of government support. There were few facilities near mine-affected areas, emergency transportation was almost non-existent, and services were further hampered by a lack of communication mechanisms and roads/transport.[13]

In March 2011, the Center for Physical Rehabilitation (Centro de Reabilitação Motora, CRM) under the Ministry of Health was officially inaugurated in Bissau to serve as the main physical rehabilitation center for the country and to provide free rehabilitation services for survivors with economic need.[14] In 2013, the CRM was staffed by 34 personnel, including one Category Two Prosthetist/Orthotist and three bench technicians. In 2013, the CRM, in cooperation with the ICRC, the Federation of the Association of Persons with Disabilities, and other national organizations, began an outreach service to provide services for people living in rural areas.[15] The ICRC covered the costs for those mine/ERW survivors who accessed services, provided equipment and materials, and supported on-site technical training programs to improve the quality of the service.[16] Since opening in March 2011, the CRM has provided prosthetic and physiotherapy services to more than 600 people with disabilities, including the provision of prostheses to 21 mine/ERW survivors.[17]

Article 5 of the constitution of Guinea-Bissau prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities, but implementation was weak. There was no law mandating access to public buildings and no efforts were made to ensure access to buildings or streets.[18] Some mine survivors were eligible to receive pensions for persons with disabilities from the Ministry of Social Solidarity and Poverty Reduction (MSSPR).[19] Disabled former military personnel received pensions from the Ministry of Defense and Ex-Combatants, but these programs did not adequately address health, housing, or food needs.[20]

In September 2013, Guinea-Bissau signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; the Ministry of Social Solidarity is the focal point for the convention’s implementation.[21]

In 2012, the Republic of Guinea-Bissau declared it had completed its Article 5 Mine Ban Treaty mine clearance obligations.[1] Norway contributed NOK1,000,000 (US$171,877) to Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) for final survey and clearance.[2]

Summary of contributions: 2008–2012[3]