Policy

The Republic of Nicaragua signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 2 November 2009. It was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010.

In May 2011, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said that Nicaragua has legal and administrative measures in place to ensure implementation of the convention, both “in and out of Nicaragua,” including the Arms, Ammunition and Explosives Act (Law 510) and in the penal code.[1] Under national implementation measures, Nicaragua has reported the 2009 decree approving ratification of the convention.[2]

Nicaragua submitted its initial Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 transparency report on 28 April 2011 and an annual updated report on 30 April 2012.[3] As of 14 May 2014, Nicaragua had not yet provided its updated annual Article 7 reports due by 30 April 2013 and 2014.

Nicaragua played an active and positive role in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[4] It has continued to support the convention.

Nicaragua participated in the convention’s First Meeting of States Parties in Vientiane, Lao PDR in November 2010, but has not attended subsequent meetings, such as the Fourth Meeting of States Parties held in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013. Nicaragua attended intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in April 2012 and April 2014.

Nicaragua voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 68/182 on 18 December 2013, which expressed “outrage” at the Syrian government’s “continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights…including those involving the use of…cluster munitions.”[5]

Interpretive issues

In a May 2011 response to the Monitor, Nicaragua stated its views on important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention. In relation to military cooperation by States Parties, Nicaragua “considers that assistance in prohibited acts performed in joint military operations is not permitted to the States Parties.” On the prohibition on transit, Nicaragua said that the convention states that States Parties may not “assist, encourage or induce anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party,” including transfer.[6]

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

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Nicaragua has declared that it “does not use, develop, produce, acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer cluster munitions.”[7] Nicaragua does not retain any cluster munitions for training purposes.

CONTAMINATION AND IMPACT

Nicaragua was contaminated by mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) as a result of armed conflict between 1979 and 1990.

Mines

In June 2010, at the Mine Ban Treaty Intersessional Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Nicaragua announced it had cleared all known mined areas and had therefore fulfilled its obligations under Article 5 of the treaty.[1] However, a residual threat from mines may remain as an incident subsequently occurred in October 2010.[2]

Explosive remnants of war

Nicaragua has a residual ERW problem, especially from unexploded ordnance (UXO) throughout the country. According to the Nicaraguan Demining Commission (Comisión Nacional de Desminado, CND), the problem is impossible to document on a national level.[3] With the completion of mine clearance, reports of ERW contamination are only received as a result of the risk education program.[4]

MINE ACTION PROGRAM

Key institutions and operators

With Nicaragua having completed mine clearance, CND’s role has diminished, as managing funds and conducting mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) risk education in Nicaragua are the sole responsibility of the Organization of American States (OAS). In 2011, OAS and the Nicaraguan Army Engineers coordinated the clearance of ERW and quality assurance of operations, with Norway providing the funding through the OAS.[5]

In 2012, the OAS and 34 personnel from the Nicaraguan Army Engineer Corps planned to clear 1km² of ERW in the Gocen District, Mateare Municipality, on the Chiltepe Peninsula,[6] a nature reserve and popular weekend leisure and eco-tour destination on Lake Managua, 15km north of the capital, Managua.[7] Gocen is an impoverished area with no permanent water supply or electricity. The main means of earning a living is through crushing stone. There is concern that people may try to collect scrap metal from the ordnance in order to generate income.[8]

The OAS is due to complete its mission in Nicaragua by the end of 2012, and then withdraw.[9]

LAND RELEASE

Compliance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty (and in accordance with the one-year extension request granted in 2008), Nicaragua was required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 May 2010. In June 2010, Nicaragua announced it had cleared all known mined areas in time and had fulfilled its Article 5 clearance obligations.[10]

Battle area clearance in 2011

In 2011, in Las Palomas, Matagalpa, the Nicaraguan Army Engineer Corps cleared five areas covering 275,000m² and found and destroyed 4,106 ERW, of which 2,529 had been identified through reports to the army by the local population. In 2010, 125 reports had led to the destruction of 62 antipersonnel mines (all were reported prior to completion of mine clearance operations) as well as 838 items of UXO in 77 communities.

Quality management

The OAS conducted quality assurance on 25% of the area cleared in 2011.[11]

RISK EDUCATION

The OAS conducted 54 house visits for 425 persons in 2011 to inform them of possible ERW nearby.[12] In 2012 the OAS planned to conduct a short risk education campaign through local radio with an emphasis on safe behavior in case of encountering any ordnance.[13]

Action points based on findings

·         Sustain programs offering psychological support and income-generating projects to survivors and others with similar needs with national resources.

·         Increase awareness of Law 763 on the rights of persons with disabilities and dedicate resources to its implementation and enforcement.

Victim assistance commitments

The Republic of Nicaragua is responsible for a significant number of landmine survivors and survivors of other explosive remnants of war (ERW) who are in need. Nicaragua has made commitments to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty, and is also a State Party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Casualties Overview

In 2013, one civilian ERW casualty was reported in Nicaragua. A man was injured in October in the department of Leon.[1]

The single casualty identified in 2013 was consistent with recent low annual casualty figures following the completion of clearance in 2010.[2] The last reported landmine casualty occurred in 2010.[3]

As of December 2013, 1,303 mine/ERW casualties (92 killed, 1,211 injured) were recorded in Nicaragua, including 42 deminers (five killed, 37 injured).[4]

Victim Assistance

There were at least 1,205 mine/ERW survivors in Nicaragua as of December 2013.[5]

Victim assistance since 1999

Between 2002 and 2013, all registered mine survivors in Nicaragua had received support from the OAS, with international funding, to access physical rehabilitation and/or economic inclusion assistance. In contrast, throughout this period most other persons with disabilities were unable to access basic medical and rehabilitation services and fewer than half of adults with disabilities earned any income, including a pension.

In 2009, increased government funding to the Ministry of Health expanded the availability of some services for all Nicaraguans, including for survivors, most especially medical and physical rehabilitation services. Also in 2009, with support from the ICRC Special Fund for the Disabled (SFD), the Ministry of Health established a new rehabilitation center in northern Nicaragua, close to where many survivors are located. In 2012, the ICRC SFD launched an economic inclusion program for persons with disabilities.

Victim assistance coordination

The Nicaraguan Demining Commission’s (Comisión Nacional de Desminado, CND) Sub-Commission for Medical Assistance and Rehabilitation of Mine Survivors is the victim assistance coordination mechanism and the Ministry of Health is the focal point. Both have been inactive in recent years.[6] Nicaragua provided no update on progress or challenges in victim assistance at the Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva in December 2013 or at the Third Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in Maputo in June 2014. Nicaragua’s most recent Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report (for calendar year 2012) included no information on casualties or victim assistance.[7] In its most recent Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report (also for calendar year 2012), Nicaragua indicated that Form H on victim assistance was not applicable.[8]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

In 2013, through the program “Todo con Voz” (“A Voice for All”), the Ministry of Health continued to carry out home visits for persons with disabilities to provide basic medical attention, provide mobility devices, and refer patients to regional hospitals as needed. Since 2010, brigades of Cuban and Nicaraguan doctors have made thousands of outreach visits.[9]

Between 2002 and the end of 2012, all registered mine/ERW survivors had received support from the Organization of American States (OAS) to access physical rehabilitation and/or economic reintegration assistance. Starting in 2011, OAS support to mine victims was limited to physical rehabilitation; economic reintegration assistance was no longer available.[10] The OAS received no financial support for victim assistance activities in 2013. However, with funds remaining from 2012, the OAS was able to assist 75 mine survivors in accessing physical rehabilitation.[11]

In 2013, the ICRC SFD increased the availability of physical rehabilitation by providing materials and supplies to five different rehabilitation centers or outreach services. It reimbursed the costs of assistance for 128 patients who received prosthetic limbs, 17% of whom were landmine survivors (22 people).[12] This was similar to the assistance provided in 2012, when 17 survivors were assisted (12% of the total 140 prosthesis produced).[13]

The ICRC SFD also continued to support new rehabilitation centers in the northeast region of the country and along the Caribbean coast, in line with efforts by the Ministry of Health to decentralize physical rehabilitation services.[14] It began negotiating a new framework agreement with the Ministry of Health that would include efforts to introduce national coordinating mechanisms among the country’s five rehabilitation centers, for 2014.[15]

In 2013, the ICRC SFD completed the first phase of an economic inclusion program for persons with disabilities, implemented in partnership with the Polus Center’s national program (FURWUS), assisting 50 people in 2012–2013. Based on the results of this first phase, the ICRC SFD established a similar program for 2014.[16]

On 4 March 2014, implementing regulations for Law 763 on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities were approved.[17] In April 2011, Nicaragua approved Law 763 to replace the previous law on disability; Law 763 is aligned to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Despite legal protection, discrimination was widespread in 2013 in employment, education, access to healthcare and other state services. The Mayor’s office in Managua provided training to bus drivers on accessible transportation but most transportation remained inaccessible. Schools and health centers also were mostly inaccessible for persons with disabilities.[18]

Nicaragua ratified the CRPD on 7 December 2007.

Support for Mine Action

In June 2010, Nicaragua announced it had fulfilled the obligations under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, having cleared all known mined areas.[1] Since then, Nicaragua has been addressing a residual problem of explosive remnants of war throughout the country.

In 2011, Norway, through the Organization of American States (OAS), contributed NOK1,292,344 (US$230,685) for mine action.[2]

In 2007–2011, eight international donors contributed US$10.5 million to Nicaragua through the OAS.

Summary of contributions in 2007–2011[3]