Panama
Mine Ban Policy
The Republic of Panama signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified it on 7 October 1998, becoming a State Party on 1 April 1999. Panama has never used, produced, exported, or imported antipersonnel mines, including for training purposes. Panama believes that existing legislation is sufficient to enforce the antipersonnel mine prohibition domestically. Panama submitted its third Article 7 report in 2009, but has not submitted subsequent annual reports.
Panama attended the Tenth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in November–December 2010 in Geneva, but did not attend the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in June 2011.
Panama is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.
Panama has a problem with unexploded ordnance as a result of United States military exercises and weapons testing on military ranges in the Canal Zone during the three decades prior to 1999. Colombian rebels have also planted mines in Darien province, where two Panamanian border police were wounded in a mine blast in 2010. The number of devices found is unknown.[1]
[1] Sean Mattson, “Colombian rebels planting landmines in Panama: government,” Reuters, 2 July 2010.
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Policy
The Republic of Panama 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.
Upon signing the convention, Panama stated that it already had a law in place prohibiting weapons such as cluster munitions.[1] It is not known if Panama will enact specific legislation or other measures to implement the convention.
As of 19 June 2014, Panama still had not submitted its initial Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report, which was originally due by 28 October 2011.
Panama participated in the Oslo Process and advocated for the strongest possible convention text during the Dublin negotiations in May 2008.[2]
Panama participated in regional and international meetings on cluster munitions in 2009, 2010, and 2011, but did not attend any meetings relating to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2012. In December 2013, Panama participated in a regional workshop on cluster munitions in Santiago, Chile.
Panama has voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning the Syrian government’s use of cluster munitions, including Resolution 68/182 on 18 December 2013, which expressed “outrage” at Syria’s “continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights…including those involving the use of…cluster munitions.”[3]
Panama has not yet stated 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.
Panama is party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
In the absence of an Article 7 report, Panama is not known to have ever used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.
[1] Statement by Amb. Cecilio Simon, Representative of Panama to Norway and Sweden, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 3 December 2008. Notes by Landmine Action. This could be a reference to the National Penal Code’s Article 237, which Panama has stated applies to antipersonnel mines. Article 237 provides for a prison sentence of two to six years for “anyone who attempts to commit a crime endangering collective security by manufacturing, supplying, acquiring, removing or possessing bombs and explosive materials, or materials intended for their preparation.” Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form A, 16 April 2002; and statement by Amb. Xiamara de Arrocha, Mine Ban Treaty Fifth Meeting of States Parties, Bangkok, 15–19 September 2003.
[2] For details on Panama’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), p. 141.
[3] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution A/RES/68/182, 18 December 2013. Panama voted in support of a similar resolution on 15 May 2013.
Casualties and Victim Assistance
Casualties
Casualties Overview
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All known casualties by end 2013 |
3 mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties (1 killed; 2 injured) |
In 2013, the Monitor did not report any new casualties in the Republic of Panama.[1] The last recorded casualties happened in 2010 when an antipersonnel mine incident injured two border policemen along the Panama-Colombia border.[2]
The only other casualty recorded in Panama since 1999 was in 2004, when a 42-year-old farmer was reportedly killed in an explosion caused by unexploded ordnance in Piña, a former United States military range in Colón province.[3]
[1] Monitor analysis of media reports for 2013 (from 1 January to 31 December).
[2] “Colombian rebels planting landmines in Panama: government,” Reuters (Panama City), 2 July 2010.
[3] ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2004: Towards a Mine-Free World (New York: Human Rights Watch, October 2004), accessed on 24 March 2011.