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Colombia
Mine Ban Policy
Commitment to Mine Ban Treaty
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Mine Ban Treaty status |
State Party |
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National implementation measures |
Law 759 in effect since 25 July 2002; Law 1421 on humanitarian demining in effect since 11 October 2011 |
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Transparency reporting |
25 April 2012 |
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Key developments |
The Colombian Lend Your Leg campaign action went global in 2012 |
Policy
The Republic of Colombia signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified on 6 September 2000, becoming a State Party on 1 March 2001.
National implementation legislation, Law 759, came into effect on 25 July 2002.[1] In relation to the Mine Ban Treaty, Colombia also passed laws on victim assistance, land restitution, and civilian humanitarian demining operations.[2] Law 1421 of 2010 permits NGOs to conduct humanitarian demining operations in the country.[3] On 13 July 2011, the Colombian Presidential Program for Comprehensive Mine Action (Programa Presidencial de Acción Integral Contra Minas Antipersonales, PAICMA) published the draft regulatory decree of Law 1421.[4] On 10 October 2011, the president of Colombia, through the Ministry of Defense, approved decree 3750, which promulgated Law 1421 regulating demining by civil society organizations.[5]
Colombia submitted its 12thMine Ban Treaty Article 7 report on 25 April 2012, which covered calendar year 2011.[6] Under national implementation measures, Colombia listed Law 1448 of 2011, the Victims and Land Restitution Law (Ley de Victimas y de Restitución de Tierra).[7] In its previous report, Colombia listed its “main operational results” against non-state armed groups (NSAGs) during 2010, including the number of demobilizations and captures.[8]
Colombia attended the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in November–December 2011, where it made several statements. Colombia also participated in the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in May 2012.
Colombia has continued its activity in support of the Mine Ban Treaty at the highest levels.[9] It hosted the Second Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in Cartagena in November–December 2009. Colombia served as co-chair of the Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies in 2011. Colombia is part of an informal working group of States Parties from Latin America that monitors implementation of the Cartagena Action Plan.[10]
Colombia is a signatory to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines, but has never submitted a CCW Amended Protocol II Article 13 annual report.
The Colombian Campaign against Landmines (Campaña Colombiana contra Minas, CCCM) has continued its work to increase awareness of the country’s mine problem and its solutions.[11] It called on the government to use military demining teams to clear coca crops because civilians employed by the Colombian government to eradicate the crops have become casualties due to explosive devices.[12]
The Colombian NGO Fundación Arcangeles partnered with the ICBL and the UN Mine Action Service to hold the global “Lend Your Leg” campaign from 1 March until 4 April 2012. The activity, which involves people making the symbolic gesture of rolling up a pant leg in support of efforts against landmines and in solidarity with victims, was inspired by the Remangate (“Roll-up”) activity organized by Fundación Arcangeles in Colombia on 4 April 2011. Lend Your Leg activities were held in 74 countries and territories in 2012. In Colombia, the CCCM collaborated with Fundacion Arcangeles to hold an array of activities that resulted major media coverage, including the production of a special song and an 11km run in Bogota on 1 April, involving 4,000 participants including the president of Colombia and the United States ambassador.[13]
Production, transfer, use and stockpiling
Colombia’s State Military Industry (Industria Militar, INDUMIL) ceased production of antipersonnel mines in September 1998 and destroyed its production equipment on 18 November 1999.[14]
The government of Colombia is not known to have ever exported antipersonnel mines.
Colombia reported completion of the destruction of its stockpile of 18,531 antipersonnel mines on 24 October 2004.[15]
Since 2007, Colombia has retained a total of 586 MAP-1 mines for training purposes. It declared a total of 586 MAP-1 mines retained for training purposes in its 2009 Article 7 report. In the 2010 and 2011 reports, Colombia did not provide a number but declared “no change in the quantity of retained antipersonnel mines” since 2009.[16] Colombia has not destroyed or consumed any mines in training activities since a total of 300 retained mines were destroyed in three separate events in 2006.[17] In March 2007, the Antipersonnel Mines Observatory (Observatorio de las Minas Antipersonal) said that Colombia had made a decision in 2006 to destroy all of its antipersonnel mines previously retained for training.[18]
Colombia has not reported in detail on the intended purposes and actual uses of its retained mines, as agreed by States Parties. However, in May 2011, it informed the Monitor that the 586 retained mines were “used for training the humanitarian demining units [of the armed forces], in the use of equipment for mine clearance.” In the event it was to destroy these mines, Colombia said it would account for this change in its Article 7 report.[19]
Antipersonnel mines discovered during mine clearance are destroyed on site and not kept for training purposes.[20]
Transfer and production by non-state armed groups
There have been past reports of mines transferred as part of illegal weapons shipments destined for NSAGs in Colombia, but the Monitor knows of no reports since 2003.
NSAGs in Colombia are expert in the production of explosive devices. Both the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo, FARC) and the National Liberation Army (Unión Camilista-Ejército de Liberación Nacional, ELN) manufacture antipersonnel mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Colombia’s Article 7 reports contain information on mines produced by NSAGs by type, dimensions, fuzing, explosive type and content, and metallic content; the reports also include photographs and additional information. Twelve different design types are manufactured, which include antipersonnel, antivehicle, and Claymore mines, as well as IEDs. The military states that the mines are sometimes fitted with antihandling devices.[21] In June 2011, a member of the Colombian army’s demining battalion informed the Monitor that a FARC weapons cache found in June 2011 included homemade mines made entirely from plastic and chemical materials which are pressure-activated by a syringe triggering a chemical reaction.[22]
NSAG production of explosive devices continued in 2011 and the first half of 2012. During that period, there was at least one article published every week on the discovery and confiscation of explosive devices, including homemade antipersonnel mines.[23] In July 2012, the Colombian army announced the discovery of a FARC production center for explosive weapons in Bolivar department, from which 38 mines were recovered.[24] In June 2012, the Colombian army reported their discovery of a facility in Cachira, Norte de Santander department, used by FARC to manufacture explosive devices.[25]
Use by non-state armed groups
FARC continued to use antipersonnel mines and IEDs on a regular basis. Government forces continued to recover mines from the ELN, which has been documented as an antipersonnel mine user. In the past decade, paramilitary forces have also used antipersonnel mines, most notably the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia until its disbandment in 2006.[26]
In August 2012, the ELN again called for peace talks with the government, but the vice-president stated that the ELN should halt mine use before commencing peace talks.[27] In September, the ELN confirmed that the landmine issue must be an element of peace talks.[28]
FARC is probably the most prolific user of antipersonnel mines among rebel groups anywhere in the world. In August 2012, the president of Colombia announced that exploratory meetings have been held to seek peace with the FARC.[29] During 2011 and early 2012, the army reported finding FARC combatants skilled in the construction and laying of mines.[30] In September 2011, the Colombian army demobilized a FARC combatant in Neiva, who had reportedly been tasked with overseeing the mine defenses of a FARC camp after losing his leg to a mine near a FARC base.[31] In September 2011, the army stated that it had found 1,961 mines planted by FARC in Putumayo department on Colombia’s southern border with Ecuador and Peru and said that it had seized 3,882 kilograms of explosives in Putumayo this year, enough for “more than 10,000 explosive devices.”[32] In February 2012, the army reported recovering 48 fan mines (minas tipo abanico) from a FARC cache in Caquetá department.[33]
Colombian NSAGs lay mines near their campsites or bases, on other paths that lead to areas of strategic importance (such as paths to main transit routes along mountain ridges) and to protect caches of explosives, weapons, medicine, and clothing.[34] In 2012, FARC was accused of laying mines near destroyed infrastructure to prevent or delay its reconstruction.[35] NSAGs, predominantly FARC, also plant antipersonnel mines in or near coca fields to prevent eradication efforts, causing casualties among coca eradicators.[36] In February 2012, the ICBL expressed concern to the government of Colombia regarding the use of civilians to undertake coca eradication when these areas are increasingly known to be mined.[37]
CCCM has drawn attention to the challenges faced by entire communities cut off by mines laid in their vicinity. In August 2012, FARC distributed flyers in the town of San Miguel in Putumayo department warning of mines in the area, resulting in the community being confined by the threat.[38] In February 2011, the town of Samaniego in Nariño department was isolated after several mines and other explosive devices were laid on the only road leading to it.[39]
Media reports show the Colombian army has continued to recover mines from FARC and the ELN in its operations in 2011 and the first half of 2012. In March 2011, the Colombian army reported recovering at least 370 mines in two operations in La Garrucha, Antioquia department and Neiva, Huila department.[40] In April 2011, the army reported seizing 17 mines from FARC combatants in Neiva and reported finding the bodies of two soldiers allegedly abducted by FARC rebels that were surrounded by “landmine booby traps.”[41] In June 2011, the army recovered 500 mines that it said belonged to the ELN from the village of El Porvenir in San Francisco municipality, Antioquia department.[42]
[1] For details on penal sanctions and other aspects of Law 759, see Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form A, 6 May 2005; and Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 255.
[2] ICRC, “ICRC weapon contamination programming Colombia, Activities and results achieved in 2010,” April 2011, p. 2.
[3] Statement of Colombia, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Geneva, 20 June 2011.
[4] “Presentación borradores de los documentos del decreto reglamentario de la Ley 1421 de 2010 y Estándares Nacionales de Desminado Humanitario” (“Presentation of draft documents of the Decree Law 1421 of 2010 and National Standards for Humanitarian Demining”), 15 July 2011, www.accioncontraminas.gov.co.
[5] Ministry of Defense, “Decreto Número 3750 de 2011,” 10 October 2011, www.accioncontraminas.gov.co.
[6] Previous reports were submitted on 30 April 2011, 30 April 2010, 30 April 2009, in April 2008, in April 2007, and on 29 June 2006, 6 May 2005, 11 May 2004, 27 May 2003, 6 August 2002, and 15 March 2002.
[7] See Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form A, 25 April 2012.
[8] “Tal como se ha señalado en los informes anteriores, Colombia cuenta con todos los mecanismos jurídicos para prevenir y reprimir el empleo, producción, comercialización, cesión y almacenamiento de minas antipersonal por personas particulares. De otro lado, y en el entendido que son los miembros de los GAML [grupos armados al margen de la ley] quienes hacen un uso continuo y sistemático de dichos artefactos para atacar a la Fuerza Pública colombiana e intimidar a la población civil, el Estado colombiano considera que las operaciones conducentes a desarticular dichas estructuras criminales deben ser consideradas como medidas oficiales para prevenir las actividades en cuestión. Al respecto, la Tabla 1 relaciona los principales resultados operacionales contra las GAML en 2009.” See Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form A, 30 April 2011.
[9] Colombia provided the Monitor with an extensive list of recent statements on the Mine Ban Treaty by government leaders and officials. Letter from Sonia Matilde Eljach Polo, Director of Multilateral Affairs, Ministry of External Relations, 19 April 2012. Translation by the Monitor. President Juan Manuel Santos spoke out against landmine use on several occasions in 2011 and the first half of 2012. For example, see: Carlos Andrés Barahona, “President Santos bolsters fight to end landmine use,” Infosurhoy.com, 17 November 2011, http://infosurhoy.com/cocoon/saii/xhtml/en_GB/features/saii/features/main/2011/11/17/feature-01.
[10] Statement of Guatemala, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation, Geneva, 24 June 2011. Notes by the ICBL.
[11] CCCM was established in 2000 and has local sections in 22 of the 32 departments of Colombia.
[12] Anastasia Moloney, “Colombia’s coca clearers face landmine danger,” Alertnet, 30 November 2011, http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/colombias-coca-clearers-face-landmine-danger/.
[13] ICBL, “ICBL 2012 Global Action Report Lend Your Leg (LYL), 1st March – 4th April 2012,” undated, http://www.icbl.org/index.php/icbl/LYL-2012-Report.
[14] Interviews with Eng. Sergio Rodríguez, Second Technical Manager, INDUMIL, 5 July 2000 and 24 July 2001. As of 2001, INDUMIL was still producing Claymore-type directional fragmentation mines. Colombia has stated that these mines are used only in command-detonated mode, as permitted by the Mine Ban Treaty. However, Colombia has not reported on steps it has taken to ensure that these mines are used only in command-detonated mode.
[15] In addition to these 18,531 mines destroyed, the government has reported three other destructions of a total of 3,404 antipersonnel mines. Over the years, there have been many inconsistencies and discrepancies in Colombia’s count of stockpiled mines and their destruction. The Ministry of Defense sent a letter to the Monitor in September 2005 to clarify many of the problems. For details, see Landmine Monitor Report 2006, p. 302.
[16] “Colombia no reporta novedad con respect al informe anterior,” Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form D, 25 April 2012.
[17] In 2003 and 2004, Colombia reported it retained 986 mines for training. It reduced that number to 886 in 2005 when it decided the larger number was not necessary. It destroyed 300 more mines in 2006 (100 each in March, September, and December), but the number has not changed since December 2006. See Landmine Monitor Report 2007, pp. 267–268; and Landmine Monitor Report 2006, pp. 302–303.
[18] The coordinator said the decision was made primarily because the majority of mines laid in the country are of NSAG design and do not correspond to the MAP-1 mines used for demining instruction. Interview with Luz Piedad Herrera, Coordinator, Antipersonnel Mines Observatory, Bogotá, 16 March 2007.
[19] Response to Monitor questionnaire by Amb. Alicia Arango Olmos, Permanent Mission of Colombia to the UN in Geneva, 13 May 2011.
[20] Ibid.
[21] Presentation by the Colombian Armed Forces, “Desarrollo Compromiso con la Convención de Ottawa” (“Development Commitment with the Ottawa Convention”), Bogotá, 6 March 2006. Antipersonnel mines and IEDs manufactured by armed groups are constructed out of everything from glass bottles to plastic jerry cans. The explosive used is normally ANFO (made from fertilizer), but sometimes is a conventional explosive such as TNT. The mines are initiated by pressure-activated syringe fuzes (chemical initiation), battery-operated fuzes, and electric fuzes activated by both pressure and tripwires. These mines often have high levels of metal fragmentation in them.
[22] The mines have a probable lifespan of 10–15 years. The mines vary in size, weight, and quantity of explosive but have a common shape and detonation method (by pressure on a syringe). According to the officer, the protocol for dealing with these mines, once discovered, dictates that they should be destroyed on site. Only a few are kept for study (no more than 10). The destruction is done by “Grupos Marte” of the army according to the international standards for destruction. Interview with Sgt. Nelson Molina, 60th Demining Battalion, Colombian Army, Bogotá, 30 June 2011.
[23] In August 2012 alone, there were more than 20 media reports detailing the confiscation of improvised landmines and components for their manufacture. See, for example, “Desmantelan caleta explosive en Baraya,” Diario de Huila, 16 August 2012, www.diariodelhuila.com; “Hayan caleta con explosivos en Tumaco,” Noticiero de la FM, 21 August 2012, www.lafm.com.co; “Encuentran caleta con material explosivo en Florida, Valle del Cauca,” Radio Santa Fe, 11 August 2012, www.radiosantafe.com; “Destruidas caletas del bloque sur de las FARC,” La Nación, 28 August 2012, www.lanacion.com.co.
[24] “Positivo balance deja ofensiva militar contra las bacrim y la guerrilla en el norte del país,” Emisora del Ejército de Colombia (army radio), 5 July 2012, http://www.emisoraejercito.mil.co/?idcategoria=12297.
[25] “Encuentran 19 moldes para elaboración de minas antipersona,” El Tiempo, 20 June 2012, www.eltiempo.com.
[26] The Monitor has not seen reports of mine use by paramilitaries since 2006. See Landmine Monitor Report 2006, p. 300; Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 264; and Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 324.
[27] “La guerrilla tiene una deuda moral con la población civil colombiana: Angelino Garzón,” Emisora del Ejército de Colombia (army radio), 29 August 2012, http://www.emisoraejercito.mil.co/?idcategoria=13046; Luis Jaime Acosta; and Helen Murphy, “Colombia's ELN rebels offer peace talks, refuse ceasefire first,” Reuters Canada, 27 August 2012, http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCABRE87Q0VZ20120827.
[28] Open letter from the ELN signed by ELN Commander in Chief Nicolás Rodríguez Bautista, 10 September 2012, http://bit.ly/VVkSWb.
[29] “Se han desarrollado conversaciones exploratorias con las Farc para buscar el fin del conflicto": Santos, RCN radio, 27 August 2012. The general agreement for future dialogue named Cuba and Norway as guarantors and Venezuela and Chile as facilitators. “Acuerdo general para la terminación del conflicto y la construcción de una paz estable y duradera,” El Pais, 29 August 2012, www.elpais.com.co.
[30] Colombian Army, “Testimonios Fugados” (“Testimonies of the Escaped [former combatants]”), February and April 2010, www.ejercito.mil.co.
[31] “Cayó ‘Tropezón,’ el lugarteniente de alias ‘Genaro’” (“‘Tropezón’ the lieutenant alias ‘Genaro’”), Emisora del Ejército de Colombia (army radio), 29 April 2011, www.emisoraejercito.mil.co; “Ejército golpea el Frente 34 de las Farc al neutralizar dos de sus terroristas” (“Army hits FARC Front34 to neutralize two of the terrorists”), Emisora del Ejército de Colombia (army radio), 14 June 2011, www.emisoraejercito.mil.co; “Duro golpe del Ejército a las Farc en el Meta” (“Army gives major blow to FARC in Meta ”), Emisora del Ejército de Colombia (army radio), 23 August 2011, www.emisoraejercito.mil.co; and “Un guerrillero decidió fugarse de las Farc” (“FARC guerrilla decided to escape”), Emisora del Ejército de Colombia (army radio), 3 September 2011, www.emisoraejercito.mil.co.
[32] “Colombian Army uncovers 2,000 FARC landmines; most casualties civilians,” Merco Press, 21 September 2011.
[33] “Fuerza de Tarea Conjunta Omega incauta gigantesco arsenal de las Farc,” Emisora del Ejército de Colombia (army radio), 12 February 2012, http://www.emisoraejercito.mil.co/?idcategoria=10970.
[34] Email from Matthew Hovell, Programme Manager, HALO Trust, 14 April 2010
[35] “Three Killed by Landmine in Colombia,” Latin American Herald Tribune (Bogotá), 16 August 2012, http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=558948&CategoryId=12393.
[36] See, for example, Chris Kraul, “Land mines take a toll on Colombia’s poor,” Los Angeles Times, 6 March 2010; CCCM, “Problemática de los erradicadores manuals de cultivos ilícitos víctimas de minas antipersonal” (“Problem of illicit manual crop eradicators landmine victims”), June 2011; and “Landmine injures 12 coca eradicators,” Colombia Reports, 7 October 2011, www.colombiareports.com.
[37] The call was based on the findings of a visit by the ICBL in October 2011 that concluded the Colombian manual eradication program was putting civilians at risk from mines and noted that the government had not been able to effectively protect citizens from this risk. It therefore recommended that civilians not be recruited to take part in the Colombian manual eradication program and called on the Colombian government to end the involvement of civilians in this program. The ICBL also called on the Colombian government to redouble its efforts to recognize and certify coca eradicator survivors as mine victims to ensure access to a full range of victim assistance. ICBL, “Conclusiones de la Campaña Internacional para la Prohibición de las Minas Misión de Cabildeo a Colombia: Del 9 al 15 de octubre de 2011,” February 2012, http://www.scribd.com/doc/84171874/ICBL-Mission-Colombia-Oct2011-Espagnol.
[38] Eradication efforts were taking place in the same area. “Alerta por presencia de minas en San Miguel, Putumayo,” Colombian Campaign Against Landmines (CCCM), 28 August 2011, http://www.colombiasinminas.org/.
[39] “Población en el suroeste de Colombia está aislada por unas minas antipersonales” (“Population in southwestern Colombia is isolated by a landmine”), EFE (Bogotá), 19 February 2011, www.que.es.
[40] “Ejercito ubica 220 minas y destruye 7 artefactos explosivos improvisados” (“Army located 220 mines and destroyed seven improvised explosive devices”), Emisora del Ejército de Colombia (army radio) 22 March 2011, www.emisoraejercito.mil.co; and “Neutralizada siembra de minas antipersonal en el Huila” (“Neutralized anti-personnel mine sin Huila”), Emisora del Ejército de Colombia (army radio), 2 March 2011, www.emisoraejercito.mil.co.
[41] “Two kidnapped Colombian soldiers found dead: official,” People’s Daily, 21 April 2011, http://english.peopledaily.com.cn.
[42] Javier Alexander Macías, “Ejército y CTI destruyeron 500 minas antipersonal” (“Army and CTI destroyed 500 antipersonnel mines”), El Colombiano, 2 June 2011, www.elcolombiano.com.
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