Key developments since May 2004: Colombia completed destruction of
its stockpiled antipersonnel mines on 24 October 2004. Non-state armed groups,
most notably FARC, continued to use antipersonnel mines and improvised explosive
devices on a regular basis. The mine problem has continued to escalate. As
of 1 July 2005, 31 of Colombia’s 32 departments, and more than half the
country’s municipalities, were affected by mines or unexploded ordnance.
In August 2004, the government approved the National Strategic Plan for mine
action for 2004-2009. In 2004, the Antipersonnel Mine Observatory recorded 863
new landmine/UXO casualties, a significant increase from the 724 new casualties
recorded in 2003. At the First Review Conference, Colombia was identified as
one of 24 States Parties with the greatest needs and responsibility to provide
adequate survivor assistance.
Mine Ban Policy
The Republic of Colombia signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997,
ratified on 6 September 2000, and became a State Party on 1 March 2001. On 20
June 2002 the National Congress approved Colombia’s national
implementation legislation, Law 759, which came into effect following
presidential approval on 25 July 2002.[1]In May 2005, Colombia reported that the Office of the Attorney General
(Fiscalía General de la Nación) had considered 844 cases under the
law, and that five cases had been taken to trial by March
2005.[2]
On 6 May 2005, Colombia submitted its fifth Article 7 Report, a 114-page
document covering the period from April 2004 to March
2005.[3]
Vice President Francisco Santos Calderón, head of the national
interministerial commission on antipersonnel mine action, led the
country’s delegation to the First Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty
in Nairobi in November-December 2004. He was one of the highest level
representatives participating. In his statement, the Vice President urged the
international community to censure and apply penal sanctions on the non-state
armed groups in Colombia for their indiscriminate and extensive use of
antipersonnel mines.[4]The Vice
President also announced that Colombia’s 2004-2009 National Strategic Plan
for Mine Action had been approved. One of four main goals in the plan is
compliance with the Mine Ban
Treaty.[5]
On 22-24 February 2005, the government’s Antipersonnel Mine
Observatory (Observatorio de Minas Antipersonal) and the Organization of
American States (OAS) hosted a regional seminar on humanitarian mine clearance
in Cartagena. (See Mine Action Program section.) Colombia also attended
a regional victim assistance meeting in April 2005 in Managua, Nicaragua.
Colombia participated in the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional meetings in June
2005 in Geneva, where it made presentations on mine clearance and victim
assistance.[6]
Colombia has rarely engaged in the extensive discussions that States Parties
have had on matters of interpretation and implementation related to Articles 1,
2 and 3, and the issues of joint military operations with non-States Parties,
foreign stockpiling and transit of antipersonnel mines, antivehicle mines with
sensitive fuzes or antihandling devices, and the permissible number of mines
retained for training. However, during the June 2004 intersessional meetings,
Colombia made a strong and unequivocal statement that any mine that is
victim-activated is an antipersonnel mine, and is banned. Colombia expressed
concern that the threshold of what constitutes an antipersonnel mine was being
limited or narrowed, and stressed that the treaty is a comprehensive
ban.[7]
Colombia is a State Party to Amended Protocol II of the Convention on
Conventional Weapons, but did not attend the Sixth Annual Conference of States
Parties to the protocol in November 2004 and has not submitted an Article 13
national measures report for 2004.
On 3 November 2004, Colombia attended the inaugural meeting in New York of
the Forum of Mine-Affected Countries (FOMAC), a group of high-level
representatives from mine-affected countries. FOMAC was formed to
encourage cooperation between mine-affected
countries.[8]
Non-Governmental Activities
The Colombian Campaign Against Landmines (Campaña Colombiana contra
Minas, CCCM)[9]established campaign
coordinators and public awareness programs in 14 departments in 2003 and 2004,
and conducted 42 workshops in 167 municipalities, reaching 10,969
persons.[10]CCCM issues a
quarterly national mine action bulletin Colombia sin minas (Colombia
without mines), as well as press alerts on humanitarian emergencies caused by
mines.[11]On 15 February 2005,
CCCM helped organize a march to protest mine use in Vista Hermosa, 150
kilometers south of Bogotá, after three children were killed in a mine
incident.[12]
NGO efforts to engage Colombian non-state armed groups (NSAGs) on the
antipersonnel mine ban continued in 2004 and 2005. On 4-5 June 2004, CCCM and
Geneva Call, a Swiss-based NGO that seeks to secure support for a mine ban from
non-state actors through its Deed of Commitment, hosted a forum on landmines at
the Colombian Senate that was opened by the Vice President, and featured a
speech by a key rebel spokesperson.[13]CCCM and Geneva Call convened meetings on landmines and non-state actors
in Bogotá (17-19 August 2004), Medellín (20 August 2004) and
Bucaramanga (25 August 2004).[14]Additional fora have been held in the departments of Meta (October 2004),
Chocó (November 2004), Caldas (January 2005), Cesar (May 2005), and Norte
de Santander (May 2005), reaching a total of 800 people. CCCM and Geneva Call
also published bulletins on non-state actors and mine action in
Colombia.[15]
On 15 May 2005, CCCM and Geneva Call organized a forum in Aquitania with the
local population on antipersonnel mines, armed non-state actors and humanitarian
agreements. Participants included the mayor of San Francisco, 11 municipal
counselors, representatives of the 17 communities of the municipality, the
Antioquia Humanitarian Commission, Catholic Church and NGOs. Forum participants
called on armed non-state actors to not use mines, to facilitate the clearance
of the area, and to build a pilot zone free of
landmines.[16]
Non-State Armed Groups (NSAGs)
Non-state armed groups operating in opposition to, and in support of, the
state continue to use antipersonnel mines and improvised explosives devices
(IEDs) on a daily basis. Principal among opposition armed groups are the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de
Colombia - Ejército del Pueblo, FARC-EP) and National Liberation Army
(Unión Camilista - Ejército de Liberación Nacional,
UC-ELN). Smaller groups include the Popular Liberation Army (Ejército
Popular de Liberación, EPL) and People’s Revolutionary Army
(Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo, ERP).
In January 2005, the Central Command of Colombia’s largest non-state
actor and most prolific mine user, FARC, issued a statement which defended its
use of antipersonnel mines on the grounds that it was fighting an asymmetric war
with an adversary who could access more
resources.[17]In November 2004,
Ricardo González, a FARC commander, reportedly said, “We’re
not guerilla millionaires.... We say to the English, to the Americans, the
gringos, that if they’re upset because we use leg-breaker mines, then they
should lend us some money, or sell us conventional
weapons.”[18]
In June 2004, at the CCCM-Geneva Call forum, ELN spokesperson Francisco
Galán proposed an agreement with the government to limit the use of
landmines and IEDs, among other measures, and he invited CCCM and Geneva Call to
work together with ELN to construct a humanitarian agreement limiting its mine
use.[19]In a 1 January 2005
interview, ELN Commander Antonio García elaborated on ELN mine-laying
policies and practices. He claimed that ELN only uses landmines to stop
incursions and advances of military and paramilitary troops, does not lay mines
in an indiscriminate way, and warns the local population not to travel in mined
areas. He said ELN commanders are instructed to make maps of mined areas, but
noted specific information can be lost when people die. García stated
the ELN is “prepared to study humanitarian proposals that are made;
keeping in mind that without a formal agreement with the national government,
these proposals are exposed to the contingencies of the war that
continues.”[20]
Other non-state armed groups include a large number of paramilitary forces,
some of which are part of the umbrella organization United Self-Defense Forces
of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, AUC). There are also smaller
groups such as the Self-Defense Peasant Forces of the Casanare (Autodefensas
Campesinas del Casanare, ACC) and Self-Defense Peasant Forces of Meta and
Vechada (Autodefensas Campesinas del Meta y Vechada,
ACMV).[21]Most paramilitary forces
have been engaged in a process of demobilization. As of July 2005, almost half
of the participating paramilitaries had been demobilized, although not all
paramilitary groups are taking part in the demobilization
process.[22]
In May 2005, the Bloque Élmer Cardénas de Autodefensas
Campesinas (BEC-AC), a paramilitary group that is not part of the demobilization
process, announced it fully respects a prohibition on the use of antipersonnel
mines and called on FARC Fronts 5, 34 and 57 to jointly sign the Geneva Call
Deed of Commitment.[23]
Production
Colombia’s state-owned Industria Militar (INDUMIL) previously produced
antipersonnel mines, but ceased in September 1998 and destroyed its production
equipment on 18 November 1999.[24]INDUMIL continues to produce Claymore-type directional fragmentation
mines.[25]Colombia has stated that
the mines are used only in command-detonated mode, and therefore permissible
under the Mine Ban Treaty, but it has not provided information on any measures
taken to ensure the mines can only be used in command-detonated
mode.[26]
Non-state armed groups in Colombia produce a variety of antipersonnel mines
and improvised explosive devices made from commonly available materials and
explosives.[27]In June 2005, an
Army official told CCCM that, based on its clearance and confiscation
activities, the majority of the mines used by NSAGs in Colombia are improvised
devices, composed of PVC tubes, with nails and glass shrapnel; some are
command-detonated with electrical systems, while others use pressure or release
detonation systems.[28]According
to the Antipersonnel Mine Observatory, between 1990 and 1 July 2005, there were
26 “events” during which they identified mine production facilities
belonging to non-state armed groups, with three events apparently occurring
after 1 September 2004.[29]
Transfer
Colombia is not known to have ever exported antipersonnel mines. In the
past Colombia imported antipersonnel mines from Belgium, the former
Czechoslovakia and the United States.[30]Non-standard nomenclatures of the antipersonnel mines declared by Colombia
in its Article 7 reporting make it difficult to ascertain the types and origins
of the mines.
There have been several past reports of landmines being transferred as part
of illegal weapons shipments destined for the Colombian conflict, but Landmine
Monitor knows of none since October
2003.[31]
Stockpiling and Destruction
Colombia completed destruction of its stockpiled antipersonnel mines on 24
October 2004, in advance of its 1 March 2005 treaty-mandated deadline. The
final 6,814 antipersonnel mines were destroyed at the INDUMIL facility in the
Pondera military base in Atlántico
department.[32]The destruction was
telecast live via satellite to an event at Plaza de Bolívar in
Bogotá, where President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, Queen Noor of
Jordan, government and military officials, NGOs, international agencies and the
media celebrated the completion of the stockpile
destruction.[33]
According to Colombia’s May 2005 Article 7 Report, a total of 11,717
antipersonnel mines were destroyed prior to the final event, for a total of
18,531 antipersonnel mines destroyed in
all.[34]This is 2,020 fewer mines
than Colombia previously indicated would be destroyed. The mines were destroyed
in eight destruction events, in accordance with a plan made public in May
2004.[35]Landmine Monitor and CCCM
witnessed and documented all eight destruction events concluded between 26 June
2003 and 31 August 2004; they were allowed to verify the number of antipersonnel
mines destroyed at the events.
Colombia’s stockpile destruction was supported by the OAS and Canada.
The numbers in the following table are based on certificates issued by the OAS
verifying the destruction
events.[36]
The Ministry of Defense had indicated in September 2004 that a total of
20,551 antipersonnel mines would be
destroyed.[43]Colombia has not yet
explained this discrepancy of 2,020 fewer mines. Landmine Monitor has
previously reported inconsistencies and discrepancies in Colombia’s count
of stockpiled antipersonnel mines, and of their
destruction.[44]
In addition to the 18,531 mines destroyed, the government has reported in
the past that 2,542 INDUMIL mines were destroyed on 2 July 1999, prior to
Colombia becoming a State
Party.[45]
Mines Retained for Training and Development
In its May 2005 Article 7 report, Colombia listed 886 MAP-1 antipersonnel
mines retained for training purposes.[46]The mines are held by the Army in various locations (600 mines), the Navy
in Bogotá (186 mines), and the Air Force at the Madrid Air Force Base in
Cundinamarca department (100 mines).[47]In its April 2003 and May 2004 Article 7 reports, Colombia indicated it
would retain 986 MAP-1 mines, including 786 mines for the Army, 100 for the Navy
and 100 for the Air Force.[48]The
May report did not specifically mention consumption (demolition) of any retained
mines during the reporting period. Colombia has not yet reported in any detail
on the intended purposes and actual uses of its retained mines—a step
agreed to by States Parties in the Nairobi Action Plan that emerged from the
First Review Conference.
Stockpiles held by Non-State Armed Groups
Non-state armed groups are believed to hold extensive stocks of
antipersonnel mines and components. According to the Antipersonnel Mine
Observatory (Observatorio de Minas Antipersonal), there were 200 cases involving
seizure of antipersonnel mines or explosives between 1 September 2004 and 1 July
2005.[49]In November 2004, the
Army’s Ricuarte Battalion located a hidden arsenal in Angosturas,
Santander belonging to the Manuel Gustavo Chacón Sarmiento Front of the
ELN that included 18 antipersonnel
mines.[50]In January 2005, the
Army’s Explosives and Demolition Group (EXDE) in Santander found and
destroyed weapons including 38 cajón mines, 357 quiebrapata mines, 97
abanico mines and 151 other antipersonnel
mines.[51]In February 2005, 723
assembled antipersonnel mines, as well as explosives and shrapnel for the
construction of mines, were seized in La Paz hamlet, Caragena del Chaira
municipality, Caquetá
department.[52]In May 2005,
highway police stopped a truck on the road to Piendamó in Cauca
department, and seized an arsenal of weapons destined for Fronts 8 and 60 of the
FARC that included antipersonnel
mines.[53]
Use
There have been no confirmed instances of use of antipersonnel mines by the
Colombian Army since the government signed the Mine Ban Treaty in December 1997.
Landmine Monitor is unaware of any specific allegations of mine use by Colombian
government forces since 2002.[54]FARC alleges that the Colombian armed forces continue to refurbish
minefields around military bases and
installations.[55]Colombia has
provided differing information on the number of mines and the number of
minefields that the Armed Forces laid in the past at military installations and
around infrastructure. (See Landmine and ERW Problem section for more
details).
Use by Non-State Armed Groups
Colombia’s internal armed conflict continued unabated in 2004 and
2005. The military operation Plan Patriota expanded the military’s
presence into areas previously under the control of guerrilla groups. Fighting
has been particularly heavy in northern Cauca department, parts of Antioqiua,
Norte de Santander and the south of Bolívar department. FARC and ELN
guerrillas continued to be major users of antipersonnel mines and IEDs in the
armed conflict. Paramilitary groups also used antipersonnel
mines.[56]
While the government’s Antipersonnel Mine Observatory has in the past
identified the groups believed responsible for landmine incidents, its latest
information does not provide this
analysis.[57]Media reports of
antipersonnel mine use must be viewed with caution as they may inaccurately
categorize IEDs as antipersonnel mines. IEDs that are victim-activated are
considered antipersonnel mines and prohibited by the Mine Ban Treaty, but
command-detonated IEDs are not—though the latter are often used in
violation of international humanitarian law.
Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC: According to local
communities, the Army and media, FARC continued to use mines and IEDs
extensively in 2004 and 2005. In particular, FARC carried out a series of
counter-attacks against the military and the paramilitary, employing
antipersonnel mines in many cases. In combat reports published on its website,
FARC has proclaimed instances where its mines have caused Armed Forces
casualties.[58]In some cases, in
Antioquia and Caquetá departments, FARC has been known to gather
community members and inform them of the areas it has
mined.[59]
In May 2005, the Fundación Ideas para la Paz (Ideas for Peace)
published an analysis on use of landmines by
FARC.[60]It stated that in
addition to using mines for defensive purposes, to prevent the advance of the
military, FARC also uses mines to control territory, by mining access routes
after forcing the displacement of rural communities. FARC then uses the
minefields to control who returns and who does not, since it knows where mines
have been planted.
In May 2005, Landmine Monitor documented the use of antipersonnel mines by
FARC in the departments of Cauca (in Toribío), Antioquia (in
Cocorná), and southern Córdoba department (near the area of Nudo
de Paramillo). Landmine Monitor found that following the displacement of local
populations in Cocorná, FARC extensively mined the communities and access
roads, preventing the return of displaced persons as well as access by the Armed
Forces. A local inhabitant said that there had been an “enormous”
increase in the number of military landmine casualties in the area, and that the
military in general did not disclose information on their landmine
casualties.[61]In southern
Córdoba, following combat and the displacement of local populations, FARC
mined the area to prevent incursions from the military and paramilitary groups.
This rendered an entire valley, once home to cattle ranchers, inaccessible for
both residents and the military. “Before, there were hundreds of head of
cattle in the valley, now all the houses and fields are abandoned because of the
mines,” said a local
inhabitant.[62]
The following are some of the instances of FARC’s use of mines and
IEDs reported by the media and others.
In June 2005, one man was killed and another seriously injured after
stepping on a mine that the Colombian Navy claims was laid by FARC’s Front
37.[63]Also in June 2005, three
members of the Army’s Eleventh Army Brigade were killed in a minefield
allegedly laid by FARC.[64]
In May 2005, FARC laid landmines in southern Antioquia department, including
at Río Verde, following the start of a military operation by the Armed
Forces. Many residents fled to the safety of the town of Argelia when armed
conflict began, but approximately 2,500 others from rural communities such as
Las Margarita, La Mina, Mesones and Santa Marta could neither leave their homes,
nor work their fields, because guerrillas had mined all access routes in and
out, and would not tell them where the mines were laid. The residents were left
without food and other necessities, and in some cases escaped through the
minefields on their own to the surrounding mountains in a desperate effort to
reach safety in Argelia.[65]
In February 2005, FARC used antipersonnel mines to prevent Army advances in
Tierralta, Nudo de Paramillo foothills, Córdoba
department.[66]The same month, the
Army’s Fifth Division removed a FARC-laid minefield in Chaparral
municipality, Tolima
department.[67]
In August 2004, the Army’s mechanized group Juan del Corral found a
minefield allegedly laid by FARC in Agua Bonita, Aquitania, San Francisco
municipality, Antioquia department.[68]In July 2004, the Army’s Eleventh Brigade reported that it had
demined eight minefields allegedly laid by FARC, including one in Puerto
Libertador and one in Tierradentro in Montelíbano municipality,
Córdoba department. It also reported the confiscation of 66 homemade
mines.[69]In June 2004, a
20-year-old man stepped on a mine laid by FARC after he and his family decided
to abandon their home in Domingodó, Chocó department, because of
fighting between FARC’s Front 57 and the paramilitary group Bloque
Élmer
Cárdenas.[70]
At the beginning of 2004, FARC mined a 15 kilometers stretch of the road
between Aquitania, La Fé, El Coco and La Unión San Francisco
municipality, Antioquia department, preventing peasants from leaving and
obtaining supplies for nine months.[71]The Antioquia Displaced Persons Committee said, “One day the Army
demines the zone and that same night the armed groups mine it
again.”[72 ]In February 2005,
the community reached an agreement with FARC and paramilitary groups to permit
demining of the road.[73]
Unión Camilista - Ejército de Liberación Nacional,
UC-ELN: In June 2005, CCCM’s departmental coordinator denounced the
presence of a minefield laid by ELN’s Cimarrón Front in Laureles
Altos, Curumaní municipality, Cesar department, and requested clearance
of the area by the Army.[74]CCCM
has observed ELN warning signs in different parts of Antioquia, Arauca, and
Bolívar departments.[75]Mine use by ELN forces has caused displacement of civilians.
In November 2004, nine police agents fleeing an ambush were killed in
Itsimina municipality, Chocó department, after entering a minefield
reportedly laid by ELN’s Cimarrón
Front.[76]In August 2004, the
Army’s Fourth Brigade neutralized five minefields allegedly laid by the
ELN in Buenos Aires, Granada municipality, Antioquia
department.[77 ]After mining an
area in the municipality of Micoahumado in southern Bolívar department,
ELN warned the local population and cleared the
mines.[78](See below for more
details.)
Others: Landmine Monitor did not come across any evidence of
antipersonnel mine use in this reporting period by the Ejército
Revolucionario del Pueblo (ERP), Ejército Popular de Liberación
(EPL) or other groups previously reported as
users.[79]
Use by Paramilitary Forces
Paramilitary groups, including the major umbrella paramilitary organization
United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), operate throughout most of
Colombia. Since 2004, paramilitary forces have been engaged in a process of
demobilization negotiated with the Uribe Administration. By mid-July 2005,
nearly half of the paramilitary forces were reported to have
demobilized.[80]Not all
paramilitary groups are engaged in the demobilization process, which is
monitored by small teams provided by the Misión de Apoyo al Proceso de
Paz en Colombia (OAS Support Mission to the Peace Process in Colombia, OEA
MAPP).
According to the OEA MAPP, only a “very few” antipersonnel mines
and some Claymore mines have been turned in by demobilized paramilitary
members.[81]Demobilized
paramilitary leaders in Córdoba department told Landmine Monitor that
paramilitary forces had used antipersonnel mines, but infrequently, usually if
the group had seized the mines from guerrilla forces. They said the AUC as a
whole did not have a specific policy to use antipersonnel
mines.[82]It appears that
paramilitaries have used antipersonnel mines much less frequently than FARC or
ELN.[83]
In the Rionegro municipality of Santander department, where most non-state
armed groups are present, Landmine Monitor was told that paramilitary forces use
antipersonnel mines on a regular basis, including Belgian and US-manufactured
mines, as well as improvised mines abandoned by
FARC.[84]The groups reportedly
plant them around the perimeter of their camps at night and remove them in the
morning. A local mine risk education (MRE) worker told Landmine Monitor that he
regularly came across paramilitary forces carrying landmines in knapsacks for
use in protecting their camps, including the Belgian SOPRO antipersonnel mine,
the M1 antivehicle mine of US origin and Claymore
mines.[85]
In April 2005, the Patriotas Battalion of the Sixth Army Brigade recovered a
US-manufactured Claymore mine from an arsenal held by the paramilitary Bloc
Tolima in Las Delicias, Lérida municipality, Tolima
department.[86]In March 2005, the
Ricaurte Infantry Battalion of the Fifth Brigade of the Army recovered four
antipersonnel mines from two combatants with the Walter Sánchez
paramilitary front, who were killed in combat in the community of Santa
Catalina, Rionegro municipality, Santander
department.[87]
Demobilized paramilitary leaders said they had provided information on mined
areas in zones where they had previously operated, but did not know what use the
government and military has made of the
information.[88]The Peace Advisor
of the Antioquia Humanitarian Commission told Landmine Monitor in May 2005 that
information on mined areas, where paramilitary forces were or had been present
in Antioquia, had been provided to the OAS MAPP, including data on an AUC
minefield in Remedios
municipality.[89]
Landmine and ERW Problem
As of 1 July 2005, the Antipersonnel Mine Observatory reported that 31 of
Colombia’s 32 departments were mine-affected, with the department of
Guainia the most recent addition to the affected
list.[90]The Caribbean island
department of San Andrés y Providencia is the only department not
classified as mine-affected. The number of mine-affected municipalities and
departments has steadily risen since Landmine Monitor began reporting, from at
least 125 affected municipalities in 21 departments in 1999, to 615 in 31
departments as of 1 July 2005. Fifty-five percent of the country’s 1,119
municipalities are
mine-affected.[91]
From 1990 to 1 July 2005, the Antipersonnel Mine Observatory recorded 6,690
events related to mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), including 2,017
accidents involving human casualties and 4,673 other
incidents.[92]As of 1 August 2005,
the numbers had increased to 6,880 events, including 2,090 accidents and 4,790
incidents. Of the 2,090 accidents, 1,957 were as a result of antipersonnel
mines.[93]
The mine problem is overwhelmingly rural. Ninety-six percent of the events
recorded by the Observatory have been classified as occurring in rural
areas.[94]
The departments in which the majority of all mine-related events have been
reported from 1990 to 1 July 2005 are as
follows:[95]
Antioquia accounted for 23 percent of all mine-related events registered
across the country. Municipalities with the most events included:
Apartadó (26 events), Argelia (65), Cocorná (82), El Bagre (40),
Granada (79), Ituango (60), Medellín (50), Remedios (65), San Carlos
(80), San Francisco (163), San Luis (103); Segovia (74), Turbo (30), Urrao (34),
Yolombó (26) and Zaragoza (26);
Santander - 10 percent. Most affected: Barrancabermeja (100 events), El
Carmen (44), El Playón (23), Matanza (38), Rionegro (32), San Vicente de
Chucurí (106), Sucre (25) and Suratá (41);
Caquetá - eight percent. Most affected: Cartagena del Chairá
(42 events), El Paujil (26), Florencia (85), Milán (29), Montañita
(116), and San Vicente del Caguán (120);
Meta - eight percent. Most-affected: El Castillo (23 events), La Macarena
(48), Lejanías (38), Mesetas (63), Puerto Lleras (37), Puerto Rico (48),
San Juan de Arama (32), Uribe (42) and Vistahermosa (75);
Bolívar - six percent. Most affected: Achí (22 events), El
Carmen de Bolívar (104), Morales (57), San Pablo (48), Santa Rosa (23)
and Zambrano (23);
Cundinamarca - six percent. Most affected: Cabrera (27 events), La Palma
(53), Pulí (23) and Topaipí (24);
Norte de Santander - five percent. Most affected: Abrego (20 events),
Convención (23), El Tarra (37), Hacarí (22), San Calixto (19),
Sardinata (19), Teorama (28) and Tibú (77);
Arauca - five percent. Most affected: Arauca (51 events), Arauquita (89),
Saravena (65) and Tame (111);
Cauca - four percent. Most affected: Cajibío (17 events), El Tambo
(34), San Sebastián (24), Santa Rosa (34) and Toribío (26);
Boyacá - three percent. Most affected: Chiscas (14 events), La
Branzagrande (26), Pajarito (32), Paya (12) and Pisva (12).
The municipalities with the most landmine events recorded from 1990 to 1
July 2005, in descending order, included San Francisco, Antioquia (163 events);
San Vicente del Caguán, Caquetá (120 events); Montañita,
Caquetá (116); Tame, Arauca (111); San Vicente de Chucurí,
Santander (106); El Carmen de Bolívar, Bolívar (104); San Luis,
Antioquia (103); Barrancabermeja, Santander (100); Arauquita, Arauca (89);
Florencia, Caquetá (85); Cocorná, Antioquia (82); San Carlos,
Antioquia (80 events). [96]
The number of mine-related events has been growing rapidly in recent years.
The Observatory recorded 946 events in 2002, 1,381 in 2003, and 1,828 in 2004,
the highest number yet recorded. From 1 January to 1 July 2005, the Observatory
had registered 627 events.[97]
Colombia continues to report inconsistent information on the number of mines
and minefields under its jurisdiction or control that government forces laid
around military installations and infrastructure in the past. In June 2005,
Colombia reported that there were 34 minefields requiring
clearance.[98]In its May 2005
Article 7 report, Colombia reported 21 mined areas with a total of 3,111
antipersonnel mines, and another 12 sites needing
verification.[99]In September
2004, Colombia reported 22 minefields under the control of the armed forces,
with a total of 2,768 mines.[100]In August 2002, Colombia reported a total of 9,409 emplaced
landmines.[101]All of these
figures differ widely from the 54 minefields containing 20,000 landmines
reported by Colombia to Mine Ban Treaty States Parties in May
2002.[102]Landmine Monitor has
requested clarification on these numbers from the Antipersonnel Mine Observatory
on several occasions.
The Antipersonnel Mine Observatory has stated that these minefields are in
poor condition, mainly because of climatic
conditions.[103]Landmines
surrounding military installations and infrastructure represent only a very
small part of the problem. Increasing numbers of mines and unexploded ordnance
(UXO) are being discovered in communities already affected, as in the Sierra
Nevada of Santa Marta, a place sacred to indigenous communities and the site of
a tourist center in the Caribbean
region.[104]Mines are also being
discovered in areas previously not affected, for example in Tenerife in the
municipality of Mamey, in the department of
Magdalena.[105]
Mine Action Program
The National Interministerial Commission on Antipersonnel Mine Action
(CINAMA) was established on 8 October 2001, by Decree 2113, and confirmed by
Article 5 of Law 759 on 25 July
2002.[106]Colombia’s Vice
President, Francisco Santos Calderón, heads CINAMA, which is responsible
for implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty, including the development of a
national plan, policy decisions and coordination of international cooperation.
The commission has two technical committees, one on victim assistance and the
other on prevention, marking, mapping and mine
clearance.[107]
The Program for the Prevention of Antipersonnel Mine Accidents and Victim
Assistance (PAAV), established in January 2001, is the main program of
CINAMA.[108]The Antipersonnel
Mine Observatory, established by Article 13 of Law 759 of July 2002, is the
central component of PAAV. The Observatory functions as the Technical
Secretariat of CINAMA and is described by Colombia as its technical entity
responsible for collecting, categorizing, centralizing and updating all
information on the mine
issue.[109]
Following a participatory strategic planning process involving most mine
action actors in the country, the government approved the National Strategic
Plan for 2004-2009 on 10 August
2004.[110]The national plan has
four overall goals: institutional strengthening at the different territorial
levels; integrated care for the population; compliance with the Mine Ban Treaty;
the design of a national communication
strategy.[111]
The strategic planning process was implemented in three
phases.[112]In the first phase,
a series of meetings was held with NGOs, international organizations, members of
departmental governments and the UN, and members of the CINAMA technical
committees. Agreement was reached on a number of principles, including the need
to integrate mine action into development plans that are adapted to the needs of
the various regions, and that the role of the national authority must be to
coordinate, orient and articulate. In the second phase, a framework for the
national strategic plan was outlined with the help of departments having
previous experience with mine action; meetings were held with Antioquia, Cauca,
Meta and the Montes de María region. In the third phase, a final series
of meetings were held with national and international mine action actors in
Colombia.
Several of the country’s 32 departments have included reference to
antipersonnel landmines in their development plans, including Antioquia, Cesar,
Valledupar, Caquetá, Cauca, Santander, Meta, Nariño, Caldas,
Magdalena, Chocó and Córdoba. The departmental government of
Antioquia, the most mine-affected department in the country, has included the
landmine issue in its Departmental Development Plan for 2004-2007.
Antioquia’s approved integrated mine action plan includes five action
lines: institutional strengthening, information management, integrated victim
assistance, MRE and communications, and public policy on landmines. The
departmental mine action program has four staff and is financed by the
departmental government’s secretariat, health directorate and UN
Development Programme (UNDP). According to the departmental government, between
February and June 2004, 63 municipalities in Antioquia included the
antipersonnel mine theme (37 directly and 26 indirectly), as part of their
Programs for Disaster Prevention and Population Assistance. In April 2005, a
training process began for municipal administration and community leaders on
designing municipal mine action plans. A baseline study was due to be completed
in September 2005, with plans to begin mine action in 20 mine-affected
municipalities.[113]
According to the government, integrated mine action plans are being
formulated in 18 departments of the country, in accordance with the national
strategic plan.[114]Local mine
action committees have been created in Antioquia department (19 municipalities),
Cesar department (three municipalities), Cauca (two municipalities), Norte de
Santander (Ocaña municipality), and in the departments of Caquetá,
Santander, Bolívar, Meta, Nariño, Caldas, Magdalena and
Chocó.[115]In the
department of Cauca, Fundemos, an NGO based in Popayán, with the support
of UNICEF, has established and supported local mine action committees in 10
municipalities since
2002.[116]
In the reporting period, UNICEF Colombia held five planning meetings of the
mine action country team, in order to coordinate actions, develop the UN
portfolio of mine action projects for Colombia, and develop a long-term strategy
for mine action.[117]The 2005 UN
Portfolio of Mine Action Projects, issued in November 2004, lists the goals and
objectives for 2005-2006 as being: strengthening institutional capacity to
address the mine/UXO crisis at national, regional and local levels through
departmental authorities, civil society and community organizations; MRE and
prevention strategies at the national, departmental and local levels; access to
integral assistance for mine survivors and families of mine
casualties.[118]
On 22-24 February 2005, the OAS Program for Integral Action against
Antipersonnel Mines
(AICMA)[119]and the Antipersonnel
Mine Observatory hosted a seminar on humanitarian mine clearance in Cartagena,
Bolívar, the first seminar held on this theme in the country.
Participants included Vice President Santos Calderón, the OAS AICMA
Coordinator, representatives from the governments and militaries of Colombia, El
Salvador, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Guatemala, representatives from other country
offices of OAS AICMA, CCCM, and other NGOs and UN agencies in
Colombia.[120]Government
officials reported that the OAS and Colombia agreed to provide training to 40
military deminers, with funding support from Canada and
Switzerland.[121]
CCCM held a national planning meeting for all aspects of mine action on
16-17 December 2004, with the participation of members of the Observatory,
Colombian Red Cross, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), CCCM
regional coordinators and NGOs. Discussions centered on progress made and
lessons learned in 2004. Participants identified the need for a MRE lessons
learned/best practices workshop, which was subsequently hosted by the
Observatory in March 2005 as part of the strategic planning
process.[122]
A new organization called Humanitarian Action against Antipersonnel Mines in
Colombia Corporation (AHMICOL) held a seminar on perspectives and challenges in
mine action in Colombia, with support from Andes
University.[123]Participants at
the seminar included the US Embassy in Colombia, Antipersonnel Mine Observatory,
Colombia’s Air Patrol, CCCM, the Army and international mine action
consultants.[124]
As of March 2005, the Armed Forces had 254 explosives and demolition (EXDE)
groups within each of the 14 military engineer battalions operating throughout
the country.[125]
Survey and Assessment
The UN has stated that a Landmine Impact Survey is essential to understand
the scope of the mine problem in
Colombia.[126]The Survey Action
Center (SAC), with the support of CCCM, carried out a Preliminary Opinion
Collection (POC) in Colombia during a two-week period in July and August 2005.
The overall goal of the POC project was to collect information at the municipal
level in order to better understand the landmine problem in Colombia and verify
existing data, in preparation for a future landmine impact survey in the
country. Preliminary data is being analyzed by SAC and reviewed in consultation
with the Antipersonnel Mine
Observatory.[127]
Questionnaires were distributed to CCCM departmental coordinators to fill
out, and where the campaign was not present, to partner
organizations.[128]CCCM
coordinators and partners interviewed municipal mayors and other local
authorities, as well as local inhabitants, either in person or over the
telephone.[129]The budget for
the POC was US$23,000; SAC provided $15,700 of its own funds and the Canadian
International Development Agency provided $7,300.
Information Management
Colombia states that information collected by the Antipersonnel Mine
Observatory is used to facilitate mine action decision-making, as well as the
general and technical direction, coordination, implementation and monitoring of
the national plan for mine action.[130]Between June 2001 and February 2003, personnel from the Geneva
International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) installed the Information
Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) at the Observatory and conducted
training on its use.[131]Although the military provides information on military demining to the
IMSMA database, only in 65 percent of cases does the military provide the
Observatory with geographic coordinates related to its
activities.[132]
Mine and ERW Clearance
Colombia’s treaty-mandated deadline for destruction of all
antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control is 1 March
2011. While acknowledging that all mines must be destroyed within the timeframe
specified by the Mine Ban Treaty, Article 4 of Law 759 of 2002 permits the
Ministry of Defense to maintain, until the deadline, mines laid before 1 March
2001 for protection of military bases, as well as energy and communication
infrastructure, as long as the areas are appropriately marked to guarantee the
safety of the civilian
population.[133]
There is still no systematic humanitarian mine clearance underway in
Colombia.[134]The Antipersonnel
Mine Observatory reports that it has a three-person team for developing
standards, producing clearance manuals and implementing the national mine action
plan.[135]However, as of March
2005, the team had not received instructions to start developing the systems
required to undertake humanitarian demining, including developing cartographic
studies that would be used as a baseline for the socioeconomic impact studies,
implementing community mine risk education and marking initiatives, and
facilitating technical training on humanitarian mine clearance
standards.[136]
Clearance by the Armed Forces
The Armed Forces carry out limited mine clearance for tactical reasons,
during combat, and when bases and camps are
established.[137]In August 2003,
the OAS noted that this military clearance was not carried out according to
international standards.[138]The
OAS stated in 2005 that military clearance was still not in accordance with
international standards, but indicated that it would provide training so that
the Colombian military could achieve international
standards.[139]
According to the government, the departments reporting the highest number of
instances of military clearance during military operations from 1990 to 30 March
2005 were Antioquia (461 events), Caquetá (265), Meta (226), Cundinamarca
(214), Santander (191), Arauca (182), Bolívar (140), Norte de Santander
(117), Cauca (74) and Guaviare
(71).[140]The number of
instances of military clearance reported annually has increased in the past few
years: 20 in 1999, 66 in 2000, 87 in 2001, 396 in 2002, 622 in 2003, 862 in 2004
and 98 events in the first three months of
2005.[141]However, as indicated
in previous Landmine Monitor Reports, past military reporting on military
clearance has been contradictory and lacking in
detail.[142]
The Armed Forces and the media periodically report specific cases of
military clearance. In May 2005, the media reported that after FARC used mines
in the municipality of Argelia, Antioquia, the armed forces cleared access
routes for troops. However, they did not mark the demined areas for the benefit
of civilians, and they did not clear inhabited areas or civilian
roads.[143]The Army’s
Fifth Brigade, which is based in Barrancabermeja, Santander, and is responsible
for the southern Bolívar region and Cesar, Norte de Santander, and
Santander departments, reported that between March 2004 and March 2005, its EXDE
groups destroyed 2,682 explosive devices identified as antipersonnel mines and
UXO while engaged in operations against armed non-state groups operating in that
region.[144]
In May 2005, a local authority in the municipality of El Tambo, Cauca, told
Landmine Monitor that there were delays between when communities informed the
military of suspected minefields and when the Army came to clear the area.
“No marking is used, because the guerrillas would move it,” he
said.[145]The media has reported
that local authorities in various parts of the country have made desperate calls
to authorities to begin mine clearance, including authorities from El Tambo,
Cauca,[146]and in Rovira,
Tolima.[147]In Toribío,
Cauca, the local people said they risked being labeled informants of the
military if they provided information on zones that were
mined.[148]
Clearance by Non-State Armed Groups
According to CCCM, armed non-state groups have conducted short-term and
small-scale mine clearance in some departments following pressure from local
communities.[149]On 31 December
2004, the ELN announced that as a gesture of goodwill, and in unilateral
agreement with the communities of the south of Bolívar department, it
would allow clearance of antipersonnel mines in Micohaumado, Morales
municipality, along a 28-kilometer section of the road connecting Micohaumado
with La Plaza, La Caboa and Guásima
villages.[150]According to Geneva
Call, the Colombian government rejected the ELN proposal, and refused to
authorize a specialized NGO to clear the
area.[151]
In late January 2005, the ELN itself began demining the
area.[152]According to the
media, some 20 small craters provided evidence of the clearance of mines. The
Political Chief of the Luis José Solano Sepúlveda Front of the ELN
stated that the commitment to the community was to free the road, so that people
could pass through and go about their productive
work.[153]ELN Commander Antonio
García said the ELN was willing to continue demining in eastern Antioquia
department, but cautioned that since there was no formal agreement with the
government, further demining was dependent on the security
situation.[154]
CCCM and Geneva Call lauded the mine clearance in Micoahumado by the ELN as
a positive step, but noted the need for international verification of the
clearance. Geneva Call reported that the ELN asked it to ensure that a process
of verification was conducted before civilians used the zone
again.[155]CCCM and Geneva Call
asked the British NGO Mines Advisory Group (MAG) to verify ELN demining, and
after MAG’s director expressed interest, they informed ELN of this
development.[156]In May 2005,
the Observatory informed Landmine Monitor that verification would be carried out
by the Armed Forces and that the OAS would provide training and technical
support.[157]On 7 July
2005, the European Parliament passed a resolution on a mine-free world, which
among other things, called on the government of Colombia to facilitate the
verification process of recent non-state actor clearance, and termed the failure
to facilitate verification “a violation of the humanitarian spirit”
of the Mine Ban Treaty.[158]As
of September 2005, the government had not carried out or permitted verification
of the area. Local sources reported that people became tired of waiting for the
verification and started using the
road.[159]
Untrained Clearance
In April 2005, heavy fighting between government forces and FARC in the
municipalities of Toribío, Jambaló and Silvia, in northern areas
of Cauca department, led to widespread displacement of indigenous Nasa
communities. The Coordinator of the Guardia Indígena (a network of
indigenous guards, armed only with ceremonial sticks that protect the civilian
populations) told Landmine Monitor in May 2005 that, even though members of the
Guardia had no training, they had removed mines and UXO in emergency situations
during and after the fighting for fear that local children would tamper with the
explosive devices. He said that following the fighting, the Army had cleared
UXO from urban centers, but rural areas remained contaminated with both mines
and UXO.[160]
Mine Risk Education
Mine risk education activities continued to be carried out in Colombia by
several organizations. According to the government, national NGOs have been the
principal actors at the national, departmental and local level, including: CCCM;
Corporación Paz y Democracia, Antioquia; Fundemos in Popayán,
Cauca; Scouts de Colombia; Fundación Restrepo Barco; Colombian Red Cross;
Asamblea Permanente de la Sociedad Civil por la Paz (Permanent Civil Society
Assembly for Peace); Indepaz; Redepaz; Latin American Association of Human
Rights (ALDHU); Corpojurídica; CIREC; Corporación por un Hombre
Nuevo; Hogar Jesús de Nazareth, in Bucaramanga, Santander; Archdiocese of
Popayán; Departmental Committee on Mine Action of Antioquia
department.[161]
In August 2003, the OAS reported that international organizations and
national NGOs in Colombia were working independently from each other, resulting
in duplication of efforts and the delivery of contradictory MRE
messages.[162]Following a
recommendation emerging from a national planning meeting organized by CCCM in
December 2004 (see Mine Action Program section above), the Antipersonnel
Mine Observatory hosted a workshop entitled “Lessons learned, good
practices, and bringing together criteria for education on the risk of AP mines
and UXO” on 14-16 March 2005. According to the government, it was the
first time that all national MRE actors had come together to share
experiences.[163]The purpose was
to allow participants, through their shared experiences, to analyze lessons
learned and best practices being used by organizations providing MRE in
Colombia. Members of national NGOs, UN agencies and the School of Military
Engineers participated.[164]
A second workshop was held in early May 2005, with the support of the Geneva
International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, and a third was scheduled for
September 2005.[165]The
Antipersonnel Mine Observatory reported that an action plan on MRE for 2005 had
been designed and that, with the support of GICHD, a needs assessments report on
MRE would be produced.[166]The
MRE plan for 2005 was presented to the CINAMA technical committee on prevention,
marking, mapping and mine
clearance.[167]
MRE is included in the National Strategic Plan for Mine Action 2004-2009
under the third overall goal: integrated care for the population. A separate
national strategic plan on MRE is being developed by the Antipersonnel Mine
Observatory, with technical and financial support from GICHD and the Swiss
government.[168]The plan is to
have a regional focus, sensitive to cultural differences, and educate
communities on risk identification, prevention and
assistance.[169]
Several individuals interviewed by Landmine Monitor noted that because of
the armed conflict, local and well-respected neutral civilians are the only
people able to carry out MRE in rural communities—not state or government
workers—since in rural areas MRE educators regularly come across armed
non-state groups. MRE workers are usually permitted to carry MRE messages to
rural communities, provided they only focus on prevention and do not discuss
mine use or policies. Members of non-state armed groups have attended MRE
sessions given in schools and community meeting places, and some groups have
pressured MRE workers to give prevention messages to their
troops.[170]
In 2005, Army helicopters in Cauca dropped pamphlets offering rewards of
approximately US$15 (COP 35,000) for each kilogram of explosives turned in to
authorities. The pamphlets show a grenade to represent explosives. Community
members expressed concern with the contradiction between preventive messages and
Army rewards for bringing in
explosives.[171]
UNICEF Colombia continued to contribute to MRE in the country through its
support for the NGOs Corporación Paz y Democracia in Antioquia and
Fundemos in Cauca, as well as for the government Observatory’s planning
and technical capacities.[172]According to UNICEF, in 2004 the two NGOs reached around 25,000 people in
20 communities in Antioquia and 10 in Cauca. In 2005, the plan is to reach an
additional 60 communities in 15 municipalities each in the Antioquia and Cauca
departments. MRE activities are also planned for seven municipalities in the
south of Bolívar department, and two municipalities in the Montes de
María region of Sucre
department.[173]UNICEF Colombia
is producing two new tools: a fieldwork manual for facilitators and an
interactive game for community members, in which participants identify mine
risks and methods of preventing
them.[174]UNICEF Colombia is
also working on a project to include MRE messages in the school curriculum,
under an agreement with the Ministry of
Education.[175]
After the heavy fighting in Cauca department reported above, the Coordinator
of the Guardia Indígena noted that the first requirement for the area was
mine risk education, since people did not know what mines and UXO were or the
risk they represented.[176]In
May 2005, UNICEF Colombia, Fundemos, CCCM and the Asociación de Cabildos
Indígenas del Norte de Cauca, ACIN (Association of Indigenous Territories
of Northern Cauca), developed an emergency MRE plan to be implemented over two
months. This sought to train indigenous leaders in mine and UXO risks, who
would in turn develop culturally-appropriate MRE
strategies.[177]As of September
2005, the government had not approved this emergency MRE plan for
Cauca.[178]
Since 2002, Fundemos has carried out over 1,300 awareness and MRE activities
with vulnerable populations in Cauca department in the municipalities of
Miranda, Caldono, Jambaló, Silvia, Cajibio, El Tambo, Bolívar, La
Vega and Balboa, with technical and financial support from UNICEF
Colombia.[179]
In 2004, the government of Antioquia provided training and advice on MRE,
incident prevention and survivor rights to 864 members of the armed forces,
local authorities, schools, and community leaders in 12 municipalities. Between
December 2004 and April 2005, the government trained 77 persons, including
firefighters and members of women’s and community associations, in 29
municipalities as MRE “multipliers” to provide MRE to different
target groups. Together with Corporación Paz y Democracia, the Antioquia
government published the first regional bulletin focused on MRE, prevention and
victim assistance.[180]
During September 2004, the government of Santander organized the Solid Path
Through Santander, No To Mines (Camino Firme por Santander, No a las Minas)
program. CCCM, the Observatory, University Hospital of Santander and Hogar
Jesús de Nazareth work with the Santander government on MRE
issues.[181]
As part of the Semillas de Esperanza (Seeds of Hope) program, CIREC trained
44 leaders on MRE during the period May 2004 to April 2005. The 44 leaders then
developed MRE workshops for schools, local authorities, hospitals and health
centers, among others, with 1,206 people receiving MRE
messages.[182]Landmine Monitor
met with the disabled persons association in Santander de Quilichao, Cauca, that
includes landmine and UXO survivors. The association was organized with the
support of CIREC. According to association members, disabled people from rural
areas come to the association where they receive MRE through posters, other
basic materials developed by CIREC, and
theater.[183]
Corporación Paz y Democracia continues to be active in Antioquia,
providing prevention seminars in communities at risk in a number of
municipalities. It also supported the creation of mine action committees and
the development of municipal mine action
plans.[184]As of April 2005,
1,200 people had attended Paz y Democracia prevention
seminars.[185]
During 2004, the Antonio Restrepo Barco Foundation developed a program
called Mine Accidents Prevention, with children and young people from Soacha
(Cundinamarca), Barrancabermeja (Santander) and Santa Rosa del Sur
(Bolívar). A total of 125 children and youth were trained in the three
areas. The program was designed to educate children and youth so that they:
understand and recognize mine and UXO risks; know institutions offering
prevention activities and assistance following incidents locally and nationally;
can produce ideas and messages to help prevent mine incidents in the community.
In 2005, the foundation plans to carry out the first phase of similar programs
in Meta, Putumayo, Bolívar and Caquetá departments. The program
is supported by Children of the Andes, which is funded by the Diana, Princess of
Wales Memorial Fund.[186]In
addition, the British Embassy in Bogotá has provided approximately
$21,000 to the foundation for a project to promote MRE for children and
youth in San Vicente del Caguán municipality, targeting 40 children aged
between 12 and 15.[187]
The Colombian Red Cross in Antioquia carried out MRE workshops in
Cocorná municipality (El Choco, Campo Alegra and El Molino), Granada
municipality (Santa Ana) and Zaragoza (Corregimiento El
Pato).[188]
Funding and Assistance
The Colombian government approved COP2.5 billion (about $934,100) for the
PAAV national mine action program for the period July 2004 to June 2005, a
similar amount as the previous
year.[189]It approved COP571
million (about $213,400) for the PAAV for the period July 2005 to June
2006.[190]
There are other instances of domestic funding for mine action. ISAGEN
(Electricity Generating Company of Colombia) contributed $21,927 to
Corporación Paz y Democracia for MRE activities in seven municipalities
from June to December 2004.[191]The Antioquia Department Health Agency contributed $17,392 to implement an
information system and to hold a survivors
meeting.[192]
Unlike other heavily mine-affected countries, international donors have
contributed little specifically and directly to mine action in Colombia. Most
governments have provided indirect support through international organizations.
Four donors reported contributing a total of $3.53 million for mine action in
Colombia in 2004:
Canada: C$312,250 ($239,879), consisting of C$250,000 ($192,057) to UNICEF
for community-based MRE and mine victim assistance, and C$62,250 ($47,822) to
CIREC for human rights
advocacy;[193]
European Commission: €$2.5 million ($3,109,500) for strengthening
national mine action
capacity;[194]
Switzerland: CHF148,500 ($110,000) to the Colombian Vice Presidency and
GICHD for development of MRE
strategy;[195]
US: $75,000 from the State Department to OAS to set up a Bogota office for
liaison, information management and other mine action
services.[196]
In September 2005, Colombia was accepted into the US Department of
State’s humanitarian mine action program, to commence in
2006.[197]
UNICEF and UNDP have funded a variety of programs in Colombia in 2004 and
2005, but the total value is not known. Some examples are: UNDP provided $7,827
for an MRE training-of-trainers initiative in Antioquia department from February
to June 2004;[198]UNICEF
provided $99,299 to Corporación Paz y Democracia to help create mine
action plans and mine action committees in 10 municipalities from October 2003
to October 2004;[199]UNDP and
UNICEF provided $22,174 for the design of municipal mine action plans in
Antioquia department from April to September
2005.[200]
In April 2005, UNICEF Colombia reported that it had received $300,000 from
the government of Canada, $135,000 from the UK and $125,000 from Sweden for MRE.
UNICEF Colombia’s funding goals for 2005 were to secure contributions of
approximately $1
million.[201]
The OAS indicated that it received $178,169 for its Colombia program in 2004
from Canada and $19,335 from
Italy.[202]In May 2003, the OAS
presented a projection of financial requirements for its activities in Colombia,
estimating that a total of $3.3 million would be needed between 2003-2007:
$200,000 in 2003, $300,000 in 2004, $800,000 in 2005, $1 million in 2006 and $1
million in 2007.[203]However,
the OAS told Landmine Monitor in September 2005 that contributions to the OAS
for Colombia had still not reached $300,000 in total, and that funding shortages
had impeded full implementation of its planned activities. Due primarily to
funding limitations, the OAS closed its office in Bogotá in September
2004 after less than a year of operation. The OAS has since been managing the
Colombia/OAS program from Washington, and has sent experts into Colombia from
other regional offices on an as needed
basis.[204]
Antonio Restrepo Barco Foundation received £95,000 ($174,135) from
Children of the Andes - Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund for MRE projects
from April 2005 to April 2006.[205]The Foundation had an MRE budget of $120,000 in 2004, with most funds
coming from Children of the Andes - Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial
Fund.[206]
The Hogar Jesús de Nazareth in Bucaramanga received COP100,570,000
($42,757) from the International Organization for Migration to recondition
facilities, and provide psychosocial support and human resources for mine and
UXO survivors. [207]
In 2005, Japan contributed ¥71 million ($656,496) for the establishment
of a rehabilitation center at the Hospital Universitario del Valle Evaristo
García in Cali.[208]In
addition, Hospital Universitario del Valle Evaristo García contributed
COP442,144,491 ($187,976) itself, and the Valle del Cauca departmental
government provided COP300 million ($127,544) toward equipment and
infrastructure.[209]
Landmine Casualties
In 2004, the Antipersonnel Mine Observatory recorded 863 new landmine/UXO
casualties. Of the total new casualties, 206 (24 percent) people were killed
and 657 (76 percent) injured; 613 were military personnel, 239 were civilians,
including at least 21 women and 60 children, nine were armed non-state actors,
and the status of two casualties is not
known.[210]This represents a
significant increase from the 724 new landmine/UXO casualties (170 killed and
554 injured) reported in 2003.
Casualties continue to be reported in 2005. By 1 August, the Observatory
had registered 510 new casualties (124 people killed and 386 injured); 363 were
military personnel and 145 were civilians, including at least 13 women and 40
children.
The Antipersonnel Mine Observatory’s registry of mine casualties in
Colombia uses IMSMA and information is obtained from departmental and municipal
authorities, regional ombudsmen, Administrative Security Department (DAS, the
Colombian Intelligence Service) bulletins, civilians and six Colombian
newspapers.[211]Data collection
is an ongoing process with statistics continually updated as new casualties, and
those from previous periods, are
identified.[212]
Landmine Monitor and knowledgeable sources in Colombia assume there is
significant under-reporting of
casualties.[213]Civilians
injured by landmines in rural areas are often a long distance from available
healthcare services, and if they do reach those services their injuries may not
be recorded as mine-related because of security concerns. There is also
under-reporting of casualties among both the military and non-state armed groups
in Colombia. Based on information provided to CCCM-Santander by the
Army’s Second Division, military personnel were considered wounded only if
they lost a leg or if the injury was
severe.[214]The Observatory
reports a total of only 36 non-state actors killed or injured by mines since
1990.
From 1990 to 1 August 2005, the Observatory recorded a total of 3,992
mine/UXO casualties (963 people killed and 3,029 injured) from 2,090 incidents;
1,435 were civilians, including at least 156 women and 441
children.[215]According to the
Observatory, the most common activities at the time of the incident were:
military activities (2,431 casualties or 61 percent); passing near the place
(408 casualties or 10 percent); farming and grazing animals (132 casualties or
three percent); playing (63 casualties or two percent); tampering (45 casualties
or one percent); hunting and gathering water, firewood or food (32 casualties or
one percent); other activities including working at home and traveling (61
casualties or two percent); and unknown (820 casualties or 21 percent).
The 10 Colombian departments with the most reported casualties from 1990 to
1 August 2005 are: Antioquia with 1,087 casualties (27 percent); Bolívar
350 casualties (nine percent); Caquetá 327 casualties (eight percent);
Meta 308 casualties (eight percent); Santander 254 casualties (six percent);
Norte de Santander 229 casualties (six percent); Cauca 173 casualties (four
percent); Arauca 153 casualties (four percent); Cundinamarca 137 casualties
(three percent); and Putumayo 114 casualties (three percent). The number of
reported casualties in Antioqiua increased from 678 (to September 2004) to 1,087
to August 2005.
Survivor Assistance
At the First Review Conference, Colombia was identified as one of 24 State
Parties with significant numbers of mine survivors, and with “the greatest
responsibility to act, but also the greatest needs and expectations for
assistance” in providing adequate services for the care, rehabilitation
and reintegration of survivors.[216]Two mine survivors from Colombia participated in the Review
Conference.
Colombia participated in a workshop in Managua, Nicaragua, on 26-27 April
2005, which was convened by the co-chairs of the Standing Committee of Victim
Assistance and Socio-Economic Reintegration, to assist States Parties in
developing a plan of action to meet the aims of the Nairobi Action Plan in
relation to victim assistance. In Managua, Colombia reported that a pilot
project using new departmental health forms was starting in Antioquia; it will
later be expanded to the whole country. The forms will indicate the cause
of injury, as well as the type of injury, for example if the person is an
amputee. Colombia is also planning to create a fund to be used for
transporting survivors to medical facilities.
[217]
In June 2005, as part of its commitment to the Nairobi Action Plan, Colombia
presented some of its objectives for the period 2005-2009 to address the needs
of mine survivors. These include: decentralizing the information management
system at the different levels (local, municipal, departmental) in the country;
improving emergency response capacity and medical care to reduce fatalities and
minimize physical disability as a result of landmine explosions; improving
access to physical rehabilitation to restore maximum functioning of survivors;
improving access to psychosocial support to facilitate the reintegration of
survivors into society; assisting survivors to return to their pre-injury
occupation or with the establishment of small businesses; developing a project
to modify the law that protect the rights of mine survivors and their families
to integrated care.[218]
Colombia submitted voluntary Form J with its May 2005 Article 7 report with
information on its victim assistance
efforts.[219]
Based on a field visit by Landmine Monitor in May 2005, it would appear that
emergency care for civilians at the scene of a mine incident continues to be
poor, existing medical treatment is slow, and transport to medical facilities is
inadequate. Medical and rehabilitation services are for the most part located
in the main urban centers, far from the mine-affected areas. The rural health
posts will often vary in terms of medical supplies available, number of
personnel, and the training that the personnel have received. Roadblocks,
interruptions of public transportation and prohibitions imposed by combatants
sometimes prevent survivors from reaching adequate medical care. It can
sometimes take hours or even days to reach the nearest hospital. Even when
assistance is provided it is often incomplete and inadequate for the full
rehabilitation of survivors. Activities focusing on psychosocial support or
economic reintegration are limited. The cost of transport, lodging and meals to
access available services is often beyond the capacity of many civilian mine
casualties and their families. Mine/UXO survivors suffering eye injuries have
an additional problem as there are no agreements with institutions specializing
in eye injuries.[220]
Authorities acknowledged that medical care is made difficult by the distance
between the place of the incident and the healthcare centers, by a lack of
knowledge of first aid, and by limitations in social and economic
rehabilitation.[221]
The victim assistance component of the government-run Program for Mine
Accident Prevention and Victim Assistance includes medical care and
rehabilitation, educational reintegration, vocational reintegration and
accessibility to the physical
environment.[222]The Observatory
reportedly monitors the care of survivors by NGOs and agencies, such as Fisalud,
Centro Integral de Rehabilitación de Colombia (CIREC), the
Medellín-based Corporación Paz y Democracia, CCCM, UNICEF, and the
Cauca-based Fundemos, and by the state agency Red de Solidaridad Social (Social
Solidarity Network). The Observatory is developing standards for the care of
mine survivors, carrying out baseline studies on the situation of persons with
disabilities, and is developing a pilot project with the government-run National
Learning Institute (Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje, SENA) for the
socioeconomic reintegration of survivors in Cauca department, and a study of the
labor market in the department.[223]SENA will provide training to individuals and communities in emergency
assistance to mine survivors, provision of psychosocial support, and mine risk
education; it will also provide training for survivors to facilitate
socioeconomic reintegration. The pilot project will benefit 48 mine survivors,
14 family members of survivors and 21 family members of people
killed.[224]
Military mine casualties are transported to an emergency center and to the
Central Military Hospital in Bogotá, which is fully equipped to handle
trauma cases. Military survivors have access to programs for their physical
rehabilitation and psychosocial
support.[225]
There are various centers providing physical rehabilitation and prostheses
for civilian landmine survivors and other persons with disabilities in Colombia,
including CIREC in Bogotá; the Hogar de Jesús de Nazareth (Jesus
of Nazareth Home) in Bucaramanga, Santander; the San Juan Bautista Orthopedic
Center in Bucaramanga, Santander; the Antioquia Rehabilitation Committee in
Medellín; the REI Foundation in Cartagena, Bolívar; the Hospital
Universitario del Valle in Cali; the Roosevelt Hospital in Bogotá; the
Teletón Hospital in Bogotá.
CIREC provides integrated rehabilitation services to amputees and other
persons with disabilities, producing lower limb prostheses and orthoses, as well
as providing medical services, physical and occupational therapy, psychosocial
support, educational opportunities, and direct financial assistance if
necessary.[226]In 2004, CIREC
assisted 7,938 people, including 87 mine survivors, and produced 516 prostheses
and 3,883 orthoses.[227]In 2004,
one technician from CIREC, sponsored by the ICRC Special Fund for the Disabled,
graduated from a three-year prosthetic and orthotics course at the Don Bosco
University in El Salvador.[228]
CIREC’s mobile Rehabilitation Brigades provide medical and
rehabilitation services to assist mine survivors and other persons with
disabilities in remote rural areas. In 2004, the CIREC brigades assisted 759
persons, providing 143 prostheses, 77 orthoses, 75 wheelchairs, and other
technical support. Brigades were active in Rionegro (Santander), Arauca
(Arauca), San Pablo (Bolívar), San Vicente de Chucurí (Santander),
Bogotá, Silvia (Cauca), Santander de Quilichao (Cauca), Guaduas
(Cundinamarca), Cúcuta (Norte de Santander) and Sardinata (Norte de
Santander) between February and November 2004. The program has also provided
training for healthcare personnel, including four physiotherapists in Santander,
four in Cauca, one in Bolívar, four in Cundinamarca and two in Norte de
Santander. Training was also provided to two auxiliary nurses in the south of
Bolívar department, and two auxiliary nurses in Norte de
Santander.[229]
CIREC’s Semillas de Esperanza (Seeds of Hope) community leadership
program includes: the development of 12 income generation projects, benefiting
49 program leaders; support for the development of 22 associations of persons
with disabilities that work on socioeconomic improvement of their daily lives;
and the development of “Bancos de Ayudas Técnicas” (Technical
Support Banks) which provide equipment and support (such as computers) to the
associations, increasing their self-sufficiency and
productivity.[230]In 2004,
income generation projects benefited 50 people in Santander, Bolívar,
Cauca, and Cundinamarca departments. Support was given for photocopying shops,
laundromats, stationary stores, and chicken and pig
farms.[231]In October 2004, the
association in Cúcuta, Norte de Santander arranged for a medical
assessment of 66 amputees, including mine survivors, and provided 30 prostheses,
three wheelchairs, and 10
crutches.[232]The main donors to
the programs are private individuals and the Swedish International Development
Agency, through Star of Hope International, the governments of Canada and
Norway, and Landmine Survivors
Network.[233]
In January 2004, CIREC, CCCM and the Antipersonnel Mine Observatory agreed
that the three institutions would carry out a pilot project for landmine
survivors in which the government would provide entitlements to ten mine
survivors from different regions of the country, identified by CCCM and sent to
CIREC for rehabilitation. CIREC and CCCM carried out the project in 2004, but
as of mid-2005, the Observatory had not provided the agreed upon follow-up of
the process. Sixteen mine survivors benefited under this
project.[234]
The Hogar Jesús de Nazareth in Bucaramanga, Santander provides
integrated rehabilitation and vocational training to persons with disabilities,
including mine/UXO survivors from the departments of Santander, Norte de
Santander, Bolívar, Arauca, Magdalena and Cesar. In May 2005, the home
was assisting 25 survivors. Prostheses are produced by a private workshop,
Centro de Investigación Cientifica de Ortesis y Prostesis (Center for
Research on Orthoses and Prostheses), in Bucaramanga and partly covered by the
FOSYGA (Social Solidarity and Guarantee Fund) state fund. Eight survivors
received vocational training in 2004. The home also provides legal advice and
assistance. CCCM subsidizes some of the survivors brought to the home, while
others are covered by about $43,000 provided by the International Organization
for Migration.[235]
Between July 2004 and June 2005, the NGO Corporación Dike project on
“integrated emergency assistance” in the department of Cauca
received support from the German NGO Diakonie Assistance for Emergencies to
improve the quality of life for mine/UXO survivors and their families; 35
survivors benefited in the municipalities of Cajibío (La Vega), El Tambo
(Caldono) and Popayán (Cauca). Twelve survivors were sent to CIREC in
Bogotá for treatment and rehabilitation. Other assistance was provided
for education, house construction, and the purchase of horses, cows and
bicycles.[236]
The University Hospital San Vicente de Paúl in Medellín,
Antioquia, provides integrated rehabilitation for mine survivors, including
physiotherapy, occupational therapy, psychosocial support and psychiatry; it
works with an economic rehabilitation committee for the reintegration of
survivors. The hospital has developed a pilot project providing prostheses for
amputees not subsidized by government programs. The US-based Barr Foundation
will provide components for 100 prostheses, and a private workshop will provide
15 prostheses.[237]
The University Hospital of Santander, Bucaramanga (formerly the Ramón
González Valencia Hospital) assisted eight mine survivors during the
first four months of 2005. The University Hospital of Valle in Cali received
funding from Japan and the Valle del Cauca departmental government to develop a
rehabilitation center at the hospital (see Funding and Assistance above).
A cultural event organized by the government in Bogotá in May 2005
(with the Philharmonic of Bogotá and the artist Miguel Bosé)
raised funds for a proposed regional rehabilitation center to be based at the
University Hospital of Santander.[238]
In Antioquia and Cauca, the NGOs Corporación Paz y Democracia and
Fundemos, with the support of UNICEF, provided legal and educational assistance,
including information on their rights to benefits and compensation, to 75
survivors and their families in 2004. Paz y Democracia is also supporting the
creation of mine action committees and municipal mine action
plans.[239]The mine action plan
in Cocorná, started in May 2005, includes a pilot project on psychosocial
support for survivors, with assistance from the municipal
government.[240]
The Fundación Grupo de Sobrevivientes de Minas Antipersonal
(Antipersonnel Mine Survivors Foundation, FGSMMA-Colombia), founded by a mine
survivor, provides psychosocial support to landmine survivors in Cauca,
Santander, Medellín, and Bogotá. In June 2004, a team of four
athletes from FGSMMA-Colombia participated in the bicycle tour “La Otra
Vuelta a Colombia, no más minas antipersona” (The Other Tour of
Colombia, no more antipersonnel mines) with the objective of raising awareness
and encouraging disabled people to become active in sports and society.
FGSMMA-Colombia is supported by the Antipersonnel Mine Observatory, OAS, UNICEF
and Colombian Cycling Federation. With the support of the Club Canadá de
Colombia, FGSMMA-Colombia provided crutches and wheelchairs to disabled people
in Bogotá, Cúcuta and
Bucaramanga.[241]
CCCM, with the support of the government of Catalonia and the La Caixa
Foundation of Barcelona, and in partnership with the Catalan NGO Movimento per
la Pau (Movement for Peace), locates mine survivors and provides transport and
support, while they are undergoing rehabilitation in Bogotá and other
urban centers. CCCM started a 12-month project on 1 October 2004, supported by
the La Caixa Foundation with funding of $105,000. It started a 12-month project
on 1 April 2005, supported by the government of Catalonia with funding of
$120,000. As of August 2005, 82 survivors (67 male and 15 female) from eight
departments (Antioquia, Bolívar, Cauca, Meta, Valle del Cauca,
Nariño, Córdoba and Caquetá) had received support: 46 in
Medellín at the San Vicente de Paúl Hospital, in coordination with
the Antioquia Rehabilitation Committee and the prostheses workshop Ortopraxis;
19 at the Hogar Jesús de Nazareth; 13 at the Roosevelt Institute; four at
CIREC.[242]In an agreement with
the Madgalena Medio Development and Peace Corporation, CCCM included 19
survivors from the Magdalena Medio region in their assistance program, including
eight survivors from Micoahumado, Bolívar, involved in income generation
projects.[243]Under an agreement
between the Swiss Foundation for Landmine Victims Aid and CCCM, another 10
survivors will receive
rehabilitation.[244]
The Antioquia Gobernación (departmental government) offers legal
advice to survivors and their families to assist with procedures to access
humanitarian aid from the Social Solidarity Network. With support from UNDP, a
meeting of survivors took place on 31 May 2005 to discuss survivor rights and
determine their needs. The Antioquia Gobernación is developing the
Antipersonnel Mine Information System (SISMAP) within the Antioquia
Epidemiological Surveillance System (SIVIGILA). Registration and monitoring of
survivors is constantly updated in a
database.[245]In Antioquia, a
committee also provides rehabilitation and prostheses to mine survivors referred
by CCCM and Medellín hospitals, charging their services to the FOSYGA
state fund.[246]In some cases
departmental governments have also provided resources to facilitate survivor
reintegration, and include survivor assistance in their development
plans.[247]
In September 2004, Handicap International, in partnership with
Rehabilitación Integral Foundation (REI), started a new program to
improve the situation of displaced persons and people with disabilities in the
departments of Antioquia (five cities), Bolivar (four cities) and Cesar (two
cities), through a community-based rehabilitation
approach.[248]
ICRC facilitates access to specialized medical care for civilian war-wounded
and provides information on rights and available assistance. When no assistance
is available, ICRC assists with referrals to rehabilitation, transportation,
lodgings and meals. In 2004, ICRC provided financial support for the treatment
of 315 mine survivors.[249]
The 2003 Directory of Rehabilitation Services provides details of other
service providers in Colombia. Other organizations providing medical care,
physical rehabilitation, and psychosocial support to survivors include
Movimondo, the Juan Diego Restrepo orthopedic workshop, the association
Confepaz, the NGO Corpojurídica, the association Por un Hombre Nuevo, and
the foundation El Derecho a
Caminar.[250]
Disability Policy and Practice
Colombia has legislation to protect the rights of persons with disabilities,
including landmine survivors. The legislation’s effectiveness is
reportedly limited by the low capacity of the health and state sectors to react,
the lack of inter-sectorial coordination, and the lack of institutional
leadership. Many mine survivors are reportedly not aware of the services and
benefits that are available to
them.[251]
Humanitarian aid provided through the Social Solidarity Network includes
assistance for permanent disability. In case of death, the family is entitled to
assistance. Mine survivors and other people who lose the function of any part
of the body receive a certificate from a physician classifying the disability
according to a “calificación de invalidez” disability
measure.[252]
There are reportedly major delays in the distribution of humanitarian
assistance by the Social Solidarity Network. There are reports of some
survivors waiting three or four years after being injured before receiving
benefits and others not receiving benefits at all. The delays are especially
regrettable because many survivors and their families are among the poorest in
rural areas and desperately require the assistance if they are no longer able to
work in agriculture.[253]Moreover, compensation is only available within a year of the incident.
This presents a serious problem to many survivors, who through lack of knowledge
of the policies distance from government offices, or through illiteracy do not
submit the forms within a year.[254]The Antipersonnel Mine Observatory acknowledges that there is a need to
modify the law that requires mine survivors to submit the appropriate forms for
compensation within a year of the
incident.[255]Hospitals also
report delays in receiving funds from the government for the services
provided.[256]According to CCCM,
the Colombian Institute for the Wellbeing of the Family (ICBF) does not cover
the cost of prostheses for all child survivors, even though this is its
responsibility.[257]
[1]The legislation contains penal
sanctions of between 10 and 15 years, a fine that is 500 to 1,000 times the
official minimum monthly salary, and prohibition from public office for a period
of five to ten years. If the antipersonnel mine is equipped with an
anti-handling device or set up like a booby-trap, the violation is punishable by
15 to 20 years of imprisonment, a fine of 1,000 to 2,000 times the official
minimum monthly salary, and prohibition of public office for 10 years. Anyone
who encourages, assists, facilitates, stimulates or induces other persons to
participate in violations could be imprisoned for between six and ten years, or
fined 200 to 500 times the official minimum monthly salary. The Law also
provides for National Humanitarian Missions to verify facts and make
recommendations (Article 10) and for International Missions to Determine Facts
(Article 12). See Article 7 Report, Form A, 6 May 2005.
[2]Article 7 Report, Form A, 6 May
2005. A total of 622 cases were in the preliminary stages of evidence gathering,
and 217 cases had been dismissed for lack of evidence.
[3]Previous Article 7 reports were
submitted on 11 May 2004, 27 May 2003, 6 August 2002 and 15 March 2002.
[4]SNE (Presidencia),
“Censura política y penal contra FARC, ELN y AUC por uso de
minas,” Nairobi, 2 December 2004. The Colombian government has regularly
urged Mine Ban Treaty States Parties to condemn use and production of
antipersonnel mines by non-state armed groups. Translation by Landmine
Monitor.
[5]SNE (Presidencia),
“Censura política y penal contra FARC, ELN y AUC por uso de
minas,” Nairobi, 2 December 2004. Translation by Landmine Monitor.
[6]The presentations are
available at www.gichd.ch.
[7]Oral remarks to the Standing
Committee on General Status and Operation of the Convention, Geneva, 25 June
2004. Landmine Monitor/HRW notes.
[8]United Nations,
“Countries stand united in the battle against landmines,” 4 November
2004, www.un.int/Angola/press_release_landmines.
[9]CCCM is a member of the
ICBL’s Advisory Board and CCCM representatives participated in the First
Review Conference, the June 2005 intersessional meetings, and the April 2005
victim assistance seminar in Managua.
[10]These activities received
financial support from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and
the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The departments are
Antioquia, Arauca, Bolívar, Caldas, Cuaca, Caquetá, Cesar,
Chocó, Cundinamarca, Magdalena, Meta, Nariño, Santander and
Santander del Norte. “Final Report CCCM-IOM Civil Society Action
Strengthening Project,” Bogotá, January 2005.
[11]See for example, CCCM,
Comunicado de Prensa, “Emergencia Humanitaria: alerta sobre campos minados
en el Vaupés,” Bogotá, 6 May 2005. The bulletins and alerts
can be accessed though the CCCM website, which contains additional resources,
www.colombiasinminas.org.
[12]“Colombian villagers
march after land mine kills three small children,” Associated Press
(Bogotá), 15 February 2005.
[13]See Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, p. 314, for more details on the forum.
[14]CCCM, Comunicado No. 010,
“Foros regionales sobre minas antipersonales, actores armadas no estatales
y acuerdos humanitarios en Antioquia y Santander,” Bogotá, 20
August 2004.
[15]See “ANE, Actores
Armados no Estatales y Minas Antipersonales,” ¿Desminando
Colombia?, Número 4 y 5, March and April 2005.
[16]“Declaración
Final,” Primer Foro minas antipersonales, actores armados no estatales,
acuerdos humanitarios, Aquitania, 15 May 2005.
[17]“Plan Patriota after
14 months of its implementation,” Statement issued by the Secretariat of
the Central Chiefs of Staff of FARC-EP, 26 January 2005, www.rebelion.org.
[18]“Colombia scraps
landmines, Marxist rebels lay more,” Reuters (Bogotá), 26
November 2004.
[19]The imprisoned Galán
was allowed to leave, briefly, the Itagüí prison to deliver the
speech. ELN also proposed a general amnesty for political prisoners and
prisoners of war, and a bilateral and temporary cease-fire. Ejército de
Liberación Nacional, Comando Central, “Foro Internacional Minas
Antipersonales y Acuerdos Humanitarios,” Montañas de Colombia, 4
June 2004.
[20]Mariluz Avendaño,
“Entrevista de Tele-Antioquia al Comandante Antonio García,”
Medellín, 1 January 2005.
[21]Paramilitary groups operate
with the tolerance and often support of units within the Colombian Army. See
Human Rights Watch, The “Sixth” Division: Military-Paramilitary
Ties and U.S. Policy in Colombia (New York: Human Rights Watch, September
2001).
[22]“Casi la mitad de los
miembros de la autodefensas yá están desmovilizados,” El
Tiempo (Bogotá), 14 July 2005.
[23]Estado Mayor, Bloque
Élmer Cárdenas de Autodefensas Campesinas, BEC-AC, Comunicado para
el Asesor de Paz, Jaime Fajardo Landaeta, “Minas Antipersonal, un
llamamiento por la humanidad,” May 2005.
[24]For details on previous
production, see Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 315.
[25]Interview with Engineer
Sergio Rodríguez, Technical Second Manager, INDUMIL, 5 July 2000 and 24
July 2001.
[26]Letter from the General
Command of the Armed Forces, 21 January 2000.
[27]For a detailed list of mine
types, see Landmine Monitor Report 2004, pp. 315-316.
[28]Information provided by the
Army in Meta to Jonathan Núñez, CCCM Meta Coordinator,
Villavicencio, 15 June 2005.
[29]Antipersonnel Mine
Observatory, “Eventos por MAP/MUSE, 1990 - 1 de Julio 2005.” The
observatory previously reported 23 events from 1990 to 1 September 2004. See
Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 316.
[30]Article 7 Report, Form B, 30
April 2003; Colombian Navy Registry Form for Stockpiled AP Mines, presentation
by the Navy at the “Antipersonnel Landmines: Colombia and the Ottawa
Convention,” Seminar, Bogotá, 27 February 2001. Four M48
Czechoslovakian mines were included in a destruction event on 30 October
2003.
[31]“Cuando el río
suena,” Cambio magazine (Bogotá), 29 October 2003.
[32]The 6,814 antipersonnel
mines were: 1,520 MAP-1 INDUMIL mines (Colombia), 2,569 M14 mines (US) and 2,725
SOPRO PRB M969 mines (Belgium). SNE (Presidencia de la República),
“Colombia cumple con la Convención de Ottawa;” “En
Ponedera se destruyó la última mina antipersona almacenada por el
estado,” 24 October 2004.
[33]SNE (Presidencia de la
República), “Colombia cumple con la Convención de
Ottawa;” “En Ponedera se destruyó la última mina
antipersona almacenada por el estado,” 24 October 2004.
[34]Article 7 Report, Form D,
Table 3, 6 May 2005; SNE (Presidencia de la República), “En
Ponedera se destruyó la última mina antipersona almacenada por el
estado,” 24 October 2004.
[35]Article 7 Report, Form B and
pp. 54-57, 11 May 2004. Previously, Colombia had stated it would destroy the
stockpile in 246 events between June 2003 and February 2005. Article 7 Report,
Form B, 30 April 2003.
[36]Colombia also reported these
numbers in its May 2005 Article 7 report, although in Form G (stockpiled mines
destroyed since entry into force), Colombia listed only the event on 26 June
2003 in which 496 SOPRO PRB M969 antipersonnel mines were destroyed at Training
Center Australia at Usme in Cundinamarca department, while the mines destroyed
in the other stockpile destruction events are listed under Form D (mines
transferred for destruction). Article 7 Report, Form G, Table 1, and Form D,
Table 3, 6 May 2005.
[37]Article 7 Report, Form D,
Table 3, 6 May 2005; SNE (Presidencia de la República), “En
Ponedera se destruyó la última mina antipersona almacenada por el
estado,” 24 October 2004.
[38]The mines were SOPRO PRB
M969 (Belgium). Vice President’s Office and Ministry of Defense joint
Press Release, “Colombia Begins Demining Program,” Bogotá, 26
June 2003; “Militares inician destrucción de 23.451 minas
antipersonales,” EFE (Bogotá), 27 June 2003.
[39]These mines had been
stockpiled by the Air Force (356 mines), the Navy (294 mines) and the Army. The
OAS did not certify the destruction of the 1,152 MAP-2 mines as it considered
these practice mines that did not contain explosives. Interview with
Andrés Goyeneche, Advisor, Antipersonnel Mine Observatory, Bogotá,
23 April 2004.[40]CCCM, Comunicado de Prensa
N° 002, Bogotá, 31 May 2004.
[41]CCCM, Comunicado de Prensa
N° 008, Bogotá, 16 July 2004.
[42]CCCM, Comunicado de Prensa
N° 011, Bogotá, 31 August 2004.
[43]Letter No. 24828 MDAI from
Minister of National Defense Jorge Alberto Uribe Echavarria to Vice President
Francisco Santos Calderón, dated 3 September 2004, sent to Landmine
Monitor (MAC) by Emersson José Forigua Rojas, Advisor, Directorate of
International Affairs, Ministry of National Defense, 5 October 2004.
[44]See Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, pp. 317-319; letter No. 24828 MDAI from Minister of National
Defense Jorge Alberto Uribe Echavarria to Vice President Francisco Santos
Calderón, dated 3 September 2004, sent to Landmine Monitor (MAC) by
Emersson José Forigua Rojas, Advisor, Directorate of International
Affairs, Ministry of National Defense, 5 October 2004.
[45]Antipersonnel Mine
Observatory, “Bolívar,” Regional Bulletin No. 2, January
2003, p. 9; letter from Gen. Nelson Mejía Henao, General Manager,
INDUMIL, to Bernardo Ortiz Bravo, Vice Minister of Defense, No. 16971 G-OJ-016,
dated 6 November 2000.
[46]Article 7 Report, Forms B
and D, 6 May 2005.
[47]The Army’s mines are
retained in the following locations: 100 by the Second Division in Bucaramanga
(Santander), Puerto Barrido (Antioquia), and Tame (Arauca); 100 by the Third
Division in Cali (Valle del Cauca) and Armenia (Quindió); 100 by the
Fourth Division in Villavicencio (Meta) and Neiva (Huila); 100 by the Fifth
Division in Bogotá; 100 by the Sixth Division in Florencia
(Caquetá) and La Tagua (Putumayo); 100 by Military Engineers in
Bogotá. Article 7 Report, Forms B and D, 6 May 2005.
[48]Article 7 Report, Form D, 11
May 2004, and Article 7 Report, Form B, 30 April 2003.
[49]Antipersonnel Mine
Observatory, “Eventos por MAP/MUSE, 1990 al 1 de Julio 2005.”
Between 1990 and 1 July 2005, there were 1,743 cases of seizure of antipersonnel
mines or explosives.
[50]“Minas del ELN,”
Vanguardia Liberal (Bucaramanga), 24 November 2004.
[51]Report provided by Brig.
Gen. Germán Galvis Corona, Commander V Brigade of the Army, Bucaramanga,
16 January 2004.
[52]“Decomisan 13
toneladas de explosivos de las Farc en Caquetá y Guaviare,” El
Tiempo (Bogotá), 14 February 2005.
[53]“Incautado cargamento
de las FARC destinado a ataques terroristas al sur del país,”
Caracol, 9 May 2005.
[54]See Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, pp. 320-321, for allegations made by the Colombian
Ombudsman’s Office (Defensoría del Pueblo) and by the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and for the Colombian
government’s responses.
[55]“Plan Patriota after
14 months of its implementation,” Statement issued by the Secretariat of
the Central Chiefs of Staff of FARC-EP, 26 January 2005.
[56]See Mine Ban Policy
section of this report for a list of the parties in Colombia’s
internal armed conflict.
[57]Antipersonnel Mine
Observatory, “Situación de Minas Antipersonal al 1 de Julio de
2005.” In its report covering 2002, the observatory listed FARC as
probably being responsible for 237 landmine incidents, ELN for 85 incidents, and
AUC for seven events. Antipersonnel Mine Observatory, “Frecuencia anual
por autor de eventos por MAP/UXO 1990-2002,” 9 June 2003.
[58]See FARC, “Partes de
guerra” section, www.farcep.org,
accessed 2 July 2005.
[59]Interview with Álvaro
Jiménez Millán, Coordinator, CCCM, Bogotá, 31 May 2005.
[60]Fundación Ideas para
la Paz, “El Sitio de Argelia.” Siguiendo el conflicto: hechos y
análisis de la Semana, No. 14, 27 May 2005.
[61]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with displaced persons, Cocorná, Antioquia, 17 May 2005.
[62]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with local informant, Tierralta municipality, Córdoba, 7 June
2005.
[63]“Un campesino muerto y
otro mas herido al pisar mina antipersonal,” El Universal
(Montería), 5 June 2005.
[64]“Tres militares mueren
en campo minado,” El Universal (Montería), 5 June 2005.
[65]Corporación
Jurídica Libertad, “Denuncia Pública,”
Medellín, 24 May 2005; Press Briefing by United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Rupert Colville, Geneva, 17 June 2005.
[66]“Otro militar afectado
por mina,” Meridiano de Córdoba (Montería), 17
February 2005.
[67]“Ejército
neutralizó ataques guerrilleros,” Diario del Sur (Pasto), 18
February 2005
[68]“Neutralizan cinco
campos minados en Antioquia,” Caracol (Medellín), 30 August
2004.
[69]“Brigada XI
presentó balance de operaciones,” El Universal (Cartagena),
12 July 2004.
[70]“Colombia, un
país mutilado por la guerra,” El Colombiano
(Medellín), 11 June 2004.
[71]Henry Chu, “Use of
landmine spreading in Colombia,” Los Angeles Times, 29 May
2005.
[72 ]CODHES, “FARC confina
a comunidades en Antioquia,” 7 July 2004.
[73]Fundación Ideas para
la Paz, “El Sitio de Argelia, Siguiendo el conflicto: hechos y
análisis de la Semana,” No. 14, 27 May 2005.
[74]Letter from CCCM to Col.
Francisco Fulla, Commander, Battalion “Plan Energético No.
3,” Valledupar, 2 June 2005.
[75]Landmine Monitor observed
ELN minefield warning signs during a visit to Micohaumado, Bolivar department in
March 2004.
[76]“Nueve agentes de la
policía murieron por emboscada del ELN en el Chocó,” El
Tiempo (Bogotá), 17 November 2004.
[77 ]“Neutralizan cinco
campos minados en Antioquia,” Caracol (Medellín), 30 August
2004.
[78]Comunicado a la
Opinión Pública, Micohaumado, Morales, “Proceso soberano
comunitario por la vida, la justicia, y la paz,” 26 January 2005.
[79]In May 2005, a local in
Rionegro, Santander told Landmine Monitor that EPL as well as other groups were
using antipersonnel mines in that municipality, but Landmine Monitor found no
evidence to support the allegation. Landmine Monitor (MAC) interview with local
informant, Rionegro, Santander, 18 May 2005.
[80]“Casi la mitad de los
miembros de la autodefensas yá están desmovilizados,” El
Tiempo (Bogotá), 14 July 2005.
[81]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with OAS MAPP, Montería, Córdoba, 7 June 2005.
[82]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
meeting with demobilized paramilitary leaders, Montería, Córdoba,
7 June 2005.
[83]For example, the
Antipersonnel Mine Observatory attributed seven mine events to paramilitary
groups in 2002, 19 in 2003, and four between January and 22 April 2004. It did
not provide similar information for the rest of 2004 or 2005. Email to Landmine
Monitor from Fernando Guevara, Observatorio Advisor, Bogotá, 27 April
2004.
[84]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with local informant, Rionegro, Santander, 18 May 2005.
[85]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with local MRE worker, Rionegro, Santander, 18 May 2005.
[86]“Habitantes piden que
el Ejército no se vaya porque temen represalias: Ejército
halló caleta de las AUC en Las Delicias,” El Nuevo Día
(Ibagué, Tolima), 22 April 2005.
[87]“En Operación
del Batallón Ricaurte de la Quinta Brigada: Muertos dos paras,”
Vanguardia Liberal (Bucaramanga), 17 March 2005.
[88]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
meeting with demobilized paramilitary leaders, Montería, Córdoba,
7 June 2005.
[89]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with Jaime Fajardo Landaeta, Asesor de Paz, Comisión
Humanitaria de Antioquia, Medellín, 16 May 2005.
[90]Antipersonnel Mine
Observatory, “Frecuencia municipal de eventos por MAP/MUSE 1990 to 1 July
2005,” www.derechoshumanos.gov.co accessed
10 July 2005.
[91]Antipersonnel Mine
Observatory, “Frecuencia municipal de eventos por MAP/MUSE 1990 to 1 July
2005,” www.derechoshumanos.gov.co,
accessed 10 July 2005.
[92]Antipersonnel Mine
Observatory, “Frecuencia municipal de eventos por MAP/MUSE 1990 to 1 July
2005,” www.derechoshumanos.gov.co,
accessed 10 July 2005. The Observatory records events—acts relating to the
presence or suspected presence of antipersonnel mines or other abandoned
explosive devices. The Observatory distinguishes between events involving human
casualties (which it calls accidents), and those which do not (which it calls
incidents). Examples of incidents would be finding mines or unexploded ordnance,
or livestock being killed or injured by explosive devices. See Observatory,
“ABC Minas Antipersonal, Glosario,” IMSMA database.
[93]Antipersonnel Mine
Observatory, “Eventos por MAP/MUSE, 1990-1 de Agosto 2005,” www.derechoshumanos.gov.co/minas,
accessed 13 August 2005.
[94]Antipersonnel Mine
Observatory, “Frecuencia municipal de eventos por MAP/MUSE 1990 to 1 July
2005,” www.derechoshumanos.gov.co,
accessed 10 July 2005. A total of 6,401 of the 6,690 recorded events were
classified as rural.
[95]List prepared by Landmine
Monitor on the basis of Observatory, “Frecuencia departamental” and
“Frecuencia municipal de eventos por MAP/MUSE,” 1990 to 1 July 2005.
[96]List prepared by Landmine
Monitor on the basis of Observatory, “Frecuencia departamental” and
“Frecuencia municipal de eventos por MAP/MUSE,” 1990 to 1 July 2005.
[97]Antipersonnel Mine
Observatory, “Frecuencia anual de eventos por MAP/MUSE 1990-1 Julio
2005,” www.derechoshumanos.gov.co, accessed 10 July 2005.
[98]Presentation by Colombia,
Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action
Technologies, Geneva, 14 June 2005. It did not indicate the number of mines
laid.
[99]Article 7 Report, Form C,
6 May 2005. Of the 21 mined areas, four were under the jurisdiction of the Air
Force, five the Navy and 12 the Army. The 12 sites requiring verification were
under the jurisdiction of the Army.
[100]Letter from Jorge Alberto
Uribe Echavarria, Minister of Defense, 3 September 2004.
[101]Article 7 Report, Form C,
6 August 2002.
[102]Remarks to the Standing
Committee on Stockpile Destruction (notes by Landmine Monitor) and statement
provided to Mines Action Canada by Col. Julian Cardona Montoya, Geneva, 30 May
2002. A report by the US Department of State in 2002 estimated that the
Colombian military maintained approximately 18,000 mines to defend static
positions. US Department of State, “Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices - 2001,” Colombia Report, released 4 March 2002.
[103]Document provided by the
Antipersonnel Mine Observatory to Landmine Monitor, Bogotá, 14 April
2004.
[104]“Minas
antipersonales amenazan al Cesar,” El Heraldo (Barranquilla), 2
March 2005.
[105]“Alarma por
aparición de minas en Tenerife,” Diario del Magdalena (Santa
Marta), 17 March 2005; Informador (Santa Marta), 21 January 2005.
[106]CINAMA is the
Comisión Nacional Intersectorial para la Acción contra las Minas
Antipersonal.
[107]Defensoría del
Pueblo, Resolución Defensorial Humanitaria No. 10, “Minas
Antipersonal,” 1 March 2002, pp. 14-15; Programa de Prevención de
Accidentes y Atención a las Víctimas por Minas Antipersonal,
“January 2002 Report,” p. 8.
[108]PAAV is the Programa de
Prevención de Accidentes y Atención a las Víctimas por
Minas Antipersonal. Landmine Monitor uses the acronym PAAV for convenience,
though it is not an official acronym. Administered by the Vice President’s
Office, PAAV is part of the Presidential Program on Human Rights and Application
of International Humanitarian Law.
[109]Presentation by Colombia,
Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action
Technologies, Geneva, 14 June 2005; Article 7 Report, Form A, 11 May 2004, p.
31.
[110]Plan Estratégico
País para la Acción Integral contra las Minas Antipersonal y MUSE
2004-2009; Article 7 Report, Form A, 6 May 2005, p. 13.
[111]Presentation by Colombia,
Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action
Technologies, Geneva, 14 June 2005.
[112]Article 7 Report, Form A,
6 May 2005, pp. 14-15. The time period for each phase is not specified.
[113]Letter sent to Landmine
Monitor Colombia from Rocio Pineda García, Human Rights and IHL Director,
Gobernación de Antioquia (Antioquia departmental government), 13 May
2005.
[114]Antipersonnel Mine
Observatory, “Logros 1997-2004,” March 2005.
[115]CCCM has copies of
decrees creating the local committees.
[116]Response from Jorge
Bastidas, Mine Action Program, Fundemos, to Landmine Monitor questionnaire,
Popayán, Cauca, 1 June 2005.
[117]Interview with Diana Roa
Castro, Landmine and Protection Officer, UNICEF Colombia, Bogotá, 1 April
2005.
[118]UN, “Portfolio of
Mine Action Projects 2005,” November 2004, pp. 126-127.
[119]AICMA is the
Acción Integral Contra las Minas Antipersonal.
[120]“Gobierno pide a
grupos ilegales no seguir sembrando minas antipersonal,” El Universal
(Cartagena), 22 February 2005.
[121]“OEA entrena
técnicos para eliminar minas antipersona,” El Colombiano
(Medellín), 28 February 2005.
[122]Notes taken by CCCM at
the March 2005 Observatory workshop on MRE, Bogotá, 14-16 March 2005.
[123]AHMICOL is the
Corporación Acción Humanitaria Contra las Minas Antipersonal en
Colombia.
[124]Notes taken by Landmine
Monitor at the seminar, Bogotá, 14-15 March 2005.
[125]Article 7 Report, Form A,
6 May 2005.
[126]UN, “Portfolio of
Mine-Related Projects 2003,” p. 88.
[127]Interview with Mike
Kendellen, Director for Survey, Survey Action Center (SAC), Geneva, 19 September
2005; email to Landmine Monitor from Russ Klein, Program Officer, SAC, 6
September 2005; SAC, Colombia Preliminary Opinion Collection, Summary Sheet,
July 2005.
[128]SAC,
“Diagnóstico colombiano del impacto municipal de minas
antipersonales y municiones sin explotar,” versión final, July
2005.
[129]Email to Landmine Monitor
(MAC) from Russ Klein, SAC, 8 September 2005.
[130]Article 7 Report, Form A,
30 April 2003.
[131]Article 7 Report, Form A,
30 April 2003.
[132]Article 7 Report, Form A,
6 May 2005.
[133]Article 4 of Law 759, 25
July 2002.
[134]In March 2003, Vice
President Santos Calderón said it was not “possible to conduct mine
clearance as long as the country was at war.” But he also identified an
urgent need for humanitarian mine clearance of infrastructure, including
schools, aqueducts and public places. See SNE, “Una mina vale US$80
centavos; Quitarla cuesta US$500,” 5 March 2003.
[135]Interview with Mariany
Monroy, Maria Paulina Lozano and Diego Osorio, Antipersonnel Mine Observatory,
Bogotá, 27 May 2005.
[136]Antipersonnel Mine
Observatory, “Logros (1997-2004),” March 2005, p. 7; Article 7
Report, Form A, 6 May 2005.
[137]See Office of Economic
Studies, “The eradication of antipersonnel mines in Colombia: Implications
and Costs,” National Department of Planning, 1 March 2002, p. 9.
[138]OAS AICMA,
“Portafolio 2003-2004,” August 2003, p. 6.
[139]“OEA entrena
técnicos para eliminar minas antipersona,” El Colombiano
(Medellín), 28 February 2005; interview with Luz Piedad Herrera,
Coordinator, Antipersonnel Mine Observatory, Bogotá, 3 May 2005.
[140]Article 7 Report, Form A,
point 9, “Reporte Desminado Militar, Registrado en el Observatorio de
Minas Antipersonal, Periodo 1990-3 de Marzo de 2005,” 6 May 2005.
[141]Article 7 Report, Form A,
point 9, “Reporte Desminado Militar, Registrado en el Observatorio de
Minas Antipersonal, Periodo 1990-3 de Marzo de 2005,” 6 May 2005.
[142]See Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, p. 328.
[143]Corporación
Jurídica Libertad, “Denuncia Pública,”
Medellín, 24 May 2005.
[144]Col. Argemiro Reyes
Cristancho, Second Commander, Army Fifth Brigade, “Respuesta a
Oficio,” Barrancabermeja, Santander, 19 May 2005.
[145]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with municipal authority of El Tambo, Cauca, 12 May 2005.
[146]“Zonas sembradas de
Temor,” El Liberal (Popayán), 8 October 2004.
[147]“Peligro por zonas
minadas,” El Nuevo Día (Ibagué), 8 March 2005.
[148]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with Coordinator, Guardia Indígena, Santander de Quilichao,
Cauca, 13 May 2005.
[149]Response to Landmine
Monitor Questionnaire by Álvaro Jiménez Millán,
Coordinator, CCCM, Bogotá, 7 April 2004.
[150]Comando Central,
Ejército de Liberación Nacional, “Saludos de año
nuevo,” Montañas de Colombia, 31 December 2004.
[151]Elizabeth Reusse-Decrey,
“The struggle against landmines: an opening for peace talks in
Colombia,” Accord Number 16, “Choosing to engage: armed
groups and peace processes,” 2005.
[152]Comunicado a la
Opinión Pública, Micohaumado, Morales, “Proceso soberano
comunitario por la vida, la justicia, y la paz,” 26 January 2005.
[153]“Micoahumado inicia
otra vida sin minas,” El Universal (Cartagena), 31 January
2005.
[154]Mariluz Avendaño,
“Entrevista de Tele-Antioquia al Comandante Antonio García,”
Tele Antioquia, Medellín, 1 January 2005.
[155]Elizabeth Reusse-Decrey,
“The struggle against landmines: an opening for peace talks in
Colombia,” Accord Number 16, “Choosing to engage: armed
groups and peace processes,” 2005. Subsequently, representatives of the
CCCM, Geneva Call, Antipersonnel Mine Observatory, UNDP, UNICEF and the Peace
and Development Program of the Magdalena Medio visited the demined area, but not
to conduct technical verification. CCCM and Geneva Call called upon the
government to allow for verification several times. Geneva Call Newsletter,
Volume 3, No. 1, April 2005, p. 4; CCCM, Activities Report GC-CCCM, First
Trimester 2005, Bogotá, March 2005; Geneva Call Press Release on
Colombia, Geneva, 21 February 2005.
[156]“ANE, Actores
Armados no Estatales y Minas Antipersonales,” ¿Desminando
Colombia?, Números 4 y 5, March/April 2005, p. 6. The Swiss
Foundation for Mine Action reported that following a visit to the country,
several intervention projects were presented to the Observatory, in particular,
“checking of independent demining operations conducted by the ELN in the
Micoahumado region.” Fondation Suisse de Déminage, “Rapport
annuel 2004,” undated, p. 12.
[157]Interview with Luz Piedad
Herrera, Coordinator, Antipersonnel Mine Observatory, Bogotá, 3 May
2005.
[158]European Parliament
Resolution on a Mine-Free World (P6_TA-PROV(2005)0298), 7 July 2005.
[159]Telephone interview with
Juan Bautista Colorado, member of the Popular Assembly of Micoahumado, and with
CCCM south of Bolívar Coordinator José Adolfo Bernal,
Barrancabermeja, Santander, 2 September 2005.
[160]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with Coordinator, Guardia Indígena, Santander de Quilichao,
Cauca, 13 May 2005.
[161]Article 7 Report, Form J,
6 May 2005.
[162]OAS AICMA,
“Portafolio 2003-2004,” August 2003, p. 9.
[163]Article 7 Report, Form J,
6 May 2005.
[164]This included UNICEF
Colombia, CIREC, Alianza Humanitaria Contra Minas, Corporación Paz y
Democracia, Comité Departamental de Acción Contra Minas de
Antioquia, ALDHU, UNDP, Scouts, UNICEF Latin America, Redepaz, ONIC (national
indigenous organization), Fundemos, Fundación Restrepo Barco and CCCM.
Notes taken by CCCM at the March 2005 workshop on MRE, Bogotá, 14-16
March 2005.
[165]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with Luz Piedad Herrera, Coordinator, Observatory, Bogotá, 25
May 2005.
[166]Article 7 Report, Form J,
6 May 2005.
[167]Landmine Monitor
interview with Mariany Monroy, Maria Paulina Lozano, and Diego Osorio,
Observatory, Bogotá, 27 May 2005.
[168]Article 7 Report, Form J,
6 May 2005.
[169]Notes taken by CCCM at
the March 2005 workshop on MRE, Bogotá, 14-16 March 2005.
[170]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with local MRE worker, Rionegro, Santander, 18 May 2005.
[171]Landmine Monitor has a
copy of the pamphlet. Landmine Monitor (MAC) interviews in Popayán,
Cauca, May 2005.
[172]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with Jorge Vallés, Protection Projects and Humanitarian Affairs
Officer, UNICEF Colombia, Bogotá, 24 May 2005; interview with Diana Roa
Castro, Landmines and Protection Officer, UNICEF Colombia, Bogotá, 1
April 2005.
[173]Interview with Diana Roa
Castro, UNICEF Colombia, Bogotá, 1 April 2005.
[174]Interview with Diana Roa
Castro, UNICEF Colombia, Bogotá, 1 April 2005.
[175]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with Jorge Vallés, UNICEF Colombia, Bogotá, 24 May 2005.
According to the Observatory, the educational curriculum project was due to
start at the end of 2005, and be implemented in schools at the beginning of the
new school year in 2006. Interview with Luz Piedad Herrera, Coordinator,
Observatory, Bogotá, 3 May 2005.
[176]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with Coordinator, Guardia Indígena, Santander de Quilichao,
Cauca, 13 May 2005.
[177]Notes from the meeting of
the mine action committee in Popayán, Cauca, 17 May 2005. UNICEF
committed to providing funds for the emergency plan at the meeting.
[178]Email to Landmine Monitor
from CCCM Cauca, 2 September 2005.
[179]Response to Landmine
Monitor Questionnaire from Jorge Bastidas, Mine Action Program, Fundemos, 1 June
2005.
[180]Letter from Rocio Pineda
García, Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law,
Gobernación de Antioquia, 13 May 2005.
[181]Letter from Amparo
Chicué Cristancho, Peace and Human Rights Group, Bucaramanga, 31 March
2005.
[182]Letter from Jorge Enrique
Quesada Ortega, Coordinator, Semillas de Esperanza Program, CIREC,
Bogotá, 27 June 2005.
[183]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
visit to “Semillas de Esperanza” Disabled Persons Association
meeting, Santander de Quilichao, Cauca, 14 May 2005.
[184]As of April 2005, Paz y
Democracia was active in the municipalities of Argelia, Yarumal, Anorí,
Granada, Remedios, Zaragoza, El Bagre, Cocorná, San Carlos, Mutata,
Urrao, San Roque, Alejandría, Concepción, Santo Domingo and
Norcasia (Caldas).
[185]Response to Landmine
Monitor Questionnaire, Olga Lucia Jiménez, Director, Corporación
Paz y Democracia, Medellín, April 2005.
[186]Responses to the Mine
Risk Education Poll by Margarita Martínez, Projects Coordinator, FRB,
Bogotá, 4 May 2005.
[187]Embajada
Británica en Bogotá, “Gobierno británico apoya
proyecto en prevención de accidentes y minas antipersonales,”
Bogotá, 16 February 2005.
[188]Letter sent to Landmine
Monitor by Rocio Pineda García, Director, Human Rights and International
Humanitarian Law, Gobernación de Antioquia, 13 May 2005.
[189]Article 7 Report, Form A,
6 May 2005. Average exchange rate for 2004: $1 = COP2,676, http://www.oanda.com/convert/fxhistory.
Colombia reported spending about COP2.47 billion on landmine activities in
fiscal year 2003. Article 7 Report, Annex 2, 30 April 2003.
[190]Article 7 Report, Form A,
6 May 2005.
[191]Response to Landmine
Monitor Questionnaire by Olga Lucia Jiménez, Director, Corporación
Paz y Democracia, Medellín, 26 April 2005. The seven municipalities were
San Rafael, San Carlos, Granada, Alejandría, Concepción, San Roque
and Santo Domingo.
[192]Letter sent by Rocio
Pineda García, Human Rights and IHR Director, Antioquia Departmental
Government, 13 May 2005.
[193]Mine Action Investments
database; emails from Elvan Isikozlu, Mine Action Team, Foreign Affairs Canada,
June-August 2005. Average exchange rate for 2004: US$1 = C$1.3017, US Federal
Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates (Annual),” 3 January 2005.
[194]EC, “Contribution
to the Landmine Monitor 2005,” by email from Nicola Marcel, RELEX Unit 3a
Security Policy, EC, 19 July 2005. According to CCCM, the EC funds have not yet
been released. Information provided to Landmine Monitor (MAC) by CCCM, 21
September 2005.
[195]Mine Action Investments
database; email from Janine Voigt, Diplomatic Collaborator, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, 1 July 2005. Rate of exchange for 2004 according to fixed rate
specified by donor: US$1 = CHF1.35.
[196]Email from H. Murphey
McCloy Jr., Senior Demining Advisor, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, US
Department of State, 28 September 2005.
[197]Email from H. Murphey
McCloy Jr., US Department of State, September 28, 2005.
[198]Letter sent by Rocio
Pineda García, Human Rights and IHR Director, Antioquia Departmental
Government, 13 May 2005.
[199]Response to Landmine
Monitor Questionnaire by Olga Lucia Jiménez, Director, Corporación
Paz y Democracia, Medellín, 26 April 2005. The 10 municipalities were
Urrao, Anorí, Remedios, Argelia, El Bagre, Mutata, Granada,
Cocorná, Yarumal and San Carlos.
[200]Letter sent by Rocio
Pineda García, Antioquia Departmental Government, 13 May 2005.
[201]Interview with Diana Roa
Castro, UNICEF Colombia, Bogotá, 1 April 2005.
[202]OAS, Contributions 1992
to May 2005, unofficial document provided to Landmine Monitor, June 2005.
[203]See Landmine Monitor
Report 2004 p. 332; OAS, “Mine Action Program: Making the Western
Hemisphere landmine-safe,” Resource Mobilization: Projection of Financial
Resources/Requirements 2003-2007, p. 6. Presented at the Standing Committee on
General Status and Operation of the Convention, 12 May 2003.
[204]Email from William
McDonough, Coordinator, OAS AICMA, 16 September 2005.
[205]Margarita
Martínez, Projects Coordinator, FRB, Bogotá, 4 May 2005. Taken
from the responses given to the Mine Risk Education Poll. Average exchange rate
for 2004: £1 = US$1.833, US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates
(Annual),” 3 January 2005. The Antonio Restrepo Barco Foundation spent
$12,500 of its own resources on MRE.
[206]Interview with Antonio
Restrepo Barco Foundation staff, Bogotá, 23 March 2004.
[207]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with Hogar Jesús de Nazareth staff, Bucaramanga, 19 May 2005.
Rate for 2005: US$1 = COP2,352, http://www.oanda.com/convert/fxhistory.
[208]SNE, “Japón
dona USD $700 mil para víctimas de minas antipersona,”
Bogotá, 14 March 2005; email from Kitagawa Yasu, Japanese Campaign to Ban
Landmines, 10 August 2005, with translation of Ministry of Foreign Affairs
information sent to JCBL on 11 May 2005. Average exchange rate for 2004:
¥108.15 = US$1, US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates
(Annual),” 3 January 2005.
[209]Report on Activities
presented by the Hospital Universitario Del Valle to the Vice President’s
Office, July 2005.
[210]Unless otherwise stated,
all information in this section is taken from Antipersonnel Mine Observatory
reports dated 1990-1 August 2005, “Frecuencia víctimas según
condición por MAP/MUSE,” “Víctimas según estado
de eventos por MAP/MUSE,” “Víctimas según sexo y edad
de eventos por MAP/MUSE,” “Victimas según actividad en
momento del accidente por MAP/MUSE,” “Eventos por MAP/MUSE,”
“Frecuencia de víctimas por MAP/MUSE,” and “Frecuencia
víctimas por municipio por MAP/MUSE,” www.derechoshumanos.gov.co/minas,
accessed 13 August 2005. The Observatory database contains detailed information
on casualties from antipersonnel mines and unexploded or abandoned munitions
(MUSE, by its Spanish acronym); however, Landmine Monitor uses the more common
acronym UXO for unexploded ordnance.
[211]The newspapers are El
Tiempo (Bogotá), El Espectador (Bogotá), El
Colombiano (Medellín, Antioquia), El País (Cali, Valle
del Cauca), El Heraldo (Barranquilla, Atlántico) and Vanguardia
Liberal (Bucaramanga, Santander).
[212]For example, the
Observatory reported in September 2004 that there had been 668 new mine and MASE
casualties in 2003. In August 2004, the figure had increased to 724 new
casualties in 2003.
[213]Based on Landmine Monitor
(MAC) interviews with health workers, displaced persons and others in
mine-affected areas during May 2005.
[214]Information provided to
Guillermo Gil, CCCM Santander Coordinator, by the Army Second Division,
Bucaramanga, 16 June 2005.
[215]Landmine Monitor uses the
term “incident” to refer to mine-related events causing casualties
whereas the Observatory uses the term accidentes; it uses the term
incidentes to record events not resulting in casualties. Since 1990, the
Observatory registered a total of 6,880 mine-related events of which 2,090 were
reported as accidentes (30 percent) and 4,790 as incidentes (70
percent). Of the 2,090 accidentes, 1,957 were as a result of
antipersonnel mines.
[216]United Nations, Final
Report, First Review Conference of the State Parties to the Convention on the
Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel
Mines and on Their Destruction, Nairobi, 29 November-3 December 2004,
APLC/CONF/2004/5, 9 February 2005, p. 33.
[217]“Workshop on
Advancing Landmine Victim Assistance in the Americas,” Managua, 26-27
April 2005. Notes taken by Landmine Monitor (MAC).
[218]Colombia, presentation to
the Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and Socio-Economic Reintegration,
Geneva, 16 June 2005.
[219]Article 7 Report, Form J,
6 May 2005.
[220]Observations made by
Landmine Monitor (MAC) during visits to rural areas of Cauca, Antioquia, and
Santander departments, May 2005. For more details, see also Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, p. 334.
[221]See Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, p. 334.
[222]See Landmine Monitor
Report 2002, pp. 192-193.
[223]Vicepresidencia de la
República, Observatorio de Minas Antipersonal, “Logros
(1997-2004),” March 2005, p. 6.
[224]Article 7 Report, Form J,
“Convenio Interinstitucional de Cooperación Técnica,”
6 May 2005.
[225]See Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, p. 335.
[226]For more information see
Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 335.
[227]Email to Landmine Monitor
(MAC) from Jeannette Perry de Saravia, President, CIREC, 29 August 2005.
[228]ICRC Special Fund for the
Disabled, “Annual Report 2004,” Geneva, January 2005, p. 29; see
also Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 335.
[229]Emails to Landmine
Monitor (MAC) from Jorge Enrique Quesada Ortega, Coordinator, CIREC Semillas de
Esperanza Project, 6 and 12 September 2005.
[230]Letter from Jorge Enrique
Quesada Ortega, Coordinator, Semillas de Esperanza, CIREC, Bogotá, 27
June 2005; Landmine Monitor (MAC) visit to “Semillas de Esperanza”
Disabled Persons Association meeting, Santander de Quilichao, Cauca, 14 May
2005. The program is being implemented in Cantagallo and San Pablo, in
Bolívar department; in Rionegro, Betulia, Zapatoca, El Carmen de
Chucurí, San Vicente de Chucurí, Barrancabermeja and Puerto
Wilches, in Santader department; in Silvia, Inzá, Villarica, El Tambo,
Morales and Santander de Quilichao in Cauca department; in Caquezá,
Guaduas, Viotá and Tocaima in Cundinamarca department; in Cúcuta,
Arboledas, Tibú and Sardinata, in Norte de Santander department.
[231]Email to Landmine Monitor
(MAC) from Jorge Enrique Quesada Ortega, CIREC, 6 September 2005.
[232]ANORPERDIS,
“Brigada de Valoración 8-9 Octubre 2004,” undated.
[233]For more information, see
Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 335; see also Standing Tall Australia
and Mines Action Canada, “101 Great Ideas for the Socio-Economic
Reintegration of Mine Survivors,” June 2005, pp. 44-45.
[234]Email from Álvaro
Jiménez Millán, Coordinator, CCCM, 13 October 2004; Telephone
interview with Jeannette Perry de Saravia, President, CIREC, 2 September 2005.
CCCM sent a request for information on follow-up to the Observatory on 13
October 2004, but as of July 2005 had not received a response.
[235]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with Hogar Jesús de Nazareth staff, Bucaramanga, 19 May 2005;
interview with Hogar Jesús de Nazareth staff, Bucaramanga, February 2005.
[236]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with Diego Guevara, Corporación Dike, Popayán, 14 May
2005; Response to Landmine Monitor questionnaire by Carlos Guevara, Coordinator,
Corporación Dike, 21 April 2005.
[237]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with Dr. Jorge Jiménez Ramírez, Secretario General,
Hospital Universitario San Vicente de Paúl, Medellín, 16 May 2005;
Landmine Monitor (MAC) interview with Juan Pablo Valderrama R., Orthopraxis
Ltda, Medellín, 16 May 2005.
[238]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with administrative staff, University Hospital of Santander,
Bucaramanga, 18 May 2005.
[239]As of April 2005, mine
action committees were established in the municipalities of Argelia, Yarumal,
Anorí, Granada, Remedios, Zaragoza, El Bagre, Cocorná, San Carlos,
Mutata, Urrao, San Roque, Alejandría, Concepción, Santo Domingo
and Norcasia (Caldas).
[240]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with health promoter, Cocorná, 17 May 2005.
[241]Response to Landmine
Monitor questionnaire by Edgar Moreno Moreno, President, FGSMMA-Colombia,
Bogotá, March 2005.
[242]CCCM, Proyecto
“Acompañamiento a la Atención de las Víctimas de
Minas Antipersonal y Munición sin Explotar,” Report submitted to
the national authorities for follow up for each survivor according to Laws 418
of 1997, 554 of 2000, and 759 of 2002, Bogotá, 20 August 2005.
[243]CCCM, Activities Report,
Bogotá, March 2005.
[244]Swiss Foundation for
Landmine Victims Aid and CCCM Memorandum of Understanding, Bogotá and
Geneva, May 2005.
[245]Letter from Rocio Pineda
García, Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Director,
Gobernación de Antioquia, 13 May 2005.
[246]Letter from Juan Carlos
Villegas, CCCM Antioquia, Medellín, 12 April 2004.
[247]For more information, see
Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 336.
[248]Handicap International,
“Annual Report 2004,” Brussels, 25 June 2005, p. 20; see also
Landmine Monitor Report 2004, pp. 335-336.
[249]ICRC, “Annual
Report 2004,” Geneva, June 2005, p. 241.
[250]For more information, see
Landmine Monitor Report 2004, pp. 335-337.
[251]For more information, see
Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 337; Landmine Monitor Report
2002, pp. 192-193; see also Article 7 Report, Form J, 6 May 2005; Article 7
Report, Form J, 11 May 2004.
[252]Article 7 Report, Form J,
6 May 2005
[253]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with Fundemos staff, Popayán, Cauca, 12 May 2005; Landmine
Monitor (MAC) interview with Hogar Jesús de Nazareth staff, Bucaramanga,
19 May 2005.
[254]Landmine Monitor has a
copy of a letter dated April 2005 refusing benefits to a woman because she did
not apply for benefits within one year of the mine incident.
[255]“Workshop on
Advancing Landmine Victim Assistance in the Americas,” Managua, 26-27
April 2005. Notes taken by Landmine Monitor (MAC).
[256]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with Dr. Jorge Jiménez Ramírez, Secretary General, San
Vincente de Paúl University Hospital, Medellín, 16 May 2005.
[257]Magali Ortiz, CCCM
Survivor Assistance Coordinator, “Victim Assistance Project
Management,” Bogotá, May 2005.
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