Brazil’s Deputy
Minister of Foreign Relations, Sebastião do Rego Barros Neto, signed the
Mine Ban Treaty 3 December 1997. Brazil has not yet ratified the treaty but on
23 March 1999, ratification legislation was passed through the Lower House
(Congress) and sent to the Senate with
urgency.[1] Brazilian
non-governmental organizations have been lobbying for speedy
ratification.[2]
At the treaty signing, the Deputy Minister remarked that “every one of
the countries that are signing the Convention here in Ottawa have had to make
internal accommodations and adjustments in military doctrine with a view to
making the ban a
reality.”[3] Brazil was
initially somewhat cool toward the Ottawa Process. It attended the October 1996
meeting which launched the Ottawa Process only as an observer. On 10 December
1996 it voted in favor of UN General Assembly 51/45S urging states to vigorously
pursue an international agreement banning antipersonnel landmines (passed
156-0). On 20 December 1996 the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations sent
a communication to its Canadian counterpart stating its commitment to a
comprehensive ban agreement, but noting, “Brazil would accept to take part
in eventual negotiations with an independent forum--as the one created with the
Ottawa Process--if this forum had a massive support of the international
community."[4]
By mid-1997 Brazil had embraced the ban treaty, and joined the Ottawa Process
Core Group just prior to the Brussels Conference of 24-27 June. Brazil endorsed
the pro-ban treaty Brussels Declaration and attended the Oslo negotiations as a
full participant. During the Oslo negotiations, Brazil’s Ambassador Jose
Viegas Filho played an key role in chairing the working group on international
cooperation. Brazil supported the pro-treaty 1997 and 1998 UN General Assembly
resolutions on landmines.
Brazil joined the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) on 3 October 1995
but has yet to ratify its amended Protocol II on landmines. On 23 March 1999,
CCW Protocol II ratification legislation was passed through the Congress and
sent to the Senate.[5]
To date, Brazil has not provided information to the OAS Landmines
Register.[6]
Production, Transfer, Stockpiling and Use
Brazil is a former producer and exporter of
landmines. It produced two types of antipersonnel landmines, the NM AE T1 and
the T-AB-1.[7] In December
1997, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso said, “For years antipersonnel
mines haven’t been produced in
Brazil.”[8]
The NM AE T1 antipersonnel mine, which was produced by Brazil's Quimica Tupan
South America, has been described as “one of the world's cheapest
mines,” selling at approximately U.S.$ 5.80 per
mine.[9] Quimica Tupan began to
manufacture landmines in
1978.[10] The T-AB-1 was
produced by Britanite Industrias Quimicas
Ltda.[11] It appears that
Brazil also has Claymore-type directional fragmentation mines, but it is not
known if these were domestically produced or
imported.[12]
According to the government, Brazil has not exported antipersonnel landmines
since 1984.[13] In its speech
to the opening of the 51st United Nations General Assembly on 23 September 1996,
Brazil announced the adoption of a formal moratorium on the export of
antipersonnel landmines for four years, renewable for the same
period.[14]
There is no available information on Brazilian importation of AP mines.
Likewise, no details are available on the size or composition of Brazil’s
AP mine stockpile.
Brazil shares borders with mine-affected countries, but there is no evidence
that Brazil planted mines on its borders, nor in the Brazilian Amazon, even
though that area is affected by many conflicts involving the indigenous peoples,
landowners, illegal mining and timber wood operations, drug cultivation and
trafficking. But allegations of landmine use by landholders in North Parana to
keep out the “landless” (Sem Terra) are currently under
investigation by the Human Rights Commission of the Lower House of
Deputies.[15]
Mine Clearance
Brazil is not mine-affected. In December 1997,
President Fernando Henrique Cardoso said, “Brazil is a mine-free country.
These ‘silent killers’ never found a fertile soil in national
territory."[16]
Brazil has actively participated in international humanitarian mine action on
a bilateral and multilateral basis. It has contributed $3,000 to the UN
Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine
Clearance,[17] but most of its
contributions have been in-kind services.
On 10 November 1997, Brazil and Argentina signed a joint declaration
supporting Mercosul. The agreement included a commitment to mine clearance
efforts in South
America.[18]
A “Declaration of Intent on Co-operation in International Demining
Activities,” concluded shortly after the December 1997 signing ceremonies,
commits Canada and Brazil to working together to help third countries remove
landmines from their territories, and to assist victims of landmines, in
particular their reintegration into
society.[19]
The Brazilian Army has participated in mine clearance in Nicaragua, Honduras,
Costa Rica, and Guatemala through the OAS programme. According to the Brazilian
Army magazine, Verde Oliva: "In 1991 the general-secretary of the OAS,
Brazilian Ambassador João Clemente Baena Soares, received a formal
request from the government of Nicaragua to locate and destroy encrusted mines
in Nicaragua's soil. Starting in 1993 the Programa Nicaraguense trained sappers
of the Ejercito Popular Sandinista. The Brazilian Army participated in an
international group of instructors and supervisors collaborating on mine
clearance and training operations. From 1994 to 1997 the international group of
instructors and supervisors were commanded by three Brazilian Army
officers."[20]
The Brazilian Army assisted in mine clearance in Angola from September 1995
to July 1997 and Brazilian military personnel remain in Angola assisting the
clearance program.[21] The
Companhia de Engenharia da Força de Paz of the Brazilian Army cleared
areas including the Luximbe River bank.
There have been some Brazilian landmine casualties from its participation in
United Nations peacekeeping operations and mine clearance
efforts.[22] Brazil has
disability laws and a variety of rights for people with disabilities.
[2] NGOs actively campaigning
to ban landmines include: Servico Paz e Justica, SERPAJ (Peace and Justice
Service) and Associacao do Jovem Aprendiz, AJA.
[3] Statement by
Sebastião do Rego Barros Neto, Deputy Minister of Foreign Relations,
Brazil to the Treaty Signing Conference, 2-4 December 1997.
[4] Brazilian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs document "Minas Terrestres Antipessoal" available in the
official site:www.mre.gov.br/ndsg/acs/desarm10.htm
[6] As of May, 1998 OAS
Summary Table of Information Submitted by Member State for the Year 1997.
[7] U.S. Department of State,
Mines of the World Internet: www.mineweb.org/mfacts/mfacts4/f445a.html and
CD-Rom ORDATA, Version 1.0, Department of Defense of the United States of
America
[11] Human Rights Watch and
Physicians for Human Rights, Landmines: A Deadly Legacy (New York: Human
Rights Watch, 1993), Appendix 17 and Jane's Mines and Mine Clearance
1997-98, db. 882, db.779.
[12] "At the 12ª Brigada
de Infantaria Leve of the Brazilian Army soldiers must utilize bullet proof
suit, gas mask, ...and remote controlled horizontal action mines," in
Revista Tecnologia e Defesa, number 69, 1996, p. 24. Internet:
www.fabwp.org/ex12if-p.html. See also " The fire power of the Brazilian
infantry is renewed and intensified. At the present time the prompt employment
units have anti-vehicle Eryx missiles from Aerospatiale ...and remote
controlled mines," in Revista Tecnologia e Defesa, number 76, 1998,
reportagem especial Internet: www.tecnodefesa.com.br/76report.htm
[13] Brazilian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs document "Minas Terrestres Antipessoal" available in the
official site:www.mre.gov.br/ndsg/acs/desarm10.htm. However, in another
official document Brazil puts the date five years later: “Since 1989,
there have been no exports of Brazilian landmines to any country.” See,
U.N. General Assembly, “Moratorium on the export of antipersonnel
landmines, Report of the Secretary General,” A/50/701, 3 November 1995, p.
12.
[14] Brazilian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs document "Minas Terrestres Antipessoal" available in the
official site: www.mre.gov.br/ndsg/acs/desarm10.htm
[15] Richard Wangen, SERPAJ,
Email Correspondence with Liz Bernstein, ICBL Co-coordinator, 18 March 1999.
[17] U.S. Department of
State, Hidden Killers: The Global Landmine Crisis, September 1998, p.
C-1.
[18] FHC e Menem Firmam Apoio
ao Mercosul - Folha de S. Paulo, 11 Nov. 1997, pp. 1-12.
[19] “New bilateral
agreements strengthen Canada-Brazil partnership,” Canada Department of
Foreign Affairs and International Trade, 15 January 1998 ,No. 11.
[20]Data collected from the
official Brazilian Army magazine: Verde Oliva. Brazilian Army official
site:www.exercito.gov.br/revista_vo/vo160/engbras.htm and
www.exercito.govbr/revista_vo/vo%20162/minas.htm
[21]Brazilian newspaper
Correio Braziliense, 6 January 1999, pg.04.
[22] Statement by
Sebastião do Rego Barros Neto, Deputy Minister of Foreign Relations,
Brazil to the Treaty Signing Conference, 2-4 December 1997.