LM Report 2000

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BRAZIL

Key Developments since March 1999: The Mine Ban Treaty entered into force for Brazil on 1 October 1999. Brazil ratified CCW Amended Protocol II on 4 October 1999. Brazil has not submitted its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report, which was due by 29 March 2000.

Mine Ban Policy

Brazil signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified on 30 April 1999. Brazil’s National Congress promulgated it on 5 August 1999 by Decree 3.128. The treaty entered into force for Brazil on 1 October 1999, but it has yet to enact implementation legislation. Brazil has domestic legislation regarding explosives and firearms.^[1]

Brazil participated in the First Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Maputo in May 1999. Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ambassador Ivan Cannabrava the plenary, “We are ready to proceed – in its spirit and letter – with our involvement with the Ottawa process.”^[2] He also called on all states that have not yet done so to “join our efforts by signing and ratifying the instrument.” According to Ministry for Foreign Relations officials, Brazilian diplomats assigned to Geneva have been following all intersessional meetings of the treaty.^[3]

Brazil’s Article 7 transparency report was due by 29 March 2000 but has not yet been submitted. According to officials in the Ministry for Foreign Relations, consultations are continuing between the Ministry for Foreign Relations and the Ministry of Defense in order to produce the report, including data gathering on the size and composition of Brazil’s stockpiled antipersonnel mines.^[4]

Brazil voted in favor of UN General Assembly resolution 54/54B supporting the Mine Ban Treaty in December 1999, as it had for similar resolutions in 1997 and 1998.

Brazil was one of nine governments to sign the “Declaration of San José” in Costa Rica on 5 April 2000; the declaration contains an article promoting the Mine Ban Treaty.

Brazilian NGOs have actively promoted the ban on antipersonnel mines and advocated for ratification of the treaty both by Brazil and throughout the region. They include Associação do Jovem Aprendiz (AJA), a Brazilian NGO which works with handicapped youth, Father Marcelo Guimarães and a youth group called “Step for Peace,” and SERPAJ Brazil.

Brazil ratified the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) Amended Protocol II on 4 October 1999. At the the December 1999 First Annual Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II, Brazilian Ambassador Adhemar G. Bahadian said, “While we remain open-minded, we believe that care should be taken not to waste our scarce resources in an endless effort to revise the provisions of the Amended Protocol II as far as anti-personnel landmines are concerned. While some provisions can be broadened, there would be little sense in engaging in an indefinite process of amendment, when, in our view, we should be aiming at the universalization and effective implementation of the Ottawa Convention.”^[5]

Brazil is a member of the Conference on Disarmament, but has not been a noted supporter or opponent of efforts to negotiate a ban on transfers in that forum.

Production and Transfer

Brazil is a former producer and exporter of landmines. The government states that it has not produced landmines since 1989, and has not exported landmines since 1984.^[6] The Ministry of Foreign Relations could not confirm whether Brazil has produced or imported Claymore-type mines.^[7]

Stockpiling

According to officials at the Ministry of Foreign Relations, data on Brazil’s AP landmine stockpile is being gathered at present. Landmine Monitor contacted the Chief of the Social Communication Center of the Brazilian Army, and the Communication Sector of the Ministry of Defense regarding stockpiled AP mines but has not yet received any information.

At the First Meeting of State Parties in May 1999, Brazil’s representative stated, “The stockpiles we do have are being used by the Armed Forces for the development of techniques and training activities in demining.”^[8]

On 3 May 2000, Correio Braziliense, a national Brazilian newspaper, reported sources associated with the Brazilian Army Command as claiming that all types of landmines stockpiled by the Brazilian Army and Navy, allegedly more than 200,000, had been destroyed, and so quickly that records of stockpile destruction were still being compiled.^[9] The article also quoted an official at the Ministry of Foreign Relations as saying that “the Foreign Affairs and Defense Ministries are running against time in order to announce the total destruction of Brazilian landmines at the Treaty’s Standing Committee of Experts Meeting to be held in Geneva, 22 May 2000.” Such an announcement was not made, however. An official from the Ministry of Foreign Relations declined to comment on the article.^[10]

In June 2000, National Assembly Deputy Nilmário Miranda met with the Minister of Defense Élcio Álvares, who wanted to respond to a written request for information the deputy had made on 27 May 2000. The Minister read a short document which said that Brazil produced an “insignificant” quantity of antipersonnel mines and that it would be nearly “irrelevant” to establish a destruction plan for existing stockpiles.^[11]

Use

Landmine Monitor Report 1999 stated that it had found no evidence that Brazil planted mines on its borders or in the Brazilian Amazon, but did report that allegations of landmine use by landholders in North Paraná to keep out the “landless” (Sem Terra) were under investigation by the Human Rights Commission of the Lower House of Deputies.^[12] During the First Meeting of States Parties in Maputo, Brazilian Ambassador Cannabrava told Landmine Monitor that this was a false accusation published in Brazilian press and that the matter had never been under consideration by the Congress.^[13] A representative of the Movimento Sem Terra (Movement of Landless Peasants) confirmed no findings or incidents involving landmines among landless peasants.^[14] There have since been no more media reports on this particular issue and Landmine Monitor has found no evidence of any AP mine use in Brazil.

Mine Clearance

While Brazil is not mine-affected, it has actively participated in international humanitarian mine action on a bilateral and multilateral basis. At the First Meeting of State Parties, Ambassador Canbrava said, “Having participated in mine clearance activities in African countries such as Angola, in the context of UN peace-keeping operations, Brazil is currently supplying nearly half of the demining experts to the MARMINCA programme in Central America. Brazil has also participated in demining activities of MOMEP along the Peru-Ecuador border.”^[15]

Brazilian army experts participate in the OAS demining program in Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. According to officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, operational costs and in-kind contributions to MARMINCA are estimated to cost Brazil US$1 million per year. There are 11 Brazilian demining experts among the 27 supervisors in MARMINCA.^[16]

Landmine Casualties

There have been some Brazilian landmine casualties from participation in UN peacekeeping operations and mine clearance efforts. A Brazilian Navy Captain lost a leg in 1997, and an Army Captain was wounded in 1999, both on MARMINCA demining duties.^[17]

The Ministry of Foreign Relations indicates that it does not have accurate data on provision of assistance to mine victims.^[18] Brazil has disability laws and a variety of rights for people with disabilities.

[1] Article 253 of the Brazilian Penal Code, prescribes punishment of 6 months to 2 years imprisionment for producing, buying, selling, carrying or possessing, without license, any substance or explosive device, toxic gas or material for its production.
[2] Statement by Ambassador Ivan Cannabrava, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Relations, to the First Meeting of State Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, Maputo, 3 May 1999, p. 3.
[3] Interview with Leonardo Cleaver de Athayde, Division of Disarmament and Sensitive Technologies (DDS) , Ministry of Foreign Relations, Brasília, 9 May 2000.
[4] Interview with Minister Gilberto Fonseca G. De Moura, Chief of the Division of OAS Affairs; First Secretary Glivânia Coimbra, Chief, DDS; and Third Secretary Leonardo Cleaver de Athayde, also of the DDS, Ministry of Foreign Relations, Brasília, 14 January 2000. Brazil has also not yet submitted its annual landmine reports for the OAS or CCW Amended Protocol II.
[5] Statement by Ambassador Adhemar Bahadian at the First Annual Conference of the State Parties to Amended Protocol II, Geneva, 15 December 1999.
[6] Statement by Amb. Cannabrava to the First Meeting of State Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, Maputo, 3 May 1999.
[7] Interview with Leonardo Cleaver de Athayde, DDS, Ministry of Foreign Relations, Brasília, 9 May 2000.
[8] Statement by Amb. Cannabrava to the First Meeting of State Parties, Maputo, 3 May 1999.
[9] Pedro Paulo Rezende,“Brasil Destrói Minas Antipessoal,” Correio Braziliense, 3 May 2000, p. 4. According to the sources quoted in the article, “Since 1 March 1999 [sic] when the National Congress ratified the treaty, more than 200,000 mines had been destroyed. Old mines from WWII were simply detonated in military bases in Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul and Goiás States. More recently manufactured landmines were disassembled and their explosive content retained for other uses, including civilian ones.... The task of compiling detailed information on which type of mines were destroyed or disassembled, when and where, is made more difficult by the lack of co-operation between the new Ministry of Defense and the Brazilian Army.”
[10] Interview with Leonardo Cleaver de Athayde, DDS, Ministry of Foreign Relations, Brasília, 9 May 2000.
[11] Email from Deputy Nilmário Miranda, National Assembly, 29 June 2000. Deputy Nilmário Miranda is a member of the left-of-center Partido dos Trabalhadores.
[12] See Landmine Monitor Report 1999, p. 287.
[13] Landmine Monitor Core Group meeting with the Brazilian delegation to the First Meeting of States Parties, Maputo, 4 May 1999. Brazil’s views were posted shortly afterwards to the “Comments Received” section of the Landmine Monitor website at http://www.icbl.org/lm/1999/comments.html#brazil
[14] Email from Communication Service of MST, 23 June 1999.
[15] Statement by Amb. Cannabrava to the First Meeting of State Parties, Maputo, 3 May 1999.
[16] Interview with Minister Gilberto Fonseca G De Moura, OAS Affairs, Glivânia Coimbra, DDS, and Leonardo Cleaver de Athayde, DDS, Ministry of Foreign Relations, Brasília, 14 January 2000.
[17] Interview with Leonardo Cleaver de Athayde, DDS, Ministry of Foreign Relations, Brasília, 9 May 2000.
[18] Ibid.