LM Report 2000

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COSTA RICA

Key developments since March 1999: The Mine Ban Treaty entered into force for Costa Rica on 1 September 1999. Costa Rica has not submitted its Article 7 report, which was due 27 February 2000. The suspended mine clearance program has resumed; it is now expected to be completed in 2002, rather than 2000.

Mine Ban Policy

Costa Rica signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 17 March 1999. The treaty entered into force for Costa Rica on 1 September 1999. Costa Rica has not enacted legislation to implement the treaty. Costa Rica has not yet submitted its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 transparency report, which was due on 27 February 2000.

Costa Rica did not attend the First Meeting of State Parties in Maputo in May 1999. Costa Rica participated in four of the intersessional meetings of the treaty in Geneva—one each for mine clearance, technologies for mine action, victim assistance, and stockpile destruction.

Costa Rica supported the pro-ban OAS resolutions in June 1999, and voted for UN General Assembly Resolution 54/54B supporting the Mine Ban Treaty in December 1999. During debate in the UNGA First Committee, diplomat Bern Niehaus said that Costa Rica “endorsed the Ottawa Convention and appealed to all States to ratify it as soon as possible. The international community must continue to support mine-clearance activities.”^[1]

Costa Rica was one of nine countries that signed the “Declaration of San José” in the Costa Rican capital on 5 April 2000. Article 27 of the Declaration states, “We continue to promote adherence, ratification and compliance by all countries of the international community to the...Ottawa Convention.”^[2]

Costa Rica is a party to Amended Protocol II (Landmines) of the Convention on Conventional Weapons, but did not attend the First Annual Conference of States Parties in December 1999 in Geneva. Costa Rica is not a member of the Conference on Disarmament.

Production, Transfer, Stockpiling, Use

It is believed that Costa Rica has never produced, imported, stockpiled, or used antipersonnel mines, though the government has not made a definitive public statement. Costa Rica did not declare any AP mine stockpile to the OAS in April 1999 as part of the OAS Register of AP mines. Costa Rica does not have a standing military, but the Ministry of Security performs the functions of ground security, law enforcement, counter-narcotics and national security.^[3]

Landmine Problem

Landmines were placed along Costa Rica’s northern border by forces involved in the Nicaraguan conflict.^[4] The Ministry of Security’s Mine Clearance Program estimates that there are 3,491 mines along the country’s northern border with Nicaragua.^[5] Mine-affected territories are found in the sectors of Los Chiles, Pocosol, Upala and La Cruz, in minefields that are dispersed between border markers No. 2 and 20.^[6] Mine-affected territories are for the most part agricultural lands used by small-scale farmers. Only a few mines have been found near villages, as happened in Upala.

According to the Chief of the Mine Clearance Program, the following mines have been found in Costa Rica: PP-Mi-Sr II, manufactured in the former Czechoslovakia, found in Los Chiles; M-14, manufactured in the U.S., found in Upala; PMD-6, manufactured in the former Soviet Union, found in the La Trocha sector.^[7]

Mine Action Coordination and Funding

The OAS PADCA (Program for Assistance in Demining in Central America), the OAS Inter-American Defense Board (IABD) MARMICA program, and the Costa Rican Ministry of Security are responsible for demining operations in Costa Rica.

The Inter-American Defense Board coordinates the OAS Assistance Program for Demining in Central America (PADCA). This involves mine and UXO clearance programs in Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala, with fifteen demining platoons, each comprised of approximately 25 deminers. Since July 1999, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Venezuela have contributed personnel.^[8] In 1999 the annual budget for the OAS regional program was $6 million and in 2000 it was $7.6 million, financed by Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, U.S., and the U.K.^[9]

Mine Clearance

As reported in Landmine Monitor 1999, mine clearance operations in Costa Rica were suspended in March 1998, pending acquisition of a medical evacuation helicopter. The OAS reports that in 1999 contributions from the United States, Costa Rica, and others covered the cost of rental of a medical evacuation helicopter, allowing demining to resume.^[10]

Demining is carried out with the assistance of two international supervisors, forty-one deminers, and four mine-detecting dogs.^[11] Costa Rican personnel are assigned to the Unit of Sappers of the Costa Rican Security Forces, based in Los Chiles.

The Ministry of Security Mine Clearance Program now states mine clearance, once targeted for completion in 2000, should be completed by June 2002. Plans call for clearance in three sectors beginning in January 2000. The first sector, Los Chiles-Pocosol in Alajuela Province between border markers 2 and 12, contains approximately 1,198 landmines and demining is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2000. The second sector, Upala in Alajuela Province between border markers 13 and 14, containing approximately 318 landmines, is scheduled to be completed by June 2001. The final sector, La Cruz-Guanacaste in Guanacaste Province between border markers 14 and 20, contains approximately 1,975 landmines, and is scheduled to be completed by June 2002.^[12]

According to the Chief of the Mine Clearance Program, 350 mines had been destroyed as of April 2000, at an approximate cost of $1,000 per mine.^[13]

Mine Awareness

According to the OAS, a mine risk awareness education campaign has continued in the areas of Crucitas, Jocote, Las Tiricias, San Isidro, Pocosol, Medio Queso, and La Guaría, in Alajuela Province. This program includes educational talks at schools, and distribution of educational material.^[14]

Landmine Casualties and Victim Assistance

Information concerning landmine victims in Costa Rica is anecdotal. No casualties have been reported recently by the OAS. Costa Rica does not have a program to assist landmine victims, and neither does it have a specialized clinic to treat them. The OAS reports that a medical camp was set up in the Los Chiles area, with the assistance of the Costa Rican Social Security Office, utilizing the specialized personnel assigned to the program for evacuation and medical safety operations. At this camp, care was provided not only to sapper soldiers, but also to the population living close to mined areas.^[15]

[1] Statement by Bern Niehaus, Representative of Costa Rica at the UNGA First Committee First Session, GA/DIS/3142, 13 October 1999.
[2] “Declaration of San José,” Article 27, San José, Costa Rica, 5 April 2000. The nine countries were Costa Rica, Panamá, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, the Dominican Republic, and Brazil.
[3] CIA Factbook, Costa Rica, http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/cs.html.
[4] International Demining Organization, 24 September 1998, Article No. 98-09-02, available at http://www.jid.org.
[5] “Cronograma del Plan de Desminado” [Timetable for National Demining Plan], Minsterio de Seguridad Pública [Ministry of Security] provided to Landmine Monitor by Mr. Major Luis Carlos Calvo. Interview with Major Luis Carlos Calvo, Chief of the Mine Clearance Program, Ministry of Security, Los Chiles, 3 May 2000.
[6] “Cronograma del Plan de Desminado” [Timetable for National Demining Plan], Minsterio de Seguridad Pública [Ministry of Security] provided to Landmine Monitor.
[7] Interview with Major Luis Carlos Calvo, Chief of the Mine Clearance Program, Los Chiles, 3 May 2000.
[8] Email from Jhosselin Bakhat, Organization of American States, 20 June 2000.
[9] Ibid.; “Demining” section of the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy, Organization of American States, http://www.oas.org/upd/demining/demining.htm.
[10] See OAS contribution to Landmine Monitor Report 2000.
[11] Ibid.
[12] “Cronograma del Plan de Desminado” [Timetable for National Demining Plan], Minsterio de Seguridad Pública [Ministry of Security] provided to Landmine Monitor.
[13] Interview with Mr. Major Luis Carlos Calvo, Chief of the Mine Clearance Program, Los Chiles, 3 May 2000.
[14] See OAS contribution to Landmine Monitor Report 2000.
[15] Ibid.