LM Report 2000

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TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

Trinidad and Tobago signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified on 27 April 1998, the eleventh country to do so. On 2 May 2000, the “Anti-Personnel Mines Bill 2000” was introduced to the Senate.^[1] The bill outlaws use, development, production, acquisition, and transfer of AP mines and provides for penal sanctions, including fines and imprisonment.^[2] The bill was passed by the Senate on 9 May 2000 and sent to the House of Representatives.^[3]

Trinidad and Tobago has not yet submitted its Article 7 report, due on 27 August 1999. Trinidad and Tobago was not present at the First Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Maputo in May 1999 and has not participated in the intersessional meetings of the ban treaty. It voted in favor of the December 1999 UN General Assembly resolution in support of the treaty. Trinidad and Tobago has stated that it has never produced, imported, stockpiled, or used antipersonnel landmines and that it is not mine-affected.^[4]

[1] Telephone interview with Mr. C.S. Arunachalam, Assistant Chief Parliamentary Counsel, 27 June 2000.
[2] A copy of the bill was forwarded to Landmine Monitor by Mr. C.S. Arunachalam, 4 July 2000. See also, Kathleen Maharaj, “T&T joins fight against landmines,” Trinidad Express, 4 May 2000.
[3] Letter from Mr. C. S. Arunachalam to Landmine Monitor, 4 July 2000. See also, “Mines Bill scares senators,” The Guardian, 10 May 2000.
[4] Response by Legal and Marine Affairs Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Trinidad and Tobago to 1999 Landmine Monitor Questionnaire, 26 February 1999. This was also confirmed in telephone interview with Mr. C.S. Arunachalam, 17 July 2000.