Key developments
since March 1999: The Mine Ban Treaty entered into force for Venezuela on 1
October 1999. Venezuela has not submitted its Article 7 report, due by 29 March
2000.
Venezuela signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified on 14
April 1999. According to a Foreign Ministry official, when Venezuela ratifies
an international treaty, it immediately becomes national law, and therefore
Venezuela considers that there is no need for an implementation
law.[1] Venezuela has not yet
submitted its Article 7 transparency report, due by 29 March 2000. Venezuela
voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 54/54B in support of the Mine
Ban Treaty in December 1999, as it had done on similar resolutions in 1997 and
1998. Venezuela did not participate in the First Meeting of States Parties in
Maputo, Mozambique in May 1999. An official explained that Venezuela was not
yet a State Party (it was in the six month waiting period between ratification
and entry into force), and the government considered that it was not useful for
the country to participate as an
observer.[2]
Venezuela is not a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons or its
Amended Protocol II on landmines but it participated as an observer in the
December 1999 First Annual Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II
in Geneva. Venezuela is member of the Conference of Disarmament and has
supported efforts to pursue an AP mine export ban there.
Venezuela states that it has never produced or transferred AP
mines.[3] The U.S. Department
of Defense lists Venezuela as the producer of the MV-1 antipersonnel mine, which
it describes as an improvised fragmentation AP mine that uses an E-1 hand
grenade fuse, is made from aluminum, and is black with orange markings on the
top and the bottom of the
mine.[4] According to the
Colombian political and military officials, the illegal traffic of weapons in
the border area between these two countries could include AP
mines.[5] Venezuela is believed
to have a stockpile of AP mines, but the size, composition, and suppliers of the
mines are unknown. Venezuela is not known to have used AP mines.
Venezuela is currently contributing four supervisors to the OAS Assistance
Program for Demining in Central
America.[6] Venezuela is not
mine-affected but there could be some mined areas on the Colombian side of the
border with Venezuela from use by Colombia’s rebel
groups.[7] The government states
that there are no landmine casualties in
Venezuela.[8] Venezuela has a
national health system with specialized services located in main urban centers,
including rehabilitation
services.[9]
[1] Telephone interview with Victor
Manzanares, First Secretary for Security and Disarmament, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Venezuela, 4 February 2000. [2]
Ibid. [3] Telephone interview with
Gerardo Delgado, Political Attaché of the Venezuelan Embassy in Colombia,
Bogotá, 12 December 1999. [4]
U.S. Department of Defense, “ORDDATA II, Version 1.0,” a CD-ROM
distributed by the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations
and Low Intensity Conflict. [5]
Interview with Pedro Agustín Roa, Special Issues Unit, Disarmament Office
Assistant, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bogotá, 10 December 1999.
Interview with Major Anselmo Escobar, Human Rights Official, Fourth Brigade
Colombian National Army, Medellin, 5 January
2000. [6] Email from Jhosslin Bakhat,
Organization of American States, to Human Rights Watch, 23 June
2000. [7] Telephone interview with
Gerardo Delgado, Venezuelan Embassy in Colombia, 15 December
1999. [8] Telephone interview with
Victor Manzanares, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4 February
2000. [9] Telephone interview with
Gerardo Delgado, Venezuelan Embassy in Colombia, 12 December 1999.