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Country Reports
ARGENTINA, Landmine Monitor Report 2001
 
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ARGENTINA

Key developments since May 2000: Argentina co-hosted a regional seminar on stockpile destruction in November 2000. Argentina submitted its initial Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 transparency report, which made public for the first time details on its stockpile of 89,170 antipersonnel mines. An Office for Humanitarian Demining has been established in the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Mine Ban Policy

Argentina signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997. The National Congress approved it on 23 June 1999 under Law 25.112, and it was published in the Official Bulletin on 21 July 1999.[1] Argentina deposited its instrument of ratification on 14 September 1999 and the treaty entered into force on 1 March 2000.

Argentina has not yet enacted national implementation legislation, but a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official told Landmine Monitor that Law 25.112 is being studied to see if penal sanctions can be inserted for the use, storage, production and transfer of antipersonnel mines.[2] The Executive (President and Ministers) will then submit a bill including such provisions to Congress for approval.[3]

Argentina submitted its first Article 7 transparency report on 30 August 2000, covering the period from 14 March to 21 August 2000, and its second report on 28 May 2001, covering the period from 22 August 2000 to 11 May 2001.

Argentina attended the Second Meeting of States Parties in September 2000. A representative from Argentina’s UN Mission in Geneva attended intersessional Standing Committee meetings in December 2000 and May 2001. In November 2000, Argentina voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 55/33V supporting the Mine Ban Treaty.

From 6-8 November 2000, Argentina co-hosted with Canada the Regional Seminar on Stockpile Destruction in the Americas, with the cooperation of the OAS.[4] The seminar concluded with the “Managua Challenge.” This calls for all remaining signatories from the region to complete ratification in time for the Third Meeting of States Parties (TMSP) in Managua, Nicaragua in September 2001. It also calls on all States Parties to submit their Article 7 reports by this date and perhaps most importantly, it calls on all States Parties to arrive in Managua with their stockpiled mines completely destroyed.[5]

Just before the regional seminar, on 4-5 November 2000, Servicio Paz y Justicia (SERPAJ) Argentina, a member of the ICBL, hosted a regional meeting of Landmine Monitor researchers and of ICBL campaigners, which included a joint SERPAJ-ICBL press conference with Nobel laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, President of SERPAJ.

Argentina is a State Party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons, including Amended Protocol II. It participated in the Second Annual Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II in Geneva in December 2000 and made a statement to the plenary. It submitted its Article 13 annual report on 8 December 2000.

Production, Transfer and Use

Argentina is a former producer and exporter of antipersonnel mines. In the past, it manufactured three types of antipersonnel mines: the FMK-1 plastic blast mine, the MAPG pressure or tripwire mine, and the MAPPG bounding mine.[6] Production took place at the Dirección General de Fabricaciones Militares of the Ministry of Defense. Argentina has not provided information on decommissioning or conversion of production facilities in its Article 7 reports. Argentina imported antipersonnel mines from Italy (SB33), Spain (P4B) and, based on mines found in the Malvinas/Falklands, Israel (Number 4).[7] There has been no use of antipersonnel mines in the reporting period.

Stockpiling

In both its Article 7 reports, Argentina disclosed a stockpile totaling 89,170 antipersonnel landmines (72,924 EXPAL P4B AP mines manufactured by Spain, 10,885 SB33 AP mines manufactured by Italy, and 5,361 Argentine FMK-1 AP mines).[8] No mention is made of the other types of antipersonnel mines produced by Argentina in the past, or of any imported mines from Israel.

Government and NGO participants to the November 2000 regional seminar visited the Armed Forces’ Centro de Entrenamiento en Desminado Humanitario (CED - Center for Training in Humanitarian Demining), and witnessed the destruction of 200 P4B AP mines.[9] This destruction was not, however, reported on Argentina’s May 2001 Article 7 report.

No other stockpile destruction has taken place since the treaty entered into force.[10] The latest Article 7 report states that in 2001 the Army plans to collect information on stockpiles held in its logistic units and in 2002 it will plan for destruction of the EXPAL P4B AP mines and FMK-1 AP mines. The Army stockpile destruction will be done by physical and chemical detonation and will be carried out by Jefatura IV de Materiales. The Navy will commence stockpile destruction in the second half of 2001 at the Naval Base in Belgrano and estimates that it will take 11 months. This destruction will be done by mechanical destruction of the casings and detonation of the fuzes, a procedure that “does not generate dangerous residuals.”[11]

In November 2000, Argentine Army officials told Landmine Monitor they would be able to destroy their entire stockpile by September 2001, and thus meet the Managua Challenge, but a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official later said that a more realistic goal would be for Argentina to have its stockpile destruction plan ready by the time of the Third Meeting of States Parties.[12] The Article 7 report states that destruction will be carried out “in the timeframe of the Ottawa Convention.”[13]

In its initial Article 7 report, Argentina indicated 3,049 antipersonnel mines would be retained by the Navy under Article 3 of the treaty (2,885 SB33 AP mines, and 164 FMK-1 AP mines), and that the number to be retained by the Army was under study.[14] The May 2001 Article 7 report indicated another 10,000 mines (of unidentified type) would be retained by the Army, and adjusted the Navy number to 3,025, thus making a total of 13,025 antipersonnel mines retained for training.[15] The Army states that the mines it retains will be given to Army Engineers for use in training.[16]

Landmine Problem

Argentina has repeatedly stated that the only mine-affected part of its territory is the Malvinas/Falklands Islands (see separate Landmine Monitor report). According to its Article 7 report, 20,000 EXPAL and FMK-1 AP mines were laid during the 1982 conflict.[17] As it has done in the past, Argentina included in its Article 7 report an interpretative statement on its claims of sovereignty over the Islands.[18] Argentina and the United Kingdom are still engaged in negotiations over mine clearance of the Islands, but there was no progress in the reporting period.[19]

Argentina states the areas Chile mined in the 1970s are on the Chilean side and not the Argentine side of the border.[20] Nevertheless officials at the National Congress noted that these mined areas might threaten the safety of Argentine peasants and indigenous peoples who cross back and forth on unmarked mine-affected border areas.[21] See Landmine Monitor Report 2000 for a description of possible mined areas.[22] While mine clearance was a topic in official discussions between Argentina and Chile in 1999, there has not been any recent progress.[23]

Mine Action

Argentina did not provide financial assistance to mine action in the reporting period. Argentina has participated in mine action programs in Kuwait, Central America, Peru, Ecuador, and Angola. Company 16 of the Argentine Army has participated in demining activities and destruction of explosive devices in Kuwait for the past eight years. The Company has 50 members, including 17 engineers, 15 drivers and machine operators, and 8 radar operators. Personnel are rotated every six months.[24]

Argentina’s assistance to mine clearance in Central America ended in January 2000 and the government was reportedly evaluating this participation.

The Army’s Center for Training in Humanitarian Demining (CED) provides semi-annual training courses lasting 45 days each, for Argentine and foreign military personnel. CED has 14 instructors. The Argentine Training Center for Peace Operations (CAECOPAZ), which works exclusively on training for peacekeeping operations, also provides semi-annual courses on demining and humanitarian assistance.

On 25 February 2000, a Working Group on Antipersonnel Mines and Humanitarian Demining was created by resolution MD 169/00.[25] On 27 November 2000, an Office of Humanitarian Demining was established in the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to assist in the execution of the tasks of the Working Group.[26]

Landmine Casualties

While overseas Argentine civilians and military have fallen victim to mines in the past, but no casualties were recorded during the reporting period. Comprehensive national disability laws exist.[27]

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[1] Official Bulletin No. 29.191, 21 July 1999.
[2] Interview with Santiago Villalba, Secretary, Direction of International Safety, Nuclear and Space Affairs Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Buenos Aires, 19 December 2000.
[3] Ibid, 1 January 2001.
[4] From the Americas region, representatives from Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Perú, the USA and Venezuela participated in the seminar. They were joined by participants from Australia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, GICHD, ICBL, OAS, PRIO, and UNMAS.
[5] Conclusions from the Co-Chairs Argentina and Canada, Regional Seminar on Stockpile Destruction in the Americas, Buenos Aires, 6-8 November 2000.
[6] US Department of Defense, “Mine Facts”, CD Rom.
[7] See United Kingdom country report in Landmine Monitor Report 2000.
[8] Article 7 reports, Form B, submitted 30 August 2000 and 28 May 2001. Translation from Spanish by Landmine Monitor.
[9] Notes taken by Landmine Monitor at Centro de Entrenamiento en Desminado Humanitario, 8 November 2000.
[10] Article 7 report, Form G, 30 August 2000.
[11] Article 7 report, Form F, 28 May 2001.
[12] Notes taken by Landmine Monitor at Centro de Entrenamiento en Desminado Humanitario, 8 November 2000; Interview with Santiago Villalba, Secretary, Direction of International Safety, Nuclear and Space Affairs Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Buenos Aires, 19 December 2001.
[13] Article 7 report, Form F, 28 May 2001.
[14] Article 7 report, Form D, 30 August 2000.
[15] Article 7 report, Form D, 28 May 2001.
[16] Article 7 report, Form F, 28 May 2001.
[17] Article 7 report, Form C, 30 August 2000.
[18] Article 7 report, Form C, 30 August 2000. See Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp. 219-220.
[19] See report on Falklands/Malvinas Islands, Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp. 368-371.
[20] Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 222.
[21] Interview with Osvaldo Gazzola, Advisor, Office of Congressmen Alfredo Bravo and Jorge Rivas, 14 February 2000.
[22] Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 222.
[23] See Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 223.
[24] Response by Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Landmine Monitor questionnaire, 5 April 2001.
[25] For more details see Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 220.
[26] Interview with Captain (ret.) Carlos Nielsen, Director of the Office for Humanitarian Demining, Buenos Aires, 7 November 2000; telephone interview with Captain (ret.) Nielsen, 22 February 2001.
[27] Law 22.431 published 20 March 1981, modified by Laws 23.876, 24.308, 24.314 and 24.901.