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.
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 insertedfor 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]
[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 Report2000. [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.