LM Report 2001

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COSTA RICA

Key developments since May 2000: Domestic implementation legislation has been introduced to the Legislative Assembly. Costa Rica has not yet submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report, due by 27 February 2000. According to current plans, mine clearance is due to be completed in July 2002.

Mine Ban Policy

Costa Rica signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, ratified on 17 March 1999 and the treaty entered into force on 1 September 1999. A process is underway to legislate the ban on antipersonnel mines. On 26 February 2001, President Miguel Ángel Rodríguez sent the “Law for the Prohibition of Antipersonnel Mines” to an extraordinary session of the Legislature for discussion by the Legislative Assembly.^[1] According to Representative Walter Muñoz, who prepared the legislation, “This initiative fulfills the requirements of the Mine Ban Treaty and brings attention to the antipersonnel mine problem in the country.”^[2]

Costa Rica has not yet submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report, which was due by 27 February 2000. It has also missed the deadline for the annual updated report on 30 April 2001. In January 2001 the Minister of Public Security, Rogelio Ramos, told Landmine Monitor that he was not aware of the requirement to provide a transparency report and gave assurances that one would be submitted as soon as possible.^[3] In July 2001, the Ministry of Public Security told Landmine Monitor that the report had been finished and would be sent shortly.^[4]

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

Costa Rica is a State Party to Amended Protocol II (Landmines) of the Convention on Conventional Weapon and attended the Second Annual Conference of States Parties in December 2000.

Production, Transfer, Stockpiling, Use

In the absence of any definitive public statement or Article 7 transparency report, it is believed that Costa Rica has never produced, imported, stockpiled, or used antipersonnel mines.

Landmine Problem

Landmines were placed along Costa Rica’s northern border by forces involved in the Nicaraguan conflict. In 2001, the government reviewed its mine clearance work plan and now estimates that the number of mines laid does not exceed 2,000.^[5]

The affected areas include the sectors of Los Chiles, Tablitas, Isla Chica, La Trocha, Pocosol, San Isidro, Tiricias, Cóbano, La Victoria and Pueblo Nuevo. These areas are, for the most part, agricultural lands near the border. The farmers who own this land abandoned them years ago because of the landmine problem and in recent years squatters have occupied some of the land. According to the Ministry of Public Security, Nicaraguan and Costa Rican farmers also trade in agricultural goods such as seeds and fertilizers in these areas.^[6] The landmine problem also affects Nicaraguan migrants entering Costa Rica without documentation because they cross through mine-affected border areas in order to evade immigration controls at established border crossings.^[7]

In October 2000, a farmer spotted an antipersonnel mine by a road “used daily by locals and illegal immigrants” in the Victoria de Upala region.^[8] A demining team came from Los Chiles (near border marker 11) to Upala (near border marker 13), where they located and detonated five Czechoslovakian-manufactured landmines.

Mine Action Coordination and Funding

The OAS Unit for the Promotion of Democracy, through the Integral Action against Antipersonnel Mines Program (AICMA - Acción Integral Contra las Minas Antipersonal), is responsible for coordinating and supervising the Assistance Program for Demining in Central America (PADCA - Programa de Asistencia al Desminado en Centroamérica), with the technical support of the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB). The IADB is responsible for organizing the team of international supervisors in charge of training and certification. This supervising team is known as the Assistance Mission for Mine Clearance in Central America (MARMINCA - Misión de Asistencia para la Remoción de Minas en Centroamérica). PADCA/MARMINCA have mine action programs in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In Costa Rica, the Ministry of Security, along with PADCA/MARMINCA, is also responsible for demining operations.

In 2000, the annual budget for the OAS regional program was $7.6 million, financed by Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the US and the UK.^[9] Between June 2000 and May 2001 financial contributions totaled approximately $6 million.^[10]

The OAS office in Costa Rica could not provide Landmine Monitor with exact figures for donor funds channeled by the OAS to demining activities in Costa Rica. Funds were spent on technical equipment, vehicle maintenance, air transport, educational materials and salaries. In 2001, Costa Rica received technical support from Brazil and Honduras through the OAS PADCA.^[11]

Landmine Monitor could not obtain official figures from the Ministry of Public Security for Costa Rican Government funding contributions to the demining program. The government pays for the salary of the Mine Clearance Program staff, other operational costs (such as telephone communications), office equipment, and costs of air evacuation.^[12]

Mine Clearance

Costa Rica’s Mine Clearance Program currently consists of a program coordinator, an operations coordinator and a demining team of forty personnel, both deminers and support staff; all are members of the Guardia Civil (Civil Guard) of the Ministry of Public Security. There are also four mine-detecting dogs. The demining team has two annual training sessions, supported by the OAS PADCA program.

A new mine clearance work plan is currently being developed. Mine clearance operations in 2000 and 2001 were carried out according to previous plans, in the three pre-established frontier sectors: Pocosol and Los Chiles (Alajuela province); Upala (Alajuela); and La Cruz and Peña Blanca (Guanacaste). Demining activity concentrated in the areas around border markers 9, 10, and 11 in Sector 1, but in October 2000 shifted to Sector 2, near Upala. According to current plans, mine clearance is due to be completed in July 2002.^[13]

According to the Ministry of Public Security, the PP-MI-SR-II AP mine was the only type of mine cleared by deminers in 2000.^[14] As of June 2001, 331 antipersonnel mine and 4,441 UXO and remnants have been cleared and destroyed by the Mine Clearance Program, and 143,355 square meters has been cleared of mines.^[15]

Mine clearance is slow, in part because many remnants of war are also found in the three sectors.^[16] Captain Rogelio Siqueira, a Brazilian advisor to the OAS Inter-American Defense Board said, “We would like to advance faster, but we have no maps or registries to guide us to landmines...and the rains, adverse weather and poor roads also make mine clearance difficult.”^[17] Another major difficulty is air evacuation. In 2000, the government leased a 1965 Bell UH-1H helicopter from a private company (Vertol Systems) with an option to buy, but then decided not to purchase it because it did not meet all of their requirements. The Ministry of Public Security then provided a plane to allow the mine clearance operation to continue.^[18] In 2000, an ambulance was provided to the Costa Rica Red Cross for use in the field by the mine clearance teams.^[19]

Land declared mine-free is currently returned to the original owners but no information is available on the number of people that have benefited thus far. The process of returning mine-cleared land to original owners has also been slowed by the presence of squatters.^[20]

At a public event on 22 September 2000, the Minister of Public Security, Rogelio Ramos, the Commissary, Walter Navarro, and the Director of the OAS in Costa Rica, Victor Brodersohn, congratulated and gave diplomas and medals to Brazilian Captain Ronaldo Morais, and Navy Lieutenant Jayne Pedrosa, members of the MARMINCA mission, for their demining work in the north of the country.^[21]

Mine Awareness

The Ministry of Public Security and the OAS, in coordination with the Ministry of Education, is continuing with mine risk awareness education campaigns in the mine-affected regions. In 2000, education campaigns focused on the small towns of Cuatro Esquinas, Medio Queso, San Isidro and La Guaria.^[22] Mine awareness education was done in local schools, with neighbors as well as students and teachers participating. The campaign includes educational materials such as posters, photos and fake landmines and the OAS also distributes pencils, notebooks, physical education uniforms and other materials that have mine awareness messages. While the local population now has some knowledge about the landmine problem, it should be noted that migrants and visitors to the mine-affected regions do not and are therefore especially vulnerable.^[23]

Landmine Casualties and Survivor Assistance

No new mine casualties were recorded in the reporting period, including to any of the deminers. Records of mine casualties are not kept systematically. One source cites an overall total of eight deaths and ten wounded due to landmines, which the OAS IADB believes is consistent with available information.^[24] It is also possible that there are other landmine victims who are not registered with the government, such as illegal migrants from Nicaragua.

The OAS IADB program has provided assistance to two mine survivors, Francisco Ramirez and his wife Elizabeth Sandoval, who both lost a leg to mines on the same day in the area of Isla Morgan.^[25] The OAS IADB recently offered to procure a prosthetic leg for Giovani Navas of Upala but the assistance was declined as the youth had just received a prosthetic device through another source. The OAS IADB is in communication with a fourth survivor who exhibits scaring from a landmine explosion, but is not currently in need of any treatment.

^[1] The legislation is numbered Expendiente N. 14042 and is before the International Commission (Comisión de Internacionales). Interview with José Mario Alfaro, Advisor to the Plenary, Legislative Assembly, 26 February 2001.
^[2] Interview with Representative Walter Muñoz, National Integration Party, San José, 28 February 2001.
^[3] Interview with Rogelio Ramos, Minister of Public Security, San José, 24 January 2001.
^[4] Telephone interview with Mayela Coto, Ministry of Public Security, San José, 16 July 2001.
^[5] Interview with Major Luis Carlos Calvo, Coordinator of the Mine Clearance Program, Ministry of Security, Los Chiles, 13 February 2001.
^[6] Ibid.
^[7] Carlos Hernández, “Detectan minas en Upala. Campesinos no siembran por temor a explosiones,” La Nación, 28 October 2000.
^[8] Ibid.
^[9] Email to Landmine Monitor from Jhosselin Bakhat, Organization of American States, 20 June 2000.
^[10] OAS, “Informe del Secretario General sobre la implementación de las Resoluciones 1745 (apoyo a PADEP) y 1751 (apoyo a PADCA),” 7 May 2001.
^[11] Interviews with Leda Marín, OAS PADCA, Coronado, 18 January and 2 February 2001.
^[12] Interview with Rogelio Ramos, Ministry of Public Security, San José, 24 January 2001.
^[13] Cindy Centeno Mena, “Por su valentía en remoción de minas,” La Prensa Libre, 23 September 2000; and interview with Rogelio Ramos, Minister of Public Security, San José, 24 January 2001.
^[14] Interview with Major Luis Carlos Calvo, Coordinator of the Mine Clearance Program, Ministry of Security, Los Chiles, 13 February 2001.
^[15] Telephone interview with Leda Marín, OAS PADCA, Coronado, 10 June 2001.
^[16] Carlos Hernández, “Detectan minas en Upala. Campesinos no siembran por temos a explosiones,” La Nación, 28 October 2000.
^[17] Ibid.
^[18] Interview with Rogelio Ramos, Minister of Public Security, 24 January 2001; and interview with Major Luis Carlos Calvo, Coordinator of the Mine Clearance Program, Ministry of Security, Los Chiles, 13 February 2001.
^[19] Email to Landmine Monitor (HRW) from ICRC, Mines/Arms Unit, Geneva, 11 July 2001.
^[20] Interview with Rogelio Ramos, Minister of Public Security, San José, 24 January 2001.
^[21] Cindy Centeno Mena, “Por su valentía en remoción de minas,” La Prensa Libre, 23 September 2000.
^[22] Interview with Major Luis Carlos Calvo, Coordinator of the Mine Clearance Program, Ministry of Security, Los Chiles, 13 February 2001.
^[23] Ibid.
^[24] Carlos Hernández, “Detectan minas en Upala. Campesinos no siembran por temos a explosiones,” La Nación, 28 October 2000; Email to Landmine Monitor (HRW) from William McDonough, Coordinator, PACDA, Organization of American States, 26 July 2001.
^[25] Email to Landmine Monitor (HRW) from William McDonough, Coordinator, PACDA, Organization of American States, 26 July 2001.

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