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Country Reports
HONDURAS, Landmine Monitor Report 2001
 
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HONDURAS

Key developments since May 2000: On 2 November 2000 Honduras destroyed its stockpile of 7,441 antipersonnel mines, except for an uncertain number retained for training purposes. Honduras is serving as co-rapporteur of the intersessional Standing Committee on Victim Assistance. The mine clearance operation along the border is scheduled for completion in September 2001.

Mine Ban Policy

Honduras signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, the National Congress approved ratification legislation, Law 92-98, on 21 April 1998 and President Carlos Roberto Flores signed the legislation into law on 14 September 1998.[1] Honduras deposited the instrument of ratification on 24 September 1998 and the treaty entered into force on 1 March 1999.

Honduras has not enacted any national legislation to implement the Mine Ban Treaty. Honduras submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report on 28 August 1999, but it has not submitted the required annual updated reports, due 30 April 2000 and 30 April 2001.

Honduras attended the Second Meeting of States Parties in September 2000, with a delegation from the capital. It also participated in intersessional Standing Committee meetings in December 2000 and May 2001. Honduras currently serves as co-rapporteur of the Standing Committee on Victim Assistance, Socio-Economic Reintegration and Mine Awareness, together with Canada. Honduras will become co-chair of this committee at the Third Meeting of States Parties in September 2001.

In November 2000 Honduras participated in the Regional Seminar on Stockpile Destruction in the Americas in Buenos Aires. Also in November, Honduras voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 55/33V, supporting the Mine Ban Treaty.

Honduras is not a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Production, Transfer, Use, and Stockpiling

Honduras has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines. In the past it imported and used antipersonnel mines in limited quantities, for training purposes only. There has been no use of mines in Honduras by any party since the end of the conflicts in Nicaragua (in 1990) and El Salvador (in 1992).

On 2 November 2000 Honduras destroyed its stockpile of 7,441 antipersonnel mines in a ceremony attended by government officials, representatives of the OAS and an international team of supervisors from the demining program.[2] This followed an assessment of the stockpile by three Canadian officials in March 2000. The First Field Artillery Battalion of the Honduran Army carried out the destruction, by explosion and incineration, near the village of Zambrano Francisco Morazán. MARMINCA supervisors from Brazil and Colombia certified the destruction.[3] The destruction took three days and cost approximately US$1.60 per mine.[4] Included in the destruction were 1,436 Sopro M-969 mines (manufactured by Portugal), 4,224 M-4 mines (manufactured by Israel), and 1,781 FMK-1 mines (manufactured by Argentina).[5]

There are discrepancies between the reported destruction and the Honduran Article 7 report submitted in August 1999:[6]

  • The Article 7 report indicated that there were 2,969 M-4 mines in stock, of which 2,639 would be destroyed and 330 retained. However, Honduras reported destruction of 4,224 M-4 mines, considerably more than previously reported to be held in stock.
  • The Article 7 report indicated 2,959 FMK-1 mines in stock, of which 2,330 would be destroyed and 329 retained. Honduras reported destruction of 1,781 FMK-1.
  • The Article 7 report indicated 1,480 M-969 mines in stock, of which 1,315 would be destroyed and 165 retained. Honduras reported destruction of 1,436 M-696.
  • The Article 7 report indicated 2,031 M18A1 Claymore mines in stock, of which 1,805 would be destroyed and 226 retained. Honduras reported no destruction of M18A1 mines.[7]

It would appear that the stockpile numbers reported in the August 1999 Article 7 report proved to be inaccurate. It is now uncertain how many antipersonnel mines Honduras is retaining for training purposes. If the Article 7 report is accurate, that number is 824 (330 M4, 329 FMK-1, and 165 M-969 mines), in addition to all of its Claymore mines.[8]

Landmine Problem

Landmines were planted during the 1980s by combatants to the Nicaragua conflict and were found on both sides of the Nicaragua/Honduras border. More than 2,000 have been cleared and destroyed on the Honduran side of the border while more than 49,000 remain to be cleared and destroyed on the Nicaraguan side.[9] None of the mines destroyed in Honduras has been more than a few hundred meters from the frontier.

There have been periodic concerns that mined areas might exist in the four “bolsone” or pockets of territory whose ownership had been in international court dispute between Honduras and El Salvador. Since these areas had long been a “no man’s land,” the concern was that Salvadoran insurgents might have used them as refuge areas and might have planted protective minefields to keep both Salvadoran and Honduran authorities out. In September 2000, Honduran demining personnel and international supervisors carried out a general survey in the vicinity of a former Contra base in El Aguacate, department of Olanchos, to determine if the area is mine-affected. A second survey was carried out in January 2001 along the border with El Salvador. According to the OAS, authorities and local people in both areas did not report any landmines, and no physical indicators were found that pointed to the existence of mines or minefields in these areas.[10]

The Honduran Army recommends further supervision of the borders as it is concerned that mines could have moved into the country by the effects of Hurricane Mitch.[11]

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 Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.

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.[12] Between June 2000 and May 2001 financial contributions totalled approximately $6 million.[13] The current budget for the demining program in Honduras is approximately $500,000 for a six-month period.[14]

Honduras contributes to the OAS PADCA program; four of thirty current trainers and supervisors with MARMINCA are from Honduras.[15]

Mine Clearance

In March 2001, mine clearance operations in Honduras started the final phase in Choluteca department, in the four remaining mine-affected areas along the border with Nicaragua.[16] The clearance operation is scheduled for completion by September 2001. Once the mine clearance is completed, international supervisors will assist the Honduran Army in conducting quality assurance.[17]

As of 31 April 2001, the total area of land cleared since the PADCA program began in 1995 is 377,935 square meters; 2,158 mines and 54,785 UXO have been destroyed.[18] As of 31 May 2001, this included 248,000 square meters in El Paraíso province, 107,000 square meters in Choluteca and 22,000 square meters in Olancho province.[19]

Mine Awareness

The Central American Bank for Economic Integration is supporting an OAS mine awareness and accident prevention program in Honduras and Nicaragua.[20] The Canada/Mexico/PAHO Joint Program for the Rehabilitation of Victims in Central America is training mine awareness educators in Honduras to carry out mine awareness courses in communities and schools in mine-affected areas, delivering materials along with mine awareness messages.

Landmine Casualties

According to Handicap International (Belgium) and an official in the Honduran embassy in Guatemala, there were no mine or UXO incidents reported in Honduras during 2000.[21]

On 18 March 2001 a Honduran civilian attempting to cross into Nicaragua to hunt, lost a leg and an eye when he stepped on a landmine on the Nicaraguan side of the border. The victim received medical assistance in Danli El Paraiso (Honduras), and a prosthesis has been requested from PAHO.[22]

In September 1995, Honduran officials estimated that over 200 civilians had been killed in landmine incidents since 1990.[23] From March 1996 to September 1997, the IADB recorded five mine accidents involving civilians in Honduras.[24]

Survivor Assistance

Since 1999, Honduras has been making real efforts in addressing the needs of landmine survivors and providing them with adequate treatment. Handicap International Belgium (HI-B) has helped the Ministry of Health set up the first prosthetic and orthotic workshop in Tegucigalpa. In 2001, an outreach mission was conducted in the Danli area in order to provide specific assistance to mine victims in that area. A second prosthetic and orthotic workshop will be created by Foundation Teleton, an NGO specializing in rehabilitation services for the disabled, with the support of HI-B in San Pedro Sula in 2001. In the framework of the Canada-Mexico-PAHO initiative and with the support of SIDA-Moh Acceso Program, CBR activities are now implemented in mine-affected areas from the El Paraiso Department. In Danli, a program to reintegrate mine victims into the workforce is now implemented in Gabriela Alvarado Rehabilitation Center.[25]

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[1] Law 92-98 was published in La Gazeta, No. 28653, 21 August 1998.
[2] “Firma de Acta de destrucción del inventario de minas antipersonales en posesión de las Fuerzas Armadas de Honduras,” Press Release # 060, External Relations Secretariat, Government of Honduras, 2 November 2000; “Experiencia de Honduras en Operaciones de Desminado Humanitario y Destrucción de Minas en Almacen,” 2 November 2000, presented to Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Geneva, 7 December 2000; OAS, “Informe del Secretario General sobre la implementación de las Resoluciones 1745 (apoyo a PADEP) y 1751 (apoyo a PADCA),” 7 May 2001.
[3] Interview with Colonel Alejandro Rodríguez, Military Attaché, Embassy of Honduras in Guatemala, Guatemala City, 13 February 2001.
[4] Oral remarks of the Honduran Delegation to the Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Geneva, 7 December 2000.
[5] “Experiencia de Honduras en Operaciones de Desminado Humanitario y Destrucción de Minas en Almacen,” 2 November 2000, presented to Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Geneva, 7 December 2000; Department of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Armed Forces of Honduras, Report for Conference of the Armed Forces of Central America, JEMC 2120-2000, 22 November 2000. In oral remarks of the Honduran delegate to the Standing Committee, 7 December 2000, he clarified that the M4 mines that were listed in the Article 7 report as of US-origin (and therefore assumed by Landmine Monitor to be M-14), were in fact Israel-made mines, usually called No. 4.
[6] Article 7 report, Forms B and D, 30 August 1999; “Experiencia de Honduras en Operaciones de Desminado Humanitario y Destrucción de Minas en Almacen,” 2 November 2000, presented to Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Geneva, 7 December 2000.
[7] At the Buenos Aires stockpile destruction meeting in November 2000, the Honduran representative told Landmine Monitor that a decision had been made to retain all M18A1 Claymore mines.
[8] Article 7 report, Form D, 30 August 1999. This number does not include the 226 M18A1 mines Honduras reported it would retain.
[9] Email to Landmine Monitor (HRW) from William McDonough, Coordinator, PACDA, Organization of American States, 24 July 2001.
[10] OAS, “Informe del Secretario General sobre la implementación de las Resoluciones 1745 (apoyo a PADEP) y 1751 (apoyo a PADCA),” 7 May 2001; Email to Landmine Monitor (HRW) from William McDonough, Coordinator, PACDA, Organization of American States, 30 July 2001.
[11] Interview with Col. Alejandro Rodríguez, Military Attaché, Embassy of Honduras in Guatemala, Guatemala, 2 November 2000; Telephone Interview with Miguel Barahona, National Coordinator, PADCA Honduras, 9 May 2001.
[12] Email to Landmine Monitor from Jhosselin Bakhat, Organization of American States, 20 June 2000.
[13] OAS, “Informe del Secretario General sobre la implementación de las Resoluciones 1745 (apoyo a PADEP) y 1751 (apoyo a PADCA),” 7 May 2001.
[14] Telephone Interview with Miguel Barahona, PADCA Honduras, 18 June 2001.
[15] OAS, “Informe del Secretario General sobre la implementación de las Resoluciones 1745 (apoyo a PADEP) y 1751 (apoyo a PADCA),” 7 May 2001.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Telephone Interview with Miguel Barahona, PADCA Honduras, 18 June 2001; “Firma de Acta de destrucción del inventario de minas antipersonales en posesión de las Fuerzas Armadas de Honduras,” Press Release # 060, External Relations Secretariat, Government of Honduras, 2 November 2000.
[19] Telephone Interview with Miguel Barahona, PADCA Honduras, 18 June 2001; Department of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Armed Forces of Honduras, Report for Conference of the Armed Forces of Central America, JEMC 2120-2000, 22 November 2000.
[20] OAS, “Informe del Secretario General sobre la implementación de las Resoluciones 1745 (apoyo a PADEP) y 1751 (apoyo a PADCA),” 7 May 2001.
[21] Email to Landmine Monitor (HI-B) from Thierry Gonthier, HI-B Honduras, 16 July 2001; Interview with Col. Alejandro Rodríguez, Military Attaché, Embassy of Honduras in Guatemala, Guatemala, 12 March 2001.
[22] Telephone interview with Emilio Ramires Pinto, PAHO/OAS, Honduras, 19 June 2001; Fax to Landmine Monitor from Emilio Ramires Pinto, PAHO/OAS, Honduras, 20 June 2001; Interview with Miguel Barahona, National Coordinator, PADCA Honduras, 9 May 2001.
[23] UN landmine country report for Honduras, September 1995.
[24] OAS, Junta Interamericana de Defensa, Mision de Asistencia para Remoci\n de Minas en Centro America, “Cuadro Demostrativo de Los Accidentes Ocurridos al Personal Civil que Vive en Las Areas Rurales de La Republica de Honduras,” September 1997.
[25] Email from Thierry Gonthier, Program Director for HI-B in Honduras, to Landmine Monitor (MAC), 17 July 2001.