LM Report 2001

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MEXICO

Mine Ban Policy

Mexico signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, ratified on 9 June 1998 and the treaty entered into force on 1 March 1999. It has not enacted separate domestic implementation legislation because in most cases international agreements in Mexico are self-executing.^[1] The treaty is considered a supreme law in the national territory according to Article 133 of the Constitution.

Mexico attended the Second Meeting of States Parties in September 2000, with a delegation led by its Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva. It participated in intersessional Standing Committee meetings in December 2000 and May 2001. Mexico attended the Regional Seminar on Stockpile Destruction in the Americas in November 2000. Also in November, Mexico voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 55/33V, supporting the Mine Ban Treaty.

Mexico submitted its first Article 7 transparency report on 24 September 1999, its second on 7 February 2000 and its third on 23 April 2001. There is no new information in the updated reports.

Mexico is a State Party to the original Protocol II on landmines of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), but has not ratified Amended Protocol II; it views it as too limited and surpassed by the Mine Ban Treaty.^[2] It attended the Second Annual Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II in Geneva in December 2000 as an observer.

Mexico has never produced, transferred, used or stockpiled antipersonnel mines, nor does it retain any mines for training purposes.

Mine Action

Mexico has stated that it is mine-free on numerous occasions, including in its Article 7 reports. On 18 September 2000, an indigenous child was killed and two of his companions seriously wounded when an item of unexploded ordnance (UXO) they found blew up, in the municipality of San Cristóbal de las Casas in Chiapas.^[3] According to media reports, the children from the community of El Aguaje, ejido La Albarrada, were picking mushrooms when they unknowingly entered into lands belonging to the National Defense Secretariat (SEDENA) at “Rancho Nuevo” in the 31st Military Zone Base near El Aguaje. The UXO has been variously described as “a rectangular explosive artefact 15cm in length,” a “cylindrical-shaped explosive” and a “ type of fragmentation grenade.” The incident was reported to the Procuraduría General de la República and SEDENA so they could determine the type of UXO. The Centro de Derecho Ambiental e Integración Económica del Sur, A.C. (DASSUR) presented a formal complaint to the CNDH in order to obtain information on the incident and characteristics of the UXO.

The Canada-Mexico-PAHO tripartite victim assistance program in El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua continues. Apart from this program, Mexico is not known to have made any contributions to mine action in affected countries in the reporting period.

^[1] Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 279.
^[2] Ibid.
^[3] Leonel Durante, “Niños heridos de gravedad por explosión de artefacto,” La República en Chiapas, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, 19 September 2000; Rafael Victorio, “Lesionados 3 Niños al Estallarles una Granada en San Cristóbal de las Casas,” Excélsior, México DF, 19 September 2000; José Francisco Carrasco, “Fallece niño lastimado por explosivo; se niegan padres a recibir indemnización,” La República en Chiapas, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, 20 September 2000.

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