Panamá
signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997, ratified on 7 October 1998 and
the treaty entered into force on 1 April 1999. Implementation legislation is
reportedly under consideration, but no legislation has been introduced into the
parliament yet.[1]
Panamá has not submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report, which
was due on 27 September 1999, or the required annual updated reports due 30
April 2000 and 30 April 2001. According to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs
official, the report will be submitted once negotiations with the US regarding
clearance of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in former military installations in the
Canal Zone are completed.[2]
Panamá did not participate in the Second Meeting of States Parties in
September 2000. It attended the intersessional Standing Committee meetings for
the first time in December 2000, but did not participate in May 2001.
Panamá voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 55/33V in
November 2000, supporting the Mine Ban Treaty.
Panamá is a State
Party to Amended Protocol II (Landmines) to the Convention on Conventional
Weapons (CCW) and attended the Second Annual Conference of States Parties to
Amended Protocol II in December 2000. It has not submitted its Amended Protocol
II Article 13 annual reports.
Production, Transfer, Stockpiling, Use
According to government officials, Panamá
has never produced, imported, or exported antipersonnel mines, and does not have
a stockpile of antipersonnel
mines.[3] In January 2001 an
official with the Technical Explosive Unit of the National Police told Landmine
Monitor that there were no reports of Panama being used as a transit point for
trafficking in landmines.[4]
Some media reports, however, indicated that Russian antipersonnel mines were
among weapons seized that were allegedly destined for Colombian
rebels.[5]
UXO Problem
Panamá is not reported to be mine-affected,
but it suffers from UXO contamination as a result of US military exercises and
weapons testing in military ranges in the Canal Zone during the three decades
prior to1997. An assessment by the US Department of Defense in 1997 revealed
the presence of various types of munitions, including Claymore mines, but not
other antipersonnel mines.[6]
The area of UXO-affected land in the Canal Zone is approximately 151 square
kilometers in the Empire demolition range, the Balboa West range, and the
Piña and Sherman
range.[7] The Ministry of
Health reports that not all affected areas are completely fenced off, and locals
frequently enter the ranges to
hunt.[8]
UXO Awareness
UNICEF, the Ministries of Health, Education, and
Foreign Affairs, and nongovernmental organizations have initiated a UXO
awareness education project focused on the population living in the affected
areas.[9] The $30,000 budget
for the project has been secured and is being spent on capacity building,
training, educational materials and monitoring and evaluation for the period
from June 2000 to December
2001.[10] Story and coloring
books dealing with the UXO problem have been distributed in schools in West
Panamá and Colón, in cooperation with local authorities and school
staff.[11] Approximately
$81,000 has been budgeted for these programs in this period according to the
Ministry of Health.[12] The
Ministry has also conducted UXO awareness workshops with the participation of
members of the Technical Explosive Unit of the National Police and the Red
Cross.[13]
UXO Casualties
There were no reports of mine or UXO victims in the
reporting period. The government of Panamá has stated that at least
twenty-one people have been killed by UXO since 1940, while the US gives a
figure of seven fatalities since
1984.[14] The Ministry of
Health says it is not aware of these
victims.[15] The Health
Ministry intended to include essential equipment for UXO victims in public
clinics near training grounds, but funding was not
available.[16]
There are no
disability policies that specifically deal with UXO casualties in
Panamá.
[1] Interview with Angela
Healy, President, Permanent Commission for Implementation of Humanitarian Law
(CPIDH), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Panama City, 12 January
2001.
[2]
Ibid.
[3] Inquires were made
with the following government agencies in May 2000: Interior Commerce Department
of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Explosives Technical Unit of the
National Police and the Institutional Department for Public Security Affairs,
Ministry of Government and Justice. Also, interview with Jaime Luque, Director,
Inter-Institutional Department on Public Safety Affairs, Ministry of Government
and Justice, Panama City, 2 May 2000. [4] Interview with members
of the Technical Explosive Unit, National Police, Panama City, 4 January 2001.
[5] Jean Michel
Chérry, “Armamento incautado sería para insurgentes
Colombianos,” El Panamá América, 9 January 2001; CNN
Digital in El Panamá América, “El comercio de las armas en
Panamá,” 23 October 2001. These reports apparently refer to the
same incident in September
2000.
[6] PRC Environmental
Management, Inc. for Panama Canal Treaty Implementation Plan Agency, Department
of Defense, Unexploded Ordnance Assessment of US Military Ranges in Panama:
Empire, Balboa West, and Piña Ranges, Final report, January 1997,
Appendix A, p. A-15.
[7] For
more details see Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp.
291-292.
[8] Interview with
Efraín Lozano, Department of Health Promotion of the Ministry of Health,
11 December 2000.
[9] United
Nations, “Portfolio of Mine-related Projects,” April 2001, p.
197.
[10] Ibid, p.
199.
[11] Alberto
Sánchez Belisle, “Advierten sobre peligrosas granadas en
polígonos,” El Panamá América, 12 November
2000.
[12] Interview with
Efraín Lozano, Department of Health Promotion, Ministry of Health, 11
December 2000.
[13]
Ibid.
[14] Andrea Stone,
“Deadly Reminders of US in Panama,” USA Today, 9 August 1999,
p. 7.
[15] Interview with
Efraín Lozano, Department of Health Promotion, Ministry of Health, 11
December 2000.
[16] Ibid.
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