LM Report 2001

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URUGUAY

Key developments since May 2000: Uruguay ratified the Mine Ban Treaty on 7 June 2001. The Ministry of Defense provided Landmine Monitor with details on its stockpile and destruction. As of July 2001, Uruguay had a stockpile of 1,918 antipersonnel mines, and it had destroyed a total of 242 stockpiled antipersonnel mines since May 2000.

Mine Ban Policy

Uruguay signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997. On 18 April 2001, the parliament approved ratification legislation through Law 17.327, and on 4 May 2001 President Jorge Batlle signed the legislation into law. Uruguay deposited its ratification on 7 June 2001, becoming the 117^th State Party. The treaty will enter into force on 1 December 2001. Uruguay has not yet enacted domestic implementation legislation.

Uruguay participated in the Second Meeting of States Parties in September 2000 as an observer. It did not attend intersessional Standing Committee meetings in December 2000 or May 2001. In November 2000, Uruguay voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 55/33V, calling for universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty.

Uruguay is a State Party to Amended Protocol II (Landmines) of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), but did not attend the Second Annual Conference of States Parties in December 2000. It has not yet submitted its transparency report as required under Article 13 of the protocol.

Production, Transfer, Use

Uruguay has never produced or exported any kind of landmines.^[1] While it has a stockpile of antipersonnel mines, Uruguay states that it is not using antipersonnel mines or any other type of munition that acts in a similar way to an antipersonnel mine.^[2] Uruguay reports that it does not have any Claymore mines nor does it have antivehicle mines fitted with anti-handling devices.^[3]

Stockpiling and Destruction

The Ministry of Defense provided Landmine Monitor with details on stockpiled antipersonnel mines and their destruction.^[4] Between May 2000 and May 2001, 82 antipersonnel mines were destroyed (three M-35 mines and 79 NR-409 mines, both types manufactured by Belgium). As of May 2001, Uruguay had 3,553 landmines, including 2,078 antipersonnel mines and 1,275 antivehicle mines.^[5] The 2,078 antipersonnel mines consisted of 1,572 M-35 mines and 506 NR-409 mines. The mines are stored in the Material and Armament Service of the Army in Florida, 100 kilometers north of Montevideo.^[6]

Since the Ministry of Defense reported to Landmine Monitor, further destruction has taken place. On 27 June 2001, a symbolic destruction of ten NR-409 antipersonnel mines took place, in the presence of Army engineers, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official, the Landmine Monitor researcher and local media. The destruction took place in Army grounds at Florida during an annual course on humanitarian mine clearance, which eight members of the Armed Forces were attending. A dozen antipersonnel and antitank mines brought into Uruguay by military officers participating in peacekeeping operations were displayed and a demining demonstration also took place.^[7]

At the same time, on 27-28 June 2001, the Army destroyed 50 M-35 and 100 NR-409 antipersonnel mines.^[8]

Stockpile destruction is done by open detonation. Uruguay has not received any assistance from abroad to destroy its mines.^[9]

Thus, as of July 2001, Uruguay had a stockpile of 1,918 antipersonnel mines (1,522 M 35 and 396 NR 409 mines). It had destroyed a total of 242 stockpiled antipersonnel mines since May 2000.

The Material and Armament Service of the National Army will retain 500 mines for training in demining(400 M-35 and 100 NR-409 mines).^[10]

Mine Action

The Army states that “there are no mined areas” in the country.^[11]

Uruguay currently has military personnel serving in the United Nations MONUC peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Uruguayan peacekeepers include qualified personnel and equipment for demining and destruction of explosives; they cleared the areas where personnel are housed.^[12]

A project by the Uruguayan Institute for Development (UID) to establish a prosthesis center has been discontinued, as has a proposal to clear a hydroelectric dam in Nicaragua. A UID plan for a rehabilitation project in Copalar (El Tuma), Nicaragua has been presented to the Government of Nicaragua.^[13]

While a few Uruguayan nationals have fallen victim to landmines while overseas on military and peacekeeping operations, no new casualties were reported in 2000 or 2001.

^[1] National Army Response to Landmine Monitor questionnaire, February 1999.
^[2] National Army Response to Landmine Monitor questionnaire, May 2001.
^[3] Ibid.
^[4] Ibid.
^[5] National Army Response to Landmine Monitor questionnaire, May 2001. A letter dated 19 November 1997 from the former Defense Minister Raul Iturria in response to a question from National Deputy Gabriel Barandiaran revealed that, as of November 1997, the Armed Forces had a total of 2,338 antipersonnel mines (1,604 M-35 mines and 734 NR-409 mines) as well as 1,377 antitank mines. See Landmine Monitor Report 1999, p. 311.
^[6] National Army Response to Landmine Monitor questionnaire, May 2001.
^[7] The Landmine Monitor researcher was present for this event.
^[8] Letter (Nota No. 014/F/01) from Colonel Wile Purtscher Romano, Chief of the Department of Engineers, Army Chiefs of Staff, to Landmine Monitor, 25 July 2001.
^[9] National Army Response to Landmine Monitor questionnaire, May 2001.
^[10] Ibid.
^[11] Ibid.
^[12] Ibid.
^[13] Telephone interview with Captain Fernando Poladur (Ret.), Uruguayan Institute for Development, 17 April 2001.

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