LM Report 2003

Costa Rica

Key developments since May 2002: Costa Rica was declared mine-free on 10 December 2002, nearly seven years prior to its treaty deadline.

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. On 17 April 2002, national implementation legislation, the “Prohibition of Antipersonnel Mines,” took effect.^[1] Costa Rica never produced, imported, stockpiled, or used antipersonnel mines.^[2]

Costa Rica attended the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in September 2002. It also attended the February 2003 intersessional Standing Committee meetings, where it announced the completion of mine clearance in the country.^[3]

Costa Rica had not submitted its annual Article 7 Report, due 30 April 2003, as of July 2003. It has submitted two previous reports.^[4]

Costa Rica voted in support of UN General Assembly Resolution 57/74, promoting universalization and implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. During the General Assembly session, the representative from Costa Rica issued a statement on behalf of the Rio Group in which he reiterated the group’s commitment to make their region free of mines.^[5]

Costa Rica is a State Party to Amended Protocol II (Landmines) to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and participated in the Fourth Annual Meeting of States Parties in December 2002.

Landmine Problem

On 10 December 2002, Costa Rica was declared mine-free in a ceremony attended by Minister of Foreign Affairs Roberto Tovar, Minister of Public Security Rogelio Ramos, and the Organization of American States (OAS) Assistant Secretary General for Management, James Harding.^[6] Thus, Costa Rica completed clearance nearly seven years ahead of its treaty-mandated deadline of 1 September 2009. Ramos stated that some 5,000 artefacts were laid on Costa Rican territory during the Nicaraguan conflict, but the majority were cleared by amateur deminers before to the start of the OAS program.^[7]

There are slightly differing accounts of exactly how many mines were removed and destroyed and how much land was cleared. According to an OAS update, a total of 338 landmines were cleared along the Nicaraguan border from 130,000 square meters of land.^[8] The Inter-American Defense Board (IADB) reported 341 mines cleared from 131,903 square meters of land.^[9] The government reported 338 mines cleared from 178,000 square meters of land.^[10] In all these reports, the number of landmines cleared was far less than the 1,800 previously estimated.^[11]

The last areas that were cleared of mines were in the zones of Los Chiles, Upala, and La Cruz, between border markers two and twenty on the northern border.^[12]

At the February 2002 Standing Committee Meeting, the government stated that the completion of mine clearance in Costa Rica has brought tranquility to the inhabitants of the northern border region, where they can resume cattle ranching and thus return economic development to the area.^[13]

Mine Action Coordination and Funding

The OAS Unit for the Promotion of Democracy, through its Program for Integral Action against Antipersonnel Mines (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. The IADB is responsible for organizing a team of international supervisors in charge of training, certification, and insuring demining meets international standards, known as the Assistance Mission for Mine Clearance in Central America (Misión de Asistencia para la Remoción de Minas en Centro América or MARMINCA).

The AICMA program was initiated in 1996. It provided training for 41 deminers and furnished four mine-detecting dogs to the Costa Rican demining operation. IADB officers from Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Venezuela supervised these deminers.^[14]

United States funding for the Costa Rica program concluded in June 2001.^[15] Mine clearance operations in Costa Rica were suspended in early December 2001 because of lack of resources.^[16] A $25,000 donation from Italy enabled resumption of a modified program and its conclusion in 2002.^[17]

Landmine Casualties and Survivor Assistance

No new mine casualties were reported in 2002. According to the OAS, there are three known mine survivors.^[18] In 2002, the OAS provided some assistance to the mine survivors in Costa Rica through the OAS/Mine Victim Rehabilitation Program. Two mine survivors have been provided with prostheses under the program. Psycho-social support and housing has also been provided.^[19]

According to an official in the Ministry of Public Security, a helicopter and two small airplanes owned by the Costa Rican Police are available to provide emergency transportation for those injured by mines.^[20] The ICRC provided the Costa Rican Red Cross with one ambulance in support of demining teams.^[21]

[1] The law comprehensively prohibits antipersonnel mines and provides for penal sanctions of 3-6 years imprisonment for violations, with the possibility of an increase of 25 percent in prison time if the antipersonnel mine is used to threaten national security, public infrastructure, or transport vehicles. See Artículo 6, “Delitos,” Ley 8231, “Prohibición de Minas Antipersonales,” 17 April 2002, and Diario Oficial la Gaceta, Costa Rica, 17 April 2002.
[2] Article 7 Report, points 2, 4, 5 and 8, 3 September 2001. The country’s landmine problem was a result of mines laid on the northern border not by Costa Ricans, but by forces involved in the Nicaraguan conflict.
[3] Statement to the Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the Convention, Geneva, 3 February 2003.
[4] See Article 7 Report, 20 February 2002 (for the period: 1996-1999); Article 7 Report, 3 September 2001 (the reporting period was not indicated).
[5] Statement by Bruno Stagno, Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations, on behalf of the Rio Group to the 57th Session of the UN General Assembly, New York, 1 October 2002.
[6] “Declararán a Costa Rica país libre de minas antipersonales,” EFE (San José), 10 December 2002; “La OEA declara a Costa Rica país libre de minas antipersonales,” EP/AFP (San José), 10 December 2002.
[7] “La OEA declara a Costa Rica país libre de minas antipersonales,” EP/AFP (San José), 10 December 2002.
[8] OAS, “Update on Regional Mine Action Efforts,” May 2003, p. 3.
[9] IADB Demining Statistics as of 13 February 2003, found at: http://www.jid.org.
[10] Statement to the Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the Convention, Geneva, 3 February 2003. The OAS explains that the government’s figure for area cleared is higher because it includes some survey operations in the final months of the program that were not supervised in order to conserve resources. In these final months supervisors were summoned only if mines of UXO were found. Email to Landmine Monitor (HRW) from Carl Case, OAS Mine Action Program, 23 July 2003.
[11] Article 7 Report, point 3, 3 September 2001.
[12] Article 7 Report, Form C, 20 February 2002.
[13] Statement to the Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the Convention, Geneva, 3 February 2003.
[14] “OAS Mine Action Program: Making the Western Hemisphere landmine-safe,” Resource Mobilization: Projection of Financial Resources/Requirements 2003-2007, p. 6, and UNMAS E-Mine Website, http://www.mineaction.org, accessed 12 June 2003.
[15] Email to Landmine Monitor (HRW) from Carl Case, OAS Mine Action Program, 23 July 2003.
[16] See Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 205.
[17] Email to Landmine Monitor (HRW) from Carl Case, OAS Mine Action Program, 23 July 2003; “Costa Rica Declared Free of Landmines First country in the World to Comply with Mine-Ban Treaty,” Tico Times On-Line, 12 December 2002.
[18] Email to Landmine Monitor (HRW) from Carl Case, OAS Mine Action Program, 23 July 2003
[19] ICBL, “Portfolio of Landmine Victim Assistance Programs,” September 2002, p. 46, available at www.landminevap.org.
[20] See Landmine Monitor Report 2002, pp. 206-207
[21] “Nicaragua and Costa Rica: ICRC Community-Based Mine/Unexploded Ordnance Awareness Programme,” 24 January 2003, available at www.icrc.org, (accessed 5 July 2003).