Key developments since May 2002: In May
2003, mine clearance in Choluteca department was completed. The final clearance
operation then began in El Paraíso department, and is scheduled for
completion by year’s end.
Mine Ban Policy
Honduras signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December
1997, ratified on 24 September 1998, and the treaty entered into force for the
country on 1 March 1999. National implementation legislation, Decree No.
60-2000, was published in the Official Gazette on 29 June
2000.[1]
Honduras attended the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in September 2002, and
also participated in the February and May 2003 meetings of the treaty’s
intersessional Standing Committee.
Honduras had not submitted its annual Article 7 transparency report,
originally due 30 April 2003, but a government official told Landmine Monitor
that it would be submitted in July
2003.[2] It has provided three
Article 7 reports to date.[3]
On 22 November 2002, Honduras voted in favor of UN General Assembly
Resolution 57/74, urging universalization and implementation of the Mine Ban
Treaty.
Honduras is not a member to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) or
its Amended Protocol II (Landmines), but it participated as an observer in the
Fourth Annual Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II in December
2002.
Production, Transfer, Stockpiling
Honduras has never produced or exported
antipersonnel mines. On 2 November 2000, Honduras destroyed its stockpile of
7,441 antipersonnel mines.[4]
It is retaining 826 antipersonnel mines (159 M-969, 469 M-4, and 198 FMK-1
mines) for training purposes.[5]
None of these mines have yet been
consumed.[6]
On 13 August 2002, Honduras returned 63 mines to the Army of Nicaragua. The
mines were provided to the Army of Honduras in 1998 for the training of mine
detection dogs, but were never used. The mines were destroyed by Nicaragua on
28 August 2002.[7]
Landmine Problem
Landmines were planted during the 1980s by
combatants in the Nicaragua conflict on both sides of the Nicaragua/Honduras
border. More than 2,000 mines have been cleared and destroyed on the Honduran
side of the border.[8] None of
the mines cleared in Honduras have been located more than a few hundred meters
from the frontier. The government maintains that all suspected mine-affected
areas have been marked and properly
recorded.[9]
In its August 2001 Article 7 Report, Honduras identified four departments as
mine-affected: Choluteca, Cortes, El Paraíso, and
Olancho.[10]
Mine clearance of San Andres de Bocay in Olancho department took place
between October 1998 and April
1999.[11] Mine clearance in
Canoas and Santa Catalina in Choluteca department was completed on 12 May
2003.[12]
The Organization of American States (OAS) does not view Cortes as truly
mine-affected, but the accidental explosion of a munitions storage area several
years ago contaminated a wide area near the facility with unexploded munitions
of various types, so the area requires clearance
operations.[13] An
investigation of mine clearance requirements at Cortes took place on 28 May
2003, but the clearance operation will not start until security measures are
established.[14]
The last mine clearance operation in the country began in May 2003, in El
Paraíso department.[15]
Mine Action Funding and Assistance
The OAS Unit for the Promotion of Democracy,
through the Integral Action against Antipersonnel Mines Program (Acción
Integral Contra las Minas Antipersonal, AICMA), is responsible for coordinating
and supervising the Assistance Program for Demining in Central America (Programa
de Asistencia al Desminado en Centroamérica, PADCA), with the technical
support of the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB). The IADB is responsible for
organizing a team of international supervisors in charge of training and
certification, known as the Assistance Mission for Mine Clearance in Central
America (Misión de Asistencia para la Remoción de Minas en
Centroamérica, MARMINCA). AICMA and MARMINCA have mine action programs in
Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.
In Honduras, the Army (ALFA team) and AICMA are responsible for demining
operations, with supervision and verification provided by MARMINCA.
In 2002, the budget for the Honduras program was
US$650,456.[16] Army and
Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials told Landmine Monitor that funding and
technical difficulties related to the clearance program that arose in 2002 have
been overcome.[17] In 2003,
OAS/AICMA is contributing $800,000: $200,000 for each three-month period until
the end of the year, when the demining operation should be
concluded.[18] These funds are
supplemented by a contribution from Taiwan of about $294,000 for
demining.[19] During its fiscal
year 2002, the United States contributed $1.695 million to the OAS/IADB for its
mine action activities in Central America, including
Honduras.[20]
Honduras has contributed military mine action supervisors to the MARMINCA
program since 1998, including four in 2002 and four in
2003.[21]
In June 2003, Nicaragua’s Minister of Defense announced that 840
soldiers from Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic would
carry out mine clearance and humanitarian assistance in central and southern
Iraq as part of an international force under Spanish command and paid for by the
United States.[22] The OAS has
cautioned that landmines in Iraq are quite different from those known in Central
America and soldiers may face problems in clearance
operations.[23] There are also
concerns that the domestic mine clearance goals will be set back or delayed by
the loss of such a large number of deminers.
Mine Clearance and Mine Risk Education
In 2002, a total of 16,700 square meters of
mine-affected land were cleared, destroying 20 landmines and two pieces of
unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Canoas and Guasaule in Choluteca
department.[24] According to
AICMA/Honduras, planned clearance along the Nicaraguan border in 2002 was not
completed because of a number of problems: technical difficulties with metal
detectors; communication problems between the deminers, the military hospital
and the Air Force; difficulties in detecting landmines buried 25-40 centimeters
deep, which required special equipment; and detection of antivehicle mines that
had shifted following Hurricane
Mitch.[25]
In 2003, the demining program in Honduras employed seventy deminers trained
by the IADB; thirty support soldiers, four mine detection dogs and a team of
five international supervisors (three from Colombia, one from Guatemala and one
from Brazil).[26]
In January 2003, Foreign Affairs Minister Guillermo Pérez Cadalso
announced a donation of some $294,000 from the government of Taiwan that would
be used to clear an area of 49,250 square meters in the departments of Choluteca
and El Paraíso, on the border with Nicaragua. Some 260 peasant families
will be able to return to their homes in Santa Catarina and Las Canoas in
Choluteca department, and in San José de la Lodosa in El Paraíso
department.[27]
Mine clearance in Las Canoas and Santa Catalina was completed on 12 May
2003.[28] In May 2003, the last
clearance operation started in San José de la Lodosa. The affected area
is estimated at 15,000 square
meters.[29] An official with
AICMA/Honduras told Landmine Monitor that the demining operation is due to
conclude at the end of 2003.[30]
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official cautioned that there could be
difficulties detecting landmines buried more than 25 centimeters deep at the Rio
Negro in La Lodosa. The official also noted that the border with Nicaragua
could continue to be a problem due to the natural dislodgement of landmines laid
in Nicaragua.[31]
The Central American Bank for Economic Integration supports an OAS mine risk
education program in Honduras and
Nicaragua.[32] The Army and
AICMA carry out the program using materials such as books, pencils and bags with
mine risk education
messages.[33] In 2002,
approximately 600 people received risk education in Choluteca department.
Efforts in 2003 will focus on children living in La Lodosa, El Paraíso
department.[34]
Landmine Casualties and Survivor Assistance
In 2002, no new landmine casualties were reported
in Honduras.[35] The last
reported mine incident occurred on 18 March 2001, when a Honduran civilian
attempting to cross into Nicaragua to hunt, lost his leg and an eye when he
stepped on a landmine on the Nicaraguan side of the border. In September 1995,
Honduran officials estimated that over 200 civilians had been killed in landmine
incidents since 1990.[36]
Landmine survivors in Honduras have access to services provided to all
persons with disabilities, including community-based rehabilitation programs and
economic reintegration
programs.[37] There are 18
specialist healthcare units offering comprehensive rehabilitation services to
persons with disabilities.[38]
In 2002, the orthopedic workshop at the San Felipe General Hospital in
Tegucigalpa produced or repaired 732 devices, including production of 125
prostheses.[39]
Handicap International Belgium (HIB) provided support to the San Pedro Sula
orthopedic workshop in 2002; however, the main focus of their work was assisting
in the reintegration of persons with disabilities into the community through
capacity building of local disability associations. In 2002, the San Pedro Sula
workshop produced 108 prostheses. The HIB program concluded at the end of 2002,
but a new local NGO, Handicap Honduras, was created to continue the
work.[40]
On 20 February 2003, a new prosthetic outreach center for the treatment of
war victims, including landmine survivors, called “Vida Nueva” (New
Life), opened in Choluteca. The center is supported by the Polus Center for
Social and Economic Development, a US NGO, with financial support provided by a
private Canadian charity, Grapes for Humanity, and the US Department of State.
It is modeled after the Walking Unidos center in Leon, Nicaragua, founded by the
Polus Center.[41]
In April 2003, a joint program by Canada, Mexico, and the Pan-American Health
Organization (PAHO) for the rehabilitation of landmine survivors in Honduras
came to an end. This joint program is carried out in Trojes and Alauca in El
Paraíso department, and San Marcos de Colón in Choluteca
department. Approximately 40 disabled persons and their families (approximately
400 persons) benefited from the program’s family support projects, medical
services, supply of prosthesis for the disabled persons and social and labor
reintegration.[42]
Honduras has laws on the rights of persons with
disabilities.[43]
[1] “Law for the Prohibition of
Production, Purchase, Sale, Import, Export, Transit, Use, Possession and
Transfer of Antipersonnel Mines and Antihandling Devices or Parts of those
Artefacts” (Ley para la Prohibición de la Producción,
Compra, Venta, Importación, Exportación, Tránsito,
Utilización, Posesión y Transferencia de Minas Antipersonales y de
Dispositivos Antidetectores o de Partes de tales Artefactos). Landmine Monitor
has a copy of Decree 60-2000. Penal sanctions include imprisonment of three to
five years. Telephone interview with Octavio Salomon Nuñez, Director of
Special Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Honduras, 4 July
2003. [2] Telephone interview with
Octavio Salomon Nuñez, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4 July
2003. [3] See Article 7 Report, 11 April
2002 (for an unspecified time period); Article 7 Report, 10 August 2001 (for the
period 3 December 2000-10 August 2001); Article 7 Report, 30 August 1999 (for
the period 1998-1999). [4] Article 7
Report, Forms B and G, 10 August 2001. This report also states that Law 92-98
was published in the Official Gazette on 29 August 1998, ordering the
destruction of all stockpiled landmines, and that on 1 September 2000, the
Senior Chief of Staff announced the Plan of Destruction of Stockpiled Landmines,
which was executed in the period from 30 October to 2 November 2000. Article 7
Report, Form A, 10 August 2001. [5]
Article 7 Report, Form D, 10 August 2001. There were significant discrepancies
between the stockpile numbers reported in Honduras’ 1999 Article 7 Report,
and the numbers later reported as destroyed. See Landmine Monitor Report 2001,
p. 350. A Honduran official has confirmed that the latter figures are correct.
Telephone interview with Octavio Salomon Nuñez, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, 23 July 2002. [6] Interview
with Fredy Rene Pineda, Commandant of the Alfa Team, Army of Honduras,
Guatemala, 23 January 2003. [7]
AICMA/Honduras, “Report of activities on Demining: July/September
2002,” Tegucigalpa, 2002. [8]
Email to Landmine Monitor (HRW) from William McDonough, Coordinator, PACDA,
Organization of American States (OAS), 24 July
2001. [9] Article 7 Report, Form I, 10
August 2001. [10] Article 7 Report, Form
C, 10 August 2001. [11] Email to
Landmine Monitor from Miguel Barahona, Coordinator, AICMA/Honduras, 3 July
2003. [12] Telephone interview with
Miguel Barahon, AICMA/Honduras, 3 July
2003. [13] Email to Landmine Monitor
(HRW) from William McDonough, PACDA, OAS, 5 August
2002. [14] Telephone interview with
Miguel Barahona, AICMA/Honduras, 3 July
2003. [15] Interview with General Carl
Freeman, Junta Interamericana de Defensa (IADB), Tegucigalpa, 25 February
2003. [16] Interview with Octavio
Salomón Nuñez, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tegucigalpa, 2
February 2003. [17] Interview with Fredy
Rene Pineda, Commandant of the Alfa Team, 23 January 2003; interview with
Octavio Salomón Nuñez, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2 February
2003. [18] Interview with Miguel
Barahona, AICMA/Honduras, 31 March
2003. [19] Ibid. According to a media
report, Taiwan donated $294,768 on 28 January 2003 at a ceremony attended by
Honduran Foreign Affairs Minister Guillermo Augusto Pérez-Cadalso and the
Taiwanese Ambassador You Tien-der. “Honduras concluirá desminado en
la frontera con Nicaragua,” La Tribuna (Tegucigalpa), 29 January
2003. [20] US Department of State,
“Congressional Budget Justifications: Foreign Operations, Fiscal Year
2004,” 3 February 2003. See also, US Department of State, “To Walk
the Earth in Safety,” September
2002. [21] Interview with Fredy Rene
Pineda, Commandant of the Alfa Team, 23 January 2003; interview with Octavio
Salomón Nuñez, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2 February
2003. [22] “Enviará
Centroamérica unos 840 soldados a reconstrucción de Irak,”
Notimex (Managua), 12 June 2003. [23]
“OEA prevé dificultades para soldados del istmo,” La Prensa
Gráfica (San Salvador), 17 June
2003. [24] Email to Landmine Monitor
(HRW) from Carl Case, OAS Mine Action Program, 23 July
2003. [25] Interview with Miguel
Barahona, AICMA/Honduras, 14 January
2003. [26] Interview with Miguel
Barahona, AICMA/Honduras, 31 March
2003. [27] Office of the President press
release, “Taiwan done 294 mil dólares para concluir desminado en
Honduras,” 28 January 2003. [28]
Telephone interview with Miguel Barahon, AICMA/Honduras, 3 July
2003. [29] Email from Carl Case, OAS
Mine Action Program, 23 July 2003; interview with General Carl Freeman, IADB, 25
February 2003. [30] Interview with
Miguel Barahona, AICMA/Honduras, 31 March
2003. [31] Telephone interview with
Octavio Salomón Nuñez, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 3 July
2003. [32] OAS, “Informe del
Secretario General sobre la implementación de las Resoluciones 1745
(apoyo a PADEP) y 1751 (apoyo a PADCA),” 7 May
2001. [33] Interview with Miguel
Barahona, AICMA/Honduras, 31 March
2003. [34] Telephone interview with
Miguel Barahona, AICMA/Honduras, 2 July
2003. [35] Interview with Fredy Rene
Pineda, Commandant of the Alfa Team, Army of Honduras, 23 January 2003;
interview with Octavio Salomón Nuñez, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
2 February 2003; interview with Miguel Barahona, AICMA/Honduras, 14 January
2003. [36] See Landmine Monitor Report
2001, p. 352. [37] See Landmine
Monitor Report 2002, p. 295. [38]
Handicap International Belgium (HIB), “State of the World’s Disabled
People: Gathering information in 16 different countries 2000-2001,”
December 2002, p. 32. [39] Email from
Handicap Honduras to HIB, 22 July
2003. [40] HIB, “Activity report
2002,” p. 19. [41] US Department
of State press release, “US Hails Honduran Rehabilitation Center for War
Victims,” 21 February 2003; email to Landmine Monitor (Nicaragua) from
Stephen Meyers, International Programs Coordinator, Polus Center for Social
& Economic Development, 28 April
2003. [42] Telephone interview with
Emilio Ramirez Pinto, Coordinator, Canada-Mexico-Paho Joint Program, 4 July
2003. [43] Handicap International,
“Landmine Victim Assistance: World Report 2002,” Lyon, December
2002, pp. 406-407.
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