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Table of Contents
Country Reports
Suriname, Landmine Monitor Report 2003

Suriname

Key developments since May 2002: Suriname ratified the Mine Ban Treaty on 23 May 2002, and the treaty entered into force on 1 November 2002. In March 2003, the Minister of Defense established an inter-ministerial Commission on Antipersonnel Mines.

Mine Ban Policy

Suriname signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997, ratified on 23 May 2002, and the treaty entered into force for the country on 1 November 2002.[1] The ratification came two weeks after a seminar was held in the capital of Paramaribo on the Mine Ban Treaty.[2]

On 11 March 2003, the Minister of Defense established an inter-ministerial Commission on Antipersonnel Mines, which is responsible for preparing the country’s implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty.[3] The initiation of national legislation to implement the treaty will likely be a responsibility of the commission, while the Ministry of Justice and Police will be responsible for actual legislative reform and drafting.

One of the commission’s tasks is the preparation of Suriname’s initial Article 7 report.[4] The report, due by 30 April 2003, had not been submitted as of July 2003.

Suriname did not attend the Meeting of States Parties in September 2002 or the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in February and May 2003. A government official told Landmine Monitor that financial constraints hinder the country’s participation in international events.[5] Suriname was absent during the vote on pro-mine ban UN General Assembly Resolution 57/74 on 22 November 2002.

Suriname is not believed to have ever produced or exported antipersonnel mines. The Ministry of Defense has acknowledged that it maintains a stockpile of 296 antipersonnel mines imported from Libya (189 Portuguese-manufactured M-969 mines, 99 Yugoslav-manufactured PMA mines, and eight “Lot No. 8003” manufactured by an unknown country).[6]

Landmine Problem and Casualties

The Army has removed almost all of the estimated 1,000 antipersonnel mines it laid during the country’s internal conflict from 1986 to 1992. Rebel forces used homemade mines during the conflict, but reportedly removed all of them.

According to the Minister of Defense, some thirteen antipersonnel mines emplaced by the Army on 26 February 1987 in an area estimated at 40 square meters remain in place at Stolkertsijver, about fifty kilometers east of Paramaribo, because dense vegetation has made clearance too difficult.[7] Five warning signs placed around the area in early 1991, after mine clearance activities that started mid-1988 ceased, are still intact.[8] The Ministry of Defense arranged for local veterans to monitor the area and alert the Ministry to any unusual activity or trespassing.[9] The Ministry of Defense is preparing to erect barbed wire and new signs.[10]

At least two landmine casualties, both government soldiers, have been recorded in Suriname.[11] On 16 October 1989, a government soldier lost his right leg below the knee to an antipersonnel mine planted by the National Army near the city of Albina in the Marowijne district.[12] The Ministry of Defense provided the soldier with an artificial limb, rehabilitation and psychological treatment, and a bicycle, and he has remained in his job.[13] A second soldier received minor injuries from a booby-trap planted by rebel forces.[14]


[1] Landmine Monitor has a copy of the instrument of ratification, which was signed by President Runaldo R. Venetiaan on 29 April 2002 and formally deposited three weeks later.
[2] The seminar was organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross, Canada, and the Netherlands, in cooperation with the government of Suriname. Suriname’s Minister of Defense, Ronald Assen, opened the seminar.
[3] The commission comprises the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Justice and Police, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, each represented by two policy-level staff members. Letter No. MD02-1678 from the Minister of Defense, Ronald R. Assen, to the Minister of Justice and Police, Siegfried Gilds, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mary Levens, 17 September 2002; letter No. 8135 from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mary Levens, to the Minister of Defense, 8 November 2002.
[4] Invitation letter DD/249-03 from the Director of Defense, R. Julen, to the six nominated representatives of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Justice and Police, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 18 February 2003.
[5] Interview with Major Jozef Laurens, Engineering Division of the National Army, Ministry of Defense, Paramaribo, 20 November 2002.
[6] Inventory list of antipersonnel mines provided by R.S. Franker, Head of Ammunition Management, dated 7 June 2002, received 20 November 2002; letter from Major Jozef Laurens, Ministry of Defense, 21 March 2003; interviews with Major Jozef Laurens, Paramaribo, 16 July 2002 and 20 November 2002.
[7] Statement by the Minister of Defense, Landmines Seminar, Paramaribo, 9 May 2002; Statement by the Minister of Defense, Commission Antipersonnel Mines event, Paramaribo, 11 March 2003.
[8] Interview with Major Jozef Laurens, Ministry of Defense, Paramaribo, 19 March 2003; field trip with Major Laurens to Stolkertsijver, Marowijne district, 4 March 2003.
[9] Field trip with Major Laurens, Ministry of Defense, to Stolkertsijver, Marowijne district, 4 March 2003. This was confirmed again by Major Jozef Laurens, Paramaribo, 19 March 2003.
[10] Interview with Major Jozef Laurens, Ministry of Defense, Paramaribo, 20 November 2002.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Interview with Corporal Milton Mashart, Engineering Division of the National Army, Paramaribo, 17 December 2002, in the office and in presence of Maj. Laurens.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Interview with Maj. Laurens and Corporal Milton Mashart, Ministry of Defense, Paramaribo, 20 November 2002.