Key developments since May 2003: Honduras completed mine clearance in
June 2004, when the last affected departments of Choluteca and El Paraíso
were demined. Some soldiers in the Honduran Army contingent in Iraq from August
2003 to May 2004 were trained in, and carried out, clearance activities.
Key developments since 1999: Honduras became a State Party to the
Mine Ban Treaty on 1 March 1999. National implementation legislation took
effect on 29 June 2000. On 2 November 2000, Honduras destroyed its stockpile of
7,441 antipersonnel mines, except for 826 mines retained for training purposes.
Honduras served as co-rapporteur then co-chair of the Standing Committee on
Victim Assistance and Socio-Economic Reintegration from September 2000 to
September 2002. Honduras completed mine clearance throughout the country in
June 2004. Honduras reported that a total of approximately 447,000 square
meters of affected land had been cleared since 1995. An estimated 65,000
Honduran families have benefited from the mine clearance program, which has
returned some 1,500 square kilometers to agricultural productivity.
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 first endorsed an immediate, comprehensive ban on antipersonnel
mines in April 1996 and in September of that year its Foreign Minister endorsed
a call to make Central America mine-free. Honduras has voted in support of
every annual pro-ban resolution by the United Nations General Assembly since
1996, including UNGA Resolution 58/53 of 8 December 2003. Honduras actively
participated in the Ottawa Process and has since continued its engagement,
attending every annual meeting States Parties since 1999, as well as all of the
intersessional meetings. Honduras served as co-rapporteur then co-chair of the
Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and Socio-Economic Reintegration from
September 2000 to September 2002. Regionally, Honduras has participated in
landmine meetings in Colombia (November 2003), Perú (August 2003), and
Argentina (November 2000). An ICBL delegation including Nobel Peace Laureate
Jody Williams visited Honduras in January 1999 in the aftermath of the
destructive Hurricane
Mitch.[2]
Honduras submitted its fourth Article 7 transparency report on 12 May 2004,
covering the year 2003.[3]
Honduras has not engaged in the extensive discussions that States Parties
have had on matters of interpretation and implementation related to Articles 1,
2, and 3. Thus, it has not made known its views on the issues of joint military
operations with non-States Parties, foreign stockpiling and transit of
antipersonnel mines, antivehicle mines with sensitive fuzes or antihandling
devices, and the permissible number of mines retained for training.
Honduras acceded to Amended Protocol II (Landmines) of the Convention on
Conventional Weapons (CCW) on 30 October 2003, but it did not participate in the
Fifth Annual Conference of States Parties held in November 2003.
Production, Transfer, Stockpiling and Destruction
Honduras has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines. In the past it
imported antipersonnel mines from Argentina, Belgium, Israel, Portugal, and the
United States.[4]
On 2 November 2000, Honduras completed its stockpile destruction, far in
advance of the 1 March 2003 treaty deadline. The Honduran Army’s First
Field Artillery Battalion destroyed a total of 7,441 stockpiled antipersonnel
mines over three days at Zambrano in the department of Francisco Morazán,
at a cost of approximately $1.60 per
mine.[5]
Honduras decided to retain 826 antipersonnel mines for training
purposes.[6] As of the end of
2003, none of the mines had been destroyed during training activities. 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 detecting
dogs, but were never used, and were destroyed by Nicaragua on 28 August
2002.[7]
Landmine Problem
Landmines were planted in Honduran territory by combatants to the armed
conflicts in Nicaragua and El Salvador during the 1980s. Throughout the
Nicaraguan conflict, the Contras and the Sandinistas mined both sides of the
southern border of Honduras, especially in the departments of Choluteca and El
Paraíso. Both parties relied exclusively on Eastern bloc landmines,
including the Soviet-made PMN, PMN-2 and PMD-6 mines and Czechoslovakian-made
PP-MI-Sr-11 bounding mines. FMLN guerrillas based in El Salvador laid several
thousand homemade landmines in Honduras, in the border departments of La Paz and
Lempira.
In February 1999, an Organization of American States (OAS) Inter-American
Defense Board (IADB) expert told Landmine Monitor that there were probably some
3,000 landmines that posed a threat in
Honduras.[8] Honduras reported
that at the end of 2003, mine clearance in the country was 96 percent completed,
with 2,189 mines cleared and
destroyed.[9]
In July 2004, the OAS told Landmine Monitor that mine clearance in the last
affected departments of Choluteca and El Paraíso was completed on 12 June
2004.[10] Closing ceremonies
are scheduled to be held in Tegucigalpa on 8 October
2004.[11]
In August 2003, the OAS reported that there could still be high risk
situations in “very specific areas of Honduran territory,” even
after completion of mine clearance in the country due to the way in which mines
were laid by irregular troops, as well as the high density of minefields laid
across the border in Jinotega and Nueva Segovia departments in Nicaragua, issues
related to border demarcation, and environmental
factors.[12]
In June 2004 a joint intervention by Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and
Nicaragua again noted that “even when Central America is declared as free
of minefields, the region will have to continue working on the assistance and
reintegration of mine
victims.”[13]
Mine Action Coordination
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 . 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).
OAS AICMA and MARMINCA have mine action programs in Honduras, Guatemala, and
Nicaragua. The national Army’s Joint Task Team ALFA (Equipo de Tarea
Conjunta ETC-ALFA) has carried out mine clearance in Honduras, with supervision
and verification provided by OAS MARMINCA. The OAS has also provided a monthly
stipend, life and medical insurance, and supplies for the deminers, as well as
logistical support when mines and UXO are reported by the
public.[14]
Mine Clearance
At the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in September 2003, Honduras stated
that nine of eleven clearance modules in the country had been completed, with
only Choluteca and El Paraíso departments (modules X and XI) remaining to
be cleared.[15] In July 2004,
the OAS told Landmine Monitor that mine clearance in the last affected
departments of Choluteca and El Paraíso was completed on 12 June
2004.[16]
In June 2004, Honduras reported that a total of approximately 447,000 square
meters of affected land had been cleared since 1995, with El Paraíso
department accounting for 96 percent of the mines located and
cleared.[17] By August 2003, an
estimated 65,000 Honduran families living along the southern border with
Nicaragua had benefited from the mine clearance program, which had returned some
1,500 square kilometers to agricultural
productivity.[18]
Previously it was reported that mine clearance in Santa Catarina and Las
Canoas, Choluteca (Module X), was completed on 12 May 2003, but apparently only
demining in Santa Catarina was completed by that date. In Las Canoas (Module
XI) in La Lodosa and Río Negro, clearance was delayed because of adverse
weather conditions limiting medical evacuation possibilities, and difficulties
detecting landmine buried more than 50 centimeters
deep.[19]
Demining Operations in Honduras: September 1995-June
2004[20]
Cortés (UXO dispersed by a 1993 explosion of a storage
facility)
Module XII
Awaiting approval for EOD
Total
446,798.7
2,189
214
Mine clearance started in Honduras in September 1995, after the US Army
trained a total of 130 Honduran Army deminers serving in four platoons during
1994-1995. By 2003, the program consisted of 70 ETC-ALFA deminers, 30 support
soldiers, four mine detecting dogs, and a team of five international supervisors
(three from Colombia, one from Guatemala and one from
Brazil).[22] In 2004, the
ETC-ALFA deployed two squads of 25 deminers, five supervisors, a logistics unit
and a medical team.[23]
On 23 July 2004, the OAS PADCA Honduras coordinator told Landmine Monitor
that a termination process had been initiated to remove heavy equipment and
dismantle the OAS office following the end of clearance operations on 12 June
2004.[24] In 2004, the OAS
planned to establish and support a “sustainable mechanism” for
ETC-ALFA to respond and destroy mines and UXO that might be reported by the
public after the official completion of the clearance operation. When
necessary, international supervisors would be called upon in order to certify
any clearance carried out.[25]
The effects of 1998 Hurricane Mitch diverted the Río Negro [Black
River] in Choluteca department on the border with Nicaragua and efforts to
maintain the border and develop this area have been impeded by the suspected
presence of landmines and UXO buried deep in the sand in the former
riverbed.[26] In May 2004, the
media reported that the Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs, Leónidas
Rosas, had requested OAS support to redivert the river back to its original
course, noting that special equipment was needed to remove mines dislodged by
the river.[27]
The ETC-ALFA commander, Colonel Albercio Cañas Ortez, described the
Río Negro region in Choluteca, and also Naco, Cortés department,
as “special cases” which fall outside the national demining
plan.[28] In June 2004, the
Honduras-Nicaragua Binacional Committee requested assistance from the OAS for
clearance of the Río Negro region, and it was reported the OAS would seek
the funds needed to remove sedimentation and carry out clearance along eight
kilometers of the river.[29]
A contingent of 370 Honduran soldiers from the Xatruch Battalion served with
the Spanish-led “Plus Ultra” Brigade at Camp Baker in Nayaf,
southern Iraq from August 2003 to February 2004 and a second contingent of 370
soldiers was sent in February 2004 and returned in May
2004.[30] According to
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, approximately 50 members of the troops received
training in mine clearance and while they did not clear mines themselves; the
soldiers assisted US troops who cleared
mines.[31]
Honduras has contributed supervisors to OAS MARMINCA since 1993, including
four supervisors in each year from 2001 to 2004. In 2004, two Honduran
supervisors were on the Ecuador-Perú border and two were based in
Guatemala.[32]
Mine Risk Education
The Central American Bank for Economic Integration continues to support an
OAS mine risk education (MRE) program in Honduras, which is conducted by the
Army and OAS AICMA.[33] The
United States provides support for the OAS mine risk education
efforts.[34]
In 2003, mine risk education was focused on La Lodosa, El Paraíso
department.[35] In the
first months of 2004, an estimated 600 students in six schools and 800 community
members from La Lodosa received MRE materials and
messages.[36] In May 2004,
Honduras reported that mine risk education included person-to-person messages,
talks in schools, posters and distribution of school
materials.[37]
In 2002, approximately 600 people received risk education in Choluteca
department.[38] In 2001, the
Canada/México/PAHO tripartite program for the rehabilitation of victims
in Central America trained mine risk educators in Honduras.
Mine Action Funding
Honduras has reported its domestic contributions to mine action to be:
$250,974 in 1999; $280,796 in 2000; $333,224 in 2001; and $549,488 in
2002.[39]
Donors to the demining program in Honduras have included Brazil, Canada,
Denmark, Japan, Norway and Spain, Sweden, and the United
States.[40] In 2003, the OAS
provided $800,000 for mine clearance in Honduras, divided into $200,000 for each
quarter of the year.[41] In the
quarter ending 31 August 2004, the OAS provided $60,000 to complete clearance
operations in Honduras.[42]
In January 2003, Taiwan supplemented OAS funds with approximately $294,000
for clearance in Choluteca and El Paraíso
departments.[43] In 2002 and
2001 the budget for the Honduras demining program was $650,456
annually.[44]
The OAS reported that in 2004 it would require $213,125 to establish and
support the capacity of ETC-ALFA to respond to public reports of mines and UXO
following completion of clearance
operations.[45]
Landmine Casualties and Survivor Assistance
Since 1999, Landmine Monitor has not identified any new landmine casualties
on the territory of Honduras. The last known mine incident involving a Honduran
national occurred on 18 March 2001, when a Honduran crossing into Nicaragua to
hunt lost his leg and eye in a landmine explosion on the Nicaraguan side of the
border.[46]
There has been no comprehensive survey of landmine casualties in Honduras to
date. In July 2004, the National Statistics Institute estimated that
approximately 100 of a total of 250 war-disabled persons in Honduras are
landmine survivors.[47] In
September 1995, Honduran officials estimated that over 200 civilians had been
killed in landmine incidents since
1990.[48]
Landmine survivors in Honduras have access to services provided to all
persons with disabilities, including community-based rehabilitation programs and
economic reintegration programs. There are 18 specialist healthcare units
offering comprehensive rehabilitation services to persons with
disabilities.[49]
In November 1999, the Ministry of Health-run San Felipe Hospital in
Tegucigalpa established a Rehabilitation Center to provide services including
prosthetics and orthotics, psychological support, and capacity building for
persons with disabilities including landmine survivors. The last known mine
survivor was treated in
2002.[50]
In February 2003 a new prosthetic outreach center for the treatment of war
victims including landmine survivors called “Vida Nueva” (New Life),
opened in Choluteca. In 2003 and the first half of 2004, the Vida Nueva workshop
produced 67 prostheses and five orthoses. Three landmine survivors were assisted
in 2003, and two in the first half of
2004.[51]
The tripartite program for the rehabilitation of landmine survivors in
Central America, supported by Canada, México and the Pan-American Health
Organization (PAHO) since January 1999, came to an end in Honduras in March
2003. The joint program was carried out in El Paraíso and Choluteca
departments.[52]
Honduras has legislation to protect the rights of persons with
disabilities.[53] In May 2004,
a new national policy on disability was
approved.[54]
Honduras submitted the voluntary Form J attachment with its annual Article 7
Report in 2001 to report on mine victim assistance
activities.[55]
[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. [2] See Landmine Monitor
Report 1999, p. 254. [3] See Article 7
reports submitted: 11 April 2002 (for an unspecified time period), 10 August
2001 (for the period from 3 December 2000 to 10 August 2001), and 30 August 1999
(for the period 1998-1999). [4]
Article 7 Report, Form H, 30 April 2004; Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 349;
and Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p.
276. [5] This included 1,436 M-969
(Portugal), 4,224 M-4 (Israel), and 1,781 FMK-1 (Argentina) mines. In its May
2004 Article 7 report Honduras reports the M-969 were manufactured in Belgium;
in June 2004 at the Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction it reported the
M-969 as manufactured in Brazil. See Article 7 Report, Form H, Table 2, 12 May
2004; and Ejército de Honduras, “Destrucción de Minas
Almacenadas,” 24 June 2004. In August 1999 Honduras had reported a
stockpile of 9,439 AP mines, including 2,031 M18A1 Claymore mines. In July
2002 a Honduran official confirmed that the figures reported in the destruction
in November 2000 were the correct ones. See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, pp.
350. [6] The antipersonnel mines
retained are: 159 M-969 mines, 469 M-4 mines, and 198 FMK-1 mines. See Article 7
Report, Form D, 30 April 2004; Article 7 Report, Form D, 10 August 2001.
Honduras also retains M18A1 Claymore
mines. [7] OAS AICMA Honduras,
“Report of activities on Demining: July/September 2002,”
Tegucigalpa, 2002. [8] Interview with
Inter-American Defense Board official, Washington, DC, 17 February
1999. [9] Article 7 Report, Form G,
Table 2, 12 May 2004. [10] Telephone
interview with Miguel Barahona, Coordinator, OAS PADCA Honduras, 23 July
2004. [11] Ibid, 5 October
2004. [12] OAS AICMA,
“Portafolio 2003-2004,” August 2003, p.
27. [13] Joint Intervention by
Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, Standing Committee on Mine
Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, 22 June
2004. [14] OAS AICMA,
“Portafolio 2003-2004,” August 2003, p.
29. [15] Presentation by Honduras,
Fifth Meeting of States Parties, Bangkok, 16 September
2003. [16] Telephone interview with
Miguel Barahona, OAS PADCA, 23 July 2004. He confirmed that Honduras had
completed destruction in a telephone interview on 5 October 2004. In June 2004,
Honduras reported that modules X and XI would be completed by 20 July 2004 and
“the decision to declare Honduras free of minefields depends on political
will, and shall be taken at the highest level once the necessary arguments are
made.” See “Conclusiones,” in Ingenieros Militares de
Honduras, “Operaciones de Desminado Humanitario,” Presentation by
Honduras, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine
Action Technologies, 22 June
2004. [17] The 2,189 mines reported
cleared and destroyed in June 2004 included 1,542 PMN; 476 PP-Mi-Sr-II; 78
PMD-6; 18 POMZ; and 75 other. Honduras also reported that it had found and
cleared M18A1 Claymore mines, and MON-100 mines. Ingenieros Militares de
Honduras, “Operaciones de Desminado Humanitario,” Presentation by
Honduras, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, 22 June 2004. According to the
May 2004 Article 7 Report, the 2,189 mines reported cleared and destroyed
included one each of M-969, MON-50, M18A1, and four antivehicle mines. Article
7 Report, Form G, Table 2, 12 May
2004. [18] “ETC-ALFA
Honduras,” Presentation at the Regional Mine Action Seminar, Lima, 14-15
August 2003; OAS AICMA, “Portafolio 2003-2004,” August 2003, p. 27;
“ETC-ALFA Honduras,” Presentation at the Regional Mine Action
Seminar, Lima, 14-15 August 2003. [19]
Interview with Miguel Barahona, Coordinator, OAS PADCA Honduras, 24 February
2004. [20] Landmine Monitor prepared
this summary from: Presentation by Honduras, Standing Committee on Mine
Clearance, 22 June 2004; Article 7 Report, Form C, 12 May 2004; interviews with
Miguel Barahona, OAS PADCA, 24 February 2004 and 23 July
2004. [21] In September 2003, Honduras
reported that on 30 October 2003 a demining machine would be provided by the US
to carry out quality assurance in an area of 1,500 square meters where mines
were more than 50 centimeters deep due to sedimentation. The operation would
take an estimated six months, but could be extended as needed. Presentation by
Honduras, Fifth Meeting of States Parties, 16 September 2003; interview with
Miguel Barahona, Coordinator, OAS PADCA Honduras, 24 February
2004. [22] Interview with Miguel
Barahona, OAS PADCA, 31 March 2003; OAS AICMA, “Portafolio
2003-2004,” August 2003, p.
27. [23] OAS AICMA, “Portafolio
2003-2004,” August 2003, p.
29. [24] Telephone interview with
Miguel Barahona, OAS PADCA, 23 July
2004. [25] OAS AICMA,
“Portafolio 2003-2004,” August 2003, p.
29. [26] Presentation by Honduras,
Fifth Meeting of States Parties, 16 September
2003. [27] F. Cuevas, “Honduras
pide apoyo a OEA por caso de río fronterizo,” AP (Tegucigalpa), 10
May 2004. In the same month, Nicaragua’s Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Norman Caldera, told media that in past years the US Army Engineer Corps had
rejected requests to redivert the Río Negro because of the high cost and
the suspected presence of mines. He noted that the OAS would seek funds to
proceed with clearance, adding that clearance would only be carried out on the
Honduran side since clearance on the Nicaraguan side “is practically
completed.” See, “Confirma Nicaragua existencia de minas antitanques
en Río Negro,” Notimex (Managua), 13 May 2004; Luis Felipe
Palacios, “Buscan fondos para desminar río Negro,” La Prensa
(Managua), 14 May 2004. [28] Landmine
Monitor (Nicaragua) interview with Col. Albercio Cañas Ortez, Commander,
ETC-ALFA, Tegucigalpa, 24 May
2004. [29] Telephone interviews with
Miguel Barahona, OAS PADCA Honduras; and Octavio Salomón
Núñez, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, June
2004. [30] Telephone interview with
Roberto Ramos Bustos, Director of Special Affaires, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
30 July, 2004. [31] Ibid, 10 August
2004. [32] Interview with Miguel
Barahona, OAS PADCA Honduras, 25 February
2004. [33] OAS, “Informe del
Secretario General sobre la implementación de las Resoluciones 1745
(apoyo a PADEP) y 1751 (apoyo a PADCA),” 7 May 2001; Interview with Miguel
Barahona, AICMA/Honduras, 31 March
2003. [34] Telephone interview with
Miguel Barahona, OAS PADCA, 2 July
2004. [35] Telephone interview with
Miguel Barahona, OAS AICMA, 2 July
2003. [36] Interview with Miguel
Barahona, OAS PADCA, 24 February
2004. [37] Article 7 Report, Form I
reporting for 1994-2003, 12 May
2004. [38] Telephone interview with
Miguel Barahona, OAS AICMA, 2 July
2003. [39] Resource Mobilization
Contact Group, "A review of resources to achieve the Convention's aims," Table
2, p. 7, presented by Norway at the Standing Committee on General Status and
Operation of the Convention, Geneva, 25 June
2004. [40] OEA AICMA, Portafolio
2003-2004, August 2003, p. 28. [41]
OAS, “Portfolio 2003–2004: Honduras,” Washington DC,
2003. [42] Telephone interview with
Miguel Barahona, OAS PADCA, 20 July
2004. [43] Office of the President
“Taiwan dona 294 mil dólares para concluir desminado en
Honduras,” Press Release, 28 January 2003; See Landmine Monitor Report
2003, p. 294. [44] See Landmine
Monitor Report 2003, p. 288; Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p.
294. [45] OAS, “Portfolio
2003–2004: Honduras,”
2003. [46] See Landmine Monitor Report
2002, p. 352. [47] Email from Thierry
Gonthier, Handicap International, 22 July
2004. [48] UN Landmine Country Report
for Honduras, September 1995. [49] For
more details on Survivor Assistance, see Landmine Monitor Report 2003, pp.
289-290 and HI, “Landmine Victim Assistance: World Report 2002,”
Lyon, December 2002, pp. 406-409. [50]
Telephone interview with Crisley Laines, Director, Rehabilitation Department,
San Felipe Hospital, Tegucigalpa, 23 July
2004. [51] Telephone interview with
Reina Estrada, Executive Director, Vida Nueva, Choluteca, 22 July 2004; US
Department of State, “US Hails Honduran Rehabilitation Center for War
Victims,” Press Release, 21 February 2003; email to Landmine Monitor
(Nicaragua) from Stephen Meyers, International Programs Coordinator, Polus
Center for Social & Economic Development, 28 April
2003. [52] Telephone interview with
Emilio Ramirez Pinto, Coordinator, Canada-México-PAHO Joint Program, 4
July 2003; see Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p.
278. [53] HI, “Landmine Victim
Assistance: World Report 2002,” Lyon, December 2002, pp.
406-407. [54] Email from Thierry
Gonthier, HI, 22 July 2004. [55]
Article 7, Form J, 10 August 2001.
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