Key developments since 1999: Paraguay became a State Party on 1 May
1999. It submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report more than two and
a-half years late, and has not provided required annual updates in 2003 or 2004.
It has declared that it is not mine-affected and has no stockpiles of
antipersonnel mines.
Paraguay signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, ratified on 13
November 1998 and the treaty entered into force on 1 May 1999. According to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Law of Firearms, Munitions and
Explosives—Law 1.910 adopted 1 May 2002—ensures strict domestic
application and observance of all aspects of the Mine Ban
Treaty.[1]
Paraguay submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report on 13 June 2001.
It had been due on 28 October 1999. Paraguay provided a second report on 18
October 2002.[2] It has not
submitted required annual updates in 2003 or 2004. In March 2003, the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs informed Landmine Monitor that an annual update was in
preparation.[3]
Paraguay participated in the Ottawa Process, including the Oslo treaty
negotiations in 1997, and has voted in support of every annual pro-ban UN
General Assembly resolution since 1996. However, it has attended only two of
the five annual Meetings of States Parties (in 1999 and 2002), and none of the
intersessional Standing Committee meetings. Paraguay participated in a regional
seminar on stockpile destruction in the Americas in Buenos Aires in November
2000.
In its Article 7 reports, Paraguay declares that it is not mine-affected, and
that it does not possess any antipersonnel mines, including for training
purposes.[4] Paraguay is not
believed to have ever produced, transferred or used antipersonnel mines.
[1] Response to Landmine Monitor
Questionnaire from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Office of International
Organizations, faxed 24 May 2002; Article 7 Report, Form I, 18 October
2002. [2] See Article 7 reports
submitted 18 October 2002, for the period 1 January–6 June 2002; and 13
June 2001, for the period 17 December 2000-1 May 2001. In December 1999,
Landmine Monitor received an advance copy of an initial Article 7 report from
Paraguay, dated 17 November 1999, and which was never officially submitted to
the United Nations. [3] Response to
Landmine Monitor Questionnaire from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Office of
International Organizations, faxed 8 March
2003. [4] Article 7 Report, 18 October
2002; Article 7 Report, 13 June 2001.