Key developments Since May 2004: National implementation legislation
entered into force in November 2004. In December 2004, a Ministry of Foreign
Affairs official called into question previous claims by a UK-based mine
clearance group that significant mine and ERW affected areas remain in El
Salvador. At the First Review Conference, El Salvador was identified as one of
24 States Parties with the greatest needs and responsibility to provide adequate
survivor assistance. In June 2005, as part of its commitment to the Nairobi
Action Plan, El Salvador presented some of its objectives for the period
2005–2009 to address the needs of mine survivors.
Mine Ban Policy
The Republic of El Salvador signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997,
ratified on 27 January 1999, and became a State Party on 1 July 1999.
El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly approved Decree 471 to implement
the Mine Ban Treaty domestically on 14 October
2004.[1 ]The legislation was
published in the government’s Official Gazette on 22 November 2004,
and entered into force on 30 November
2004.[2 ]The law includes penal
sanctions of five to ten years’ imprisonment for anyone found guilty of
using, developing, producing, purchasing, stockpiling, or transferring one or
more antipersonnel mines. Any individual that in any way assists with these
activities can be prosecuted with a two to four year prison
sentence.[3 ]El Salvador first
reported in February 2002 that implementation legislation had been
drafted.[4]
On 29 April 2005, El Salvador submitted its fifth Article 7 report, which
covers calendar year 2004.[5 ]The
report consists of two pages of text, plus the implementing decree, rather than
utilizing the standard voluntary Forms.
El Salvador’s Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs led the country’s
delegation to the First Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in Nairobi in
November-December 2004. His statement to the high level segment focused on
victim assistance issues and the need for greater international funding. He
also said that to ensure the success of the Nairobi Action Plan, it is crucial
to have close coordination among States Parties, the UN, the Organization of
American States (OAS), donor countries and NGOs, like the
ICBL.[6 ]In April 2005, El Salvador
attended a victim assistance workshop in Managua, Nicaragua. At the June 2005
intersessional meetings in Geneva, El Salvador made a presentation on victim
assistance.
El Salvador 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.
El Salvador is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its
Amended Protocol II on landmines. It did not attend the November 2004 annual
meeting of States Parties to Amended Protocol II, and did not submit an Article
13 report for 2004.
Production, Transfer and Use
El Salvador has reported that it has not produced antipersonnel mines and has
no production facilities.[7 ]El
Salvador is not known to have exported antipersonnel mines. In the past it
imported antipersonnel mines, including from the United
States.[8 ]Both the Salvadoran
government and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) made
extensive use of antipersonnel landmines during the 1980-1992 conflict, but
there have been no reports or allegations of landmine use since the early
1990s.[9 ]
Stockpiling and Destruction
On 20 February 2003, El Salvador completed destruction of its stockpile of
7,549 antipersonnel mines, four months ahead of its treaty-mandated deadline. A
total of 5,248 of these mines were destroyed on 20 February 2003, another 1,291
mines were destroyed between June 2000 and August 2001, and another 1,010 in
1996 prior to signing the Mine Ban
Treaty.[10]
El Salvador is retaining 96 antipersonnel mines (50 M-14 mines and 46 M-26
mines) for training and development at its Armed Forces Engineer Command. This
number has not changed since El Salvador first reported it in April
2002.[11 ]El Salvador has not yet
reported in any detail on the intended purposes and actual uses of its retained
mines—a step agreed to by States Parties in the Nairobi Action Plan that
emerged from the First Review Conference.
Landmine/ERW Problem and Mine Action
El Salvador was contaminated by mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), as
a result of the 1980-1992 conflict between government forces and FMLN
guerrillas. It was estimated that at the end of the war, there were 20,000
landmines in 425 minefields covering 436 square
kilometers.[12 ]However, since
1994, El Salvador has claimed, variously, that it is mine-free and that it is 97
percent mine-free, following completion of the National Demining Plan in
1994.[13 ]William McDonough,
General Coordinator of the OAS mine action program, stated that the reported
percentage means that all mined areas cleared “were done to a 97%
confidence rate by 1994 demining
standards.”[14]
In December 2004, José Francisco Cortez González, of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Landmine Monitor that El Salvador “still
has an UXO/ERW problem and that it will need to maintain trained clearance staff
into the future.”[15 ]However, he also questioned claims by a UK-based mine clearance
organization, the International Demining Group, which identified approximately
150 square kilometers for survey and/or demining in Chalatenango,
Cabañas, Cuscatlán and Usulután, including 53 allegedly
unknown or unrecorded mine and UXO
locations.[16 ]
Local NGOs informed Landmine Monitor in 2004 that contamination in rural
areas remains a problem, although the civilian population is at relatively low
risk.[17 ]In May 2004, Oscar
Chávez Valiente, Secretary-General of the National Civilian Police,
provided detailed information about some of the regions that are affected by
explosive devices: the departments of Chalatenango, San Vicente,
Usulatán, Morazán and Cuscatlán, the Guazapa Volcano area
(department of San Salvador) and Cinquera region (department of
Cabañas).[18]
The Ministry of Defense and the Division of Arms and Explosives (DAE) of the
National Civilian Police are the national institutions responsible for clearance
of mines and UXO. DAE has five teams, one for each region, trained to respond
to calls from the public to clear explosive
devices.[19 ]In November 2001, an
Interagency Committee on the Ottawa Convention (Comité Nacional
Intersectorial para el seguimiento de la Convención de Ottawa) was
established, with representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry
of Defense and the National Civilian Police. The Salvadoran Institute for the
Rehabilitation of the Disabled (Instituto Salvadoreño de
Rehabilitación de Inválidos, ISRI) was added to the committee in
2002. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the committee is the
official body charged with liaising with national and international
organizations on demining and mine survivor
rehabilitation.[20 ]
DAE is said to respond regularly to civilian reports of UXO and other
explosive devices. While the most commonly discovered ERW are grenades
(including rocket-propelled grenades) and mortars, some larger war-era explosive
devices are also occasionally
discovered.[21 ]In March 2005, an
M-67 fragmentation grenade was reported and destroyed in Berlín
municipality, Usulután
department.[22 ]Also in March,
seven unused 60mm mortar grenades and approximately 1,500 G-3 shells were
discovered in a war-era guerrilla weapons cache in a mountainous zone of San
José Las Flores municipality, Chalatenango department. The discovery was
made following reports by local civilians. According to the same report,
farmers in the area claim that the department of Chalatenango contains more
hidden weapons from the civil
conflict.[23]
El Salvador’s treaty-mandated deadline for destruction of all
antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control is no later
than 1 July 2009.
Mine/ERW Risk Education
While no formal programs currently
exist,[24 ]the National Civilian
Police is mandated to provide risk education programs. In December 2004, a
government official restated that it will be important to develop risk education
programming in areas that may be affected by
ERW.[25 ]DAE provides workshops to
schoolchildren on hazards related to conventional weapons used by gangs,
including grenades.[26]
Landmine/ERW Casualties
In 2004, there were no reports of new landmine casualties in El Salvador.
The last confirmed report was in 1994. However, Landmine Monitor was told that
mine/ERW incidents, though seen as isolated cases, were in fact
frequent.[27 ]In May 2004, several
children were injured while trying to break open a grenade they found while
collecting firewood in
Guazapa.[28]
In May 2005, family members of a six-year-old boy who lost his leg in a mine
explosion in the municipality of Cojutepeque in the department of
Cuscatlán informed the local representative of Landmine Survivors Network
(LSN) of the incident.[29 ]
On 12 May 2005, two brothers aged 14 and 16, were killed after they hit a
grenade with a hammer outside their house in Los Blancos, Lajitas Canton,
Chilanga Municipality, Morazán Department. Two other boys were not
injured in the incident. Neighbors demanded that explosive experts sweep the
area to ensure the area was safe from other “abandoned
bombs.”[30 ]
El Salvador has a significant number of mine survivors as a result of the
armed conflict in the 1980s and early 1990s. While a comprehensive registry
does not exist, the National Council for the Integrated Care of the Disabled
(Consejo Nacional de Atención Integral a las Personas con Discapacidad,
CONAIPD) reported in June 2005 that the Protection Fund of the Disabled and
Wounded as a Result of the Armed Conflict (Fondo de Protección de
Lisiados y Discapacitados a Consecuencia del Conflicto Armado) had assisted
2,861 landmine survivors, including 165
women.[31 ]In December 2004, a
government official told Landmine Monitor that “there is probably more
than 9,700 landmine victims” in El Salvador, but there is a need to
strengthen institutional coordination and the process of identifying and
assisting mine survivors.[32 ]
Survivor Assistance
At the First Review Conference in Nairobi in November-December 2004, El
Salvador was identified as one of 24 State Parties with significant numbers of
mine survivors, and with “the greatest responsibility to act, but also the
greatest needs and expectations for assistance” in providing adequate
assistance for the care, rehabilitation and reintegration of
survivors.[33 ]El Salvador
participated in a workshop in Managua on 26-27 April 2005, which was hosted by
Nicaragua and organized by the co-chairs of the Standing Committee of Victim
Assistance and Socio-Economic Reintegration to assist State Parties in
developing a plan of action to meet the aims of the Nairobi Action Plan in
relation to victim assistance.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official has highlighted that, for El Salvador,
survivor assistance will be the “greatest challenge in meeting its
commitment to the Ottawa Convention” and that “El Salvador requires
the creation of sustainable, long-term, victim assistance programs” with a
funding base that directly supports
survivors.[34 ]At the Standing
Committee meetings in June 2005, El Salvador stated that international funding
could significantly increase the capacity to deliver victim assistance
programming in El Salvador.[35 ]
A mine survivor from El Salvador participated in the First Review Conference
in Nairobi in November-December 2004.
In June 2005, as part of its commitment to the Nairobi Action Plan, El
Salvador presented some of its objectives for the period 2005-2009 to address
the needs of mine survivors, which include: strengthening the development of a
community-based rehabilitation program; supporting and promoting projects for
the creation of small businesses, including through training for mine survivors;
raising awareness in society of the rights and needs of mine survivors and other
persons with disabilities; and, strengthening the implementation of legislation
protecting the rights of persons with
disabilities.[36]
In El Salvador, mine survivors are treated within the regular healthcare
system, which is in the process of decentralization. However, the national
healthcare system reportedly does not have the infrastructure or resources to
adequately address the needs of persons with disabilities. In rural areas
access to rehabilitation programs is almost non-existent, and there is a lack of
psychological support services to address the needs of war-affected
people.[37 ]Many landmine survivors
from rural areas must travel long distances to reach rehabilitation centers and
some have reportedly been turned away when they arrive due to a lack of basic
materials needed to repair
prostheses.[38 ]In 2005, a pilot
project for community-based rehabilitation is planned for 15
municipalities.[39]
The Association of War Wounded of El Salvador (Asociación de Lisiados
de Guerra de El Salvador, ALGES) operates the social enterprise Servicios
Basicos Empresariales (SERBASE), which has developed contracts with four
municipalities (San Salvador, Santa Tecla, Conjutepeque, Mejicanos) to provide
maintenance services for public toilets and parks; as of April 2004, SERBASE
provided employment for 115 disabled
people.[40 ]Between January and
June 2004, a partnership between ALGES and the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO), assisted 65 people in a project entitled the
“Integrated Production System for the Food Security of War Affected
Individuals (and their families) from the Municipality of Cacaopera.” The
project, which is in the impoverished northern zone of Morazán, received
US$7,372 from the FAO.[41 ]
Landmine Survivors Network (LSN) has six community-based outreach workers;
all are mine survivors who work with individual survivors to assess their needs,
offer psychological and social support, educate their families about the effects
of limb loss, facilitate access to medical rehabilitation and vocational
training, and advocate for the rights of disabled people. Four are based in San
Salvador and two in the department of La Libertad. In 2004, LSN assisted 152
people with disabilities, including 86 landmine survivors; 76 people were
assisted with small businesses, and provided in-kind assistance (in the form of
materials and tools) for starting small businesses and home repairs. LSN has
also established social support groups to assist the recovery and reintegration
of survivors, and developed a national services directory to link survivors to
rehabilitation services.[42 ]LSN,
in collaboration with CONAIPD, also provided training for 60 medical personnel
on psychological and other forms of assistance to amputees and their
families.[43 ]
Vocational training is provided by various NGOs in a diverse range of areas,
including carpentry, welding, electrical, computer skills, small business
administration, organic agriculture, and tailoring. The lack of access to basic
education is one factor among many limiting effective socioeconomic
reintegration initiatives.[44 ]
Other organizations identified as assisting landmine survivors and other
people with disabilities in El Salvador include the Center for Professional
Rehabilitation of the Armed Forces (Centro de Rehabilitación Profesional
de la Fuerza Armada); ISRI; Association of the Organization of Disabled of El
Salvador (Asociación Promotora de la Organización de
Discapacitados de El Salvador); Salvadoran Center for Appropriate Technology
(Centro Salvadoreño de Tecnología Apropiada, CESTA); ALGES;
Handicap International; Telethon Foundation Pro-Rehabilitation; Nuevo Mundo; the
governmental Division of Special Education; Family and Community Orientation
Center (Centro de Orientación Familiar y Comunitaria); US Agency for
International Development (USAID); the Ministry of Labor in Santa
Ana.[45]
The Project for the Strengthening of Integral Rehabilitation through
Technical Orthopedics in the Central American Region (Proyecto de
Fortalecimiento de la Rehabilitación Integral a través de la
Ortopedia Técnica en la Región Centroaméricana) provides a
range of technical programs for training orthopedic technicians from El Salvador
and the world, through the Don Bosco University in San
Salvador.[46]
Disability Policy and Practice
El Salvador has legislation to protect the rights of persons with
disabilities. CONAIPD is the official body responsible for developing policies,
and coordinating and monitoring institutions and organizations working with
people with disabilities in El Salvador. Between November 2004 and January
2005, CONAIPD held five workshops, attended by 75 medical personnel, which aimed
to find ways of coordinating actions and information on the disability issue.
In 2004, CONAIPD collaborated with the 30 universities in El Salvador to hold
eight workshops on integrating disabled people into the higher education system;
this resulted in two universities signing agreements with
CONAIPD.[47]
It continues to be widely believed that institutions in El Salvador are not
adequately addressing the needs of persons with disabilities in the country, and
that discrimination, weak implementation and poor enforcement of disability laws
remain a problem.[48 ]
In December 2004, ALGES criticized the government for suspending the pensions
of more than 400 disabled war
survivors.[49 ]In January 2005, on
the 13th anniversary of the signing of the Peace Accords between the government
and the FMLN, ALGES announced that the Law for the Protection Fund of the
Disabled and Wounded has not accomplished its mandate, nor was it fulfilling its
commitments to people disabled during the
war.[50 ]ALGES sent a letter to the
United Nations to denounce the arbitrary suspension of pensions. According to
ALGES, the pensions have been suspended despite the fact that the fund receives
international support and funding from the national
budget.[51]
[1 ]Statement by Vice-Minister of
Foreign Affairs Eduardo Cálix López, Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free
World (First Review Conference), Nairobi, 2 December 2004.
[2 ]Official Gazette
(Diario Oficial), Vol. 365, No. 217, 22 November 2004. The text of
the decree, which amends the Penal Code, is included in Article 7 Report, 29
April 2005.
[3 ]Official Gazette
(Diario Oficial), Vol. 365, No. 217, 22 November 2004.
[4]Maria Eugenia Brizuela de
Ávila, Minister of Foreign Affairs, “Report for El Salvador for
2002,” 11 February 2002, p. 4. See Landmine Monitor Report 2004,
p. 409, for other details on the process.
[5 ]Previous reports were submitted
on 20 April 2004, 4 March 2003, 29 April 2002 and 31 August 2001. The 2004
report also did not utilize the standard forms.
[6 ]Statement by Vice-Minister of
Foreign Affairs Eduardo Cálix López, First Review Conference,
Nairobi, 2 December 2004.
[7 ]Article 7 Report, Forms E and
H, 4 March 2003.
[8 ]The US State Department
reported that, from 1982-1990, the US provided El Salvador 4,410 M-14
antipersonnel mines, 720 M-24 antipersonnel mines and 47,244 M18A1 Claymore
mines. See Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 242.
[9 ]See Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, p. 410. During the conflict the FMLN made significant numbers
of homemade antipersonnel mines or improvised explosive devices.
[10]Article 7 Report, 20 April
2004; intervention by El Salvador, Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction,
Geneva, 15 May 2003; Article 7 Report, Forms A, D and F, 4 March 2003. The
mines destroyed included 5,833 M-14 mines and 1,716 M18 Claymore mines. In 1997
El Salvador reported to the OAS that it had no stockpiled antipersonnel mines.
It corrected this in May 2001. There were subsequently significant
discrepancies in El Salvador’s reporting on numbers and types of
stockpiled mines. See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 411.
[11 ]Article 7 Report, Form D, 29
April 2002; Article 7 Report, 29 April 2005.
[12 ]International Committee of
the Red Cross, “Antipersonnel Mines in Central America: Conflict and
Post-Conflict,” Geneva, January 1996, p. 13.
[13 ]Article 7 Report, para ii.d,
29 April 2005; Article 7 Report, Forms F and G, 4 March 2003. See also
Landmine Monitor Report 2004, pp. 412-413.
[14]Interview with William
McDonough, General Coordinator of Mine Action, OAS, 16 June 2005.
[15 ]Interview with José
Francisco Cortez González, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nairobi, 2
December 2004.
[16 ]Interview with José
Francisco Cortez González, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nairobi, 2
December 2004. See Landmine Monitor Report 2003, p. 241, and Landmine
Monitor Report 2004, p. 412.
[17 ]Telephone interview with
Ernesto Morales, Coordinator, Foundation for Cooperation and Community
Development of El Salvador (Fundación para la Cooperación y el
Desarrollo Comunal de El Salvador, CORDES), Chalatanango, 26 March 2004;
interview with José Leonidas Argueta Rolda, Executive Director,
Association of the Organization of Disabled of El Salvador (Associación
Promotora de la Organización de Discapacitados de El Salvador, PODES),
San Salvador, 29 March 2004.
[18]Interview with Oscar
Chávez Valiente, Secretary-General, PNC, San Salvador, 18 May 2004.
[19 ]Interview with Oscar
Chávez Valiente, PNC, San Salvador, 18 May 2004.
[20 ]See Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, p. 413.
[21 ]Interview with Oscar
Chávez Valiente, PNC, San Salvador, 18 May 2004.
[22 ]Norfa Márquez,
“Hacen explotar granada M-67,” El Diario de Hoy, 1 March
2005.
[23]Tania Membreño,
“Hallan granadas dentro de tatú en zona ex conflictive,”
La Prensa Grafica, 31 March 2005.
[24 ]Response to Landmine Monitor
Questionnaire by Jesús Martínez, LSN El Salvador, 7 June 2005.
[25 ]Interview with José
Francisco Cortez González, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nairobi, 2
December 2004.
[26]Susana Joma,
“Enseñan a niños a no jugar con las armas,” El
Diario de Hoy, 4 Marzo 2004.
[27 ]See Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, p. 414.
[28]Interview with Oscar
Chávez Valiente, PNC, San Salvador, 18 May 2004; for more information see
Landmine Monitor Report 2001, pp. 340-341; and Landmine Monitor Report
2002, p. 246.
[29 ]Email from Jesús
Martínez, LSN El Salvador, 16 September 2005.
[30 ]Yanci Pérez and
Francisco Torres, “Dos niños perecen al manipular granada,”
El Diario de Hoy (San Salvador), 13 May 2005.
[31 ]Presentation by Cecilia
Edith Jiménez, CONAIPD, Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and
Socio-Economic Reintegration, Geneva, 16 June 2005; for more information, see
also Landmine Monitor Report 2004, pp. 414-415.
[32 ]Interview with José
Francisco Cortez González, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nairobi, 2
December 2004.
[33 ]United Nations, Final Report
of the First Review Conference, Nairobi, 3 December 2004, APLC/CONF/2004/5, 9
February 2005, p. 33.
[34 ]Interview with José
Francisco Cortez González, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nairobi, 2
December 2004.
[35 ]Presentation by Cecilia
Edith Jiménez, CONAIPD, Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and
Socio-Economic Reintegration, Geneva, 16 June 2005.
[36]Presentation by Cecilia
Edith Jiménez, CONAIPD, Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and
Socio-Economic Reintegration, Geneva, 16 June 2005.
[37 ]For more information see
Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 415.
[38 ]Email from Jesús
Martínez, LSN El Salvador, 7 June 2005.
[39]Presentation by Cecilia
Edith Jiménez, CONAIPD, Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and
Socio-Economic Reintegration, Geneva, 16 June 2005.
[40 ]Interview Michael (Paco)
Rleutgeus, Consultant, ALGES, San Salvador, 31 March 2004; for more information
Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 416.
[41 ]“Sesenta y cinco
sueños de Morazán,” Reportaje del mes, www.fao.org.sv/reportajes/reportaje.html,
accessed February 2005.
[42 ]Email from Nicole Dial, LSN,
1 September 2005; Response to Landmine Monitor Questionnaire by Jesús
Martínez, LSN El Salvador, 7 June 2005.
[43 ]Presentation by Cecilia
Edith Jiménez, CONAIPD, Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and
Socio-Economic Reintegration, Geneva, 16 June 2005; email from Paul Miller,
Director of Programs, LSN, 28 June 2005.
[44 ]For more information see
Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 417
[45]Presentation by Cecilia
Edith Jiménez, CONAIPD, Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and
Socio-Economic Reintegration, Geneva, 16 June 2005; for more information, see
Landmine Monitor Report 2004, pp. 415-417.
[46]Presentation by Cecilia
Edith Jiménez, CONAIPD, Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and
Socio-Economic Reintegration, Geneva, 16 June 2005; see also Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, p. 417.
[47]Presentation by Cecilia
Edith Jiménez, CONAIPD, Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and
Socio-Economic Reintegration, Geneva, 16 June 2005; for more information see
also Landmine Monitor Report 2004, pp. 417-418.
[48 ]Response to Landmine Monitor
Questionnaire by Jesús Martínez, LSN El Salvador, 7 June 2005;
International Disability Rights Monitor 2004, “Regional Report on the
Americas: El Salvador,” International Disability Network, Chicago, 2004,
p. 204; see also Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 418.
[49 ]“Suspenden beneficios
a lisiados de Guerra,” La Prensa, El Salvador, 13 December 2004.
At the end of the war more that 18,000 people, including the families of victims
of war, received the right to pensions and medical treatment from the Fund of
the Disabled and Wounded as a Result of the Armed Conflict.
[50 ]“Incumplimiento de
acuerdos,” La Prensa, Nicaragua, 17 January 2005; “Lisiados
de guerra denuncian que acuerdos de paz no les benefician,” La Prensa, El
Salvador, 16 January 2005.
[51]Roxana Córdova,
“Lisiados de guerra denunciarán al gobierno ante la ONU,”
Diario Co Latino, 17 January 2005.
About Us
Our Research Products