Key developments since May 2004: In 2004, clearance operations were
completed in the departments of Alta Verapaz, Baja Verapaz and Huehuetenango.
Clearance in 2004 resulted in the destruction of 40 items of unexploded
ordnance, including two antipersonnel mines. Mine risk education reached 92,231
people in 395 communities. Guatemala served as co-chair of the Standing
Committee on Stockpile Destruction from September 2003 until December 2004, and
took on the role of co-rapporteur of the Standing Committee on General Status
and Operation of the Convention at that time.
Mine Ban Policy
The Republic of Guatemala signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997,
ratified on 26 March 1999, and became a State Party on 1 September 1999. In
1997, Guatemala passed Legislative Decree 106-97, which comprehensively
prohibits antipersonnel mines and their composite
parts.[1 ]There have been no
prosecutions under this law.[2 ]
On 2 May 2005, Guatemala submitted its fifth Article 7 report for the period
from March 2004 to March 2005.[3 ]
The Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs led Guatemala’s delegation to
the First Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in Nairobi in
November-December 2004, where he announced that demining of the last six
mine-affected departments would be completed by
mid-2005.[4 ]Guatemala served as a
Vice-President of the First Review Conference. It served as co-chair of the
Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction from September 2003 until the First
Review Conference, and took on the role of co-rapporteur of the Standing
Committee on General Status and Operation of the Convention following the First
Review Conference.
At the intersessional Standing Committee meetings held in Geneva in June
2005, Guatemala made a presentation on mine clearance. Guatemala 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 operations with non-States
Parties, antivehicle mines with sensitive fuzes and antihandling devices, and
the permissible number of mines retained for training.
As a State Party to Amended Protocol II of the Convention on Conventional
Weapons, Guatemala attended the Sixth Annual Conference of States Parties to
Amended Protocol II in November 2004 and submitted an Article 13 national
measures report on 21 October 2004.
Guatemala has reported that it never produced, imported, stockpiled or used
antipersonnel mines, and that it has no antipersonnel mines for training or
development purposes.[5 ]No use of
antipersonnel mines or improvised explosive devices has been recorded since the
36-year internal armed conflict concluded in December 1996.
Landmine and UXO Problem
Guatemala has stated in its Article 7 reports submitted in 2003, 2004 and
2005 that it does not have minefields, but that there are limited numbers of
landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) where internal armed conflict took
place.[6 ]Guatemala has also reported
in each year that antipersonnel mines, including Claymore directional
fragmentation mines, continue to be cleared and
destroyed.[7 ]
In May 2005, Guatemala reported that six of its departments remained
mine/UXO-affected.[8 ]In July 2001,
the Organization of American States (OAS) national coordinator told Landmine
Monitor that 13 of the 22 departments were affected, with two other departments
affected at a low level of
risk.[9 ]
Given the dispersed nature of the mine/UXO problem, there is no fencing or
marking of affected areas.[10 ]
Mine Action Program
Mine action in Guatemala is the responsibility of the Demining Coordination
Commission (Comisión Coordinadora del Desminado, CCD), established in
August 1995, and the Executive Coordinating Unit. As of June 2005, the CCD
included representatives of the Army Engineer Corps (Cuerpo de Ingenieros del
Ejército Guatemalteco, CIEG), Volunteer Firefighters Corps (Cuerpo de
Bomberos Voluntarios), reintegrated former guerrillas of the Guatemalan National
Revolutionary Union (Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca, URNG) and the
OAS Program for Integral Action against Antipersonnel Mines (Acción
Integral Contra Minas Antipersonal,
AICMA).[11 ]
The Executive Coordinating Unit (UCE), established in 1997 to manage
mine/UXO action operations, reports to CCD and the National Congress, and has a
similar composition to CCD.[12 ]
The OAS assists the implementation of Guatemala’s national demining
plan by means of its Assistance Program for Demining in Central America
(Programa de Asistencia al Desminado en Centro América, PADCA) and the
Assistance Mission for Mine Clearance in Central America (Misión de
Asistencia para la Remoción de Minas en Centro América, MARMINCA),
which provides international supervisors for training and certification. In
2004, two MARMINCA supervisors from Honduras and one from El Salvador
participated in clearance operations. In 2005, four supervisors (from Honduras,
Venezuela and Brazil) participated in supervising and certifying the destruction
of UXO in the high risk
areas.[13]
Clearance operations in Guatemala have integrated civil society by involving
Volunteer Firefighters Corps and reintegrated URNG members, who carry out mine
risk education and gather information on suspected mine- and UXO-affected zones
from local inhabitants, using Global Positioning System receivers and portable
radios.[14 ]The Army Engineer Corps
carries out survey and clearance, with technical assistance from MARMINCA. The
OAS is responsible for logistics.[15 ]As of May 2005, the team responsible for clearance and mine risk education
consisted of 72 staff, including 34 Army engineers, 18 members of the Volunteer
Firefighter Corps and 20 former URNG
members.[16 ]
UCE collects information to record the progress of clearance.
Mine and UXO Clearance
Guatemala is required by the Mine Ban Treaty to destroy all antipersonnel
mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control, as soon as possible, and
no later than 1 September 2009. The national demining plan has sought to
conclude clearance operations for all landmines and UXO by December
2005.[17 ]In June 2005, Jhony
Cabrera, UCE Coordinator, confirmed that Guatemala was planning to announce the
completion of mine/UXO clearance in November
2005.[18 ]In September 2005 the OAS
reported that completion of mine clearance in Guatemala might be delayed if
necessary funds were not
received.[19]
As a consequence of the scattered nature of the mine/UXO contamination in
Guatemala, demining operations do not measure the quantity of land
cleared.[20 ]These circumstances
have also resulted in a demining program that uses only manual clearance
techniques.[21 ]Challenges faced by
deminers and mine risk education teams include rough terrain, poor weather
conditions and inaccessible roads during the rainy season, maintenance of
vehicles and equipment, and a lack of accurate
maps.[22]
Between March 2004 and March 2005, 40 UXO were destroyed, including 100, 250
and 500lb bombs, two PMN antipersonnel mines, grenades, improvised explosive
devices and booby-traps.[23 ]
Between 1998 and June 2005, a total of 4,089 mines and UXO were located and
destroyed.[24 ]Clearance operations
were reported to have been completed in the departments of Huehuetenango, Alta
Verapaz and Baja Verapaz in December
2004;[25 ]in Quetzaltenango,
Retalhuleu and Totonicapán in October 2003; in San Marcos in December
2002; in El Quiché department in June 2001; in Ixcán in January
2000. Clearance operations in Jutiapa and Santa Rosa are also considered by UCE
to have been completed.[26 ]
In June 2005, demining operations were ongoing in Peten and in
Chimaltenango, and it was planned to focus on the departments of Escuintla,
Sacatepéquez, Suchitepéquez, and Sololá in the second half
of 2005. Sacatepéquez has only recently been viewed as
mine/UXO-affected.[27 ]
While there were no accidents during clearance in 2005, one accident was
reported in 2004 caused by an explosion in a munition
dump.[28]
Mine Risk Education
The Volunteer Firefighters Corps and former URNG guerrillas provide risk
education (MRE) and gather information from the local population on suspected
mine/UXO-affected areas. The Volunteer Firefighters Corps enjoys widespread
confidence among Guatemala’s civilian population and is considered a model
for civil society involvement in mine action
operations.[29 ]The OAS and the
Guatemalan government provide financial assistance for
MRE.[30]
Plans for clearance and MRE are made jointly on a monthly
basis.[31 ]MRE messages are
disseminated by television, community and private radio and print media, some of
which also use local indigenous
languages.[32 ]MRE is also provided
to communities and peoples that may be affected by mines and UXO through direct
presentations. Depending on the population at risk, MRE may be delivered to
individuals or to groups of up to 200 people. MRE is provided in schools,
churches, community buildings and private homes. Scheduling for MRE is flexible;
it may take place during the day, evenings or weekends to accommodate delivery
to laborers and other
workers.[33]
In 2004, MRE reached an estimated 92,231 people in 395 communities in the
departments of Huehuetenango, Baja and Alta Verapaz. Between 1997 and 2005 a
total of 376,828 people in 1,487 communities in eight departments received
MRE.[34 ]
The general opinion of the communities that have received MRE is very
positive; the involvement of the Volunteer Firefighters Corps and reintegrated
UNRG is considered to have been crucial for the success of the mine risk
education and clearance process.
Funding and Assistance
An estimated US$750,000 was spent on mine action in Guatemala in 2004, of
which the government provided $120,000. OAS contributes $630,000 per year,
received from a variety of
donors.[35 ]
For 2005, government expenditure on clearance was estimated at $120,000 and
OAS financial support was estimated at
$630,000.[36]
On 26 July 2004, Guatemala signed an agreement on cooperation and technology
transfer for mine clearance with Colombia, during an official visit to
Bogotá by the Guatemalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jorge Briz
Abularach.[37 ]Guatemala has
contributed 20 military mine action supervisors to the OAS Inter-American
Defense Board since 1993. In 2004, two Guatemalan supervisors participated in
clearance efforts in
Nicaragua.[38 ]
Landmine Casualties
In 2004 and the first half of 2005, no new landmine casualties were
reported. There have reportedly been no mine-related casualties since the
ceasefire was signed in December
1996.[39 ]
Few efforts have been made to comprehensively identify people with
disabilities, including landmine
survivors.[40 ]Although there are
no official registries of landmine survivors in Guatemala, in June 2005 a
Guatemala demining official stated that there is an estimated 326 landmine
survivors in the country. UNICEF and ASCATED (Asociación de
Capacitación y Asistencia Técnica en Educación y
Discapacidad) identified 177 mine/UXO survivors injured between 1972 and
December 2002.[41]
There continue, however, to be casualties caused by UXO. In May 2004, two
children were killed by a grenade found in a garbage dump. On 13 June 2005, two
young men, aged 17 and 18, were killed and five children under 10 were injured
when a grenade found near a military base in Jutiapa Department
exploded.[42 ]On 17 June 2005, two
soldiers were injured in an explosion in a military munitions storage
facility.[43]
Despite the existence of 23 disability organizations, disability legislation
and a variety of programs for disabled people, including mine/UXO survivors,
very few disabled people have comprehensive access to rehabilitation services,
skills training, psychological support and employment opportunities. The
majority of private and public healthcare centers assisting people with
disabilities are located in the capital city; disabled people from rural areas
are required to travel long distances, often at their own expense, to receive
assistance.[45]
The Ministry of Health operates the Programa Nacional de Atención a
Personas con Discapacidad, which has healthcare, rehabilitation and
micro-enterprise support programs designed specifically for people with
disabilities caused by the armed conflict. In 2004, it provided 96 workshops
for health personnel, training 350 people. In the first half of 2005, 12
workshops were provided for 240
people.[46]
UNICEF, in cooperation with ASCATED and the University of Valle, supports
community-based rehabilitation and socioeconomic reintegration of mine/UXO
survivors through five centers (Nebaj and Chajul in Quiche; Quetzaltenango; San
Marcos and Poptún in Petén). Each center provides monthly
physical rehabilitation assistance to an estimated 25 persons with disabilities.
No known mine survivors were assisted in
2004.[47]
The Guatemalan NGO Transitions provides rehabilitation services, education
programs, job training, and sports training for persons with disabilities. From
April 2004 to April 2005 Transitions provided direct assistance to 100 persons.
Two UXO survivors assisted by Transitions in previous years are now reintegrated
into the community working in their own
workshops.[48 ]
The Guatemalan Red Cross project Derribando Barreras (Removing Barriers), in
cooperation with the Spanish Red Cross, also provides assistance, including
prosthetics and rehabilitation services to war-wounded and persons with
disabilities.
[1 ]The Decree is annexed to
Article 7 Report, 2 May 2005.
[2 ]Interview with Jhony Cabrera,
Coordinator, Executive Coordinating Unit (UCE), Geneva, 16 June 2005. Penal
sanctions under the law include imprisonment for up to six years.
[3 ]The UN submission date for the
report is listed as 2 May 2005, while the report itself is dated 19 April 2005.
Previous Article 7 reports were submitted on 12 May 2004, 3 September 2003, 5
June 2002 and 2 March 2001.
[4 ]Statement by Guatemala, Nairobi
Summit on a Mine-Free World (First Review Conference), Nairobi, 3 December 2004.
[5 ]Article 7 Report, Forms B, D
and E, 12 May 2004. Guatemala first reported this information to Landmine
Monitor in February 1999.
[6 ]Article 7 Reports, Form C, 2
May 2005, 12 May 2004 and 3 September 2003.
[7 ]See “Artefactos
Explosivos Destruidos por el Grupo de Desminado,” annexed to Article 7
Reports, 2 May 2005, 12 May 2004 and 3 September 2003.
[8 ]Article 7 Reports, Form C, 2
May 2005, 12 May 2004 and 3 September 2003.
[9 ]Interview with Guillermo
Pacheco, Coordinator, OAS PADCA, Guatemala, 24 July 2001. See also Landmine
Monitor Report 2004, p. 469.
[10 ]Interview with Jhony
Cabrera, UCE, Geneva, 16 June 2005.
[11 ]Interview with Jhony
Cabrera, UCE, Guatemala, 21 January 2004, and Geneva, 15 June 2005.
[12 ]Interviews with Jhony
Cabrera, UCE, 14 and 26 January 2004; see Landmine Monitor Report 2004,
p. 470.
[13]Interview with Col. Luis
Ramos, CIEG, Guatemala, 13 May 2005; interview with Miguel Barahona,
Coordinator, OAS AICMA, Guatemala, 22 March and 19 May 2005.
[14 ]Interview with Jhony
Cabrera, UCE, Geneva, 16 June 2005.
[15 ]Article 7 Report, national
mine action plan (attachment), 5 June 2002; OAS AICMA, “Portfolio
2003-2004,” August 2003, p. 22.
[16 ]Interview with Sandino
Asturias, former URNG member, Guatemala, 17 May 2005.
[17 ]Interview with Col. Luis
Ramos, CIEG, Guatemala, 13 May 2005.
[18 ]Interview with Jhony
Cabrera, UCE, Geneva, 16 June 2005.
[19]OAS AICMA report to the OAS
Hemispheric Security Commission, Washington DC, 21 September 2005.
[20 ]Interview with Col. Luis
Ramos, CIEG, Guatemala, 13 May 2005.
[21 ]Interview with Jhony
Cabrera, UCE, Geneva, 16 June 2005.
[22]Article 7 Report, national
mine action plan (attachment), 5 June 2002.
[23 ]Article 7 Report, 2 May
2005, Annexed Report 2004-2005, “Explosive Devices.” The two PMN
mines were destroyed on 26 March 2004.
[24 ]Presentation by Guatemala,
Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action
Technologies, Geneva, 14 June 2005; interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, Geneva,
16 June 2005.
[25 ]Interview with Jhony
Cabrera, UCE, Guatemala, 19 May 2005.
[26 ]Telephone interview with
Jhony Cabrera, UCE, Guatemala, 5 October 2004.
[27 ]Presentation, Standing
Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies,
Geneva, 14 June 2005; interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, Geneva, 16 June 2005;
telephone interview with Jhony Cabrera, 5 October 2004.
[28]Julio Lara, “Vuelve la
calma a brigade Mariscal Zavala Cientos de familias fueron evacuadas en las
zones 17, 17 y 18,” La Prensa Libre, 19 June 2005.
[29 ]Interview with Jhony
Cabrera, UCE, Geneva, 16 June 2005.
[30]Article 7 Report, Form I, 12
May 2004. OAS AICMA, “Portafolio 2003-2004,” August 2003, p.
22.
[31 ]Presentation by Guatemala,
Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action
Technologies, Geneva, 14 June 2005.
[32 ]Article 7 Report, Form I, 12
May 2004; interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, Guatemala, 8 April 2005.
[33]Interview with Jhony
Cabrera, UCE, Geneva, 16 June 2005.
[34 ]Presentation by Guatemala,
Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action
Technologies, Geneva, 14 June 2005.
[35 ]Interview with Miguel
Barahona, Coordinator, OAS AICMA Guatemala, 20 May 2005.
[36]Interview with Miguel
Barahona, OAS AICMA Guatemala, 20 May 2005.
[37 ]“Canciller de
Guatemala inició visita official a Colombia,” AFP
(Bogotá), 26 July 2004; “Guatemala ayudará a Colombia en
la eliminación de minas antipersonales,” El Tiempo
(Bogotá), 27 July 2004.
[38 ]Interview with Guillermo
Pacheco, OAS PADCA, 28 January 2004.
[39 ]US Department of State,
“To Walk the Earth in Safety,” Bureau of Political-Military Affairs,
Washington, Fifth Edition, August 2004, p. 47.
[40 ]Guatemala Report,
“International Disability Rights Monitor 2004: Regional Report on the
Americas,” International Disability Network, Chicago, 2004.
[41]Interview with Jhony
Cabrera, UCE, Geneva, 16 June 2005; for more information, see Landmine
Monitor Report 2004, p. 474.
[42 ]Interview with Col. Nelson
Leonel Bonilla Romero, Chief, MARMINCA Nicaragua, Managua, 31 May 2004;
interview with William de Leon and Mario Cruz, Volunteer Firefighters Corps,
Guatemala, 14 June 2005.
[43]Julio Lara, “Vuelve la
calma a brigade Mariscal Zavala Cientos de familias fueron evacuadas en las
zones 17, 17 y 18,” La Prensa Libre, 19 June 2005.
[44 ]For more details, see
Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 474; Landmine Monitor Report
2003, p. 274; Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 284.
[45]For more information, see
Guatemala Report, “International Disability Rights Monitor 2004: Regional
Report on the Americas,” International Disability Network, Chicago, 2004,
p. 223.
[46]Interview with Gilda Luna,
Director DISPAM/PRADIS Project, Ministry of Health, 15 June 2005; Guatemala
Report, “International Disability Rights Monitor 2004: Regional Report on
the Americas,” International Disability Network, Chicago, 2004, p.
224.
[47]Interview with Rolando
Flores, Project Officer, ASCATED, Guatemala, 4 April 2005.
[48 ]Interview with Flor de
María Canis, Assistant Director, Transitions, Guatemala, 12 April
2005.
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