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OAS to Conduct Mine-Clearing Operations in Colombia

Nov. 9 2005

Press Release - Organization of American States

The Organization of American States (OAS) and the Colombian government will begin de-mining operations this week in the South American country. This initial phase, which will run for approximately two months in Mamonal, located in the Department of Bolívar, involves as well the destruction of unexploded ordnance.

Some 30 landmine fields scattered across Colombia are under by surveillance of the National Colombian Army. These minefield will be destroyed under the terms of the international Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer or Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, better known as Ottawa Convention. Operations will be carried out by 28 members of the Colombian Navy and Army and will be supervised by two Honduran officers.

The Antipersonnel Observatory, the national mine action authority, coordinates mine clearance activities in Colombia with support from the hemispheric organization, whose support is helping to strengthen existing mine-clearing operations in the country. The OAS has provided training for the soldiers who will conduct out operations and also provides life insurance to the personnel, logistical support and international supervision for the operations.

As well, under the terms of an agreement Colombia and the OAS signed two years ago, the organization will provide physical and psychological rehabilitation to approximately 20 antipersonnel landmine victims, selected by the Observatory. This activity will be carried out through the Rehabilitation Center of Colombia (CIREC). According to national statistics, the country has on average one anti-personnel landmine accident every day.

The OAS coordinates all mine clearance activities through its Comprehensive Mine Action Program.

By Hunter on Nov 10, 2005, 04:50 in Politics & the war.

Hunter says on Nov 23, 2005, 03:45:

AP article Fewer new land mine victims last year around world, report says at least 6,521 people were killed or maimed by land mine blasts last year, compared with 8,065 in 2003 By KIM HOUSEGO

Tuesday, November 22, 2005 Posted at 9:52 PM EST

Associated Press

Bogota, Colombia — The number of reported land mine casualties worldwide declined for the sixth year in a row, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines said in a report Tuesday.

At least 6,521 people were killed or maimed by land mine blasts last year, compared with 8,065 in 2003, the group said in the annual report, which was released during a conference in Medellin, Colombia's second-biggest city, to discuss improving global assistance to victims.

Actual casualty figures could be as high as 20,000 since many cases go unreported, said Kathleen Maes of Handicap International, a victims' group that helped produce the report.

The majority of casualties were civilians, and one-fifth were children, the report said.

It identified nearly 250,000 land mine blast survivors in 121 countries, and said that "medical care, rehabilitation and socio-economic reintegration services remain either inadequate or unavailable in too many countries."

Fewer casualties were recorded in 2004 in some of the countries most affected by land mines, including Afghanistan, Angola and Sri Lanka, the report said. But several countries saw an increase in new mine victims last year, notably Colombia and Cambodia.

"The situation is especially worrying in Colombia," where the number of victims has nearly quadrupled in the past three years, Ms. Maes told The Associated Press.

Colombian military officials say leftist rebels who have battling since the 1960s to establish a Marxist-style state have resorted to the widespread use of mines in an attempt to slow a government offensive. Colombia has reported that land mines now cause one-third of military casualties.

The report singled out Russia, Myanmar and Nepal as the only governments that laid anti-personnel mines this year.

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