Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline: 1 March 2017
(Not on track to meet the deadline)

Recommendations for action 

• Peru should urgently revise its clearance plan to include the 128 additional mined areas inherited from Ecuador since 2012.
• Peru should inform States Parties of its exact needs for assistance and resource shortfall, and provide a clear plan on how it intends to raise the additional funding needed. 

Contamination

In April 2014, the Republic of Peru reported 438,254m² of confirmed hazardous area (CHA) containing mines.[1] No update has since been provided.

In May 2015, Peru reported its remaining contamination covers 133 mined areas, down from 135 in 2013, and contains more than 11,000 mines, as set out in the table below. Peru’s contamination is located along the border with Ecuador. 

Mine contamination by sector as of end 2014[2]

Mine contamination in Peru results from the 1995 border conflict with Ecuador.[3] During this conflict, part of the two states’ common border was mined, affecting four departments in Peru: Amazonas, Cajamarca, Piura, and Tumbes. The most heavily mined section of the border is the Condor Mountain Range, which was at the center of the dispute.[4] In 2012–2013, Peru’s total mine threat increased significantly as a result of information exchange with Ecuador, with the addition of a total of 128 mined areas covering 402,254m² and containing more than 6,000 mines.[5] In June 2015, Peru declared that other mined areas might be found.[6] 

Peru has had two other mine problems. In the 1980s, mines were laid in the center of the country to protect infrastructure against attacks from non-state armed groups.[7] Peru completed clearance of its entire mined infrastructure in April 2012.[8] In February 2012, Peru suffered further mine contamination along its border with Chile following mine displacement caused by torrential rains and floods in northern Chile. The floods caused mines laid in the 1970s to surface in the area “Quebrada de Escritos” near the main highway linking Arica, in Chile, with Tacna, in Peru.[9] Peru and Chile tasked Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) to clear the area, which it completed in December 2012, destroying some 300 mines in the process.[10]

Peru has reported that mines have had a severe socio-economic impact on the populations living in affected areas, and that the remoteness of the areas has made it difficult to estimate the number of casualties.[11]

Program Management

The national mine action program is managed by the Interministerial Executive Council of the Peruvian Mine Action Centre (Centro Peruano de Acción contra las Minas Antipersonal, CONTRAMINAS), chaired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. CONTRAMINAS is responsible for setting strategy and priorities, in addition to plan and budget approval. It is also responsible for overall management and day-to-day coordination of mine action activities.

Until the end of 2013, the Organization of American States (OAS) provided technical and financial assistance to Peru’s mine action operations, which it initiated in May 2011 through its Assistance Mission for Mine Clearance in South America (Misión de Asistencia a la Remoción de Minas en America del Sur, MARMINAS).[12]

In April 2013, under the Binational Cooperation Programme (Programa Binacional de Cooperación) established in 2000, Ecuador and Peru adopted a Binational Manual for Humanitarian Demining (Manual Binacional de Desminado Humanitario) to unify the demining procedures of both states in accordance with the International Mine Action Standards (IMAS).[13] In December 2013, the joint Ecuador-Peru Binational Humanitarian Demining Unit of 30 deminers conducted its first exercise in Morona Santiago, Ecuador, during which 317m² were cleared, and 30 antipersonnel mines were found. A second exercise took place on the Peruvian side of the border in 2014 but the results were not publicly reported.[14] 

Peru’s Article 5 deadline extension request provided a timeline with conservative yearly targets for clearance in 2009–2017.[15] According to its national clearance plan, Peru planned to release four mined areas in 2015 and three in 2016.[16]

Regarding the additional mined areas identified in 2012–2013, Peru noted that clearance would require a “significant increase in the resources of the Peruvian State to provide greater capabilities to humanitarian demining process in order to comply with the obligations of the Convention and complete clearance and destruction of mines by March 2017.”[17] As of June 2015, Peru had not provided details of its exact needs for assistance and resources. 

Land Release 

Total mined area released by clearance and technical survey in 2014 was 6,422m², which represents only one quarter of 2013 clearance results, during which 25,715m² were cleared.[18] Land release operations took place in Cenepa sector, and included the destruction of 452 mines.

This sharp decline in mined area cleared may be due to a decrease in the work periods: from 12 work periods in 2013 to only seven in 2014.[19] Moreover, deminers are only able to work during a limited number of days as a work period consists of 20 days. Difficult climatic conditions may also impact the pace of land release. Indeed, in October 2014, the Peruvian president, Ollanta Humala, mentioned the torrential rains as a latent risk in demining operations.[20] Demining in the Cordillera del Condor area is a challenging endeavor due to its topography as a mountainous jungle prone to heavy rain for much of the year, and as it reaches heights of 2,900m that makes it only accessible by a two-hour helicopter flight.[21] 

Deminer Safety

On 24 September 2014, a Peruvian deminer was injured during clearance operations in the Cordillera del Condor area.[22] 

Article 5 Compliance 

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty (and in accordance with the eight-year extension granted by States Parties in 2008), Peru is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 March 2017. Peru is not on track to meet its 2017 deadline. 

From 2010–2014, Peru has reported clearing less than 120,000m² of mined area with the destruction of almost 8,500 mines (see table below). Of the 38 mined areas identified in its extension request, Peru has addressed 30 of them, meaning it has completed more than 80% of its initial challenge.

Mine clearance in 2010–2014[23]

Peru’s latest extension request submitted in 2008 cited limited transportation and communication networks, difficult meteorological conditions in the areas of operations, the geography of the region, and limited financing for operations as the main reasons for needing additional time.[24]

In granting the eight-year extension, the Ninth Meeting of States Parties noted that “after sporadic progress since entry into force, the request indicates a commitment on the part of Peru to proceed at a more constant rate though the extension period.”[25] 

Peru has addressed two of its three mine problems: at the border with Chile following 2012 floods, and around its infrastructures. However, its primary mine problem at the border with Ecuador remains.

In its revised extension request, Peru estimated that a budget of US$26 million would be needed to complete clearance, of which $17.8 million (almost 70%) would be provided by its national budget.[26] This projection does not take into account the need for increased resources due to additional mined areas identified.