Panama
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: State Party Panama ratified the convention on 29 November 2010. The status of national implementation measures is unclear as Panama has not provided its initial transparency report for the convention, which was due in 2011. Panama has participated in meetings of the convention, but not since 2011. It voted for a UN resolution on the convention in December 2015. Panama is not known to have ever used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.
Policy
The Republic of Panama signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 29 November 2010, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 May 2011.
Upon signing the convention, Panama stated that it already had a law in place prohibiting weapons such as cluster munitions.[1] It has not indicated if additional implementing legislation will be undertaken for the convention.
As of 21 June 2016, Panama still had not submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was originally due by 28 October 2011.
Panama participated in the Oslo Process and advocated for the strongest possible convention text during the Dublin negotiations in May 2008.[2]
Panama participated in regional and international meetings relating to the Convention on Cluster Munitions during 2009–2011, but has not attended any meetings held since. It did attend a regional workshop on cluster munitions in Santiago, Chile in December 2013.
On 7 December 2015, Panama voted in favor of a UNGA resolution on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which urges states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[3] It has also voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2015.[4]
Panama has yet to express its views on certain important issues related to the interpretation and implementation of the convention, such as the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions, and the need for retention of cluster munitions and submunitions for training and development purposes. Panama is party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
In the absence of an Article 7 report, Panama is not known to have ever used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.
[1] Statement by Amb. Cecilio Simon, Representative of Panama to Norway and Sweden, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 3 December 2008. Notes by Landmine Action. This could be a reference to the National Penal Code’s Article 237, which Panama has stated applies to antipersonnel mines. Article 237 provides for a prison sentence of two to six years for “anyone who attempts to commit a crime endangering collective security by manufacturing, supplying, acquiring, removing or possessing bombs and explosive materials, or materials intended for their preparation.” Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form A, 16 April 2002; and statement by Amb. Xiamara de Arrocha, Mine Ban Treaty Fifth Meeting of States Parties, Bangkok, 15–19 September 2003.
[2] For details on Panama’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), p. 141.
[3] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 70/54, 7 December 2015.
[4] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 70/234, 23 December 2015. Panama voted in support of a similar resolution on 15 May and 18 December 2013, and 18 December 2014.
Mine Ban Policy
The Republic of Panama signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified it on 7 October 1998, becoming a State Party on 1 April 1999. Panama has never used, produced, exported, or imported antipersonnel mines, including for training purposes. Panama believes that existing legislation is sufficient to enforce the antipersonnel mine prohibition domestically. Panama submitted its third Article 7 report in 2009, but has not submitted subsequent annual reports.
Panama attended the Tenth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in November–December 2010 in Geneva, but did not attend the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in June 2011.
Panama is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.
Panama has a problem with unexploded ordnance as a result of United States military exercises and weapons testing on military ranges in the Canal Zone during the three decades prior to 1999. Colombian rebels have also planted mines in Darien province, where two Panamanian border police were wounded in a mine blast in 2010. The number of devices found is unknown.[1]
[1] Sean Mattson, “Colombian rebels planting landmines in Panama: government,” Reuters, 2 July 2010.
Casualties and Victim Assistance
Casualties
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All known casualties by end 2014 |
3 mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties (1 killed; 2 injured) |
The last recorded casualties in the Republic of Panama were recorded in 2010 when two border policemen were injured on the Panama-Colombia border in an antipersonnel mine incident.[1]
The only other casualty recorded in Panama since 1999 was in 2004, when a farmer was reportedly killed by unexploded ordnance on a former United States military range in Colón province.[2]
[1] “Colombian rebels planting landmines in Panama: government,” Reuters (Panama City), 2 July 2010.
[2] ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2004: Towards a Mine-Free World (New York: Human Rights Watch, October 2004).