Nicaragua

2008 Key Data

Ten-Year Summary

The Republic of Nicaragua became a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty on 1 May 1999 and national implementation legislation was signed into law on 7 December 1999. Nicaragua destroyed its stockpile of 133,435 antipersonnel mines between April 1999 and August 2002. Nicaragua hosted and was President of the Third Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in September 2001. Nicaragua has twice served as co-chair of the Standing Committee on Victim Assistance (2000–2001, and 2004–2005).

Nicaragua is contaminated by mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) as a result of armed conflict between 1979 and 1990. More than 1,000 mined areas have been recorded or identified. Mines were mostly located in the border areas in the north and south of the country, the majority along the Honduran border, and by 2009 the remaining mined areas were only on the border with Honduras. Nicaragua requested, and was granted, a one-year extension to its Article 5 deadline of 1 May 2009.

Between 1999 and 2008, Landmine Monitor identified 117 mine/ERW casualties in Nicaragua: 27 killed and 90 injured. Nicaragua has reported 1,236 casualties since 1980. It has consistently carried out mine/ERW risk education since 1999, which has been evaluated and assessed regularly. Starting in 2006, the coverage of risk education activities and the number of beneficiaries began to decrease to just two departments of the country, corresponding to the reduction in contamination.

As of March 2009, 1,107 of Nicaragua’s 1,145 registered survivors had received regular rehabilitation services and 450 had also received socio-economic reintegration services with support from the Organization of American States. Efforts to improve national capacity were limited throughout much of the 10-year period, though some improvements in quality and access to emergency and continuing medical care and physical rehabilitation services were noted in 2008.

Mine Ban Policy

Nicaragua signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified it on 30 November 1998, becoming a State Party on 1 May 1999. Legislation to enforce the antipersonnel mine prohibition domestically, Law 321, was enacted on 7 December 1999 and includes penal sanctions.^[1]

Nicaragua participated in the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2008, where it made a statement regarding its Article 5 extension request and announced its intent to host a regional meeting to prepare for the Second Review Conference. Government representatives from 18 countries across the region attended the Managua Workshop on Progress and Challenges in Achieving a Mine-Free Americas from 24–26 February 2009, in addition to campaigners and mine survivors from 12 countries.^[2]

On 13 April 2009, Nicaragua submitted its tenth Article 7 report, covering the period to 31 December 2008.^[3]

Nicaragua attended the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in May 2009, where it reported on mine clearance and risk education efforts.

Nicaragua has not expressed clear views with respect to key issues of interpretation of Articles 1, 2, and 3 of the treaty, including what acts are prohibited by the ban on “assistance,” whether antivehicle mines with sensitive fuzes are banned, and the acceptable number of mines retained for training.^[4]

Nicaragua is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines. Nicaragua has never submitted an annual report as required by the protocol’s Article 13. Nicaragua is also party to CCW Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War. Nicaragua signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in December 2008, but had not yet ratified it as of 1 July 2009.^[5]

Production, transfer, stockpile destruction, and retention

Nicaragua has stated that it has never produced antipersonnel mines.^[6] It is not known to have ever exported mines. Nicaragua destroyed its stockpile of 133,435 antipersonnel mines between 12 April 1999 and 28 August 2002.

According to its most recent Article 7 report, the Nicaraguan army retained a total of 1,004 antipersonnel mines for training as of April 2009, the same number as reported in 2008 and 2007.^[7] In previous years, Nicaragua reported consuming some of its retained mines.^[8] The report stated that the army transferred 26 PMN mines to the Engineer Corps for detector calibration and 46 mines to the mine detection dog training unit.^[9]

In March 2009, Nicaragua informed Landmine Monitor that following the completion of its demining program it would present a plan for reducing the number of mines retained for training.^[10]

Nicaragua has previously reported that it possesses 121 MON-series (Claymore-type) directional fragmentation mines.^[11]

Scope of the Problem

Contamination

Nicaragua is contaminated by mines and ERW as a result of armed conflict between 1979 and 1990. Most of the mines used were antipersonnel, but antivehicle mines were also laid along the northern border with Honduras. Mined areas have been reported in 105 communities,^[12] in 74 municipalities, in 14 of the 15 departments, and in the two autonomous regions. In addition, almost 1.9 million ERW have been destroyed in the course of demining operations.^[13]

Based on records from the Nicaraguan Army, which Nicaragua considered to be 80% complete,^[14] the total number of antipersonnel and antivehicle mines emplaced was initially said to be 135,643 in 991 minefields.^[15] This estimate had risen to more than 179,195 mines (32% more than the original estimate) in 1,019 mined areas, covering 11km², by May 2009 as a result of clearance operations and reports from communities of new suspected hazardous areas (SHAs).^[16]

In May 2009, it was reported that at least 5,471 mines remained in 10 mined areas^[17] across four municipalities: three in the department of Nueva Segovia (Mozonte, San Fernando, and Wiwilí) and one in the department of Jinotega (Wiwilí de Jinotega), all of which are on the border with Honduras.^[18]

Casualties

In 2008, there were three new mine/ERW casualties (all three injured) in two incidents and one demining accident. The casualties were registered by the Organization of American States (OAS) Assistance Program for Demining in Central America (Programa de Apoyo al Desminado en Centroamérica, PADCA) and confirmed by the Nicaraguan Demining Commission (Comisión Nacional de Desminado, CND). All three were men injured by antipersonnel mines.^[19] Two civilian incidents occurred in Jalapa municipality in the department of Nueva Segovia. The first, on 18 September, occurred while a farmer, who had received RE, was transporting the mine to a “safe place” before reporting it.^[20] The other, on 14 October, occurred when a farmer lost his foot to a mine 21m from a minefield cleared in 2006; following this, clearance within 100m² of the incident was conducted and no mines were found.^[21] The third injury came in a demining accident on 9 December 2008 in the “Las Nubes” minefield in San Fernando, Nueva Segovia. The mine was one meter outside a suspected mined area and exploded when the squadron chief entered the area to carry out an inspection.^[22]

The three casualties in 2008 were a significant decrease from 2007 (one killed and 14 injured in six incidents) and the lowest number of casualties identified by Landmine Monitor since 1999. This may be the result of an intensified risk education campaign to respond to ERW casualties in 2008, military clearance, and police efforts to halt transportation of explosives.^[23]

So far in 2009, a man was injured in Tipitapa, Managua department, when he struck an ERW while digging a latrine for his home.^[24]

As of 13 May 2009, the OAS PADCA database had information on 1,236 casualties in Nicaragua since 1980 (91 deaths and 1,145 injuries), including 43 demining accidents.^[25] Of these, 117 casualties occurred between 1999 and 2008 (27 killed and 90 injured).^[26] Ninety percent of Nicaraguan mine/ERW survivors are men between 20 and 40 years old at the time of their injury, the majority being farmers injured while working on the land.^[27]

Socio-economic impact

No more than 15,000 people were believed to be living near the remaining mined areas.^[28] This represents a 95% reduction in the number of people potentially impacted since the start of the mine action program in 1991.^[29] All the remaining mined areas are, however, in impoverished areas.^[30] The demand for land is so great that at times farmers are said to begin to use the newly demined areas before they are officially handed over to the local government.^[31]

Program Management and Coordination

Mine action

The CND, created in 1998, is responsible for formulating national mine action policy, assisting and coordinating implementation of the National Humanitarian Demining Program (Programa Nacional de Desminado Humanitario, PNDH), managing international funds, and conducting risk education.^[32]

Risk education

Mine/ERW risk education (RE) is nominally coordinated by the CND and its Sub-Commission on Education and Prevention, which includes representatives from government ministries, NGOs, the Nicaraguan Red Cross, UNICEF, and OAS PADCA. However, the sub-commission did not meet in 2007 or 2008.^[33]

Victim assistance

Victim assistance (VA) is nominally coordinated by the CND and its Sub-Commission for Medical Assistance and Rehabilitation of Mine Survivors. However, the sub-commission did not meet in 2008.^[34] On 5 February 2009, the Director General of Health Services within the Ministry of Health was named the VA focal point, a position that had been vacant since the closure of the ministry’s Rehabilitation Office in 2007.^[35] The National Rehabilitation Council (Consejo Nacional de Rehabilitación, CONARE) coordinates the national plan for physical rehabilitation.^[36] OAS PADCA’s VA program coordinates and provides financial support for the provision of physical rehabilitation and economic reintegration services to mine survivors.^[37]

In 2008, the Nicaraguan Commission for Verification, Reconciliation, Peace, and Justice established a plan to respond to the needs of victims of war, including those disabled during the war as a result of landmines and other causes, based on the commitments of Nicaragua’s peace process.^[38]

Data collection and management

The identification of the location of mined areas is based on records from the Nicaraguan Army, new mined areas discovered during clearance operations, RE sessions, and reports from local officials and communities. The OAS manages the mine action database including the victim database, using the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) software, at its offices in Managua.^[39]

Casualty data is collected by the Nicaraguan Army and OAS PADCA risk educators, using a joint form that asks for details of the incident, personal details, and assistance received.^[40] Data is stored in IMSMA and managed by OAS PADCA. While this database has been described as “very complete,”^[41] an official within the demining program estimated that the number of survivors could be significantly higher.^[42]

When the OAS first began collecting casualty data, it required hospital records for confirmation. Many survivors did not have this record so they were not counted. In addition, civilians who were involved in mine incidents during the war are counted as “victims of war” rather than mine survivors.^[43] However, in 2008, OAS PADCA reported that the victim assistance database was much more complete than in the past, as a result of ongoing data collection efforts through RE campaigns.^[44] In 2008, the Ministry of Health began collecting information about the cause of amputations from children receiving medical and physical rehabilitation services.^[45] In 2009, OAS PADCA and the Nicaraguan government started discussing plans to transfer responsibility for the database to the government, anticipating the future closure of the OAS PADCA office.^[46]

Plans

Strategic mine action plan

Due to the “high number” of unrecorded mines discovered during clearance, in every year since 2004, operations have been delayed and the projected completion of the mine action program put back. In March 2008, Nicaragua declared that it would not be able to meet its Article 5 deadline of 1 May 2009 and requested a one-year extension of its deadline.^[47] Clearance priorities for 2008 and 2009 included all known mined areas.^[48] An unspecified part of the US$5 million sought for demining operations in 2009 was needed to replace boots, metal detectors, and communications equipment.^[49]

Integration of mine action with reconstruction and development

A study conducted on behalf of the OAS by the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos, INEC) from August 2006 through April 2007 found a direct relationship between mine clearance in previously affected areas and subsequent improvements in various development indicators, such as health, access to education, and access to water and electricity.^[50] Some of the improvements in development indicators may be due to improved access to formerly affected communities as a result of the repair or construction of roads for mine clearance operations.^[51] By the end of 2008, 138.5km of roadwork had been completed to facilitate mine action.^[52] The roads were built by the National Institute for Rural Development and the Nicaraguan Army Corps of Engineers and will be maintained by the local government and farmers.^[53] One example of successfully using demined land is a farmer and his family who returned to reclaim land that was suitable for planting coffee. In 2008, they won the honor of “best cup” in an annual coffee contest, and his crop subsequently fetched more than $41,000 on the international market.^[54]

National ownership

Commitment to mine action and victim assistance

Nicaragua has been clearing mines on its territory since the end of the decade-long conflict in the 1980s. Since joining the Mine Ban Treaty in 1999, it has established a national mine action coordination body, engaged the army in demining, and provided considerable funding for mine action, while actively seeking international assistance.

National management

CND employees are paid by the Ministry of Defense, but the CND has no operational budget and works with resources from donor countries channeled through the OAS or bilaterally. Since 1993 (except in 1995–1996) the OAS, through its Program for Integrated Action against Antipersonnel Mines (Acción Integral Contra las Minas Antipersonal, AICMA), has provided support to mine action activities in Nicaragua through PADCA, with technical support from the Inter-American Defense Board.^[55]

The Mine Clearance Assistance Mission in Central America (Misión de Asistencia para la Remoción de Minas en Centro América, MARMINCA), which is part of the Inter-American Defense Board based in Washington, DC, monitors demining operations to ensure that they meet humanitarian demining standards. It is planned that MARMINCA will retain up to three people in-country during the six months after Nicaragua clears its last known mined area in case any new suspected mined areas are identified.^[56]

National mine action legislation and standards/Standing operating procedures

National mine action legislation was enacted with Presidential decree 84–98 published on 5 December 1998, which created the civilian CND as the interagency coordination body responsible for the implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty and the development of the National Humanitarian Demining Program. It authorized the CND to conduct surveys, establish and manage a database, assess the socio-economic impact, support the special demining unit of the Nicaraguan Army in its work, raise funds, receive reports from the Ministry of Defense on demining activities, and negotiate with the proper officials to ensure mine survivors are included in social and rehabilitation programs.^[57]

Nicaragua reports that it respects the International Mine Action Standards and national standing operating procedures.^[58]

Demining and Battle Area Clearance

Clearance operations in Nicaragua are the responsibility of the Nicaraguan Army Engineer Corps. From 1999–2008, more than 600 Nicaraguans worked in the national mine action program (both civilians and army personnel), but in early 2009, the total number was reduced to 450 as a result of a decline in funding.^[59] Clearance operations are organized on five “fronts” consisting of between 70 and 100 personnel each. A group of 29 deminers referred to as the Marking Platoon (Pelotón de Señalización), which responded to new reports of mines and UXO and marked mined areas, was disbanded in December 2008 due to a lack of funding.^[60]

In 2008, all mine clearance in Nicaragua was done manually. The conditions and remoteness of minefields along the Honduran border do not make mechanical clearance feasible, according to MARMINCA.^[61] In 2008, Nicaragua cleared 29 mined areas in Boca de Paiwas, Jalapa, La Dalia, and Murra municipalities, destroying 7,123 antipersonnel mines.^[62]

Progress since becoming a State Party

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Nicaragua was required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 May 2009. Between 1990 and 28 February 2008, Nicaragua’s mine clearance program released 53.03km² of SHAs and destroyed 158,661 mines in 958 minefields.^[63] Each year since 2004, Nicaragua has declared it needed one more year to meet its treaty obligations. Each year, however, completion was pushed back for another year, and in March 2008, Nicaragua declared that it would not meet its 1 May 2009 deadline and applied for a one-year extension. The extension request cited the discovery of new minefields and the decline in international funding as justifications for the need for an extension.

States Parties granted Nicaragua the extension on 28 November 2008. As of late May 2009, Nicaragua reported that 10 mined areas remained to be cleared.^[64]

Risk Education

In 2008, mine/ERW RE activities continued to decrease in line with the reduced area of contamination in the country. Mine/ERW casualties decreased compared to 2007 and the number of public reports of mines or ERW received by RE personnel continued to be high (130), providing two indicators of an effective program.^[65]

As in past years, the number of RE beneficiaries continued to decline, with 34,541 people receiving RE in 2008 compared to 42,327 in 2007.^[66] The RE program in 2008 focused on ERW risk prevention, given the increase in ERW incidents in 2007.^[67]

In 2008, all RE activities were carried out by OAS PADCA in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and local authorities. Geographic targets for RE activities were reassessed every three months based on remaining known mined areas, public reports of mines or ERW that had been found, and mine/ERW casualties.^[68] In the departments of Boaco, Jinotega, León, Matagalpa, and Nueva Segovia, a total of 28,658 adults and children received RE messages. Four methodologies were used: community presentations (2,466 beneficiaries), door-to-door or peer-to-peer messages (18,930), classroom presentations (2,789), and community festivals (4,473).^[69] In order to include adult men, sessions were held when men would be home and arrangements were made with farm owners to provide sessions to their employees.^[70]

A further 5,883 people in León and Matagalpa received ERW RE alongside the destruction of obsolete munitions.^[71] RE messages for scrap metal collectors were also aired on television warning scrap metal collectors.^[72]

In 1999, RE activities had been underway for three years, but it was assessed that more community-based organizations needed to be involved. In 2002, the CND became responsible for the implementation of the national RE plan, and worked to harmonize the activities of the operators by providing supervision and developing a National Guide for the Development of Educational Materials. In June 2004, UNICEF reported that RE activities had become more organized and effective in terms of coverage, coordination, and the methodologies used. An OAS/CND evaluation of RE materials in 2005 resulted in an increased focus on ERW and more information about the physical and economic impact of mines/ERW. Starting in 2006, the coverage of RE activities and number of beneficiaries began to decrease, corresponding to the reduction of mine contamination to just two departments of the country.

Victim Assistance

The estimated number of survivors is 1,145. As of March 2009, a total of 1,107 survivors had received regular rehabilitation services and of these, 450 had also received socio-economic reintegration services with support from the OAS.^[73] Some advances were noted in data collection, government coordination and planning, the provision of emergency medical care, and physical rehabilitation services. However, despite the large number of survivors receiving individual attention, NGO representatives still expressed concern over the national sustainability of physical rehabilitation and socio-economic reintegration programs, the centralization of these services, and the lack of trained staff.^[74]

In 2008, the Nicaraguan government committed to address the needs of war victims, including mine survivors, in recognition of their sacrifice during Nicaragua’s revolution and civil war.^[75] However, as of March 2009, this commitment had not yet resulted in tangible action.^[76]

Nicaragua’s urban hospitals have sufficient surgical capacity for emergency care and specialized services. Some regional hospitals close to demining operations, such as the Ocotal Hospital in Nueva Segovia, have sufficient capacity to provide care to deminers as well as civilian casualties.^[77] However, hospitals in more remote regions of the country, such as the mine-affected department of Jinotega, lack such capacity, requiring expensive evacuations to Managua, beyond the reach of most civilian casualties.^[78] In 2008, the Ocotal Hospital provided emergency care to all three new survivors before referring cases to Managua. The military provided free evacuation services to one of the civilian casualties in 2008.^[79]

In 2008, the government restructured the management of physical rehabilitation and increased national funding,^[80] though services remained limited to three workshops (one public and two private). Two of these were based in the capital and all were distant for most survivors.^[81] One physical therapy center reopened in 2008 in Ocotal, in a region with a large number of mine survivors.^[82] Increased government funding for the National Center for the Production of Technical Assistance and Orthoprosthetic Devices (Centro Nacional de Producción de Ayudas Técnicas y Elementos Ortoprotésicos, CENAPRORTO) resulted in a 25% increase in production of orthopedic devices.^[83]

In June 2008, Nicaragua began developing a national plan for physical rehabilitation. Initially convened by the ICRC-Special Fund for the Disabled, CONARE assumed responsibility for the planning process and convened additional planning meetings in October 2008, and January and June 2009.^[84] As of March 2009, the plan was not finalized, delaying the implementation of a revised rehabilitation program within the Ministry of Health.^[85]

Psychosocial support is available to survivors who are accessing other services, through the three physical rehabilitation workshops and the National Technological Institute (Instituto Nacional Tecnológico, INATEC).^[86] Economic reintegration and educational opportunities remain inadequate to meet the demand, but INATEC’s capacity to provide vocational training to persons with disabilities improved in 2008.^[87] As of March 2009, 450 mine survivors had received socio-economic reintegration assistance through the OAS; 50 individuals remained on a waiting list.^[88] But a “large majority” of mine survivors remain unemployed.^[89] Only some survivors receive a disability pension ranging from $7 to $26.60 per month, depending on the severity of their disability.^[90]

Nicaragua has various laws protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.^[91] However, these laws are not effectively enforced and discrimination is “widespread.”^[92] Nicaragua ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 7 December 2007, and signed its Optional Protocol on 21 October 2008. As of 25 March 2009, Nicaragua was in the process of reviewing and updating its national legislation to comply with the convention.^[93] Nicaragua has also ratified the Plan of Action for the Decade of the Americas for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006–2016).^[94]

Progress in meeting VA26 victim assistance objectives

As one of the 26 States Parties with significant numbers of mine survivors, and “the greatest responsibility to act, but also the greatest needs and expectations for assistance” in providing adequate attention to survivors, Nicaragua presented its 2005–2009 objectives to implement the Nairobi Action Plan at the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in 2005. However, neither revisions to the objectives nor plans to achieve them had been presented formally as of March 2009. Nicaragua’s victim assistance focal point reported that Nicaragua did not compare progress in victim assistance with its Nairobi Action Plan objectives but said “they could.”^[95]

Nicaragua provided updates on its victim assistance activities at the Seventh and Eighth Meetings of States Parties and at intersessional Standing Committee meetings in 2005, 2006, and 2007. Nicaragua included a victim assistance/disability expert on its delegation to the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in 2007 and the Sixth and Eighth Meetings of States Parties. In 2005, 2006, and 2007 Nicaragua did not use voluntary form J in its Article 7 report to provide information on victim assistance.^[96] In 2008 and 2009, it did use Form I to provide information on casualty data collection (the same information both years).^[97] In February 2009, Nicaragua hosted a regional preparatory meeting for the Second Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty, where it provided an update on its victim assistance activities.^[98]

Victim assistance activities

In 2008, the Foundation for Rehabilitation “Walking Unidos” (Fundación para la rehabilitación “Walking Unidos”), through its two rehabilitation centers—Walking Unidos in León and Different Abilities (Capacidades Diferentes, CAPADIFE) in Managua—and CENAPRORTO in Managua assisted more than 1,000 persons with disabilities, including fitting 513 prostheses, 432 orthoses, and the delivery of 36 wheelchairs and 87 pairs of crutches. Approximately 25% of those assisted were mine survivors.^[99]

The OAS supported physical rehabilitation services at CENAPRORTO and CAPADIFE for 394 survivors in 2008, with either new mobility devices or, more typically, maintenance of existing devices.^[100] It also supported comprehensive socio-economic reintegration for 88 survivors, including counseling, vocational training and, when appropriate, small business seed support at INATEC.^[101]

Support for Mine Action

Nicaragua has reported a cost estimate of $8.3 million for fulfillment of its Article 5 obligations during the period 2008–2010, with annual costs estimated at $1.8 million in 2008, $6 million in 2009, and $500,000 in 2010.^[102] National funds were projected to account for $1.7 million or roughly 20% of total required funds, with the remaining $6.6 million provided by international donors.^[103]

As of March 2008, Nicaragua reported a deficit of $1.2 million in funding towards meeting its 2008 mine clearance obligations.^[104] In April 2009, it reported that during the second half of 2008 its programs were fully funded, but funds were lacking for all of 2009, with the exception of its mechanized minesweeper detachment, and for the first quarter of 2010.^[105] For 2009, $5 million was outstanding; for 2010, $400,000 was needed. Lack of funding was listed first among problems in carrying out mine clearance operations.^[106]

In August 2009, Russia announced approximately $6 million in bilateral funding to the government of Nicaragua to cover mine clearance operations until May 2010. Of the total contribution approximately $3 million is reportedly a combination of in-kind contributions of equipment and monetary contributions to purchase equipment, including mine detectors and road-building machinery to improve accessibility to mine-affected areas; roughly $3 million will cover the costs of clearing the remaining mined areas. Nicaragua planned to set aside a small portion of the contribution to fund a rapid response clearance team until the end of 2010.^[107] In December 2008 the rapid response teams had ceased operations due to a funding shortage.^[108]

National support for mine action

Nicaragua has reported contributing about $1 million annually to its mine action program since 1999. In total, Nicaragua has contributed approximately one-sixth of the funds needed for demining.^[109] Nicaragua did not report any contributions to its mine action program in 2008. Nicaragua reported covering CND staffing costs, while international donors covered operational costs.^[110]

International cooperation and assistance

In 2008, three countries reported providing $1,524,756 (€1,035,418) to mine action in Nicaragua. Reported mine action funding in 2008 was approximately 66% less than in 2007. As noted by Nicaragua in April 2009, funding in 2008 was insufficient to meet mine action needs.

2008 International Mine Action Funding to Nicaragua: Monetary^[111]

As noted above, the OAS supports Nicaragua’s national demining plan by providing training, technical advice, supervision, equipment, and logistical and administrative support, including fundraising for humanitarian demining operations.^[112]