Honduras

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It is important that the expert military contingent works to support the authorities in Honduras, and to also assist them with maintenance along the borderlines where mine clearance work has been performed to try to give security and safety to people. Honduras does not certify the existence of anti-personnel mines and other UXO, Honduras should have the support of expert military assistance and requests support. The military contingence in charge of demining consists of sixty soldiers.

The speaker turned the presentation over to a commander of a mine clearance unit. The commander began by giving some background on the issue of mine clearance taken since 1995. Personnel from the Honduras army and other Latin American countries work together to demine many areas. A goal for 2004 is the termination of mine and UXO clearance operations in Honduras and to maintain a team of sixty men for any potential mine clearance problems. There are many unregistered mine fields in Honduras, meaning the exact location of mines is undetermined. In the south, near the border of Nicaragua, Hurricane Mitch caused many anti-tank landmines to be exposed, which has spurred another special project to clear mines.

To complete 450,000 square meters of sweeping, Honduras has already destroyed 2,500 mines and wants to destroy 3,000 more mines. The area that was cleared is a watermelon field, and has benefited 65,000 families.

Honduras plans to implement new technology with the support of the American army. The equipment was designed for the terrain found specifically in Honduras. The new effective equipment will help to generate trust in the public population.

Challenges include weather conditions because of lack of land access. Additionally, obtaining and maintaining the proper resources presents large costs and challenges. In 1997, Honduras established that 7,441 stockpiled mines would be destroyed with the financial assistance of Canada. Mine risk education campaigns include going to suspect areas to handout information. There is no victim assistance program, because there are so many few victims. Canada, Mexico, and the Pan-American Health System have assisted isolated cases.