General Coordinator of the Comprehensive Action Against Anti-personnel Mines Program of the OAS—Colonel William A. McDonough

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Col. McDonough began his presentation by asserting that although through the collaboration of the OAS and American countries, a general framework for progress in mine action has been designed, mine action is completely national. Every national program has a unique identity based on its mine reality, political will, capacity of people, infrastructure and such factors. However, there are regional goals to be met.

The hemisphere is involved in humanitarian activity with multilateral participation at national and international levels. Monitoring takes place through international resources. Donor countries in the region help with the practical/technical aspects as well as helping the OAS towards accomplishment of these goals. The civil/military corporations have been used, in a large extent, because starting with the Nicaraguan government, the region has taken advantage of the capacity of the military institutions. In many regions the military has been assigned the task of performing most of the technical actions. Through this, the national countries benefit from the order, discipline, logistics and capacity of the civil/ military corporation. Using the civil/ military corporations is the basis of the progress that has been achieved in the Americas; thus, it is a logical decision because it gives the leadership to the Americas.

With the help of the OAS, JAID, donor countries and sponsor countries, our program has been devoted to fundraising, establishing training mechanisms, logistics and administration. The Inter-American Defense Commission has helped with training, accomplishing international standards, humanitarian support, monitoring and providing donor governments with efficient commitment to the mine clearance standards. While donor countries provide money and equipment, sponsor countries provide technical support. It should be known that 70 percent of the resources for mine action in the Americas come from the Americas. This is truly remarkable. Mine action in the Americas is made by the Americas for the Americas. The beneficiary countries provide the infrastructure, military and ministries of health and education. It should be understood that the national investment is always in agreement with the national capacity.

There are four main elements to mine action: humanitarian mine clearance, Mine Risk Education (MRE), destruction of stockpiled mines and assistance to victims. Humanitarian mine clearance is exceptional in the region. The amount of experience the deminers have is outstanding. In Nicaragua, deminers are being accepted who have ten years experience. Preventive education now has international standards and internationally approved materials. These standards are led by NGOs, UN and UNICEF and has one voice. This gives preventive education the ability to provide security against landmines. The amount of stockpiled mines destroyed in the region has reached half a million. There is collaboration going on with Chile, Colombia and Argentina for the destruction of more stockpiled mines which will be possible thanks to the contributions of Canada. Victim assistance is different in every country. In Costa Rica, there are two landmine victims, in Nicaragua there are approximately 800. The possibilities for assisting victims continue to grow. Through technical training and psycho social rehabilitation, victims can return to being productive members of society.

Col. McDonough concluded his presentation by reminding participants that it is important, in order to reach the hemispheric goal, to collaborate regionally such as in this forum. In Bangkok, the Americas will demonstrate their accomplishments and the feasibility of the Americas mine action response to the rest of the world. Also, it is very important to get a general resolution issued by the OAS to guarantee the presence of this issue.