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| Regional Support for Landmine Stockpile Destruction (The OAS Experience in the Americas). |
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| Inter-Regional Cooperation |
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Although more than 120 national governments have demonstrated their intention and willingness to destroy their anti-personnel landmine stockpiles by signing and ratifying the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, or Ottawa Convention, many of these same governments have not been able to move as quickly to carry out the process of stockpile destruction. Article 4 of the Ottawa Convention obligates each signatory State to destroy its anti-personnel landmine stockpiles as soon as possible but not later than four years after ratification. According to Landmine Monitor, at least 100 countries possess stockpiled mines. By September 2001, however, only 27 States Parties had reported completion of the destruction of their anti-personnel mine stockpiles.
In the coming year, it is likely that disposal activity will increase, as the four-year deadline for destruction approaches for many of the original Convention signatories. With the urgency for action on the destruction issue building, many States Parties are likely to come to the realization that they require assistance to carry out this obligation. Article 6 of the Convention gives each State Party the right “to seek and receive assistance, where feasible, from other States Parties to the extent possible.” At the same time, Article 6 commits each State Party “in a position to do so” to provide assistance to other signatories in the destruction of their stockpiled anti-personnel mines.
Depending on the geographical region of the world, States Parties requiring assistance have a range of alternatives that can be explored. Financial and technical assistance may be available from international or regional organizations or through bilateral arrangements with other nations. In the Americas, for example, the Organization of American States (OAS) has taken a lead role in assisting its Member States with mine stockpile destruction. Another benefit of obtaining external support for a national mine stockpile destruction program is the added transparency it lends to the process. Article 7 of the Ottawa Convention does not require independent certification of mine destruction. Nonetheless, the participation of international observers provides greater credibility to the destruction process, particularly in cases where mutual confidence-building measures are important to the establishment of a climate of trust between formerly warring parties or states.
The Managua Challenge
The OAS mandate for mine action gained momentum from the Second Meeting of the States Parties to the Convention in September 2000. During that meeting, the Nicaraguan delegation offered to host the Third Meeting of the States Parties in Managua September 2001 and announced that Nicaragua would soon complete its final landmine stockpile destruction, bringing Nicaragua and the Western Hemisphere one step closer to becoming the first mine free region. A significant element of this initiative, which became known as the “Managua Challenge,” was for the states of the Americas that had signed or ratified the Ottawa Convention to complete mine stockpile destruction by the convocation of the Third Meeting of the States Parties.
In November 2000, the OAS created a special fund to assist its Member States to meet the Managua Challenge. From the fund’s creation until September 2001, a total of US$487,533 was raised from international donors, including US$448,616 from Canada and US$38,917 from Australia. The OAS Mine Action Program was assigned responsibility for administration of the fund, as well as for establishing a basic methodology for the disbursement to support national stockpile destruction programs. OAS Member States requesting support were asked to provide a budget estimate for costs relating to the destruction process. These estimates were, in turn, reviewed by the OAS program coordinator to determine resource requirements and availability. In many cases, equipment and material already available through humanitarian demining programs could be used to support stockpile elimination to reduce destruction costs. Budget estimates were finalized using an approximate cost basis of US$1.00 per mine to be destroyed.
Between May and September 2001, the OAS Mine Action Program provided technical and financial assistance to Ecuador and Peru, based on the model established in Honduras. Technical experts from Canada, Colombia and Nicaragua made several visits to both countries in preparation for initiation of their destruction programs. The OAS offered partial financing from the Managua Challenge Fund, which enabled Peru and Ecuador to destroy 313,000 and 154,344 anti-personnel mines, respectively, before the Third Meeting of the States Parties in Managua. At the same time, Nicaragua continued the phased elimination of its mine stockpiles, destroying more than 80% of the original 136,813 mines in its inventory by May 2002.
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The OAS experience with stockpile destruction has demonstrated three significant advantages of a regional approach to supporting landmine stockpile destruction. First, a regional approach facilitates cooperation and the sharing of technical expertise among states with a common interest in complying with their obligations under the Ottawa Convention. In almost every case, states initiating a destruction program needed initial advice on many of the specific technical aspects of bulk mine destruction. As more countries launched their own programs, the base of expertise upon which the OAS could draw to assist other countries grew.
Second, financial resources have been more readily available when managed by a single entity to support various national destruction programs. Both fundraising and financial management were centralized, giving potential donors a single contact point for coordination of requirements with resources. Moreover, administration of funding through the established mine action structure facilitated the optimization of expenditures to support destruction programs by taking advantage of human and capital resources that were readily available, keeping costs exclusively to support stockpile elimination to minimum levels in each supported country.
Finally, the participation of a regional organization in support of national programs has enhanced the transparency of the destruction process, lending greater credibility to Article 7 reporting and building confidence among states in the region. Observers from regional organizations have served to verify to the international community that the destruction program is carried in an open fashion. The use of international technical teams has enhanced transparency, but has also served to foment regional cooperation with respect to the stockpile destruction process that can serve as a basis for confidence-building measures in other areas.
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