AG/RES. 2181 (XXXVI-O/06) Support For Action Against Antipersonnel Mines In Ecuador And Peru

General Assembly of the Organization of American States
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Adopted at the fourth plenary session, held on June 6, 2006

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

HAVING SEEN:

The Annual Report of the Permanent Council to the General Assembly, in particular the sections on matters assigned to the Committee on Hemispheric Security (AG/doc.4548/06 add. 2); and

RECALLING its resolution AG/RES. 1644 (XXIX-O/99), operative paragraph 12, urging member states and permanent observers to provide assistance to the national mine-clearing programs being carried out by Ecuador and Peru in their territories;

AWARE that the presence of land mines in border areas between the two countries and in the vicinity of power grids in Peru constitutes a serious threat to civilian populations and stands in the way of economic development in rural and urban areas; and that their elimination constitutes an obligation and prerequisite for the development and integration of peoples, especially in border areas, and helps to consolidate a common strategy for combating poverty;

RECOGNIZING the substantial progress made by Ecuador and Peru in mine-clearing, the destruction of stockpiles, and measures to enhance transparency, and the special importance of humanitarian demining when it is carried out in a joint and consolidated fashion, as in the case of the work being done by the Governments of Ecuador and Peru in their common border area, which has resulted in information exchange and levels of cooperation that constitute an effective mutual confidence-building measure and an avenue toward further integration of their peoples;

NOTING WITH SATISFACTION that Ecuador and Peru have destroyed their antipersonnel mine stockpiles, in furtherance of one of the objectives of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (Ottawa Convention);

NOTING the corresponding humanitarian demining efforts, as well as the awareness campaigns and assistance to victims in both countries;

NOTING ALSO the start of joint humanitarian demining activities, in 2006, in the common border area around the Chira River and in the Cordillera del Cóndor, and the significant progress made;

RECOGNIZING:

The firm resolve of Ecuador and Peru to honor the commitments undertaken pursuant to the Ottawa Convention;

The complete elimination of antipersonnel mine stockpiles in Ecuador and Peru through assistance under the "Managua Challenge" Fund;

The demining of the Zarumilla Canal located on the border between Ecuador and Peru, as recorded in the agreement signed in Tumbes, Peru, in June 2002;

The carrying out, in March 2004, of humanitarian mine-clearing activities on the border between the Department of Tumbes in Peru and the Province of El Oro in Ecuador, marking yet another step in the process of implementing and following through on the Brasilia Agreements of October 26, 1998;

The valuable cooperation being provided by member states, permanent observers, and other countries, to national efforts in Ecuador and Peru to forge ahead with their mine-clearing programs;

The financial cooperation from the European Union, through the "Antipersonnel Mines Project in the Cordillera del Cóndor, Peru-Ecuador," which will allow both countries to continue their concerted action against antipersonnel mines in a region of special social and ecological importance;

The establishment, in Ecuador, of the Amazonas Regional Mine-Clearing Commando for the work to be carried out in the Province of Morona-Santiago, and, in Peru, of the Regional Mine-Clearing Office in Bagua, Department of Amazonas;

The important work of coordination, promotion, and fundraising carried out by the General Secretariat through the Program for Comprehensive Action against Antipersonnel Mines (AICMA), which is devoted to humanitarian mine-clearing, the physical and psychological rehabilitation of victims and their families, prevention education, and the social and economic reclamation of demined areas; and

The efficient technical advice and support of the Inter-American Defense Board and the AICMA Program for the mine-clearing activities in Ecuador and Peru supported by the AICMA Program, through a group of international monitors selected by the Board and appointed thanks to cooperation among the Governments of Brazil, Chile, Honduras, and Nicaragua; and

TAKING NOTE of the efforts made by Ecuador and Peru, with the help of AICMA and the Government of Canada, to organize, in August 2003, in Peru, the Regional Seminar "Towards an antipersonnel-land-mine-free Hemisphere" and, in August 2004, in Ecuador, the Regional Conference on Mine Action in the Americas "One more step towards an antipersonnel mine-free Hemisphere,"

RESOLVES:

1. 1. To recognize the important work and achievements of the Governments of Ecuador and Peru in destroying their stockpiles and in mine-clearing in common border areas and in other areas of their respective territories, as well as in promoting education on the risks posed by antipersonnel mines in order to continue significantly reducing the number of accidents caused by these devices.
   
2. To encourage the Governments of Ecuador and Peru to continue their intensive cooperation in the area of mine action as an innovative form of confidence- and security-building, action that could serve as a new means of confidence- and security-building for other countries concerned and generate the political momentum needed to maintain the Hemisphere’s global leadership in promoting this essential humanitarian task.
   
3. Also to encourage the Governments of Ecuador and Peru to continue mine-clearing operations on the border, so that the border area may be free of antipersonnel mines within the time frame estimated by the two countries with technical advice from the Program for Comprehensive Action against Antipersonnel Mines (AICMA) and the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB).
   
4. To reiterate to member states, permanent observers, international organizations, and the international community in general the importance, in view of the initial results achieved, of their continuing to provide technical and financial assistance to the Governments of Ecuador and Peru for their mine-clearing programs and any comprehensive action against antipersonnel mines that they carry out along their common border and inside their respective territories.
   
5. To instruct the General Secretariat to continue to cooperate fully, through AICMA, with programs to support comprehensive action against antipersonnel mines in Ecuador and Peru, including work on humanitarian mine-clearing programs, the physical and psychological rehabilitation of the victims and their families, prevention education, and the social and economic reclamation of demined areas.
   
6. To instruct the General Secretariat once again to continue to work, through AICMA, on identifying and raising voluntary contributions from member states, permanent observers, and other states, as well as other organizations, to the Specific Fund intended to continue to finance mine-clearing and comprehensive action programs against antipersonnel mines carried out by Ecuador and Peru in their respective territories.
   
7. To request the Permanent Council and the General Secretariat to report to the General Assembly at its thirty-seventh regular session on the implementation of this resolution.