Costa Rica
Mine Ban Policy
Policy
The Republic of Costa Rica signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 17 March 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 September 1999. Legislation to enforce the antipersonnel mine prohibition domestically was enacted on 17 April 2002.[1]
Costa Rica regularly attends meetings of the treaty, including the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014, and more recently, the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2018, where it provided a general statement.[2] Costa Rica also attended the intersessional meetings in Geneva in May 2019.
Costa Rica previously served on the Committee on Victim Assistance (2014) and the Committee on Article 5 Implementation (2015–2016).
Costa Rica is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. Costa Rica is also party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Costa Rica has never used, produced, exported, or imported antipersonnel mines, including for training purposes.
Costa Rica’s northern border with Nicaragua was contaminated by mines laid by parties to the 1980s conflict in Nicaragua. In a ceremony on 10 December 2002, Costa Rica announced the completion of clearance in all known mined areas, well ahead of its 1 September 2009 Article 5 clearance deadline.
[1] The law comprehensively prohibits antipersonnel mines and provides for penal sanctions of 3–6 years imprisonment for violations, with the possibility of an increase of 25% in prison time if the antipersonnel mine is used to threaten national security, public infrastructure, or transport vehicles. See Artículo 6, “Delitos,” Ley 8231, “Prohibición de Minas Antipersonales,” 17 April 2002, and Diaro Oficial la Gaceta, Costa Rica, 17 April 2002.
[2] Statement of Costa Rica, Mine Ban Treaty Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 26 November 2018.