Ecuador
Mine Ban Policy
Policy
The Republic of Ecuador signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified it on 29 April 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 October 1999. Ecuador initiated a process in 2008 to adopt national implementation measures, including penal sanctions as required by Article 9.[1] As of October 2019, no national legislation has been adopted.
Ecuador 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 and a statement on Article 5 clearance.[2] Ecuador did not attend the intersessional meetings in Geneva in May 2019. It regularly submits updated annual Article 7 transparency reports.
Ecuador previously served on the Standing Committee on Resources, Cooperation and Assistance (2013–2014), the Committee on Article 5 Implementation (2015), and the Committee on Victim Assistance (2016–2017).
Ecuador is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. Ecuador is also party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Production, transfer, stockpiling, and retention
Ecuador did not produce or export antipersonnel mines in the past. Ecuador previously imported antipersonnel mines from Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Singapore, the former Soviet Union, Spain, and the United States.[3]
Ecuador completed destruction of its stockpile of antipersonnel mines in January 2002, destroying a total of 260,302 mines.[4]
As of December 2018, Ecuador retained 90 mines for training and research. Ecuador initially reported that a total of 16,000 mines would be retained, but later reduced this number to 4,000 mines in 2001.[5]
Use
The Monitor knows of no government use of antipersonnel mines in Ecuador since the Cenepa border war with Peru concluded in 1998.[6]
[1] In April and May 2008, Ecuador stated that the National Humanitarian Demining Center (Centro National de Desminado Humanitario, CENDESMI), the National Commission for Human Rights, the National Congress Parliamentary Commission for Human Rights, and the ICRC had prepared a reform of the penal code for antipersonnel mines. Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form A, 25 April 2008; and response to Monitor questionnaire by Bolívar Torres Cevallos, President, CENDESMI, 6 May 2008, p. 1.
[2] Statement of Ecuador, Mine Ban Treaty Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 26 November 2018; and statement of Ecuador, Mine Ban Treaty Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 29 November 2018.
[3] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form B, 23 June 2004; and Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form B, 29 March 2000 and 5 March 2001.
[4] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form G, 30 April 2003. Ecuador revised its stockpile and stockpile destruction information in its 2003 Article 7 report. Previously, Ecuador reported completion of destruction of a stockpile of 260,302 antipersonnel mines by January 2002. Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form G, 31 May 2002. Initially, in March 2000, Ecuador reported a stockpile totaling 271,802 antipersonnel mines. Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form B, 29 March 2000.
[5] Ecuador initially reported that a total of 170,344 mines would be retained for training, but after the ICBL stated its alarm at the number, Ecuador’s representative subsequently stated that this number was an error.
[6] Ecuador’s reporting on mined areas laid from 1995–1998 indicates that the country used antipersonnel mines after signing the Mine Ban Treaty in 1997, but prior to entry into force in 1999. See, Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 401.