Policy

The Eastern Republic of Uruguay signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 7 June 2001, becoming a State Party on 1 December 2001. It has not enacted new legislation specifically to implement the Mine Ban Treaty.

Uruguay occasionally attends meetings of the treaty, most recently the intersessional meetings in Geneva in June 2019 and prior to that the Sixteenth Meeting of States Parties in Vienna in December 2017. Uruguay did not attend the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014. Uruguay also occasionally submits updated Article 7 transparency reports, most recently having done so in 2017.

Uruguay is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. It is also party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Production, use, destruction, and stockpiling

Uruguay has never used, produced, or exported antipersonnel mines, including for training purposes. Uruguay previously imported two types of antipersonnel mines from Belgium, the M-35 and NR-409.

On 15 September 2004, Uruguay completed destruction of its stockpile of antipersonnel mines, more than a year ahead of its 1 December 2005 treaty-mandated deadline. The number of mines reported as destroyed has varied. Uruguay’s Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report for 2007 reported that 2,013 antipersonnel mines had been destroyed.[1] Uruguay initially retained 500 antipersonnel mines for training and development purposes; as of the end of 2007 Uruguay had reduced this number to 260, and as of the end of 2015 Uruguay reported this number as zero.[2]