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Summary and Recommendations

New casualties from antipersonnel landmines in Colombia have skyrocketed in recent years, to such a degree that Colombia now has some of the highest annual reported casualty rates in the world.

The biggest users of antipersonnel landmines in Colombia, as well as other indiscriminate weapons such as gas cylinder bombs, are Colombia’s two largest guerrilla groups: the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) and the smaller National Liberation Army (ELN). 

Guerrillas’ frequent use of antipersonnel landmines, improvised out of cheap, readily available materials, leaves hundreds of civilians maimed, blind, deaf, or dead every year.

Many of the survivors are among Colombia’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens: peasants or others who live in impoverished rural regions, far from state authorities and hospitals, and who are often caught in the middle of the conflict involving guerrillas, Colombian security forces, and paramilitary groups. Often, landmine survivors are victims of other abuses too, such as forced displacement. When they suffer a landmine injury, survivors’ whole lives are seriously affected, not only because of the injury’s physical effects, but also because of the incident’s impact on their mental health, their ability to support themselves and their families, and their ability to remain in their homes.

Over the past two decades, Human Rights Watch has repeatedly documented widespread abuses of human rights and international humanitarian law in Colombia committed by irregular armed groups in the internal armed conflict, including guerrillas and paramilitaries, as well as by the Colombian security forces.¹ This report documents the impact on civilian victims of the use of antipersonnel landmines in Colombia, as well as the assistance the government provides to such survivors.² It is based on dozens of interviews Human Rights Watch conducted in September and October 2006 in the cities of Bucaramanga, Popayán, Medellín, and Bogotá, Colombia, with civilian survivors, health workers, landmine and victim assistance experts from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), national and state government officials, military officers, and a representative of the ELN guerrillas.

While it is often difficult to determine with certainty who laid any given antipersonnel landmine, most of the civilian survivors who spoke to Human Rights Watch for this report placed the blame for their injuries squarely on the guerrilla groups, which in many cases had been in the area right before the landmine incident. This information is consistent with reports we received from landmine experts in Colombia. In fact, while the Colombian government has banned the use of landmines, the guerrilla groups have made statements attempting to justify their use of antipersonnel landmines. For example, the FARC has asserted that landmines are the “weapon of the poor.” An ELN spokesman who spoke to Human Rights Watch said that his group does not believe international humanitarian law applies in Colombia at all.   

At the same time, many civilian survivors feel they have been ignored by the Colombian government in its policies and funding. The Colombian government’s initiatives on landmines have drawn much-needed funding for work on this issue, including on victim assistance. However, it is a fact that civilian survivors often do not receive adequate support. In many cases this is simply a result of lack of awareness: many of these survivors, and even local officials and healthcare providers, are not well informed about the benefits available to landmine survivors. Yet even those survivors who are lucky enough to receive advice about these benefits sometimes find that the benefits can be difficult to access and inadequate to cover some of their basic needs.

The laws of war forbid the use of indiscriminate weapons such as antipersonnel landmines, and the parties to the Colombian conflict who use such weapons bear the primary responsibility for their impact on the civilian population. In addition, individuals and commanders of armed groups who intentionally direct attacks against civilians could become subject to prosecution for war crimes, or—if the attacks are part of a broader systematic attack against a civilian population—even crimes against humanity, under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

At the same time, the Colombian government has legal responsibilities to assist the civilians who have suffered landmine-related injuries. International actors also have responsibilities to assist landmine survivors and promote an end to the use of indiscriminate weapons.

Recommendations

To the FARC-EP, ELN, and other irregular armed groups in Colombia

• Cessation of Use and Production of Indiscriminate Weapons: Unconditionally and immediately cease all use and production of antipersonnel landmines and other indiscriminate weapons such as gas cylinder bombs.
• Stockpile Destruction: Destroy any existing stockpiles of antipersonnel landmines in the group’s possession.
• Marking and Fencing: Mark and fence as soon as possible all areas where each group has laid antipersonnel landmines, to ensure the effective exclusion of civilians, and inform local communities and authorities of any initiatives or steps taken to mark and fence such areas.
• Disclosure of Information for Landmine Clearance: Disclose information on where landmines are laid and cooperate in the development and implementation of a plan for clearance and destruction of landmines.

To the Colombian Government

• Advice to survivors: Establish a nationwide system to ensure that survivors receive prompt advice and guidance concerning their full array of rights and benefits as soon as state authorities or medical care providers are first made aware of the person’s status as a landmine survivor. Each survivor should receive not only written materials, but also personalized advice on how to request available benefits.
• Survivors’ benefits: Review the legal framework governing survivors’ rights and reform the law to better address survivors’ needs for (a) transportation and lodging during rehabilitation; (b) prompt and regular replacements of prosthetic limbs; and (c) regular (rather than one-time) financial assistance for disabled survivors.
• Streamlined procedures: Review the legal framework and procedures governing victim assistance with the goal of removing unnecessary bureaucratic delays or procedures that prevent survivors from accessing assistance with ease.
• No deadlines for claiming assistance: Eliminate deadlines for survivors to request humanitarian assistance and disability payments.
• Healthcare providers: Establish comprehensive training programs for healthcare providers in all hospitals that deal with landmine survivors, to create awareness of survivors’ rights and to ensure that hospitals establish protocols for landmine survivors to receive psychological, hearing, and vision tests and care.
• Accountability for users of landmines: Investigate and hold accountable individuals who have manufactured and laid antipersonnel landmines in Colombia.
• UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities: Having signed the treaty, Colombia’s government should promptly ratify the Convention and take the necessary measures to bring its laws and policies towards people with disabilities, including survivors of landmines, into line with the obligations set out in the Convention.
• Other obligations: in addition to complying with requirements regarding victim assistance, the Colombian government should fully comply with all requirements of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, including those relating to mine risk education, and the marking and destruction of antipersonnel mines.  In particular, carry out specific mine risk education activities in the areas of the country where there is the greatest risk that antipersonnel landmines may be present.

To International Donors, Institutions, and Parties to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty

• Make assistance to civilian survivors of landmines a priority, including by supporting civil society groups that now provide advice and assistance to landmine survivors.
• Urge Colombia’s government to implement the recommendations made above, with international assistance and advice.
• Incorporate the recommendations listed above into funding for victim assistance programs in Colombia.

To States, Institutions, and Individuals Involved in Brokering Peace Negotiations between the Colombian Government and Armed Groups

• Urge the armed groups to unconditionally and immediately cease manufacturing and using antipersonnel landmines and other indiscriminate weapons as required under the laws of war, and destroy their existing stockpiles.

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