Peru
Practice Relating to the Prohibition of Certain Types of Landmines
Peru’s IHL Manual (2004) states that “anti-personnel mines” are prohibited weapons.
Peru’s IHL and Human Rights Manual (2010) states that “anti-personnel mines” are prohibited weapons.
Peru’s Penal Code (1991), as amended in 1998, provides:
Whoever uses, develops, produces, acquires, stockpiles, retains or transfers to a physical and juridical person anti-personnel mines shall be punished with deprivation of liberty for no less than five years and no more than eight years.
Peru’s Penal Code (1991), as amended in 2006, states: “Any person who uses, develops, produces, acquires, stockpiles, retains or transfers anti-personnel mines to a natural person or legal entity, shall be punished with deprivation of liberty for at least five years and no more than eight years.”
Peru’s Regulations to the Law on Internal Displacement (2005) prohibits “attacks on … the camps or settlements [of internally displaced persons] and the use of anti-personnel landmines.”
Peru’s Law Implementing the Ottawa Convention (2006) states:
Retention or transfer of a certain number of anti-personnel mines with the objective of developing and providing training in mine detection, mine clearance or mine destruction techniques by the State shall not be considered as prohibited conduct.
This number of anti-personnel mines shall be determined by the Ministry of Defence and Interior in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, within the framework of the Peruvian Centre for Action against Anti-Personnel Mines (CONTRAMINAS).
At the first session of the Review Conference of States Parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in 1995, Peru stated that it supported a prohibition on the use of landmines that were not equipped with self-destruct mechanisms.
In 1995, during a debate in the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, Peru stated that it was essential that the international community adopt the necessary measures to eliminate anti-personnel landmines.
During an international conference on humanitarian mine clearance held in Geneva, Switzerland, in July 1995, Peru called for an immediate, comprehensive ban on anti-personnel mines. Peru participated in all of the preparatory meetings for the adoption of a treaty banning anti-personnel landmines, endorsed the Final Declaration of the Brussels Conference on Anti-personnel Landmines in June 1997 and took part in the Oslo negotiations in September 1997. It also voted in favour of the UN General Assembly resolutions in support of a ban on anti-personnel landmines in 1996, 1997 and 1998, as well as the relevant OAS resolutions.
At the 27th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in 1999, Peru stated that it would “support and work in favour of any initiatives launched to fortify the international system for the total prohibition of antipersonnel landmines”.