Contaminated by: landmines (medium contamination), cluster munitions (medium contamination), and unexploded ordnance (limited). 

Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline: 1 March 2020
(On target to meet deadline) 

Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 4 deadline: 1 June 2021
(Not on target to meet deadline)

As of the end of 2015, the Republic of Chile had 5.82km² of confirmed mined area and 3.35km² of suspected mined area across five regions. Landmine clearance output for the year decreased slightly to 1.9km² compared with 2.1km² in 2014.

Chile has reported almost 97km² of cluster munition-contaminated area in three of its 15 regions. This area is the total size of the military training ranges where the contamination is located. To date, no survey or clearance has been conducted.

Recommendations for action 

• Chile should clarify whether it will still meet its extended Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline.
• Chile should begin survey and clearance of cluster munition contamination as a matter of urgent priority in order to comply with its obligations under Article 4 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions to clear cluster munition remnants “as soon as possible.”
• Chile should also submit a Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 transparency report, which it has not done since 2013.
• Chile should make public the conclusions of its fraud investigation, and explain any impact on the mine action program. 

Contamination

Mine contamination

As of the end of 2015, Chile had 5.82km² of confirmed mined area and 3.35km² of suspected mined area across five regions (see table below).[1] Most confirmed contamination is in Arica and Parinacota. The mines were all laid during the Pinochet regime in the 1970s on Chile’s borders with Argentina in the south, and with Bolivia and Peru in the north. The mined areas, which typically contain both antivehicle and antipersonnel mines, are generally difficult to access and are mostly in unpopulated regions. The vast majority of the mines were laid in the northern region, with some minefields located as high as 5,000m above sea level.[2]

Antipersonnel mine contamination by province as at end 2015[3]

Note: CHAs = confirmed hazardous areas; SHAs = suspected hazardous areas.

The impact is reported to be minimal,[4] though two new mine casualties were reported in 2015, and one in May 2016, all along the border with Peru. (See the Casualties country profile for further details). 

Cluster munition contamination

Chile has reported almost 97km² of cluster munition-contaminated area in three of its 15 regions (see table below). Contamination is the consequence of use of cluster munitions on military training ranges. Since the reported extent represents the total size of the areas where cluster munitions were used,[5] the actual extent of contamination may be significantly smaller.

Cluster munition contamination as at June 2015[6]

The impact of cluster munition contamination is believed to be minimal, and there have been no reports of any casualties.

Chile is also affected, to a limited extent, by other unexploded ordnance (UXO).

Program Management

The national mine action program is managed by the National Demining Commission (Comisión Nacional de Desminado, CNAD), which is chaired by the Minister of Defense. Chile has not reported on any steps taken to elaborate a workplan to address its four cluster munition contaminated areas.

At the end of 2015, it was announced that the Chilean authorities were investigating allegations of fraud at CNAD amounting to half a million dollars.[7]

Operators

Demining is conducted by the Army Corps of Engineers and the Navy Peace and Demining Division. Mechanical resources are being used to support manual demining.[8]

Standards and quality management

Chile developed a joint demining manual for its armed forces in 2014, which includes procedures for destruction of UXO.[9] 

Land Release (Mines) 

Chile cleared almost 1.9km² of mined area in 2015 (see table below), a decrease on output in 2014 of 2.1km². Operations in 2015 reportedly included the destruction of almost 32,000 mines, but this figure does not disaggregate between antipersonnel and antivehicle mines. Moreover, this figure is not consistent with other information in Chile’s Article 7 report for 2015, which suggests that 15,490 antipersonnel mines were destroyed during clearance operations in 2015 along with 8,373 antivehicle mines.[10]

Clearance in 2015 (Mines)

Clearance was conducted in two regions in 2015: Arica and Parinacota and Antofagasta.[11]

Mine clearance in 2015[12]

As of February 2016, Chile had 10 cleared areas awaiting finalization of quality control and handover.[13]

Land Release (Cluster Munition Remnants)

As of the end of May 2016, Chile had not reported conducting any survey or clearance of its four cluster munition-contaminated areas. 

Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 Compliance

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty (and in accordance with the eight-year extension granted by States Parties in 2011), Chile is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 March 2020.

Despite being more than 4km² behind the productivity forecast in its extension request (see table below), based on its clearance output in 2014 and 2015, Chile can still meet its extended deadline. It has amended its clearance projections to take account of progress to date, but the projections do not include suspected mined area.

Clearance in 2011–2015 (km²)

In July 2016, the Minister of Defense announced that Chile had completed 72% of its mine clearance and that it was on course to complete clearance in 2020.[14] Chile is hosting the Fifteenth Meeting of States Parties in Santiago in November–December 2016.

Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 4 Compliance

Under Article 4 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Chile is required to destroy all cluster munition remnants in areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 June 2021. Its inaction means that it is not currently on target to meet its deadline.

The Monitor gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the Mine Action Review supported and published by Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), which conducted mine action research in 2016 and shared it with the Monitor. The Monitor is responsible for the findings presented online and in its print publications.