By Pearl Gumapos
International and local laws have banned the use, production, and transport of anti-personnel mines (APM) and other similar weapons due to its indiscriminate nature.
This is according to Armed Forces of the Philippines Center for Law of Armed Conflict (AFPCLOAC) director, Brig. Gen. Joel Alejandro Nacnac during a press conference on June 14 titled “Tagged: Debunking Lies by Telling the Truth.”
“So, we have several international laws and we also have our local law that relates to the use, production, transport, or management of the APMs. So basically under the 1980 UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, it was discussed that there should be a limit to the use of these weapons in warfare that’s why they have laws of warfare,” Nacnac said.
“And in 1996 under Amended Protocol II, there’s a limit to the use of indiscriminate — or the use of landmines because of its indiscriminate damage caused to the persons being subjected to this type of warfare,” he added.
He further said that Amended Protocol II strengthened existing rules on the use of mines, booby traps, and other devices, while there is also the Ottawa Convention of 1997 or the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty that prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of APMs and their destruction.
“Pag sinabi po kasing APM, ang target po nito iyong tao, hindi po iyong armored vehicle or ibang vehicles po ‘no or ibang items. It’s directed towards a person. And according to this treaty which the Philippines is a signatory and the whole international community, [this is] of course [prohibited],” he added.
Nacnac explained that in the Philippines, legislators have passed Republic Act 9851 or An Act Defining and Penalizing Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity, Organizing Jurisdiction, Designating Special Courts and for Related Purposes.
He said Section 4 of Republic Act 9851 states that combatants are prohibited from using APMs as it can cause “superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering or which are inherently indiscriminate.”
Furthemore, Nacnac said that under Section 10, “a superior shall be criminally responsible as a principal for such crimes committed by subordinates under his/her effective command and control, or effective authority and control as the case may be.” -rir
