Peru was actively involved in the process to develop a Political Declaration on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, and was among the first group of states to endorse the Political Declaration in Dublin in November 2022. During the Dublin Conference in November 2022, Peru recalled the Santiago Communiqué, and expressed hope for the implementation of the declaration, stressing the need for cooperation with civil society and others for an appropriate follow up process.1
Early in the consultations process, Peru issued a statement urging the declaration to include “a recognition and description of direct and indirect consequences of the use of explosive weapons in populated areas” and noting that avoiding the use of explosive weapons in populated areas would contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 16.2 Peru also supported a call for the adoption and review of policies and practices to enhance protection of civilians and compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL)3 as well as to prevent the use of explosive weapons in populated areas.4 It also called for data collection to be gender-disaggregated, and for the declaration to recognise the rights of victims and affected communities and to provide appropriate victim assistance to those affected.5
These positions were reflected in Peru’s statements throughout the consultations, where it encouraged strong language on victim assistance, opposed the use of qualifies such as “can cause harm” in the text, and agreed that IHL was the fundamental legal reference point whilst also underscoring that the application of IHL is the minimum and that civilian harm can also arise from lawful attacks.6 Peru also consistently argued for a presumption of non-use of explosive weapons in populated areas or ‘avoidance policy’7 and for the inclusion of gender references.8
Peru attended the first international follow-up conference on the Political Declaration in Oslo, Norway in April 2024.
Statements and positions
At the first international follow-up conference on the Political Declaration Peru spoke during the session on military policies and practices. It stated that it has begun its work of national implementation through the framework of its Comisión Nacional de Estudio y Aplicación del Derecho Internacional Humanitario (CONADIH) (Peru’s national study commission and application of international humanitarian law), comprised of representatives from the Ministries of Justice and Human Rights, Foreign Affairs, and Defence as well as the Joint Command of the Armed Forces and the ICRC. Peru underlined the importance of integrating the Declaration's commitments in military doctrine manuals, the armed forces’ teaching curricula and other relevant normative texts. Peru stated that through this work, it seeks to strengthen its contribution to the development of international best practices. Peru referenced national legislation and regulation pertaining to the use of force by the armed forces domestically, and when protecting civilian populations domestically, including that all feasible precautions must be taken to avoid, or in any case reduce to a minimum, civilian deaths and injuries, and protect against the effects of attacks on civilian population and assets under its control. Peru raised recommendations presented by the ICRC at the Oslo conference as particularly helpful. It also spoke about the Declaration in the context of international treaties that regulate or prohibit certain types of weapons, such as the Convention on Cluster Munitions and the preventive measures set out in the third section of the Technical Annex to Protocol V of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons pertaining to the explosive remnants of war.9
Peru also submitted a statement to the session on understanding direct and indirect effects from the use of explosive weapons, emphasising that these are multiple and painful. Peru warned not to underestimate the impact of explosive remnants of war, underlining that these, regardless of their reliability or accuracy do have a failure rate. Peru further expressed alarm at the destruction of civilian infrastructure from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, emphasizing the direct and reverberating effects of this, highlighting lack of access to medical care and psychological trauma, and spotlighting the important work of UN agencies and NGOs in collecting and analysing data on the indirect impacts and ‘disastrous long-term effects’. Peru also drew attention to the impact of explosive weapons on the environment, and advocated for the explosive weapons use and Declaration to be viewed in relation to, and as having serious impact on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.10
Peru has raised the issue of explosive weapons in populated areas in a number of international forums. During the UN Security Council Open Debate on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in May 2019, Peru recalled the damage caused by explosive weapons in populated areas, and called for improving compliance with international humanitarian law (IHL).11 In September 2021, at the Preparatory Committee of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), Peru welcomed the development of a Political Declaration on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas12.
Peru has also repeatedly aligned with other states to deliver statements on explosive weapons in populated areas. Alongside 22 other Latin American and Caribbean states, Ecuador participated in the Santiago Regional Meeting on Protecting Civilians from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas in 2018, resulting in the Santiago Communiqué13 in which the participating states agreed to take further action on the issue. In 2018 and 2019, Peru joined some 50 and 71 states respectively to endorse joint statements on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas at the UN General Assembly First Committee, calling attention to the devastating and long-lasting humanitarian impact of the use of explosive weapons in populated areas and urging states to reverse the trend of high levels of civilian harm.14