OEA/Ser.P
AG/RES. 1794 (XXXI-O/01)
5 June 2001
Original: English
THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE AS AN ANTIPERSONNEL-LAND-MINE-FREE
ZONE
(Resolution adopted at the third plenary session, held on
June 5, 2001;
subject to review by the Style Committee)
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,
HAVING SEEN:
The Report of the Permanent Council on the matters assigned
to the Committee on Hemispheric Security, (AG/doc.3970/01); and
The Report of the General Secretariat (CP/doc.3432/01) on the
implementation of resolutions "Support for Action Against
Mines in Peru and Ecuador" [AG/RES. 1745 (XXX-O/00)] and
"Support for the Program of Integral Action Against
Antipersonnel Mines in Central America" [AG/RES. 1751 (XXX-O/00)];
RECALLING its resolutions "The Western Hemisphere as an
Antipersonnel-Land-Mine-Free Zone" [AG/RES. 1644 (XXIX-O/99),
AG/RES. 1569 (XXVIII-O/98), AG/RES. 1496 (XXVII-O/97), AG/RES.
1411 (XXVI-O/96)] and "Cooperation for Security in the
Hemisphere" [AG/RES. 1744 (XXX-O/00)] which reaffirmed the
goals of the global elimination of antipersonnel land mines and
the conversion of the Western Hemisphere into an
antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone;
BEARING IN MIND the agreement made by the Heads of State and
Government at the Third Summit of the Americas, to
"strongly support the Third Meeting of State Parties to the
Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling,
Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their
Destruction, to be held in September 2001 in Managua, Nicaragua,
and the Review Conference of the 1980 UN Convention on
Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional
Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Injurious or to Have
Indiscriminate Effects, to be held in December 2001 in Geneva,
as well as the efforts of the OAS to pursue the goal of the
conversion of the Western Hemisphere into an
Antipersonnel-Land-Mine-Free Zone;
REITERATING its profound concern over the presence in the
Americas of thousands of antipersonnel-land-mines and other
undetonated explosive devices;
RECOGNIZING WITH SATISFACTION:
The efforts being made by the Governments of Colombia, Costa
Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Peru to
complete mine-clearing activities and the destruction of
stockpiles, as well as programs of those countries and El
Salvador, aimed at the physical and psychological rehabilitation
of victims and the socio-economic reclamation of demined areas
in their countries;
The important coordination work of the Organization of
American States (OAS) General Secretariat, through the Unit for
the Promotion of Democracy's Mine Action Team; and
The valuable contribution made by member states and by
permanent observer states, as well as the support of the
Committee on Hemispheric Security to the goal of making the
Western Hemisphere an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone; and
TAKING NOTE of the exchange of experiences and opinions at
the Regional Seminar on Stockpile Destruction of Antipersonnel
Mines in the Americas, hosted by Argentina and Canada in
collaboration with the OAS, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on
November 6 and 7, 2000,
RESOLVES:
1. To reaffirm the goals of the global elimination of
antipersonnel-land-mines and the conversion of the Western
Hemisphere into an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone.
2. To urge member states that have not yet done so to ratify
or consider acceding to the Convention on the Prohibition of
Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel
Mines and On Their Destruction ("Ottawa Convention")
as soon as possible to ensure its full and effective
implementation.
3. To once again urge member states that have not yet done so
to become parties to the 1980 United Nations Convention on
Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional
Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Injurious or to Have
Indiscriminate Effects and its four protocols, as soon as
possible; and to request member states to inform the Secretary
General when they have done so.
4. To encourage member states, either to request or provide
assistance, as appropriate, to the OAS Mine Action Team through
its mine clearance, stockpile destruction, mine awareness, and
victim assistance programs, in order to advance mine action in
the region.
5. To request the Secretary General to continue to consider
the possibility of developing new demining programs in the
Americas to assist affected member states, upon request, in
fulfilling their commitment to convert the Western Hemisphere
into an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone.
6. To urge member states to participate in the Third Meeting
of the States Parties to the Ottawa Convention which will take
place in Managua, Nicaragua, from September 17 to 21, 2001.
7. To invite member states to respond, as appropriate, to the
three elements which constitute the "Managua
Challenge" issued to the States of the Americas that have
signed the Ottawa Convention: (a) to the six signatories who
have not yet ratified the Convention, to do so in time for the
Third Meeting of States Parties to the Ottawa Convention; (b) to
all signatories to complete their Article 7 transparency reports
in time for the said Meeting; and (c) to all signatories to
completely destroy their stockpiles by September 2001.
8. To reiterate the importance of participation by all member
states in the OAS Register of Antipersonnel Land Mines by April
15 of each year, in keeping with AG/RES. 1496 (XXVI-O/96), and
to commend member states that have regularly submitted their
reports to that end.
9. To encourage member states that are Parties to the Ottawa
Convention to provide to the Secretary General as part of their
submissions to the OAS Register of Antipersonnel Land Mines, in
keeping with AG/RES. 1496 (XXVI-O/96), a copy of their Ottawa
Convention Article 7 transparency reports; and to further
encourage member states that are not yet Parties to the Ottawa
Convention to provide similar information with their annual
submissions.
10. To instruct the Permanent Council to report to the
General Assembly at its thirty-second regular session on the
implementation of this resolution.
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