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AG/RES. 2142 (XXXV-O/05)
THE AMERICAS AS AN ANTIPERSONNEL-LAND-MINE-FREE ZONE[1]/
(Adopted at the fourth plenary session, held on June 7, 2005)
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,
HAVING SEEN:
The Annual Report of the Permanent Council to the General Assembly, in particular the section on the matters entrusted to the Committee on Hemispheric Security (AG/doc.4376/05 add. 5); and
The report of the General Secretariat on the implementation of resolutions AG/RES. 1934 (XXXIII-O/03), “Support for the Program of Integral Action against Antipersonnel Mines in Central America,” and AG/RES. 1935 (XXXIII-O/03), “Support for Action against Mines in Peru and Ecuador” and AG/RES. 2002 (XXXIV-O/04) (CP/doc/05.);
RECALLING its resolutions AG/RES. 1411 (XXVI-O/96), AG/RES. 1496 (XXVII-O/97), AG/RES. 1569 (XXVIII-O/98), AG/RES. 1644 (XXIX-O/99), AG/RES. 1794 (XXXI-O/01), and AG/RES. 1889 (XXXII-O/02); “The Western Hemisphere an Antipersonnel-Land-Mine-Free Zone,” AG/RES. 1936 (XXXIII-O/03), “The Americas as an Antipersonnel-Land-Mine-Free Zone”; and AG/RES. 1744 (XXX-O/00), “Cooperation for Security in the Hemisphere,” in which it reaffirmed the goals of the global elimination of antipersonnel land mines and the conversion of the Americas into an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone;
BEARING IN MIND the adoption during this thirty-fifth regular session of the General Assembly of the resolutions "Support for the Program for Comprehensive Action against Antipersonnel Mines in Central America" [AG/RES. …. (XXXV-O/05)] and "Support for Action against Antipersonnel in Ecuador and Peru [AG/RES. …. (XXXV-O/05)], and the important achievements and progress reflected in both these resolutions;
RECALLING ALSO the Declaration on Security in the Americas, adopted at the Special Conference on Security, in Mexico City, on October 28, 2003, which states: “We reaffirm our support for establishing the Hemisphere as an anti-personnel-landmine-free zone. We welcome the cooperative approach and efforts of all states as well as those of the Organization of American States Mine Action Team to support humanitarian de-mining, mine risk education, landmine victim assistance and rehabilitation, and socio-economic recovery. We highlight the importance of the Ottawa Convention and its universalization and support States Parties to this Convention in their efforts to implement it to rid their territories of anti-personnel landmines”;
REITERATING its profound concern over the presence in the Americas of thousands of antipersonnel land mines and other undetonated explosive devices;
BEARING IN MIND the serious threat that mines and other unexploded ordinance pose to the safety, health, and lives of local civilian populations, as well as of personnel participating in humanitarian, peacekeeping, and rehabilitation programs and operations;
RECOGNIZING WITH GREAT SATISFACTION:
The mine-free declaration made by the Government of Honduras at the conclusion of the final phase of its National Mine Action Plan in October 2004, and the more than 65,000 families who benefited from this important humanitarian effort;
The important efforts made by the Government of Guatemala to complete its mine clearance programs in 2005, joining El Salvador and Costa Rica as formerly mine-affected states, and thereby moving one step closer to transforming Central America into the first mine-free subregion in the world;
The efforts made by the Government of Suriname to become a landmine-free country before the end of 2005;
That the Government of Colombia completed, in October 2004, the destruction of its stockpiles, in accordance with Article 4 of the Ottawa Convention;
The completion of stockpile destruction and fulfillment of Article 4 of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (Ottawa Convention) by all of its hemispheric States Parties;
RECOGNIZING WITH SATISFACTION:
The efforts being made by all governments to implement comprehensive mine-action programs, including activities aimed at mine-risk education, stockpile destruction, mine clearance, the physical and psychological rehabilitation of victims, and the socioeconomic reclamation of demined areas in their countries;
The progress made on the implementation of the Ottawa Convention, which is now in force for 32 sovereign states of the region;
That the Amended Mines Protocol to the 1980 United Nations Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects is in force for 14 sovereign states of the region;
The important coordination work of the General Secretariat, through AICMA, together with the technical assistance of the Inter-American Defense Board;
The valuable contribution by member states and permanent observers to, and the support of the Committee on Hemispheric Security for, the goal of making the Americas an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone;
The contribution of the Government of Ecuador as host country of the II Regional Seminar of Mine Action, held in August 2004, in Quito, Ecuador, and the offer of the Government of Chile to host the next regional meeting, to be held in Santiago, Chile;
The outstanding work of nongovernmental organizations in furthering the aim of a Hemisphere and a world free of antipersonnel land mines, which is often performed in cooperation and association with the states; and
The importance of mine action when carried out in a joint and consolidated fashion, as in the case of the work being done by the Governments of Ecuador and Peru in their common border area, which has resulted in information exchange and levels of cooperation that constitute an effective mutual confidence-building measure and an avenue toward further integration of their peoples; and
TAKING NOTE OF:
The successful outcomes of the Nairobi Summit for a Mine Free World and the Action Plan adopted by the Summit participants,
RESOLVES:
1. To reaffirm the goals of the global elimination of antipersonnel land mines and the conversion of the Americas into an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone.
2. To urge member states to continue considering mine action as a national and regional priority and to foster the necessary political momentum and contribution of resources to maintain the leadership that the Americas have acquired globally to further this fundamental humanitarian task.
3. To call upon all states parties and states not parties that share the objectives of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (Ottawa Convention) to take all necessary action, at the national, regional, and international levels, to implement the 2005-2009 Nairobi Plan of Action.
4. To urge member states which have not yet done so to ratify or consider acceding to the Ottawa Convention as soon as possible to ensure its full and effective implementation.
5. To once again urge member states which have not yet done so to become party as soon as possible to the 1980 United Nations Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects and the five protocols thereto; and to request member states to inform the Secretary General when they have done so.
6. To reiterate the importance of mine action as a regional confidence- and security-building measure between and amongst states.
7. To encourage member states to participate in the Meeting of States Parties to the Ottawa Convention to be held in Croatia in December 2005.
8. To encourage member states to develop statements of remaining goals and to collaborate with the OAS Mine Action Team, through its mine clearance, stockpile destruction, mine risk education, and victim assistance programs, in order to advance mine action in the region.
9. To further encourage member states and permanent observers to support the Program for Comprehensive Action against Antipersonnel Landmines (AICMA) and to provide resources to mine action programs in the region in order to achieve the goal of the Americas as an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone.
10. To request the Secretary General to consider the possibility of developing new mine action programs in the Americas to assist affected member states, upon request, in fulfilling their commitment to convert the Americas into an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone.
11. To firmly condemn, in accordance with the principles and norms of international humanitarian law, the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of antipersonnel mines by non-state actors, acts which put at grave risk the population of the affected countries, and to reaffirm that progress toward a mine-free world will be facilitated if non-state actors observe the international norm established by the Ottawa Convention.
12. 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 resolution AG/RES. 1496 (XXVII-O/97), and to commend member states which have regularly submitted their reports to that end.
13. To encourage member states that are party 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 resolution AG/RES. 1496 (XXVII-O/97), a copy of their Ottawa Convention Article 7 transparency reports; and to further encourage member states which are not yet party to the Ottawa Convention to provide similar information with their annual submissions.
14. To instruct the General Secretariat to report to the Permanent Council before the thirty-sixth regular session of the General Assembly on the implementation of this resolution.
