THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,
HAVING
SEEN:
The Annual Report of the Permanent Council to the General
Assembly (AG/doc.4265/04 add. 5 corr. 1), in particular the section on the
matters entrusted to the Committee on Hemispheric Security; and
The report of the General Secretariat (CP/doc._______) 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”;
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), AG/RES. 1889 (XXXII-O/02) and 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;
RECALLING ALSO the Declaration on Security in the Americas, adopted at the Special Conference on Security, in Mexico City, Mexico, 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 complete elimination of antipersonnel landmine
stockpiles in Argentina, Chile, Suriname and Venezuela since the last session
of the General Assembly; and
The status of Central America as an antipersonnel mine
stockpile-free region;
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 by the Government of Honduras in
concluding the final phase of its National Mine Action Plan in 2004, as well as
the important efforts by the Governments of Guatemala and Nicaragua in promptly
completing their mine clearance programs, in order to join El Salvador and
Costa Rica as formerly mine-affected states that have completed their mine
action programs, and thereby to transform Central America into the first
mine-free subregion in the world;
The close collaboration between the Governments of Peru and
Ecuador in mine clearance activities in their border areas, and, in particular,
the completion of the humanitarian demining program in the Tumbes – El Oro
border region, in March 2004;
The incorporation of Colombia into the Comprehensive Mine
Action Program (AICMA) of the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy, the
establishment of an AICMA program coordination office in Colombia in November
2003, and the goal of the Government of Colombia to complete destruction of its
stockpiles by the end of 2004;
The ratification by Guyana of the Convention on the
Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel
Mines and On Their Destruction (Ottawa Convention), thereby becoming the 32nd
sovereign state of the region for which the Convention is in force;
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 the Comprehensive Mine Action Program of the Unit for the Promotion of
Democracy, together with the technical assistance of the Inter-American Defense
Board; and
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; and
TAKING
NOTE OF:
The upcoming Nairobi Summit for a Mine Free World, to be
held from November 29 to December 3, 2004; and
The contributions made by participants from governmental
and non-governmental sectors of the member states as well as from regional and
international organizations in the Regional Mine Action Seminar held in August
2003 in Lima, Peru, as well as the plans for the next Regional Seminar which
will take place in Quito, Ecuador in August 2004,
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 urge member states which have not
yet done so to ratify or consider acceding to the Convention on the Prohibition
of the 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.
4.
To reiterate the recommendation to the
Permanent Council to continue considering action against antipersonnel mines in
Ecuador and Peru, with a view to progressing toward the objective of making
the Americas an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone.
5.
To encourage all member states to
participate at the highest level at the Nairobi Summit for a Mine-Free World.
6.
To request the Secretary General to
represent the Organization at the said Nairobi Summit.
7.
To once again urge member states which
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 Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects and
the five protocols thereto, as soon as possible; and to request member states
to inform the Secretary General when they have done so.
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 urge Member States and Permanent
Observers to contribute to the financing of the next regional meetings to
follow-up on mine action in the Americas, similar to those held in Peru in 2003
and the upcoming one in Ecuador in June 2004.
10.
To further encourage member states and
permanent observers to support the OAS Mine Action program and to provide
resources to mine action programs in the region in order to achieve the goal of
the Americas as a mine-free zone.
11.
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.
12.
To firmly condemn, in accordance with
the principles and norms of international humanitarian law, the use,
stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel 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.
13.
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.
14.
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 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 parties to the Ottawa Convention to provide similar
information with their annual submissions.
15.
To instruct the Permanent Council to
report to the General Assembly at its thirty-fifth regular session on the
implementation of this resolution.
APPENDIX
STATEMENT BY THE DELEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES
The United States is committed to and shares common cause
with all nations that wish to end the harmful effects generated by the use of
persistent landmines. The United States recognizes and supports the positive
contributions made to humanitarian mine action by the Organization of American
States (OAS).
The United States recently announced a new landmine policy
that breaks with formulations of the past and that will help reduce
humanitarian risk and save the lives of civilians and U.S. military personnel. The key elements of this policy are: a) a firm and fixed commitment to use
no persistent (i.e., non-self-destructing or non-self-deactivating) landmine of
any type after 2010; b) a firm commitment to use no non-detectable mine of any
type by the end of this year; c) a 50% increase in U.S. Department of State
humanitarian mine action funding to $70 million per year, and d) the
development of future landmines that incorporate enhanced
self-destructing/self-deactivating and control mechanisms. The new policy also
includes provisions to encourage international agreements to restrict the
transfer of all persistent mines. The United States has not acceded to the
“Ottawa Convention” and does not intend to do so.
The call to create a “landmine-free” zone commits Member States and the OAS to an unnecessary action regardless of whether or not that mine
generates any adverse impacts or poses a threat to civilians. Such an approach
ignores the emerging global practice on the part of mine action practitioners
to plan and manage mine action programs to achieve a “mine-impact free” or
“mine safe” status. The “landmine free” approach also runs counter to funding trends
on the part of most donor nations. The resources that would be diverted to
find every last landmine are needed to address more practical and pressing
problems. Moreover, the call to create a “landmine-free zone” does not
accurately reflect past OAS demining accomplishments or the likely results of
OAS activities. Even after the OAS successfully concludes its demining efforts
some landmines still linger in these States. The OAS is aware of this fact, as
it certifies a state as “mine-impact-free” when those landmines that pose an
immediate humanitarian threat rather than a remote risk have been cleared.
We are also discouraged that the importance of the civilian
protections provided by the Amended Mines Protocol of the Convention on
Conventional Weapons was not recognized in operative paragraph 12.
For the reasons provided above, the United States cannot in good faith join in the consensus on an OAS resolution that promotes an
“anti-personnel landmine free hemisphere.” The position of the United States on this resolution in no way dilutes our commitment to humanitarian mine
action or to cooperating with all nations in the hemisphere to take practical
steps to end the harmful legacy of landmines. Policy differences should not
stand in the way of meaningful collaboration.
