AG/RES. 1411 (XXVI-O/96)

THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE AS AN ANTIPERSONNEL-LAND-MINE-FREE ZONE

(Resolution adopted at the eighth plenary session, held on June 7, 1996)

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

TAKING NOTE of the Report of the General Secretariat on the Mine-Clearing Assistance Program in Central America (CP/doc.2664/95) and the additional report on the same subject (CP/doc.2664/95 add. 1);

NOTING WITH GRAVE CONCERN that, according to those reports, there are still approximately 170,000 antipersonnel land mines in Central America-100,000 in Nicaragua, 35,000 in Guatemala, 30,000 in Honduras, and 5,000 in Costa Rica-and that there is information regarding their existence in other areas of the Hemisphere;

CONCERNED that these antipersonnel land mines are constantly taking a toll of innocent victims among children and adults in Latin America, destroying the economic assets of rural populations, and hindering the normal development of society as a whole;

MINDFUL that millions of dollars and enormous human and technological resources will have to be invested for mine-clearing in the affected zones of Latin America and that the financial resources available to implement such an urgent task are limited;

RECALLING its resolutions AG/RES. 1299 (XXIV-O/94), AG/RES. 1335 (XXV-O/95), and AG/RES. 1343 (XXV-O/95) on antipersonnel land mines;

RECALLING ALSO United Nations General Assembly resolutions 48/75K of December 16, 1993, 49/75D of December 15, 1994, and 50/70 O of December 12, 1995, which, inter alia, urge states to agree to a moratorium on the export of antipersonnel land mines, which pose grave dangers to civilian populations, and further urge them to implement that moratorium, and United Nations General Assembly resolutions 49/75D of December 15, 1994, and 50/70 of December 12, 1995, which, inter alia, established as a goal of the international community the eventual elimination of antipersonnel land mines;

RECALLING WITH SATISFACTION that 20 member countries of the Organization of American States sponsored United Nations resolution 50/70 of December 12, 1995, supporting a moratorium on the export of antipersonnel land mines and calling for the eventual elimination of antipersonnel land mines;

MINDFUL of United Nations General Assembly resolutions 49/79 and 50/74, concerning the 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 noting that at the Conference of the Parties an agreement was reached on strengthening Protocol II to this Convention;

APPRECIATIVE of the support of the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States and of individual states and other international institutions with regard to antipersonnel mine-clearing efforts in Central America;

DESIROUS that the member states affected by the scourge of antipersonnel land mines be permanently free thereof after completion of the mine-clearing operations and that the nations of the Hemisphere be able to focus all their efforts, human and financial, on national development, democracy, and hemispheric solidarity;

EXPRESSING its deepest satisfaction with the increasing number of OAS member states that have declared their resolve not to produce, transfer, or use antipersonnel land mines; and

WELCOMING the moratorium that some countries have already declared on the export of antipersonnel land mines,

RESOLVES:

1. To adopt as goals the global elimination of antipersonnel land mines and conversion of the Western Hemisphere into an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone.

2. To call upon member states that have not yet done so to declare and implement moratoriums on the production, use, and transfer of all antipersonnel land mines in the Western Hemisphere at the earliest possible date and to inform the Secretary General when they have done so.

3. To 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 Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects and its protocols, especially Protocol II, as amended, and to urge those member states which are already parties to this Convention to ratify Protocol II, as amended, at the earliest possible date and to request member states to inform the Secretary General when they have done so.

4. To request the Permanent Council, through its Committee on Hemispheric Security, to establish, with the support of the General Secretariat and as a confidence- and security-building measure, a complete and integrated registry of antipersonnel land mines based on the information provided annually by the member states on the following: the approximate numbers of antipersonnel land mines in their stockpiles, the number of antipersonnel land mines that have been removed during the past year, the plans for clearance of the remaining antipersonnel land mines, and any other pertinent information.

5. To urge member states, as they work toward the goals established in paragraph 1 of this resolution, to implement measures to suspend the spread of antipersonnel land mines, such as stockpile controls, and to encourage member states to adopt domestic legislation, as necessary, to prohibit the private possession and transfer of antipersonnel land mines and to inform the Secretary General when they have done so.

6. To instruct the Permanent Council, through its Committee on Hemispheric Security and with the support of the General Secretariat, to present annual reports to the General Assembly on all matters dealt with in this resolution.