[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 99 (Friday, June 16, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8558-S8560]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. LEAHY (for himself, Mr. Bradley, Mr. Graham, Mr. Daschle, 
        Mr. Simon, Mr. Inouye, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. Reid, Mr. Hatfield, 
        Mr. Ford, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Sarbanes, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Kohl, Mr. 
        Lautenberg, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Kerry, Mrs. Kassebaum, Ms. Moseley-
        Braun, Mr. Bumpers, Mr. Kennedy, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Pell, Mr. 
        Chafee, Mr. Dorgan, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Wellstone, Mr. Simpson, 
        Mrs. Murray, Mr. Rockefeller, Mr. Bryan, Mr. Moynihan, Mr. 
        Kerrey, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Akaka, Mr. Conrad, Mr. Johnston, 
        Mr. Pryor, Mr. Breaux, Mr. Exon, and Mr. Campbell):
  S. 940. A bill to support proposals to implement the U.S. goal of 
eventually eliminating antipersonnel landmines; to impose a moratorium 
on use of antipersonnel landmines except in limited circumstances; to 
provide for sanctions against foreign governments that export 
antipersonnel landmines, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Foreign Relations.


                  the 1995 Landmine Use Moratorium Act

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, earlier today, I spoke of a worldwide 
scourge of landmines and the use of antipersonnel landmines. I noted 
that there have been few times in history when the nations of the world 
joined together to outlaw the use of a weapon of war.
  It was done with chemical and biological weapons, because it was 
understood that once they were unleashed, they could not be controlled. 
They maim or kill whoever comes in contact with them, and they do that 
whether it is civilians or combatants. In fact, if they are in the 
hands of terrorists, they could wreak havoc on whole societies. We had 
a terrifying glimpse of that in Japan a few months ago.
  Now, while chemical weapons are relatively easy to produce, the 
political cost of using them is enormous. There is worldwide revulsion 
if they are used, and any perpetrator is branded a war criminal, a 
pariah, and ostracized by the entire world community. And so we ban 
them.
  We did the same with dum dum bullets, which expand on contact with 
the human body and cause horrific injuries. They have been outlawed for 
a century.
  I mention this because every weapon may have some military utility, 
as do chemical weapons and dum dum bullets. Some have been repudiated 
as inhumane and a violation of the laws of war.
  That is what Civil War General Sherman that about landmines over a 
century ago. Sherman was no humanitarian, but he condemned landmines as 
``a violation of civilized warfare.'' It was in the Civil War that 
landmines--actually live artillery shells, were first concealed beneath 
the surface of roads, in houses, even concealed in flour barrels, where 
they maimed and killed soldiers and civilians alike. But even though 
Sherman and others condemned them, they have been used ever since in 
steadily increasing numbers.
  Today, vast areas of many countries have become deathtraps from 
millions of unexploded landmines. The State Department estimates that 
there are 80 to 110 million of these tiny explosives in 62 countries, 
each one waiting to explode from the pressure of a footstep.
  To give you an idea, Mr. President, this is a landmine in my hand. I 
am sure my colleagues know it is a deactivated landmine, but this is a 
landmine. It is tiny and costs $3 or $4 to produce. It is all rubber or 
plastic except for one tiny piece of metal about the size of a 
thumbtack. So it is nearly undetectable. If this had been real, in just 
touching it like this, my arm would be gone and most of my face would 
be gone. If you step on it, your leg is gone. If you are a child, you 
are probably killed. Children are killed daily on these. In fact, every 
day, it is estimated that 70 people are maimed or killed by landmines. 
That is one person every 22 minutes. That is 26,000 people every year. 
Most of them are not combatants. They are civilians going about their 
daily lives--bringing their animals to a field, collecting wood, or 
they are getting water, or going to market, or they are going to 
business. They are like Ken Rutherford, a humanitarian worker from 
Colorado, working with others in Africa.
  He hit a landmine. As he described it in his very painful and very 
graphic testimony before the Senate, he sat there holding his foot in 
his hand, trying to figure out how he could put it back on. Of course, 
he never did. And there was surgery after surgery. We watched him walk 
painfully to the 

[[Page S8559]]
table where he testified before the Senate.
  These pictures, Mr. President, behind me, tell a gruesome story. But, 
in a way, these are the lucky ones--lucky because they survived, but 
unlucky that they are in a country where they will face a lifetime of 
hardship.

  There are tens of thousands of people like them. Many others die, 
just from a lack of blood or from shock, before they can reach a 
hospital. In many of these countries the hospitals are overwhelmed.
  I do not have the slightest doubt, Mr. President, that any Member of 
the Senate, Republican or Democrat, could not see what I have seen 
without feeling as passionately as I do. Young children with their legs 
blown off at the knees, mothers with an arm or leg missing, hospital 
rows filled with rows of amputees. I have visited these hospitals.
  My wife, a registered nurse, has visited these hospitals. We know 
what they are like. Tim Rieser, from my staff, has traveled to all 
parts of the world to see what landmines have done.
  Senators Johnston and Specter, Senators Simpson and Nickles saw 
firsthand what mines can do when they visited a center for amputees in 
Vietnam. Most people have not been to Vietnam, Afghanistan, Cambodia, 
Bosnia, Angola, or Mozambique where mines have been a fact of daily 
life and, in most places, still are. There you see, over and over, the 
terrible human tragedy these insidious weapons cause.
  Civilians are not the only victims of landmines. They have become the 
scourge of the U.N. peacekeepers. An article in this week's issue of 
Defense Week is titled, ``If U.S. Troops Get the Call in Bosnia, Mines 
Will Pose Serious Threat.'' It says American troops sent to former 
Yugoslavia would have to combat an estimated 1.7 million mines in 
Bosnia alone. It says that mines have been used by all sides in that 
war to intimidate U.N. peacekeepers.
  We are called in there as the most powerful nation history has ever 
known. But we will be facing $3 and $4 and $5 and $8 landmines and be 
brought to the level of just about any other country, powerful or 
otherwise.
  Landmines have become a cheap, popular weapon in Third World 
countries, the same countries where American troops are likely to be 
sent in the future. The $2 or $3 antipersonnel mine hidden under a 
layer of sand or dust can blow the leg off the best-trained, best-
equipped American soldier, even though he or she represents the most 
powerful nation on earth.
  Two years ago, almost no one was paying attention to this global 
crisis. Then the U.S. Senate passed my amendment for a moratorium on 
the export of antipersonnel landmines. Republicans and Democrats 
together joined to pass that.
  The amendment had one goal: To challenge other countries to join with 
us to stop the spread of these hidden killers. As I spoke to the 
leaders of the other countries, I could tell them this was something--
and probably the only thing during that same Congress--that united 
Senators as nothing else had, no matter what their party or political 
philosophy.
  With the public pressure that grew out of that and the efforts of 
people around this world, 26 countries have now halted all or most of 
their exports of antipersonnel landmines in just 2 years, starting with 
what we were able to do here. Mr. President, 26 countries have halted 
all or most of their exports of antipersonnel landmines.
  If, in my 21 years, I had to point to what I was most proud of, I 
could not think of anything I could be more proud of or have more pride 
in than knowing men and women both in this body and in parliamentary 
bodies around the world who have joined with the Senate.
  Last September, in a historic speech to the U.N. General Assembly, 
President Clinton announced the goal of eventually eliminating 
antipersonnel landmines. On December 15, the 184 members of the U.N. 
General Assembly passed a resolution calling for further steps toward 
the eventual elimination of antipersonnel landmines.
  This is the first time since the banning of chemical weapons that the 
nations of the world have singled out a type of weapon for total 
elimination. It reflects a growing worldwide consensus that these 
weapons are unacceptable because they are indiscriminate.
  They are so cheap, so easy to mass produce, so easy to conceal and 
transport and scatter by the thousands. They cannot be controlled. They 
are used routinely to terrorize civilian populations.
  In March of this year, Belgium passed a law prohibiting production, 
export, and use of antipersonnel mines. Belgium had been a major 
producer. Now they have outlawed them. Norway did the same just last 
week. Half a dozen other countries have declared support for a global 
ban on these weapons.
  U.N. Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali, Pope John Paul II, former 
President Jimmy Carter, American Red Cross President Elizabeth Dole, 
these are but a few of the world leaders who have called for an end to 
the use of antipersonnel mines.
  But despite this progress, the use of landmines continues unabated. 
Millions of new mines are being produced each year, and today the 
Russians are dropping them by the thousands, out of airplanes, over 
Chechnya.
  Mr. President, today I introduce legislation that builds on the steps 
we have taken. It would impose a 1-year moratorium on the use of 
antipersonnel mines, to take effect 3 years from the date of enactment.
  It would permit the use of these mines along international borders, 
for example between North and South Korea, in minefields that are 
monitored to keep out civilians. It also permits the use of Claymore 
mines, which are used to guard a perimeter, and antitank mines.
  The purpose of the legislation is simple: Like the landmine export 
moratorium and the nuclear testing moratorium, it aims, by setting an 
example, to challenge other countries to join to bring an end to the 
mass destruction in slow motion caused by landmines.
  As a step toward that goal, it would temporarily halt the scattering 
of antipersonnel mines that cause such a massive number of civilian 
casualties. One person who has worked on this in Cambodia said, sitting 
in my office in Burlington, VT, ``Yes, we clear landmines in Cambodia. 
We clear them an arm and a leg at a time.''
  In addition, my legislation would provide for sanctions against 
countries that continue to export antipersonnel mines.
  Mr. President, this is a global crisis. Even with all of our power, 
the United States cannot solve it alone. But neither will it be solved 
without strong U.S. leadership.
  That is what the legislation does. It sets an example. It says, ``For 
1 year, we will take time out.'' We will challenge other countries to 
live up to what they said at the United Nations last December when they 
agreed to work to rid the world of these weapons.
  Every ambassador from other countries I have talked to, every leader, 
every foreign minister, has told me in words the same thing: If the 
United States, the most powerful nation history has ever known, if the 
United States cannot set the moral leadership, this will not be done. 
But if the United States sets the example, then it can be done.
  Our people will be safer. The people in 180 other countries 
ultimately will be safer, certainly the people of the 60 or more 
countries that are littered with mines can now begin to get rid of 
them. With 500 new landmine casualties each week, resolutions are not 
enough. We have to jolt the world out of complacency. Only the United 
States can do that.
  I have two minds about this legislation. I believe it could be the 
spark that leads to international cooperation to stop this senseless 
slaughter, because what we do is being watched around the globe, and 
there is great support.
  It will take a determined effort over the next few years, but if our 
leadership gets other governments to join, and I believe it will, 
Americans who are sent into harm's way in the future will have far more 
to gain from what we do here. Whether we send our men and women in 
uniform, whether we send our people on humanitarian missions, whatever 
else, to the other parts of the world, they will be safer because of 
what we can do here.
  At the same time, it is only a 1-year moratorium and does not take 
effect for 3 years. Between now and then, 

[[Page S8560]]
82,000 people will die or be horribly maimed by landmines.
  Frankly, Mr. President, this legislation is the least we can do as 
the world's only superpower with by far the most powerful military. It 
is the least we can do to stigmatize these weapons, because they are 
indiscriminate and inhumane, whether they are the simple $2 or $3 type 
or the more complex self-destructive type.
  What is our alternative? To accept that large areas of the world will 
be forever littered with hidden deadly explosives? I cannot accept 
that. Or that every 22 minutes of every day of every year someone, 
often a child, usually a civilian, will lose a leg or an arm, or life, 
as the result of a landmine? I and the 40 other Senators of both 
parties sponsoring this legislation cannot accept that. It is a global 
catastrophe. Landmines are causing more unnecessary suffering than any 
other weapon of war, and people everywhere are calling for the end of 
this.

  Today, if armies leave the field they take their weapons with them. 
They take away their guns, their tanks, and their cannons. But they 
leave behind landmines that continue to kill long after anybody even 
remembers what the armies were fighting about. Long after their 
leaders, their generals, their politicians are dead and gone, the 
landmines stay there. It is the weapon that keeps on killing.
  There are some weapons that are so inhumane they do not belong on 
this Earth. Antipersonnel landmines are in that category. This is not a 
weapon we need for our national security. It is a terrorist weapon used 
most often against the defenseless, like these children here who are no 
threat to anybody. They are the victims. It is, above all, a moral 
issue.
  I want to close with a quote from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, because he 
has spoken eloquently about the 20 million landmines in Africa that 
have already destroyed so many innocent lives. Archbishop Tutu said:

       Anti-personnel landmines are not just a crime perpetrated 
     against people, they are a sin. Why has the world been so 
     silent about these obscenities? It is because most of the 
     victims of landmines are neither heard nor seen.

  Mr. President, the legislation I am introducing today shows that we 
do hear, that we do see, and we are going to stop this.
                                 ______