[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 69 (Thursday, May 22, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1048-E1049]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           MAINE LEGISLATURE SPEAKS ON A GLOBAL LANDMINE BAN

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. THOMAS H. ALLEN

                                of maine

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 22, 1997

  Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Speaker, I would like to share with my colleagues a 
resolution passed by the Maine State Legislature last month on the 
subject of landmines. I am informed that this is the first time any 
State legislature in the country has gone on record calling for the 
elimination of antipersonnel landmines. The resolution calls on the 
President to negotiate an international ban on the production, use, and 
stockpiling of antipersonnel landmines, and to pursue an international 
treaty through the Ottawa process by this December. It also asks State 
agencies to help, as far as practicable, in the rehabilitation of 
landmine victims living in Maine.
  I am pleased that the legislature from my State has sent this 
message, and I hope that it will encourage legislatures in other States 
to adopt similar measures. The U.S. Campaign to Ban Land Mines, a 
coalition of over 200 nongovernmental organizations, is taking this 
approach to generate attention at the State and local level for a 
global landmine ban. I appreciate the work of the mid-coast chapter of 
the American Red Cross, and Julie Groom-Thompson, director of the 
Brunswick office, in helping the effort to get the resolution through 
the legislature in Augusta.
  An antipersonnel landmine ban is an urgent need. Each year, as many 
as 26,000 people are killed or maimed by these hidden weapons in the 
ground, and most are innocent civilians who stumble upon the mines as 
they are plowing a field or walking along a road, often many years 
after the mine was planted. This means one victim every 22 minutes. The 
numbers are astounding--Cambodia has some 10 million still in the 
ground; Angola, 15 million; and Bosnia, 3 to 6 million. While each 
small, plastic landmine costs only a few dollars to produce, each costs 
thousands of dollars to remove. The removal costs are daunting, but the 
related economic costs, in lost productivity and human lives--are 
incalculable.
  Recognizing the scourge of landmines, several governments, along with 
diverse nongovernmental organizations in many countries, have mobilized 
to institute a global ban on the production and use of antipersonnel 
landmines. In May 1996, President Clinton announced his commitment to 
lead a global effort to ban landmines. Later in the year, the 
governments of 50 countries met in Ottawa to draft a plan to outlaw 
landmines through an international treaty, which would be ready for 
signature in December, 1997. This past January, the administration 
announced it would not support the Ottawa process, and instead decided 
to pursue a ban through the United Nations Conference on Disarmament. 
While the U.N. process is an appropriate international forum for this 
issue, the practical result of this option is to delay indefinitely an 
international agreement on a landmine, since recalcitrant countries 
like China are able to block action.
  The resolution passed by the Maine Legislature calls on the President 
to endorse the Ottawa process, and I believe this is the right 
approach. We cannot afford to wait while dozens of innocent civilians 
are killed or injured

[[Page E1049]]

each day. I commend the Senator Pat Leahy and Representative Lane Evans 
for their leadership in advocating for a landmine ban, building support 
in Congress, and seeking funding for humanitarian aid and landmine 
clearance activities. I support their efforts. Again, I applaud the 
message sent by the legislature in my State, and hope those in other 
States can do the same.
  I ask that a copy of the resolution be printed in the Record.

 Joint Resolution memorializing the President of the United States to 
              Negotiate a Ban on Antipersonnel Land Mines

       We, your Memorialists, the Members of the One Hundred and 
     Eighteenth Legislature of the State of Maine now assembled in 
     the First Special Session, most respectfully present and 
     petition the President of the United States, as follows:
       Whereas, antipersonnel land mines are munitions placed by 
     hand under, on or near the ground or other surface area or 
     delivered by artillery, rocket, mortar or similar means or 
     dropped from an aircraft and that are designed, constructed 
     or adapted to be detonated or exploded by the presence, 
     proximity or contact of a person; and
       Whereas, an average of 71 people, the overwhelming majority 
     of whom are civilians, are killed or maimed every day by 
     antipersonnel land mines; and
       Whereas, the estimated 80,000,000 to 110,000,000 
     antipersonnel land mines strewn across at least 64 countries 
     cause havoc in the economies of developing nations: refugees 
     can not return home, farmers can not till the fields, relief 
     shipments can not be delivered, herd animals can not approach 
     water holes, health care systems are overwhelmed by land mine 
     victims and clearance costs are extraordinary; and
       Whereas, the ecological and economic impact of 
     antipersonnel land mines has yet to be fully calculated as 
     they render arable land useless and contribute to over-
     farming of suitable land; and
       Whereas, the United States has been a major producer and 
     exporter of antipersonnel land mines for most of the past 25 
     years; and
       Whereas, the cost, to the American taxpayers of salaries, 
     equipment, transportation and other needs, of removing 
     antipersonnel land mines was approximately $17,000,000 from 
     1989 to 1996 and will continue to adversely affect the 
     civilian sector of the United States economy; and
       Whereas, despite international momentum for a global ban on 
     antipersonnel land mines, a recent United Nations conference 
     failed to negotiate a ban; and
       Whereas, at the Ottawa International Strategy Conference in 
     Ottawa, Canada in October 1996, the governments of 50 nations 
     adopted the ``Ottawa process'' recognizing the urgent need 
     for a ban on antipersonnel land mines and outlined actions 
     for reaching a ban rapidly in the hope of signing a treaty to 
     ban antipersonnel land mines in Ottawa in December 1997; and
       Whereas, in Cambodia, approximately one of every 236 people 
     is an amputee from a land mine injury and there are 
     approximately 7,000,000 to 9,000,000 uncleared land mines or 
     approximately one for each citizen of the country; and
       Whereas, Maine is home to refugees from Southeast Asia, 
     Afghanistan, Africa, Central America, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 
     Croatia and elsewhere whose lives have been and continue to 
     be directly affected by loss of life, maiming and economic 
     havoc caused by antipersonnel land mines, including those 
     that the United States implanted during warfare in Southeast 
     Asia or exported to other countries; now, therefore, be it
       Resolved: That We, your Memorialists, urge the President of 
     the United States to fulfill his commitment to negotiate an 
     international ban on the manufacture, stockpiling, transfer 
     and use of antipersonnel land mines, with a view to 
     completing the negotiations as soon as possible, by active 
     participation in the Ottawa process by which an international 
     treaty banning antipersonnel land mines will be ready for 
     signing in December 1997; and be it further
       Resolved: That the appropriate bureaus, departments or 
     agencies of the State of Maine coordinate with and assist, as 
     far as practicable, community-based organizations or groups 
     with rehabilitating victims of land mines who reside in 
     Maine; and be it further
       Resolved: That a suitable copy of this resolution be 
     prepared and presented by the Secretary of State to the 
     Honorable William J. Clinton, President of the United States, 
     each member of the Maine Congressional Delegation and United 
     States Secretary of Defense, William S. Cohen.

     

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