[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 82 (Thursday, June 12, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S5595]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-139. A resolution adopted by the House of the 
     Legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; to the 
     Committee on Foreign Relations.

                               Resolution

       Whereas, antipersonnel land mines kill or maim an average 
     of 71 persons per day, the majority of whom are civilian; and
       Whereas, the estimated 80,000,000 to 110,000,000 
     antipersonnel land mines strewn across at least 64 countries, 
     cause havoc in the economics of developing nations: refugees 
     cannot return home, farmers cannot till fields, relief 
     shipments cannot be delivered, herd animals cannot 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; 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 an antipersonnel land mines for more than 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 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; 
     therefore be it
       Resolved, That the Massachusetts House of Representatives 
     urges the United States to take action 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 a copy of these resolutions be forwarded by 
     the Clerk of The House of Representatives to the President of 
     the United States, the Presiding Officers of the Congress and 
     to the Members thereof from this Commonwealth.

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