[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 95 (Tuesday, July 8, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H4844]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TIME TO BAN LAND MINES

  (Mr. MORAN of Virginia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, we have to assume greater 
responsibility for and take greater leadership against the 
proliferation of land mines throughout the world. Land mines were 
responsible for one-third of all the casualties in the Vietnam war. 
Likewise in the Persian Gulf war, they were responsible for one-third 
of the casualties. Already there have been 284 casualties due to land 
mines in Bosnia.
  But it is not just professional military forces that suffer from 
these horrible instruments of death. Last year over 26,000 people were 
killed or maimed by land mines. That is one person every 20 minutes. 
Most of these victims were not members of the military. Most of them 
were children. Many of these children are victims of wars long ended, 
of conflicts long forgotten, but land mines can stay active for over 50 
years, Mr. Speaker. They will kill children whose parents are not even 
born yet. And even though some countries have more active land mines in 
their territory than people, we continue to plant 2 million more land 
mines every year. It is time to ban them.

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