[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 125 (Friday, September 18, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10576-S10577]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          FORTIETH RATIFICATION OF THE OTTAWA LANDMINE TREATY

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, in October of 1996, I was privileged to 
participate in a conference in Ottawa hosted by Canada's Foreign 
Minister Lloyd Axworthy. I was there with Tim Rieser of my staff who 
has done so much work on the issue of banning landmines. We were also 
accompanied by Bobby Muller, the head of the Vietnam Veterans of 
America Foundation, a man who was way ahead of most of us in pushing 
for a ban on antipersonnel landmines.
  The purpose of the conference in 1996 was to chart a strategy 
culminating in a global treaty banning antipersonnel landmines. The 
Ottawa process was conceived of by Canada and a number of other 
governments that were fed up with the failure of previous efforts to 
seriously deal with the mine problem.
  Over 70 governments and dozens of nongovernmental organizations 
accepted Minister Axworthy's invitation to Ottawa. At that conference, 
to the surprise of everyone present--but certainly to my delight--
Minister Axworthy took the courageous step of challenging the world's 
governments to return in a year's time to sign a treaty that would 
accomplish nothing less than a total ban on antipersonnel landmines.
  It was that bold challenge which enabled the international community 
to finally move from rhetoric to action. In December 1997, just barely 
over a year later, 122 governments returned to Ottawa to sign a treaty 
banning the production, transfer, and use of antipersonnel mines 
forever.
  During the previous year, the United States had refused to 
participate in the treaty-drafting process. In fact, some U.S. 
officials dismissed the Ottawa process as a ``sideshow.'' They 
predicted that without U.S. support, the Canadian effort would 
eventually run out of steam. They predicted that this treaty would 
never take effect.
  In fact, Mr. President, the opposite happened. A few days ago, 
Burkina Faso, one of so many African countries whose people have been 
maimed and killed by landmines, became the 40th state to deposit its 
papers of ratification with the United Nations, triggering the 6-month 
period before the treaty formally comes into force.
  What many once dismissed as a naive and far-fetched dream is now a 
reality. In fact, today the treaty has some 129

[[Page S10577]]

signatories, including every NATO country, except the United States and 
Turkey, and every Western Hemisphere country, except the United States 
and Cuba.
  Mr. President, this is a historic achievement. It is, I am told, by 
far the shortest period of time that any humanitarian law or arms 
control treaty has come into force. It is indicative of the tremendous 
sense of urgency and determination that has grown around the world to 
stop the carnage caused by landmines.
  But more than anything, it is a tribute to Minister Axworthy, the 
Government of Canada, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, 
landmine survivors, and all the other governments, the U.N. Secretary 
General, and U.N. agencies like UNICEF and UNDP. It indicates the 
commitment of people like the late Princess Diana, Queen Noor of 
Jordan, the former coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban 
Landmines, Jody Williams, and so many others who have worked so hard to 
end this scourge.
  The treaty's significance is in its simplicity. It establishes a new, 
unambiguous international norm. The 20th century saw large portions of 
the globe contaminated by landmines. Two days ago, a process was 
formally set in motion to reverse that legacy in the first years of the 
next century. It is a gift to the next generation, and generations 
beyond.
  The treaty is a beginning. There are still many millions of mines 
buried in the ground waiting to be triggered by an innocent footstep or 
a curious child. Many of the treaty's signatories were once producers, 
exporters and users of landmines. They are no longer. The parties to 
the treaty have also pledged to get rid of the mines in the ground, and 
the United States, to its credit, and many other governments and 
organizations are already hard at work at demining.
  I had hoped that the United States would be among the 40 original 
parties to the treaty. That was not to be, but I have no doubt that the 
United States will yet sign, and I resolve to work with the 
administration to reach that goal as soon as possible.
  Mr. President, I have traveled throughout the world and have seen the 
damage caused by landmines. I have been impressed by the dedication of 
Tim Rieser in my own office who has given so much of himself to this. 
My wife is a registered nurse, and she has gone into the hospitals and 
to the clinics run and funded by the Leahy War Victims Fund. She, too, 
has seen the damage caused by landmines.
  This is a weapon that is often used against civilians. It is a weapon 
that stays in the ground long after the peace agreements are signed, 
the armies have left the field and the soldiers have been disarmed. It 
is a weapon that waits for its victim to pull the trigger by stepping 
on it, stumbling on it or brushing up against it. It is a weapon that 
is no longer needed, certainly not by the United States, the most 
powerful nation on Earth.
  We have to understand that in the end, whether it is a child in 
Honduras, a farmer in Mozambique, or an American peacekeeper in Bosnia, 
we all stand to gain in a world in which landmines are banned and their 
use is a war crime.
  Mr. President, I have been privileged to do many things in my time as 
a Member of the U.S. Senate on issues that involve us both domestically 
and worldwide. It is hard to think of anything that has been more of a 
privilege than working on the landmine issue. Certainly nothing has 
made me more proud than authoring the first piece of legislation passed 
anywhere in the world banning the export of landmines--the export 
moratorium.
  Today, Mr. President, I compliment those who have gotten us this far. 
As I told Minister Axworthy when I talked to him on the phone a couple 
evenings ago, we would not be here if he had not made the brave, bold 
move that he did in Ottawa in 1996. I still recall the reaction when 
Lloyd Axworthy launched the treaty effort in the Fall of 1996. He said, 
``Let us come back in a year with a landmine treaty.'' Indeed, they 
did. Indeed, that is where the world is now. Indeed, we are all better 
for it.
  Mr. President, I see nobody else seeking recognition, so I suggest 
the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sessions). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Grams). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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