[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 59 (Monday, April 4, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1938-S1939]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

                                 ______
                                 

SENATE RESOLUTION 575--RECOGNIZING APRIL 4, 2022, AS THE INTERNATIONAL 
 DAY FOR MINE AWARENESS AND ASSISTANCE IN MINE ACTION, AND REAFFIRMING 
   THE LEADERSHIP OF THE UNITED STATES IN ELIMINATING LANDMINES AND 
                          UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE

  Mr. LEAHY submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 575

       Whereas landmines and unexploded ordnance threaten the 
     safety, health, and lives of civilian populations and create 
     humanitarian and development challenges that have serious and 
     lasting social, economic, and security consequences for 
     affected populations;
       Whereas demining and clearance of unexploded ordnance 
     enables displaced people to return to their homes and has a 
     direct impact on development outcomes such as food security, 
     school attendance, and economic development;
       Whereas people in at least 60 countries and other areas are 
     at risk from mines and unexploded ordnance in their 
     communities;
       Whereas more than 125,000 deaths and injuries resulting 
     from anti-personnel or anti-vehicle mines and other explosive 
     remnants of war have been recorded in the Landmine Monitor 
     database since 2001, and thousands more individuals around 
     the world are killed and injured by such mines and remnants 
     each year;
       Whereas, over the past 3 decades, the United States has 
     been the global leader in supporting efforts to clear mine-
     contaminated areas around the world, dedicating more than 
     $4,000,000,000 for demining and related programs since 1993 
     and helping to eliminate more than 90,000 tons of ordnance in 
     nearly 40 countries;
       Whereas, since 1989, the United States Agency for 
     International Development has allocated more than 
     $324,000,000 through the Leahy War Victims Fund in more than 
     50 countries to provide artificial limbs, wheelchairs, 
     rehabilitation, vocational training, and other assistance to 
     survivors of accidents caused by landmines and unexploded 
     ordnance;
       Whereas landmines contaminate countries in which the United 
     States Armed Forces have been engaged in combat or 
     stabilization operations, including Iraq, Syria, Kosovo, and 
     Somalia, posing a significant risk to United States military 
     personnel;
       Whereas the United States Government expressed its support 
     for the Maputo +15 declaration of June 27, 2014, which 
     established the goal ``to destroy all stockpiled anti-
     personnel mines and clear all mined areas as soon as 
     possible,'' and ``to the fullest extent possible by 2025'';
       Whereas there are 164 States Parties to the Convention on 
     the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and 
     Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, 
     done at Oslo September 18, 1997, although the United States 
     is not yet among them;
       Whereas the recent use of landmines, cluster bombs, and 
     other munitions, particularly in the Middle East, 
     Afghanistan, and Ukraine, has created new humanitarian 
     priorities and funding requirements for demining, while 
     legacy mine contamination remains an urgent challenge 
     impacting millions of people globally;
       Whereas additional resources for demining will be needed to 
     achieve a world free of the threat of landmines and other 
     explosive hazards; and
       Whereas, on December 8, 2005, the United Nations General 
     Assembly declared that April 4th of each year shall be 
     observed as the International Day for Mine Awareness and 
     Assistance in Mine Action: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) reaffirms the commitment of the United States to 
     support international humanitarian efforts to eliminate 
     landmines and unexploded ordnance;
       (2) recognizes those individuals in numerous countries who, 
     at great risk to their personal safety, work to locate and 
     remove anti-personnel landmines and unexploded ordnance;
       (3) affirms its support for the goal, as expressed by the 
     Maputo +15 declaration of June 27, 2014, to intensify efforts 
     to clear mined areas to the fullest extent possible by 2025;
       (4) calls upon the United States Government--
       (A) to continue providing the funding necessary to support 
     international humanitarian demining activities;
       (B) to maintain its international leadership role in 
     seeking to rid the world of areas contaminated by landmines 
     and unexploded ordnance; and
       (C) to rededicate itself to addressing legacy mine 
     contamination as an urgent humanitarian priority; and
       (5) reaffirms the goals of the International Day for Mine 
     Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, 16 years ago the United Nations General 
Assembly designated April 4 as the International Day for Mine Awareness 
and Assistance in Mine Action. Today, I am introducing a Senate 
resolution recognizing that designation and reaffirming United States 
leadership in eliminating landmines and unexploded ordnance.
  As we read the reports of withdrawing Russian troops leaving 
landmines to terrorize, maim, and kill Ukrainian civilians, we are 
reminded of the necessity to redouble our efforts to ban these 
insidious weapons once and for all. The mines in Ukraine will remain a 
deadly hazard there long after the fighting ends, whenever that time 
comes.
  Landmines and other unexploded ordnance cause death and terrible 
injuries to people in dozens of countries, mostly places where the 
ability to provide lifesaving medical care and long-term rehabilitation 
and vocational support is lacking or far from adequate.
  The United States continues to provide the largest share of demining 
assistance, and we spend many millions of dollars annually helping the 
survivors. That is something we can be proud of.
  But in some countries, like Laos, the millions of cluster munitions 
that failed to detonate on contact were manufactured in the United 
States and dropped by American aircraft. Fifty years later they 
continue to destroy innocent lives.
  So while the number of landmine and UXO casualties has fallen 
significantly since I and others first took on this issue in the late 
1980s and early 1990s,

[[Page S1939]]

we are not where we hoped to be back then.
  First, the Biden Administration needs to restore the policy on 
landmines that was put in place during the Obama Administration. The 
White House said they would but it has not happened yet. There is no 
excuse for delaying.
  Second, we need to continue to provide the funding for humanitarian 
demining and survivors assistance. Fortunately, this is not a partisan 
issue. It is simply a matter of continuing to treat it as a priority.
  And third, this is my last year in the Senate and while I will do 
everything I can while I am here, we need others to continue to 
advocate for the United States to sign the international treaties 
banning anti-personnel landmines and cluster munitions. It should have 
happened already, and we have to keep working until it does.
  I have seen first-hand the effects of landmines and other unexploded 
munitions. It is horrific, especially when it's a young child with a 
leg or an arm missing. Or a parent blinded and crippled by a landmine, 
being led around by a child.
  We should be the country that leads the world in ending not only the 
carnage of landmines and UXO left behind, but the production, export, 
use and stockpiling of these indiscriminate weapons that don't belong 
in the arsenals of civilized nations.

                          ____________________