[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20416]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                VICTIM-ACTIVATED LANDMINE ABOLITION ACT

  (Mr. McGOVERN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, yesterday, Congressman Phil English and 
I introduced H.R. 6178, the Victim-Activated Landmine Abolition Act.
  Our Nation is the global leader in funding for landmine clearance, 
mine risk education, and mine survivors. The U.S. was the first nation 
to call for a comprehensive ban on antipersonnel landmines in 1994, and 
we have not exported them since 1992, produced them since 1997, or used 
them since 1991.
  In Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, victim-activated landmines have 
killed and maimed U.S. and coalition troops. They indiscriminately 
threaten lives in more than 80 countries, and they do not distinguish 
between an enemy combatant and a U.S. soldier, child, farmer, or 
refugee.
  Today, the U.S. has acquired reliable technology that enables all 
such weapons to be equipped with man-in-the-loop targeting and 
triggering capabilities.
  We no longer need to procure or design landmines that are victim-
activated. Let the U.S. set the example for other countries in banning 
the procurement of victim-activated landmines and weapons. I encourage 
my colleagues to join me as a cosponsor of H.R. 6178.

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