    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 19 (Monday, May 16, 1994)]
    [Pages 1060-1061]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Message to the Senate Transmitting the Convention and Protocols on
    Conventional Weapons Restrictions

    May 12, 1994

    To the Senate of the United States:

        I transmit herewith, for the advice and consent of the Senate to
    ratification, the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use
    of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed To Be Excessively
    Injurious or To Have Indiscriminate Effects (the Convention), and two
    accompanying Protocols on Non-Detectable Fragments (Protocol I) and on
    Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other
    Devices (Protocol II). Also transmitted for the information of the
    Senate is the report of the Department of State with respect to the
    Convention and its Protocols.
        The Convention was concluded at Geneva on October 10, 1980, was
    signed by the United States on April 8, 1982, and entered into force on
    December 2, 1983. More than 30 countries have become Party to the
    Convention. It constitutes a modest but significant humanitarian effort
    to protect the victims of armed conflict from the effects of particular
    weapons. It will supplement prohibitions or restrictions on the use of
    weapons contained in existing treaties and customary international law,
    including the prohibition on the use in war of chemical and
    bacteriological weapons in the Geneva Protocol of June 17, 1925. It will
    provide a basis for effective controls on the widespread and
    indiscriminate use of landmines, which have caused widespread civilian
    casualties in recent conflicts.
        The Convention and its Protocols restrict, for humanitarian reasons,
    the use in armed conflicts of three specific types of conventional
    weapons. Protocol I prohibits the use of weapons that rely on fragments
    not detectable by X-rays. Protocol II regulates the use of landmines and
    similar devices for the purpose of reducing the danger to the civilian
    population caused by the indiscriminate use of such weapons, and
    prohibits certain types of booby-traps. Protocol III restricts the use
    of incendiary weapons in populated areas.
        The United States signed the Convention on April 8, 1982. Since
    then, it has been sub-

    [[Page 1061]]

    ject to detailed interagency reviews. Based on these reviews, I have
    concluded that the United States should become a Party to the Convention
    and to its Protocols I and II. As described in the report of the
    Secretary of State, there are concerns about the acceptability of
    Protocol III from a military point of view that require further
    examination. I therefore recommend that in the meantime the United
    States exercise its right under Article 4 of the Convention to accept
    only Protocols I and II.
        I believe that United States ratification of the Convention and its
    Protocols I and II will underscore our commitment to the principle that
    belligerents must refrain from weapons or methods of warfare that are
    inhumane or unnecessary from a military standpoint. I am also mindful of
    the strong sense of the Congress that the Convention should be submitted
    to the Senate for advice and consent to ratification, as evidenced in
    section 1365 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year
    1993 (October 23, 1992, Public Law 102-484) and section 1423 of the
    National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 (November 30,
    1993, Public Law 103-160).
        More specifically, by becoming Party, we will encourage the
    observance by other countries of restrictions on landmines and other
    weapons that U.S. Armed Forces and those of our allies already observe
    as a matter of humanity, common sense, and sound military doctrine. The
    United States will be able to take the lead in negotiating improvements
    to the Mines Protocol so as to deal more effectively with the immense
    threat to the civilian population caused by the indiscriminate use of
    those weapons. It will strengthen our efforts to encourage adoption of a
    moratorium on export of all anti-personnel landmines.
        I therefore recommend that the Senate give early and favorable
    consideration to the Convention and its Protocols I and II and give its
    advice and consent to ratification subject to the conditions contained
    in the report of the Department of State.
                                                William J. Clinton
    The White House,
    May 12, 1994.