HJR 55: Urging the government of the United States to accede to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.
00HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 55 01 Urging the government of the United States to accede to the 1997 Mine Ban 02 Treaty. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 WHEREAS the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and 05 Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, also referred to as the 1997 Mine 06 Ban Treaty, entered into force on March 1, 1999, without the participation of the United 07 States; and 08 WHEREAS the Convention has been signed by 137 countries and ratified by 90 09 countries; and 10 WHEREAS a person is killed or maimed by a land mine every 20 minutes, resulting 11 in more than 25,000 victims each year; and 12 WHEREAS many of the victims of land mines are children at play or women seeking 13 food for their families; and 14 WHEREAS 110,000,000 land mines are scattered in 64 countries and pose a
01 continuing threat of violence to civilians long after warfare has ceased; and 02 WHEREAS, at the current rate of clearance, it is estimated that it will take 1,100 03 years to remove the 110,000,000 existing land mines if no more mines are laid; and 04 WHEREAS the number of land mines in use increases each year; and 05 WHEREAS land mines are widely deployed in developing countries in Asia, Africa, 06 and Latin America; and 07 WHEREAS, in the most seriously affected areas, land mines wreak havoc with the 08 economy, refugees cannot return home, farmers cannot till fields, relief shipments cannot be 09 delivered, animals cannot reach watering holes, unmined lands are overfarmed, health care 10 systems are overwhelmed, and mine clearance costs are exorbitant; and 11 WHEREAS the United States is one of the remaining 16 mine-producing countries in 12 the world and, with a stockpile of 11,300,000 anti-personnel land mines, has the fourth largest 13 mine arsenal in the world after China, Russia, and Belarus; and 14 WHEREAS many United States military leaders, including General Norman 15 Schwartzkopf, have confirmed that there is no need for anti-personnel land mines; and 16 WHEREAS the United States government has recognized the humanitarian cost of 17 anti-personnel land mines and is undertaking research to eliminate the need for them; and 18 WHEREAS more than 150 United States humanitarian organizations, including the 19 Red Cross, CARE, Save the Children, Catholic Relief Services, and World Vision, have joined 20 more than 500 humanitarian organizations around the world in calling for an immediate ban 21 on the production, stockpiling, use, and transfer of anti-personnel land mines; and 22 WHEREAS over 70 nations have put forth a United Nations Resolution calling for an 23 international ban on the production, stockpiling, use, and transfer of anti-personnel land mines; 24 and 25 WHEREAS the United States was an active participant in the 1997 conference in 26 Ottawa, Canada, at which the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, 27 Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction was formulated; 28 and 29 WHEREAS the parties to the Convention agree not to use, develop, produce, 30 otherwise acquire, stockpile, retain, or transfer anti-personnel land mines and agree to destroy 31 or ensure the destruction of anti-personnel land mines; and
01 WHEREAS the United States did not sign the Convention, and has not acceded to the 02 Convention, because it wants to continue to use anti-personnel land mines on the Korean 03 peninsula and to continue to use mixed systems that combine both anti-personnel and anti-tank 04 land mines; and 05 WHEREAS the United States has established an export moratorium on anti-personnel 06 land mines, but the moratorium does not fully comply with the Convention; and 07 WHEREAS, without the strong commitment of the United States to ban anti-personnel 08 land mines and the full participation of the United States in the Convention, recalcitrant 09 nations have an excuse for continuing to use anti-personnel land mines, and the humanitarian 10 tragedy caused by anti-personnel land mines will continue; 11 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests President 12 Bill Clinton to accede to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production 13 and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction on behalf of the United States; 14 and be it 15 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the 16 United States Senate to concur in the accession to the Convention on the Prohibition of the 17 Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction 18 as soon as possible. 19 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the 20 United States; the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and President 21 of the United States Senate; the Honorable Madeleine K. Albright, United States Secretary of 22 State; the Honorable William S. Cohen, United States Secretary of Defense; the Honorable 23 Strom Thurmond, President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate; the Honorable Jesse 24 Helms, Chair of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States Senate; and to the 25 Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the 26 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.