Land Mines: The Unfinished Agenda

Actions of Recent General Assemblies on Land Mines:

1996: Whereas, the Conference on Certain Conventional Weapons, held in Vienna in the fall of 1995 adjourned without concluding agreements on expanding and strengthening the treaty and failed to achieve a ban on antipersonnel land mines; Therefore the 208th General Assembly (1996) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.):

• Calls upon the adherents to the Inhumane Weapons Convention to reconvene and remove the obstacles to strengthening that treaty, particularly in regard to the banning of antipersonnel land mines. And further calls upon the United States to:
• ban the production sale, and use of antipersonnel land mines and laser weapons.

1997: Whereas, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has called for ... the abolition of antipersonnel land mines. Therefore the 209th General Assembly (1997) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.):

• Renews its call for the ratification and implementation of the (comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and for the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Ban Treaty and the revised Protocol on Antipersonnel Mines.

What is the Least You Need to Know about Land Mines?

Antipersonnel land mines are the only non-nuclear weapons that continue to kill long after conflict ceases. Most often their victims are women and children. Each month, eight hundred people die and twelve hundred are wounded by land mines. There are over 250,000 land mine amputees worldwide. Another blast occurs every twenty minutes.

The number of land mines deployed across the world is enormous. There are 10 million in Afganistan and up to 15 million in Angola, Mozambique, Eritrea, Cambodia , Ethopia , Iraq, Somalia,

Sudan, the former Yugoslavia and Nicaragua. Ten to twenty million mines are manufactured each year, mainly in China and Russia.

While a land mine costs from $3 to $30, it can cost up to $1,000 to remove that mine once it is deployed. In 1995 the UN cleared 80,000 mines; but that same year, over 2.5 million were installed. At this time no efficient method has been developed for clearing existing mine fields. It is a slow, dangerous and expensive process. At the present rate, it would take 1,000 mine clearers 33 years to demine just the Balkan States alone.

What's Different Now?

Land mines have been around for a long time, but many Americans were unaware of their prolonged killing power. That began to change in November six years ago when a group met in the offices of the Vietnam Veterans of America. They had been working to provide prosthetics and aid for victims of land mines. But now they believed they should do more. That meeting was the beginning of the International Committee to Ban Land Mines. This small group of committed Citizens never imagined how their efforts would be blessed and multiplied. They were just doing what they could to call the world's attention to this injustice. For their dedicated work, the International Committee to Ban Land Mines was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 1997.

Where Does the United States Stand?

While the United States has provided significant leadership toward global elimination of land mines, the Administration to date asserts it cannot abide by the Oslo Treaty. The government has ceased production, export, and use of the most dangerous kinds of land mines. It has destroyed 1.5 million mines, will destroy 1.5 million more by 1999, and has committed over $153 million to demininig programs.

President Clinton stated he can not sign the treaty as it currently stands. "There is a line that I simply cannot cross, and that line is the safety and security of our men and women in uniform," he said. Clinton asked for a nine-year exemption from the ban because of the unique military situation in Korea where 37,000 US troops are stationed. He also sought a clause allowing nations to withdraw from the pact after six months if they were victims of aggression and allowances for "mixed systems" of antipersonnel and antitank land mines.

Alternatively, the Administration will push at the Geneva Conference on Disarmament for an immediate, comprehensive global ban on exports and transfers of land mines involving the major producers: countries like Russia, China, and Iran which were not present at Oslo. And, the United States will lead a "Demining 2010 Initiative" designed to remove all antipersonnel land mines from over 64 countries by the year 2010.

Senator Leahy Responds to the President

In an address to the U.S. Senate on September 23, 1997, Senator Patrick Leahy responded to President Clinton's decision not to join in the treaty created by the "Ottawa Process." Here ore a few of his comments:

Leahy says he believes that the president is serious about a ban on land mines. "As convinced as I am of the President's desire for a ban, I am just as convinced that a tremendous opportunity was lost last week - an opportunity that comes rarely in history. As a USA Today editorial put it, 'having blown the best chance ever to negotiate an acceptable international ban on land mines, the Clinton Administration now finds itself.....(having) joined a few nations, including rogue states like Iran and Iraq, on the outside of a remarkable process."

"The treaty they adopted was nothing short of a miracle. In less than a year, nations as diverse as our closest European allies who have been major producers of land mines, to Mozambique whose people have been killed and maimed by land mines, joined together in finalizing a treaty that does nothing less than ban the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of a category of weapon that General Sherman called 'a violation of civilized warfare...' It is important to remember that the Ottawa process evolved only after years of failed attempts by governments to solve this problem in traditional ways.

Leahy points out that in response to the President's concern for our defense in Korea, the treaty effectively grants a twelve year grace period for removing existing minefields. He believes that most of the Pentagon's concerns can be addressed successfully, if immediate and full effort is made to do so. The Senator concludes, "I want the United States to show the kind of leadership that is expected of the world's leading democracy. ... The Ottawa treaty will be signed in December. There is still time for the White house to reconsider. The treaty ends the 20th Century, the bloodiest in history, in a way in which the world can be justly proud. It is our gift to the next century. The United States should be part of it."

Resources:

• International Committe for the Red Cross: Landmines
• CARE: Land Mine Information Center
• UNICEF: Land-mines: A deadly inheritance
• United Nations: Demining Database
• Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation: Landmine Campaign
• UNA-USA: Adopt-A-Minefield Program
• Doctors Without Borders: Living in a Minefield
• PC(USA): Situation Report - Landmines

What can Presbyterians do about Land Mines?

A Forum program on Sunday, March 8 educated some of us about the issue of antipersonnel land mines. Through Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, we already support mine clearing, mapping and increasing awareness. You may want to make a special contribution by writing a check to Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), with designated account number 9-2000132. You may want to write our senators or congressman to urge their support of legislation to join the worldwide movement to end the use of land mines. You may want to write the President to support the Administration's intention to push for a comprehensive ban on exports and transfers of land mines and to lead a demining initiative designed to remove all antipersonnel land mines from over 64 countries by the year 2010.