Anti-Personnel mines

Over the past five or six years, determination has been growing to put an end to the suffering and casualties caused by anti-personnel mines (APMs). At first the impetus came primarily from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Later, governments began seriously to address the deepening humanitarian crisis. In 1993, France requested the Secretary-Genial, as depositary to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), to convene a conference to review the treaty, with priority to be given to anti-personnel mines. That same year. Member States that ate members of the European Community requested that an item on mine clearance be inscribed on the agenda of the General Assembly and, on the initiative of the United States, the Assembly adopted a resolution calling upon States to agree to a moratorium on the export of anti-personnel landmines. Subsequently, the United Nations established a voluntary trust fund to finance information and training programmes relating to mine clearance and to facilitate the launching of mine-clearance operations.

Связанные Темы : Disarmament