Senate Floor
May 18, 2010

Statement of JAMES P. McGOVERN

CONGRESS CALLS FOR COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW
OF LANDMINE POLICY

Mr. McGovern. Mr. Speaker, today 68 members of the United States Senate sent a bipartisan letter to President Obama calling for a comprehensive review of the U.S. policy on anti-personnel landmines, urging the Administration to identify any obstacles to joining the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti- Personnel Mines and Their Destruction. I am proud to say that 57 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives also sent a bipartisan letter to the President in support of their Senate colleagues.

Mr. Speaker, the United States has not exported anti-personnel mines since 1992; it has not produced anti-personnel landmines since 1997; and it has not used anti-personnel landmines since 1991. During the past decade, the United States has become the world’s largest contributor to humanitarian demining and rehabilitation programs for landmine survivors. I firmly believe that it’s time for the United States to formally join the 158 nations of the world who are parties to Convention banning anti-personnel landmines so that we can receive the credit for which our nation is long overdue and restore our leadership in shaping the Convention in the future.

I know that there are military questions that require review so that all sectors of our government are united in joining the Convention. I believe there are answers to these questions, answers that our NATO allies and other nations have confronted and overcome over the past decade as they complied with Convention’s requirements. There is a wealth of experience and knowledge among our NATO allies, all of whom are parties to this Treaty, on adopting new military strategies and tactics, working with non-Treaty States, and identifying alternative weaponry as we abandon, once and for all, this indiscriminate, rogue weapon. I encourage our military leaders to reach out to our NATO partners and consult with their military counterparts on how they adapted and complied with the Landmine Ban Treaty.

Mr. Speaker, I have seen first-hand the results of anti-personnel landmines on civilians and soldiers in El Salvador and Colombia. I have talked with survivors from around the globe, including men and women who proudly wear the U.S. military uniform. I have met with landmine survivors, including children, who were only working their fields or walking to school when they stepped on a landmine. They are not victims, Mr. Speaker – they are survivors and leaders in a global movement to ban this weapon from all current and future arsenals. They are clear-eyed, sophisticated individuals who are determined that no one – in uniform or civilian – shall ever be harmed again by these weapons.

I believe, Mr. Speaker, that it is in our best national and security interests to join the Convention. Clearly, the bipartisan letter by our Senate colleagues and the supporting House letter show that the time has come for the United States to once again take up its leadership on this international issue. {I ask unanimous consent to enter the House and Senate letters and related materials into the Congressional Record.}

Download a PDF of this statement here.