GENERAL ASSEMBLY ADOPTS PROGRAMME FOR YOUTH TO YEAR 2000

Press Release
GA/9036

GENERAL ASSEMBLY ADOPTS PROGRAMME FOR YOUTH TO YEAR 2000

Three years in preparation, the World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond was adopted by the General Assembly this morning without a vote.

The programme provides a policy framework and practical guidelines for national action and international support to improve the situation of young people. It identifies 10 priority areas for action, as follows: education, employment, hunger and poverty, health, environment, drug abuse, juvenile delinquency, leisure-time activities, girls and young women, and the full and effective participation of youth in the life of society and decision-making.

Previous discussion in the Economic and Social Council, which recommended the programme for adoption by the Assembly, had included protracted discussion on whether or not there was consensus on the programme, in particular paragraphs concerning reproductive health. In statements made following adoption of the programme this morning, representatives of Malta, Libya, Iran and Lebanon said that while they had joined the consensus on the resolution, they were concerned about those paragraphs and several others.

Similarly, the representative of Argentina said he could not accept the inclusion of abortion as a method of fertility control. The representative of the Sudan said her delegation had joined the consensus because of its firm belief in the importance of the role entrusted to youth, but at the same time the programme expressed disregard for certain societies and did not respect their traditions and cultures.

Also this morning, the Assembly heard 15 speakers as it took up the issue of assistance in mine clearance, with many delegations calling on those who planted mines to take responsibility and bear the costs of their removal and of the human and economic destruction they were causing. Many speakers detailed the numbers of their citizens who had been killed and their continuing economic problems as a result of land-mines left in their countries during the Second World War and other conflicts.

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The representative of the United States said between 85 and 110 million land-mines lay scattered throughout 64 countries. The scale of the problem

could be seen in the estimated 6 million land-mines in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia where, from April 1992 to June 1995, 20 peace-keepers had been killed and 204 had been wounded. In general, land-mines were maiming or killing an estimated 26,000 people every year. As a first step towards the goal of eliminating mines, the United States had enacted a unilateral moratorium on the export of anti-personnel land-mines in 1992.

The representative of Egypt said "the affected State in most cases is a victim in need of financial and technical assistance which are essential to initiate and continue the mine-clearance operation". The continued existence in his country's territory of more than 23 million land-mines -- some of which dated back to the Second World War -- was of serious concern. The representative of Iran said that during the Iran-Iraq war, nearly 16 million land-mines and unexploded sub-munitions were laid in Iranian territory. A massive clearance programme during the last six years had neutralized one third of them, but lack of access to mine-field maps and advanced equipment had slowed the effort and led to unacceptable casualties.

The representative of the Lao People's Democratic Republic said a related problem was unexploded ordnance. Between 1964 and 1973, the war in his region had left a staggering amount of unexploded ordnance, including mortar shells, munitions and land-mines. Twenty years after the war ended, ordnance dropped from the air was the cause of the majority of injuries and deaths today.

Several delegations expressed their appreciation of progress the international community was making in addressing the mine clearance problem. The representative of Ukraine said he entirely supported the provisions of the draft Protocol II of the Convention on Indiscriminate Conventional Weapons, concerning the obligatory inclusion of the detectable elements, self- destruction mechanisms and other elements into mine construction. The representative of Colombia said the establishment of the Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Clearance was a positive step. "The international community expects a generous increase in the contributions to this Fund, particularly from those that in the past have profited from land-mines and, thus, have at least a moral responsibility."

The representative of Spain, speaking on behalf of the European Union, introduced the draft resolution on mine clearance. Also speaking on the item, were representatives of Pakistan, Norway, Russian Federation, Lebanon, Canada, Egypt, Ukraine, Thailand and Libya.

In other action, the Assembly adopted without a vote the resolution recommended by the Credentials Committee.

The Assembly will meet again at 3 p.m. today to continue the debate on mine clearance and act on the related draft resolution.

Assembly Work Programme

The General Assembly met this morning to consider the following: credentials of representatives to the fiftieth session of the General Assembly; a note of the Secretary-General and a draft resolution regarding the question of social development, including the questions relating to youth, ageing, disabled and the family; and a report of the Secretary-General on assistance in mine clearance.

By the text of a draft resolution on the credentials of representatives to the fiftieth session of the General Assembly, the Assembly would approve the second report of the Credentials Committee (document (A/50/559/Add.1). In that report, the Committee recommended accepting the formal credentials of the following 45 Member States, from whom formal credentials had been received: Albania, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, Federated States of Micronesia, Georgia, Grenada, Haiti, India, Kazakstan, Kenya, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Zambia.

The Committee also recommended accepting the credentials of the following 20 representatives for whom information had been communicated to the Secretary-General: Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guatemala, Jordan, Kyrgyz Republic, Niger, Palau, Peru, Poland, Sao Tome and Principe, United Republic of Tanzania, United States and Vanuatu.

The draft resolution on the World Programme for Youth to the Year 2000 and beyond (document A/50/728), attached to a note by the Secretary-General, would have the General Assembly adopt the World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and beyond which is annexed to the resolution. That includes the 10 priority areas of education, employment, hunger and poverty, health, environment, drug abuse, juvenile delinquency, leisure-time activities, girls and young women, and the full and effective participation of youth in the life of society and in decision-making.

By the terms of the draft, the Assembly would invite governments, with the support of the international community, non-governmental organizations and the public and private sectors, as well as youth organizations, to implement the Programme of Action. It would request the Secretary-General to report to it at its fifty-second session, through the Commission for Social Development and the Economic and Social Council, on the progress made in the implementation of the Programme of Action.

In addition, the draft resolution would have the Assembly invite Member States to include, whenever possible, youth representatives in their delegations to the General Assembly and other meetings of the relevant United Nations bodies, with a view to stimulating the participation of young persons in implementing the Programme of Action.

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The Assembly would also recognize that young persons were a major human resource for development and key agents for social change, economic development and technological innovation. It would acknowledge that young women and men in all parts of the world aspired to full participation in the life of the society. It would also acknowledge the contribution that non- governmental organizations could make in improving dialogue and consultation with the United Nations system on the situation of youth.

On mine clearance, the Assembly will consider a report of the Secretary- General, prepared in response to its request of 23 December 1994 for information on United Nations activities on assistance in mine clearance and on the operation of the Voluntary Trust Fund established for that purpose (document A/50/408).

The Secretary-General reports that the world-wide problem of land-mines continued to grow during the past year, in the course of which the laying of new mines outstripped the efforts of the United Nations and other bodies to remove them. Approximately 100,000 land-mines were removed during the past year, while between 2 million and 5 million mines were newly laid. New mine pollution resulting from unrest and recent conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, Africa, Asia, the Caucasus and Latin America posed dangerous long-term social and economic consequences for civilian populations. As internal conflicts and regional wars increased, so the popularity of the anti-personnel mine "as a cheap and effective weapon of containment and terror becomes more firmly established".

The report states that the International Meeting on Mine Clearance requested by the Assembly convened at Geneva from 5 to 7 July to enhance international awareness of the problem and to strengthen political and financial support for United Nations activities in this area. Participants in the meeting pledged $22 million to the Voluntary Trust Fund.

Section II of the report details United Nations assistance for mine surveys, personnel training and clearance and medical treatment and rehabilitation in 12 countries. The Department of Humanitarian Affairs (DHA) has served as the focal point for programmes that protect refugees and prevent injury to children in mine-affected nations; support the activities of national mine-action offices; and clear access routes for delivery of food and other humanitarian relief. The Department of Peace-keeping Operations, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNICEF, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Food Programme (WFP), among others, have been involved in various programmes.

The longest running de-mining programme is the Mine Clearance Programme within the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Assistance Coordination in Afghanistan. Out of an estimated 10 million mines strewn throughout the country, it has cleared some 109,754 land-mines and destroyed some 215,764 unexploded ordinance devices through the end of 1994.

An estimated 9 to 15 million land-mines have already caused as many as 70,000 amputees in Angola. The Central Mine Action Office (CMAO) in that country is coordinating mine-awareness programmes and a national mine survey.

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Actual de-mining is being done by international non-governmental organizations, engineer forces of the United Nations Angola Verification Mission II (UNAVEM II), Government forces and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).

In the former Yugoslavia, millions of land-mines have been laid in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Croatia. Despite ongoing conflict during the period covered by the report, United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) troops engaged in limited de-mining activities in order to provide access for humanitarian convoys. An educational programme of the Croatian Ministry of Education and UNICEF reached some 400,000 youth.

The report states that an estimated one out of every 236 Cambodians has lost one limb or worse in a country infested with between 8 and 10 million land-mines. The Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC), created by the Government in 1992 with the support of UNDP, provides national structure for de-mining activities.

Other operations were conducted in Chad, El Salvador, Georgia, Guatemala, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia and Yemen.

Section III of the report focuses on the components of mine-action programmes and on the coordination of activities by various United Nations bodies. Substantial expertise has been developed in such areas as mine- awareness training, coordination of mine-related medical support and administration and management of programmes.

The Secretary-General reports in Section IV of the report that funds for de-mining will continue to be raised through assessed contributions for peace- keeping operations and through the consolidated appeal process. The Voluntary Trust Fund was established on 30 November 1994 to increase the number of countries that might receive assistance and to enhance the overall capacity of de-mining programmes.

In Section V, dealing with actions for a political solution, the Secretary-General reports that the DHA is entrusted with developing a public advocacy strategy directed at solving this rapidly growing humanitarian crisis. The need to strengthen international humanitarian law and to stop the further spread of these weapons and to restrict their transfer, were among the issues raised by delegations attending the International Meeting on Mine Clearance. In that context, he emphasizes the importance of achieving the goal of a total ban on the production, transfer and use of land-mines.

In his conclusion, the Secretary-General writes that because mine- clearance programmes are likely to be required for decades, the United Nations is assisting governments to create sustainable national capabilities in this area. New technologies are needed to improve the speed and safety of de-mining operations, without significantly increasing their costs. Consequently, Member States are urged to expand their research and development of humanitarian techniques and technology, with a view to developing practicable, low-cost and sustainable de-mining equipment.

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The Secretary-General suggests that significant political efforts to stop the further proliferation of land-mines must be undertaken. The upcoming review conference of States parties to 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 must take significant steps to strengthen the provisions of the land-mine Protocol. Such steps would include provisions to protect humanitarian personnel working in mines areas; meaningful restrictions on transfer of land-mines, their component parts and land-mine technology; and inspections to determine compliance, and appropriate sanctions for non-compliance. He reports that, although international support for United Nations programmes has increased in the past few years, "it is apparent that this is only the beginning". A deeper commitment and a greater level of resources are needed.

Action on Draft Resolutions

The Assembly adopted without a vote the resolution recommended by the Credentials Committee, as well as the resolution on the World Programme of Action for Youth.

VICTOR PACE (Malta), speaking in explanation of vote, said that in joining the consensus on the final draft on youth, Malta reaffirmed and recognized the responsibilities, rights and duties of parents and legal guardians to provide appropriate direction and guidance in the exercise by the child of those rights recognized in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

He said Malta reserved its position on the use of the term "reproductive health". Its interpretation was in agreement with its national legislation, which considered the termination of pregnancy through abortion as illegal.

JAMALEDDIN A. HAMIDA (Libya) said his delegation had joined the consensus on the resolution on youth, but it had reservations regarding paragraphs 56 and 58, which referred to reproductive health services to youth, services which -- as agreed at previous world conferences -- could only be rendered under the supervision of parents.

MARTIN GARCIA MORITAN (Argentina) said his delegation, too, had joined the consensus, but could not accept the inclusion of abortion as a method for control of fertility. He also had reservations with regard to the paragraphs regarding reproductive health services for youth, because they did not make reference to the primary responsibility of parents.

GHOLAMHOSSEIN DEHGHANI (Iran) said his delegation had joined the consensus, but the information regarding adolescents given in paragraphs 8G, 56, 57 and 58 was only productive if the material was provided by parents and aimed at preventing moral depravation and physical disease.

SHAHIRA HASSAN AHMED WAHBI (Sudan) said her delegation had joined the consensus because of its firm belief in the importance of the role entrusted to youth. But to achieve the full consensus necessary to implement the programme, that programme had to respect the cultures, creeds and beliefs of every society. The current programme had several positive aspects which would

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undoubtedly help youth, but at the same time it disregarded certain societies and did not respect their traditions and cultures.

HICHAM HAMDAN (Lebanon) said his delegation had joined the consensus because it considered the development and encouragement of youth to be a vital matter. But it had reservations as to the contents of some of the paragraphs, particularly 8G, 49, 56, 57 and 58, concerning the sexual health of young people and reproductive health and related services. Any activity within that field should be under the supervision of their parents.

Statements on Land-Mines

JUAN RAMON MARTINEZ SALAZAR (Spain), speaking on behalf of the European Union, introduced the draft resolution on mine clearance (document A/50/L.37). He said the European Union was acutely aware of the human drama posed by the indiscriminate use of certain weapons, particularly by the approximately 100 million land-mines spread over more than 60 countries. Those weapons posed terrible consequences for affected civilian populations and had a devastating impact on the prospects for economic development and reconstruction of afflicted regions. The international community must take urgent and decisive action. He hoped that the draft resolution would be adopted by consensus.

Under the terms of the draft resolution, the Assembly would call upon Member States to provide information and assistance for mine clearance, and to locate, remove, destroy or otherwise render ineffective minefields, mines, booby-traps and other devices in accordance with international law.

States and other members of the international community would be urged to provide technological assistance to mine-afflicted countries, as well as promote scientific research and development on humanitarian mine-clearance techniques and technology, so that mine-clearance activities may be more effectively carried out at lower costs and through safer means. The Secretary-General would be called upon to designate the Department of Humanitarian Affairs as the repository of information and for facilitating research to improve mine-clearance methods. An appeal would be made for contributions to the Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Clearance.

That text is sponsored by Afghanistan, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Togo, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States and Uruguay.

HANS JACOB BIORN LIAN (Norway) said that, in order to address the problems related to the increasing use of anti-personnel land-mines, Norway had proposed a seven-step action plan at the international meeting on mine clearance in Geneva in June. A total ban on the production, stockpiling,

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trade and use of land-mines should be sought. The international de-mining capacity should be increased and improved de-mining technology should be developed. In that regard, Norway had great expectations in the new de-mining vehicle that had been invented by a Norwegian company. The United Nations abilities to initiate and coordinate world-wide de-mining activities should be strengthened.

He said his country was deeply disappointed that agreement had not been reached on resolving the Land-Mine Protocol during the Review Conference on the United Nations 1980 Convention on Indiscriminate Conventional Weapons. An effective verification mechanism was needed to monitor compliance with the 1980 Convention. Finally, an international register on producers and country of origin, under the auspices of the Secretary-General, was needed.

YURIY V. FEDOTOV (Russian Federation) said it was important for the international community to increase its mine-clearance efforts. He welcomed the Secretary-General's establishment of the Voluntary Trust Fund and hoped that it would play a key role in financing programmes regarding mine-clearance training and assistance to mine-clearing operations. A stand-by capacity to respond to mine threats should be considered.

It was also important to strengthen the coordination role of the United Nations regarding technical assistance in mine clearance and the establishment of national mine-clearance capacities, he said. The mandates of United Nations peace-keeping operations should include provisions on mine clearance. He urged Member States to make contributions to the voluntary funds for Georgia and Tajikistan. Resources of those funds could be used in part to finance mine-clearance programmes in those countries.

HICHAM HAMDAN (Lebanon) said he considered the issue of anti-personnel land-mines one of the most important and urgent issues before the international community. Mines left by war represented one of the major obstacles to economic development. Lebanon had been prey to a civil war for more than 15 years, and it understood the problem of leftover mines. Thousands of its citizens had been handicapped by them. Lebanon supported efforts of the Secretary-General to mobilize the international community on the problem of land-mines.

He said de-mining should involve national expertise. It was up to the international community to set up a register of de-mining experts. International assistance could be better utilized if it were concentrated on providing technical training. He expressed gratitude to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which had helped by setting up centres for prostheses, which were offered to thousands of handicapped people in Lebanon. He joined the international consensus in calling for an international ban on land-mines.

RUTH ARCHIBALD (Canada) said she supported the designation of DHA as the focal point of mine-related activities in the United Nations system. Greater transparency was required with regard to the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Clearance, including the provision of more information to Member States on the use made of the funds raised.

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She called on Member States that had been affected by the scourge of anti-personnel land-mines to establish mine-clearance as a priority objective and to create appropriate administrative structures for effective de-mining. And those Member States should also sign and ratify the Convention on Prohibition or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects. Member States that had laid land-mines must take the lead in their removal. Canada was pleased to participate in the July international meeting in Geneva on mine clearance. It would support a follow-up meeting only if that meeting's potential contribution were first made clear.

HISASHI OWADA (Japan) said the havoc and suffering being inflicted by uncleared land-mines, especially on innocent civilians, could not be tolerated. "The simple fact is that more land mines are laid than are being disposed of through current mine-clearance activities." In 1993, 100,000 land-mines had been removed, but 2 million new ones were laid. That was a political problem, in that the current situation impeded the often delicate post-conflict peace-building process and hindered reconstruction and rehabilitation. Clearance should receive full support. To date, Japan had contributed $20 million to the mine-clearance activities of the United Nations.

He went on to say there was an urgent need to develop new technologies for mine detection and clearance. Financial and human resources in that effort should be pooled and the further proliferation of land-mines must be prevented. Restrictions on use and transfer should be reinforced. Also, additional assistance was needed in the treatment and rehabilitation of the victims of anti-personnel mines.

NABIL ELARABY (Egypt) said his country was of the view that the enormous financial and technical burdens associated with mine-clearance operations should not be the responsibility of the affected State. "The affected State in most cases is a victim in need of financial and technical assistance which are essential to initiate and continue the mine-clearance operation", he said.

The continued existence of more than 23 million land-mines in Egyptian territory was of serious concern, he continued. Some of those land-mines dated back to the famous battle of El-Alamein during the Second World War. Others had been planted by the Israelis during their occupation of the Sinai. His country's concern was increased by the fact that the assistance it had received to date was not equal to the magnitude of the task. The existence of land-mines over vast areas stood in the way of the Government's efforts to utilize the natural resources in those areas. The responsibility of mine clearance was not only the responsibility of the affected country, but the responsibility of the State that planted the land-mines.

KAMAL KHARRAZI (Iran) said the increasing number of civilian casualties and ever widening disruption of development programmes of contaminated territories, worldwide, were the most serious consequences of the indiscriminate use of land-mines. Every month, land-mines claimed 800 lives and maimed more than 1,000 people. During the Iran-Iraq war, nearly 16 million land-mines and unexploded sub-munitions were laid in Iranian

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territory. A massive clearance programme had been launched during the last six years and one third of them had been neutralized. Lack of access to maps of minefields and advanced equipment had slowed the effort and led to unacceptable casualties.

The United Nations initiative on mine clearance did not correspond to the magnitude of the problem, he said. The rate of clearance was 34 times slower than mine-planting. The cost of removing one land-mine was approximately $1,000, which gave an indication of the tremendous burden being encountered by mine-stricken developing countries. Progress in clearance technology had not received due attention in developed countries. No serious attempt had been made to transfer newer technologies to developing countries. Various types of equipment continued to remain subject to discriminatory and unjustifiable export control regimes.

OLEXANDER O. HORIN (Ukraine) said that since the end of the Second World War, more than 1,500 civilians and 130 de-miners had lost their lives in the Ukraine. Only international efforts could finally resolve the worldwide problem. Ukraine was satisfied with the current level of cooperation in the field of mine clearance. Recent experience showed that developing an indigenous de-mining capacity was the most successful way to tackle large- scale de-mining operations.

He said it would be impossible to solve the global land-mine problem unless the proliferation of mines were halted. Very few of the States in which conflict had resulted in land-mine contamination produced land-mines themselves. More than 85 per cent of all uncleared land-mines in those States were purchased or transferred from mine-producing countries.

He entirely supported the provisions of the draft Protocol II of the Convention on Indiscriminate Conventional Weapons, concerning the obligatory inclusion of the detectable elements, self-destruction mechanisms and other elements into mine construction. In all circumstances, use of booby traps and other devices which were in any way attached to protective emblems, children's toys, medical equipment and so forth must be completely prohibited. He supported the designation of the Mine Clearance and Policy Unit as a depository of information and data. It also supported the idea of the United Nations playing a coordinating role in the fields of mine awareness, surveying, mine detection and clearance.

THAKUR PHANIT (Thailand) said the fast-growing problem of land-mines and their after-effects was one of the most egregious dangers of any war. Thailand faced the horrendous threat of land-mines in one of its border areas. The problem was an impediment to national reconstruction in the aftermath of armed conflict. Following the Paris Peace Agreement, Thailand had dispatched two engineering battalions, under a bilateral agreement with the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), to carry out de-mining and road repair. "Today, many Thai officials and villagers who live along the Thai-Cambodian border are still suffering from the scattered mine fields, remnants of over a decade of armed struggle among factions in our neighbouring country", he said.

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He said that Thailand's experience indicated that canine de-mining and other indigenous techniques were not sufficient to deal with the problem. Advanced technologies were needed. He welcomed the initiative to convene a panel of experts on new technologies as part of the international meeting on assistance in mine clearance held in Geneva last July. Thailand did not manufacture land-mines. It supported all relevant United Nations resolutions on assistance in mine clearance and the moratorium on export of anti-personnel land-mines. Those who benefited directly from the sale of those weapons had the moral responsibility to bear more of the burden of clearing them.

ANDELFO J. GARCIA (Colombia) said it would be impossible to solve the global problem of land-mines unless their proliferation were slowed. The best and most effective way of doing that would be to completely ban mine production, use and transfer. In the meantime, all measures aimed at diminishing the proliferation of land-mines were welcome. The establishment of the Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Clearance was a positive step. "The international community expects a generous increase in the contributions to this fund, particularly from those that in the past have profited from land mines and, thus, have at least a moral responsibility."

The United Nations, he said, must play a more active and effective role to assist affected countries. It must coordinate its efforts with regional organizations that were already undertaking similar tasks. The Member States must promote the true solution to the problem -- the complete ban on land-mines.

KARL F. INDERFURTH (United States) said the Assembly was familiar with the global anti-personnel land-mine crisis -- between 85 and 110 million land- mines lay scattered throughout 64 countries. The scale of the problem could be seen in the estimated 6 million land-mines in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. From April 1992 to June 1995, they had killed 20 peace-keepers and wounded 204. "It is now time for the world community to address this problem", he said. "While land-mines are maiming or killing an estimated 26,000 people every year in areas like the former Yugoslavia, at the present rate of clearance it may take thousands of years and tens of millions of dollars to rid the world of these weapons", he said.

The United States had been active in the global fight to prevent civilian land-mine casualties, he said. It was assisting programmes in 12 countries and aid for the effort worldwide in 1995 totalled more than $46 million. That assistance aimed to create a sustainable, indigenous de-mining capacity, working closely with local and national governments. Last year the United States spent $10 million to research and develop new de-mining technology. His Government was also committed to preventing the proliferation of land-mines. As a first step towards the eventual goal of their elimination, the United States enacted a unilateral moratorium on the export of anti-personnel land-mines in 1992. For the past two years, the Assembly had adopted by consensus resolutions introduced by the United States calling for States to adopt moratoriums on the export of those weapons. The United States had taken other actions to promote such moratoriums. The scale of the problem demanded widespread, coordinated action by the entire international community.

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FAZAL UR-REHMAN (Pakistan) said it was gratifying to observe both the increased awareness of the international community regarding the land-mine problem and other signs of progress, such as the establishment of the voluntary fund. Land-mines made it difficult for refugees to return to their homeland. And mine clearance was essential to allow national reconstruction and the return to normal life.

At the current rate of mine clearance, it would take more than 1,000 years to clear all the land-mines in the world, he said. The problems included the lack of resources and technology in affected countries, the lack of international technological cooperation, and the need for more advanced technology. Most of the affected countries did not have sufficient resources to initiate mine clearance, and the presence of the mines intensified that problem by rendering arable land unproductive. He urged an increase in contributions and assistance for mine clearance, including trained experts and equipment provided by way of the United Nations.

Financing was also necessary for research to improve the technology and technique of mine clearance, he continued. The international community should set up a mechanism to encourage cooperation on such research. Those who scatter and plant land-mines should assume the major responsibility for clearing those mines. Those who scatter mines indiscriminately should not leave the field, but remain to bear the cost of clearing them. Mines were still being scattered without the provision of maps -- a major problem for international law.

ALOUNKEO KITTIKHOUN (Lao People's Democratic Republic) said that mine clearance alone could not solve the problem. "The question here is not 'why should we' but 'how can we' stop the spread of these weapons", he said. Increased and concerted political efforts were needed to halt the further proliferation of land-mines. His country was a victim of unexploded ordnance. Between 1964 and 1973, the war in his region had left a staggering amount of unexploded ordnance, including mortar shells, munitions and land-mines. Twenty years after the war ended, ordnance dropped from the air was the cause of the majority of injuries and deaths today. "Due to the lack of data, the bomblets can be found everywhere, in the fields, on the hillsides, inside villages, along roads and in the centre of towns", he said.

He said a great deal remained to be done in his country regarding those devices, despite cooperation and assistance from friendly countries, international organizations and non-governmental organizations since 1975. On 1 August 1995, his Government had signed a Trust Fund with UNICEF and the UNDP for clearance of unexploded ordnance. That was done to give a strong impulse to the effort. The Fund will first focus on making a nationwide rapid assessment of the problem. Then, activity will begin in priority areas to be selected by the Fund's Steering Committee. The task of making his country ordnance-free seemed daunting, but his country now enjoyed peace and political stability, and land that was cleared would stay cleared.

GUMA I. AMER (Libya) said a United Nations study had reported that during the various Second World War campaigns in northern Africa, the Allied and Axis forces had planted anywhere from 5 million to 19 million explosive

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devices, mostly mines, in Libya. A British organization's study stated that 27 per cent of Libya's agricultural land could not be exploited because of mines. A third study said that from the end of the war to 1983, mines planted in Libya had killed more than 4,000 people and more than 12,000 heads of livestock.

His country would welcome United Nations mine-clearance assistance, he said. However, such assistance should not diminish the responsibility on the part of countries that had planted mines to clear those mines themselves and pay compensation for the losses suffered. Those countries should provide the necessary information and technical assistance for the removal of the mines.

The huge number of mines in Libyan territory could not be cleared using the maps provided by the German and Italian Governments, he said. All countries responsible for planting mines in Libya should also provide advanced technology for the detection and removal of mines and accurate inventories of the mines, including the length of mine fields. His country had nothing to do with the conditions that led to the eruption of the Second World War and thus should not suffer its tragic consequences. There was no statute of limitations on such responsibilities.

He welcomed the efforts made by the United Nations in mine clearance, including the initiative aimed at the establishment of a central database and the expansion of technical assistance. He also supported the proposal to convene a meeting to strengthen relations between countries concerned with the problem and to follow up on the results of the meeting in Geneva.

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