AG/RES. 1889 (XXXII-O/02): The Western Hemisphere as an Antipersonnel-Land-Mine-Free Zone

(Adopted at the fourth plenary session, held on June 4, 2002)

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

HAVING SEEN:

The Annual Report of the Permanent Council to the General Assembly (AG/doc.4059/02), in particular, the section on the matters entrusted to the Committee on Hemispheric Security; and
The Report of the General Secretariat (CP/doc.3573/01 rev.1) on the implementation of resolutions AG/RES. 1792 (XXXI-O/01), "Support for Action Against Mines in Peru and Ecuador";
AG/RES. 1793 (XXXI-O/01), "Support for the Program of Integral Action Against Antipersonnel Mines in Central America"; and AG/RES. 1794 (XXXI-O/01), "The Western Hemisphere as an Antipersonnel-Land-Mine-Free Zone";

RECALLING its resolutions AG/RES. 1411 (XXVI-O/96), AG/RES. 1496 (XXVII-O/97), AG/RES. 1569 (XXVIII-O/98), [AG/RES. 1644 (XXIX-O/99), and AG/RES. 1794 (XXXI-O/01), entitled "The Western Hemisphere as an Antipersonnel-Land-Mine-Free Zone," and AG/RES. 1744 (XXX-O/00), "Cooperation for Security in the Hemisphere," which reaffirmed the goals of the global elimination of antipersonnel land mines and the conversion of the Western Hemisphere into an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone;

REITERATING its profound concern over the presence in the Americas of thousands of antipersonnel-land-mines and other undetonated explosive devices;

RECOGNIZING WITH SATISFACTION:

The efforts being made by the Governments of Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Peru to complete mine-clearing activities and the destruction of stockpiles, as well as programs of those countries and El Salvador, aimed at the physical and psychological rehabilitation of victims and the socioeconomic reclamation of demined areas in their countries;

That the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (Ottawa Convention) is in force for 30 sovereign states of the region;

That the Amended Mines Protocol to the 1980 United Nations 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 is in force for 14 sovereign states of the region;

The important coordination work of the General Secretariat, through the OAS Mine Action Team; and

The valuable contribution by member states and permanent observer states to, and the support of the Committee on Hemispheric Security for, the goal of making the Western Hemisphere an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone; and

TAKING NOTE OF:

The important results of the Third Meeting of the States Parties to the Ottawa Convention which took place in Managua, Nicaragua, from September 18 to 21, 2001; and

The successful implementation of the Managua Challenge, which assisted member states in destroying close to 600,000 antipersonnel mines held in stockpiles across the Hemisphere,

RESOLVES:

1. To reaffirm the goals of the global elimination of antipersonnel-land-mines and the conversion of the Western Hemisphere into an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone.

2. To urge member states which have not yet done so to ratify or consider acceding to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and On Their Destruction (Ottawa Convention) as soon as possible to ensure its full and effective implementation.

3. To once again urge member states which have not yet done so to become parties to the 1980 United Nations 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 and the four protocols thereto, as soon as possible; and to request member states to inform the Secretary General when they have done so.

4. To encourage member states either to request assistance from or provide assistance to, as appropriate, the OAS Mine Action Team through its mine clearance, stockpile destruction, mine awareness, and victim assistance programs, in order to advance mine action in the region.

5. To further encourage member states and permanent observer states to provide resources to mine action programs in the region in order to address the financial crisis which is jeopardizing the goal of a mine-free Hemisphere.

6. To request the Secretary General to consider the possibility of developing new mine action programs in the Americas to assist affected member states, upon request, in fulfilling their commitment to convert the Western Hemisphere into an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone.

7. To reiterate the importance of participation by all member states in the OAS Register of Antipersonnel Land Mines by April 15 of each year, in keeping with resolution AG/RES. 1496 (XXVII-O/97), and to commend member states which have regularly submitted their reports to that end.

8. To encourage member states that are parties to the Ottawa Convention to provide to the Secretary General as part of their submissions to the OAS Register of Antipersonnel Land Mines, in keeping with resolution AG/RES. 1496 (XXVII-O/97), a copy of their Ottawa Convention Article 7 transparency reports; and to further encourage member states which are not yet parties to the Ottawa Convention to provide similar information with their annual submissions.

9. To request the Permanent Council to forward any information or recommendations that result pursuant to this resolution to the preparatory body of the Special Conference on Security as a contribution to the preparations for that Conference.