119-sres188

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 188 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
S. RES. 188

Recognizing April 4, 2025, as the International Day for Mine Awareness 
 and Assistance in Mine Action, and reaffirming the leadership of the 
 United States in eliminating landmines and unexploded ordnance.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 April 30, 2025

 Ms. Baldwin submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
 the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

 RESOLUTION

Recognizing April 4, 2025, as the International Day for Mine Awareness 
 and Assistance in Mine Action, and reaffirming the leadership of the 
 United States in eliminating landmines and unexploded ordnance.

Whereas landmines and unexploded ordnance threaten the safety, health, and lives 
 of civilian populations and create humanitarian and development 
 challenges that have serious and lasting social, economic, and security 
 consequences for effected populations;
Whereas demining and clearance of unexploded ordnance enables displaced people 
 to return to their homes and has a direct impact on development outcomes 
 such as food security, school attendance, and economic development;
Whereas people in at least 60 countries and other areas are at risk from mines 
 and unexploded ordnance in their communities;
Whereas more than 141,500 deaths and injuries resulting from anti-personnel or 
 anti-vehicle mines and other explosive remnants of war have been 
 recorded in the Landmine Monitor database since 2001, and thousands more 
 individuals around the world are killed and injured by such mines and 
 remnants each year;
Whereas demining programs make the United States safer, stronger, and more 
 prosperous by removing explosive hazards that pose a risk to United 
 States service members and Americans abroad, by strengthening 
 relationships with governments and communities, and by supporting 
 agricultural production and the creation of new markets;
Whereas, over the past 3 decades, the United States has been the global leader 
 in supporting conventional weapons destruction, providing more than 
 $5,090,000,000 in assistance to more than 125 countries and areas since 
 1993;
Whereas, since 1989, the United States Agency for International Development has 
 allocated more than $350,000,000 through the Leahy War Victims Fund in 
 more than 50 countries to provide artificial limbs, wheelchairs, 
 rehabilitation, vocational training, and other assistance to survivors 
 of accidents caused by landmines and unexploded ordnance;
Whereas the United States Government expressed its support for the Maputo +15 
 declaration of June 27, 2014, which established the goal ``to destroy 
 all stockpiled anti-personnel mines and clear all mined areas as soon as 
 possible'';
Whereas there are 165 States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the 
 Use, Stockpiling, Production, and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and 
 on their Destruction, done at Oslo September 18, 1997;
Whereas there are 111 States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, 
 done at Dublin May 30, 2008;
Whereas the recent use of landmines, cluster bombs, and other munitions, 
 particularly in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Burma, and Ukraine, has 
 created new humanitarian priorities and funding requirements for 
 demining, while legacy mine contamination remains an urgent challenge 
 impacting millions of people globally;
Whereas Russia's aggression in Ukraine has resulted in an estimated one-third of 
 the territory being contaminated with landmines and unexploded ordnance, 
 creating a massive need for clearance operations as a prerequisite for 
 Ukraine's recovery;
Whereas these needs in Ukraine do not diminish the similarly urgent need for 
 humanitarian demining in other parts of the world;
Whereas additional resources for demining will be needed to achieve a world free 
 of the threat of landmines and other explosive hazards;
Whereas the Senate recognizes the communities from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, 
 including the many Hmong, Cham, Cambodian, Iu-Mien, Khmu, Lao, 
 Montagnard, and Vietnamese people who supported and defended the United 
 States Armed Forces during the conflict in Southeast Asia during the 
 1960s and 1970s;
Whereas the Senate remembers the 50th Anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War 
 on April 30, 2025, and the sacrifices of the members of the United 
 States Armed Forces that served in the conflict;
Whereas, since the end of the Vietnam War, more than 40,000 people in Vietnam 
 have been killed by unexploded ordnance and 60,000 have been injured;
Whereas, since 1979, more than 25,000 people in Laos and 65,000 people in 
 Cambodia have been killed or injured by landmines or unexploded 
 ordnance; and
Whereas, on December 8, 2005, the United Nations General Assembly declared that 
 April 4th of each year shall be observed as the International Day for 
 Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action: Now, therefore, be it
 Resolved, That the Senate--

    (1) reaffirms the commitment of the United States to 
 support international humanitarian efforts to eliminate 
 landmines and unexploded ordnance;

    (2) recognizes those individuals in numerous countries who, 
 at great risk to their personal safety, work to locate and 
 remove anti-personnel landmines and unexploded ordnance;

    (3) affirms its support for the goal, as expressed by the 
 Maputo +15 declaration of June 27, 2014, to intensify efforts 
 to clear mined areas to the fullest extent possible by 2025;

    (4) calls upon the United States Government--
        (A) to continue providing the funding necessary to 
 support international humanitarian demining activities;
        (B) to maintain its international leadership role 
 in seeking to rid the world of areas contaminated by 
 landmines and unexploded ordnance; and
            (C) to rededicate itself to addressing legacy mine 
 contamination as an urgent humanitarian priority; and

    (5) reaffirms the goals of the International Day for Mine 
 Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.
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