UN General Assembly
1996

Convention on conventional weapons. I find it very hard to understand why two out of three United Nations Member States continue to remain outside that Convention. As a concurrent step Finland proposes the initiation of global negotiations on a treaty banning anti-personnel landmines altogether. A natural forum for such negotiations would be the single negotiating body for disarmament that the international community has at its disposal, namely, the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. Finland will work actively for the inclusion of a ban on anti-personnel landmines in the negotiating agenda of the Conference on Disarmament when the Conference reconvenes in January. In assisting in the creation of conditions of stability and well-being, the United Nations has effective economic and social tools at its disposal. A review of how the United Nations does its business in this field is under way. The approval in May of the resolution on restructuring and revitalization of some areas in the Economic and Social Council sector was an encouraging sign. The yardstick in measuring United Nations impact