UN General Assembly
1995

Anti-personnel mines, too, are “weapons of mass destruction”. Day in, day out, they are taking a terrible toll on human life, and many of the victims are women and, above all, innocent children. If any kind of weapon must be outlawed, then this one should be. Eliminating this scourge is a task of the highest priority, particularly in Nicaragua, Angola, Mozambique, Afghanistan, Georgia and Cambodia. Germany, together with its European partners, will continue the initiative in this direction during this session of the General Assembly. At the First Review Conference of the Convention on certain conventional weapons, which opened in Vienna the day before yesterday, tougher export restrictions will have to be agreed on and a strict ban imposed on the use of anti-personnel mines. I appeal to all Members of the United Nations: In the name of humanity, accede to the Convention on certain conventional weapons as quickly as possible. 7 There are good reasons why the work of the United Nations began with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The United Nations is more than a mere gathering