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[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2706 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2706

  To extend for 3 years the moratorium on the sale, export, or other 
  transfer abroad of anti-personnel landmines, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 22, 1993

     Mr. Evans (for himself, Mr. Kopetski, Mr. Penny, Mr. Frank of 
 Massachusetts, Mr. Vento, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. Deutsch, Ms. 
Pelosi, Mr. DeFazio, Mrs. Unsoeld, Mr. Bonior, Mrs. Morella, Mr. Towns, 
Mr. Hochbrueckner, Mr. Stark, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Dellums, Mr. Andrews of 
Maine, Mr. Miller of California, Mr. Moakley, Mr. Engel, Mr. Owens, Mr. 
   Payne of New Jersey, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Schroeder, Mr. 
 Filner, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. Faleomavaega, Mr. Barrett of Wisconsin, Ms. 
  Furse, and Mr. Visclosky) introduced the following bill; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
  To extend for 3 years the moratorium on the sale, export, or other 
  transfer abroad of anti-personnel landmines, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Landmine Moratorium Extension Act of 
1993''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Anti-personnel landmines, which are designed to maim 
        and kill people, have been used indiscriminately in 
        dramatically increasing numbers around the world. Hundreds of 
        thousands of noncombatant civilians, including children, have 
        been the primary victims. Unlike other military weapons, 
        landmines often remain implanted and undiscovered after 
        conflict has ended, causing massive suffering to civilian 
        populations.
            (2) Tens of millions of landmines have been strewn in at 
        least 62 countries, often making whole areas uninhabitable. The 
        Department of State estimates there are more than 10,000,000 
        landmines in Afghanistan, 9,000,000 in Angola, 4,000,000 in 
        Cambodia, 3,000,000 in Iraqi Kurdistan, and 2,000,000 each in 
        Somalia, Mozambique, and the former Yugoslavia. Hundreds of 
        thousands of landmines were used in conflicts in Central 
        America in the 1980's.
            (3) Advanced technologies are being used to manufacture 
        sophisticated mines which can be scattered remotely at a rate 
        of 1,000 per hour. These mines, which are being produced by 
        many industrialized countries, were discovered in Iraqi 
        arsenals after the Persian Gulf conflict.
            (4) At least 300 types of anti-personnel landmines have 
        been manufactured by at least 44 countries, including the 
        United States. However, the United States is not a major 
        exporter of landmines. During the past 10 years the Executive 
        branch has approved 10 licenses for the commercial export of 
        anti-personnel landmines with a total value of $980,000 and has 
        approved the sale under the Foreign Military Sales program of 
        109,129 anti-personnel landmines.
            (5) The United States signed, but has not ratified, the 
        1980 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 
        (hereinafter in this Act referred to as the ``1980 
        Convention''). Protocol II of the 1980 Convention (commonly 
        referred to as the ``Landmine Protocol'') prohibits the 
        indiscriminate use of landmines.
            (6) When it signed the 1980 Convention, the United States 
        stated: ``We believe that the Convention represents a positive 
        step forward in efforts to minimize injury or damage to the 
        civilian population in time of armed conflict. Our signature of 
        the Convention reflects the general willingness of the United 
        States to adopt practical and reasonable provisions concerning 
        the conduct of military operations, for the purpose of 
        protecting noncombatants.''.
            (7) The United States also indicated that it had supported 
        procedures to enforce compliance, which were omitted from the 
        1980 Convention's final draft. The United States stated: ``The 
        United States strongly supported proposals by other countries 
        during the Conference to include special procedures for dealing 
        with compliance matters, and reserves the right to propose at a 
        later date additional procedures and remedies, should this 
        prove necessary, to deal with such problems.''.
            (8) The lack of compliance procedures and other weaknesses 
        have significantly undermined the effectiveness of the Landmine 
        Protocol. Since it entered into force on December 2, 1983, the 
        number of civilians maimed and killed by anti-personnel 
        landmines has multiplied.
            (9) A 1-year moratorium on United States sales, transfers, 
        and exports of anti-personnel landmines has been in effect 
        since October 23, 1992, when section 1365 of the National 
        Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1993 was signed into 
        law. Since that date, the European Parliament has issued a 
        resolution calling for a 5-year moratorium on sales, transfers, 
        and exports of anti-personnel landmines and the Government of 
        France has announced that it has ceased all sales, transfers, 
        and exports of anti-personnel landmines.
            (10) On December 2, 1993, 10 years will have elapsed since 
        the 1980 Convention entered into force, triggering the right of 
        any party to request a United Nations conference to review the 
        1980 Convention. Amendments to the Landmine Protocol may be 
        considered at that time. The Government of France has made a 
        formal request to the United Nations Secretary General for a 
        review conference. With necessary preparations and 
        consultations among governments, a review conference is not 
        expected to be convened before late 1994 or early 1995.
            (11) The United States should continue to set an example 
        for other countries in such negotiations by extending its 
        moratorium on sales, transfers, and exports of anti-personnel 
        landmines for an additional 3 years. A moratorium of this 
        duration would extend the current prohibition on the sale, 
        transfer, and export of anti-personnel landmines a sufficient 
        time to take into account the results of a United Nations 
        review conference.

SEC. 3. POLICY.

    (a) In General.--It shall be the policy of the United States to 
seek verifiable international agreements--
            (1) prohibiting the sale, transfer, or export of anti-
        personnel landmines; and
            (2) further limiting and eventually terminating the 
        manufacture, possession, and use of anti-personnel landmines.
    (b) Ratification of 1980 Convention.--It is the sense of the 
Congress that the President should submit the 1980 Convention to the 
Senate for its advice and consent to ratification.
    (c) Actions Under United Nations Auspices.--Furthermore, it is the 
sense of the Congress that the United States--
            (1) should participate in a United Nations conference to 
        review the Landmine Protocol; and
            (2) should actively seek to negotiate under United Nations 
        auspices a modification of the Landmine Protocol, or another 
        international agreement, to prohibit the sale, transfer, or 
        export of anti-personnel landmines and to further limit their 
        manufacture, possession, and use.

SEC. 4. MORATORIUM ON TRANSFERS OF ANTI-PERSONNEL LANDMINES ABROAD.

    For a period of 3 years beginning on the date of enactment of this 
Act--
            (1) no sale may be made or financed, no transfer may be 
        made, and no license for export may be issued under the Arms 
        Export Control Act with respect to any anti-personnel landmine; 
        and
            (2) no assistance may be provided under the Foreign 
        Assistance Act of 1961 with respect to the provision of any 
        anti-personnel landmine.

SEC. 5. DEFINITION.

    For purposes of this Act, the term ``anti-personnel landmine'' 
means--
            (1) any munition which is placed under, on, or near the 
        ground or other surface area or is delivered by artillery, 
        rocket, mortar, or similar means or dropped from an aircraft 
        and which is designed to be detonated or exploded by the 
        presence, proximity, or contact of a person;
            (2) any device or material which is designed, constructed, 
        or adapted to kill or injure and which functions unexpectedly 
        when a person disturbs or approaches an apparently harmless 
        object or performs an apparently safe act; and
            (3) any manually-emplaced munition or device which is 
        designed to kill, injure, or damage and which is actuated by 
        remote control or automatically after a lapse of time.

                                 <all>
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