Recognizing April 4, 2022, 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.

Recognizing April 4, 2022, 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 affected 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 125,000 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, over the past 3 decades, the United States has been the global leader in supporting efforts to clear mine-contaminated areas around the world, dedicating more than $4,000,000,000 for demining and related programs since 1993 and helping to eliminate more than 90,000 tons of ordnance in nearly 40 countries; Whereas, since 1989, the United States Agency for International Development has allocated more than $324,000,000 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 landmines contaminate countries in which the United States Armed Forces have been engaged in combat or stabilization operations, including Iraq, Syria, Kosovo, and Somalia, posing a significant risk to United States military personnel; 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, to the fullest extent possible by 2025 Whereas there are 164 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, although the United States is not yet among them; Whereas the recent use of landmines, cluster bombs, and other munitions, particularly in the Middle East, Afghanistan, 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 additional resources for demining will be needed to achieve a world free of the threat of landmines and other explosive hazards; 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 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.

Summary: This resolution reaffirms the commitment of the United States to support international humanitarian efforts to eliminate landmines and unexploded ordnance. It also affirms its support to intensify efforts to clear mined areas to the fullest extent possible by 2025. Finally, the resolution reaffirms the goals of the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.