Vol. 482 No. 3
54 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the steps, if any, he intends to take to encourage all countries to subscribe to the terms of the Oslo convention on the banning of anti-personnel land mines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18024/97]
The convention agreed at Oslo in September represents a major breakthrough in international efforts to rid the world of one category of indeiscriminate and inhumane weapons — anti-personnel landmines. It enjoyed the support of more than 100 participating delegations, including in particular the mine affected countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America.
As my predecessor reported in a reply to a similar question on the 30 September, a number of significant states including Russia, Japan, China, India and Pakistan and two of our partners in the European Union, Greece and Finland, did not, despite our best efforts, participate in the conference in Oslo. While the United States did participate, its delegation declared that it was not in a position to forego the production, stockpiling, transfer and use of anti-personnel mines for the foreseeable future. The vast majority of participating states at Oslo including Ireland would not agree to an exception which would have compromised the fundamental global approach we were pursuing, and would have defeated the goal of a total ban which we set out to achieve.
Since Oslo there have been a number of developments. Greece has announced that it will sign the Convention in Ottawa. Japan and Russia have stated that they will sign when the conditions are right. I welcome these announcements and I hope that there will be more announcements in the weeks leading up to the signing ceremony in December.
