Vol. 443 No. 5
41 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if Ireland will ratify the UN convention on the use of certain conventional weapons which may be deemed to be excessively injurious or to have indiscriminate effect; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ireland was an original signatory, in 1981, of the 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". The Government strongly supports its provisions, while recognising that the convention needs to be updated to remove certain loopholes. The convention prohibits the indiscriminate use of mines, in particular in areas where there is a high concentration of civilians.
A review conference on the convention will take place in 1995, and Ireland recently participated as a signatory state at the Preparatory Commission in Geneva, which is preparing for the review conference.
Ireland, along with several of our partners, is taking steps to ratify the convention, and it is my hope that we will be in a position to participate in the review conference next year, as a state party to the convention.
Ireland has recently made available £300,000 to speed up the process of demining in Cambodia. This funding will be channelled through Concern and will be used for removing mines in the Pursat region where Concern has a number of development projects.
Like all the Members of this House, I deplore the totally unnecessary pain, suffering and loss of life caused by these devices. Ireland's position on the question of land mines was made clear in the UN General Assembly in 1993, where we co-sponsored all three resolutions on the issue: (i) General Assembly Resolution 48/7, an initiative of the European Union, adopted unanimously by the Plenary of the General Assembly on 19 October 1993. This highlighted the importance of UN co-ordination of activities related to mine clearing, and called on the Secretary General to submit a comprehensive report on the problems caused by mines and other unexploded devices; (ii) Resolution 48/75K, which called on all states to introduce a moratorium on the export of land mines; and (iii) Resolution 48/79, which supported the convening of a Review Conference to strengthen the "Inhumane Weapons Convention".
