[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 188 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 188
Recognizing April 4, 2025, 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.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 30, 2025
Ms. Baldwin submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on Foreign Relations
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RESOLUTION
Recognizing April 4, 2025, 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 effected 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 141,500 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 demining programs make the United States safer, stronger, and more
prosperous by removing explosive hazards that pose a risk to United
States service members and Americans abroad, by strengthening
relationships with governments and communities, and by supporting
agricultural production and the creation of new markets;
Whereas, over the past 3 decades, the United States has been the global leader
in supporting conventional weapons destruction, providing more than
$5,090,000,000 in assistance to more than 125 countries and areas since
1993;
Whereas, since 1989, the United States Agency for International Development has
allocated more than $350,000,000 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 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'';
Whereas there are 165 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;
Whereas there are 111 States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions,
done at Dublin May 30, 2008;
Whereas the recent use of landmines, cluster bombs, and other munitions,
particularly in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Burma, 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 Russia's aggression in Ukraine has resulted in an estimated one-third of
the territory being contaminated with landmines and unexploded ordnance,
creating a massive need for clearance operations as a prerequisite for
Ukraine's recovery;
Whereas these needs in Ukraine do not diminish the similarly urgent need for
humanitarian demining in other parts of the world;
Whereas additional resources for demining will be needed to achieve a world free
of the threat of landmines and other explosive hazards;
Whereas the Senate recognizes the communities from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam,
including the many Hmong, Cham, Cambodian, Iu-Mien, Khmu, Lao,
Montagnard, and Vietnamese people who supported and defended the United
States Armed Forces during the conflict in Southeast Asia during the
1960s and 1970s;
Whereas the Senate remembers the 50th Anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War
on April 30, 2025, and the sacrifices of the members of the United
States Armed Forces that served in the conflict;
Whereas, since the end of the Vietnam War, more than 40,000 people in Vietnam
have been killed by unexploded ordnance and 60,000 have been injured;
Whereas, since 1979, more than 25,000 people in Laos and 65,000 people in
Cambodia have been killed or injured by landmines or unexploded
ordnance; 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
Resolved, 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.
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