Post by Sheynat on Mar 15, 2009 18:21:38 GMT -5
The Landmine Convention
A resolution to slash worldwide military spending.
Category: Global Disarmament
Strength: Significant
Proposed by: Quintessence of Dust
Description: The World Assembly,
Believing victim-detonated anti-personnel landmines to be weapons whose capacity for civilian casualties outweighs any security benefits,
Requires its members to:
1. Define, for the purposes of interpreting these obligations:
- 'landmines' as explosive devices placed on or under the ground and designed to cause injury or death to persons activating the device by proximity or contact,
- 'mined area' as an area in which one or more live landmines has been deployed,
- 'dispose' to be the act of destroying, permanently deactivating, or otherwise rendering non-functional, such as through conversion to command detonation, landmines;
2. Dispose of all landmines within their present stocks as soon as is practicably possible, with due regard for safety, security, and environmental consequences;
3. Immediately and permanently cease and desist the production, deployment, and transfer of landmines, including the rendering of technical assistance in their production or deployment;
4. Seize all undeployed landmine stocks within their jurisdiction for disposal as required by Article 2;
5. Take effective measures to prevent non-state actors within their jurisdiction from effecting such actions as outlawed by Article 3;
6. Conduct prompt surveys to determine the location of mined areas within their jurisdiction;
7. Institute available precautions, as they deem appropriate and safe, to prevent casualties in mined areas, such as:
- restricting access to such areas,
- signposting such areas with clear warnings, using relevant languages as well as easily understood, non-written symbols,
- indicating the limits of such mined areas on maps and charts,
- informing the public of the dangers of mined areas,
- where possible, engaging in prompt and effective mine clearance.
The World Assembly does further:
8. Exempt from these obligations:
- the transfer of landmines for the purpose of disposal, or for the research and development of mine clearance or mine safety, providing such transfers are limited to absolute necessity,
- the production, possession and deployment of limited numbers of landmines for the purposes of research and development mine clearance or mine safety, provided such actions are conducted within secure areas and with the highest regard for safety,
- the rendering of technical assistance aimed solely at reducing the danger of landmines to non-military personnel, such as through conversion to command-detonation;
9. Establish the World Assembly Demining Agency (WADA) with a charter to:
- conduct and aid mine clearance operations, where requested,
- research and develop mine clearance technology,
- instruct civilians on landmine safety and treatment of landmine-related injuries,
- further promote landmine safety awareness through educational and informational campaigns;
10. Compel the WADA to respect the territorial sovereignty of member nations, stipulating that:
- member nations may request assistance for mined areas within their jurisdiction,
- requesting nations must provide all available information on the mined area,
- storage and disposal of removed landmines and fragments is the responsibility of requesting nations, and the WADA may refuse involvement if the requesting nation is deemed incompetent to perform such tasks.
Votes For: 516
Votes Against: 315
[Delegate Votes]
Voting Ends: Thu Mar 19 2009
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