Representative Jim McGovern's Speech
Ban Landmines Week Press Conference, Thursday March 8, 2001

I want to thank the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines. This is the first time the International Campaign has held its international gathering in a country that is not a party to the land mines treaty.

I stand before you as a strong supporter of the International Convention to ban the use, production, export and stockpiling of antipersonnel land mines.

I'm a proud original sponsor of the Evans-Quinn-McGovern bill, the Landmines Elimination and Victims' Assistance Act of 2001, which calls upon President Bush to join the land mines treaty and upon the Pentagon to act now in fielding alternatives to land mines.

I want to say a special word of thanks to Congressman Quinn and Congressman Evans for their strong, bipartisan support on this issue.

This is a new moment - and a new opportunity - for the United States to join the landmines ban treaty. We have a new president and a new congress.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has said that he wants to create a modern U.S. military for the 21st Century. A modern military for the 21st Century does not use land mines.

139 nations of the world, including all our major European allies, all the nations of the Western Hemisphere except for Cuba, and most of Asia agree - the modern military does not use land mines.

Currently, the United States has the third largest stockpile of antipersonnel land mines in the world - more that 11 million - including 1.2 million of the long-lasting dumb mines. The United States is one of just 16 antipersonnel mine producing countries left in the world.

If the United States is truly to have a modern military for the 21st Century, then Secretary Rumsfeld needs to make sure that U.S. military doctrine, training, war games and operations do not include the use of land mines.

A modern military for the 21st Century bans the production of antipersonnel land mines. A modern military for the 21st Century destroys all its stockpiles of land mines.

Nearly 500 people are here in Washington this week, from across the United States and around the world, asking the United States to join the rest of the international community by becoming party to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.

Many of our guests are survivors of land mine explosions. And I'm proud to share the podium with them this morning. They know that having the U.S. join the Treaty will make a difference: more lives will be saved, more countries will sign the Treaty, and more mines will be destroyed when the U.S. joins.

It's time to build a U.S. Military for the 21st Century. It's time to bring the United States into the modern world. It's time for the United States to join the Mine Ban Treaty.