Rome, December 6th 1994

The Chamber od Deputies,

in consideration of motion 1-00009 on antipersonnel mines by Ronchi and others, accepted by the Government and approved by the Senate on 2 August 1994;

whereas Undersecretary Lo Porto, in the discussion of the above mentioned motion, declared that "the Government is formally committed to observe a unilateral moratorium on the sale of antipersonnel mines to foreign countries, as proposed by the President of the United States", and that it is just as well committed to activate the necessary means to block the production of such weapons by Italian companies or companies operating in Italy;

whereas repeatedly and on various occasions, the latest of which on 30 September 1994 with his report entitled "The Landmine Crisis: a Humanitarian Disaster", UN Secretary General Boutros Ghali has welcome an international agreement providing the total ban on production, stockpiling, trade and use of landmines and their components;

whereas the Swedish Government, during the third Expert Group Meeting in preparation of Review Conference of the "Convention on Prohibition or Restriction on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons which may be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to have Indiscriminate Effects", held in Geneva from 8 to 19 August 1994, officially proposed - following the initiative of the Swedish Parliament - that Article 6 of Protocol II be amended to prohibit the use, development, production, stockpiling or transfer of antipersonnel mines, and to provide the destruction of antipersonnel mines held in stock by the Convention Member States;

whereas the representatives of Austria, Irland and Messico announced their support to such proposal by Sweden;

commits the Government

a) to deposit the ratification act as soon as possible, in due course to allow Italy to partecipate with full membership in the review process of the above mentioned Convention on indiscriminate weapons, starting from the IV session of the Preparatory Committee;

b) to support the Swedish position, and that of the other countries, in favour of the total ban on antipersonnel mines - as requested by the Red Cross, Unicef, and by the UN Secretary General - during the IV session of the Review Conference's Preparatory Committee, due in Geneva from 9 to 20 January 1995;

c) to promote, in coordination with the United Nations and the European Union, demining operations in the countries contaminated by antipersonnel mines.

(9/1334/1) Emma BONINO, Fulvia BANDOLI, Carmelo INCORVAIA, Ennio GRASSI, Aldo TRIONE, Gianni RIVERA, Stefano MORSELLI, Maurizio MENEGON, Flavio RODEGHIERO, Andrea MERLOTTI, Elisabetta BERTOTTI, Antonietta VASCON, Pietro MITOLO, Roberto MENIA