Mr. President,

My delegation has joined the EU statement on demining in the context of United Nations peace-keeping and shares its conclusions. Let me, however, make some remarks on this topic on behalf of the delegation of Hungary.

As was pointed out by several speakers taking the floor before me, the elimination of anti-personnel mines has become an enormous global problem in recent years. My delegation shares the concerns that despite numerous and constant efforts made by the international community, the extensive use of anti-personnel mines with its devastating human and social consequences is still playing a significant jeopardizing role in the solution of many long-lasting regional conflicts. The tremendous accumulation of anti-personnel mines has remained an urgent problem, in fact, a challenge that requires further strong and coordinated international response.

Anti-personnel mines are especially dangerous in the sense that these weapons do not discriminate between soldiers or civilians and virtually anyone can become a victim. The facts are very sad: it is estimated that there are 85 to 100 million uncleared land-mines on a vast territory ranging from Angola to Bosnia, threatening the lives of thousands of civilians including many innocent children.

UN personnel on duty is not immune against mines, either. Troop-contributing countries are very well aware of the potential danger their soldiers, policemen or civilian observers and other officials face when on various missions in regions of conflict. Every year some 20,000 peoples are killed or maimed by land-mines. Last year, a Hungarian military observer also suffered serious injuries in Georgia.

I believe, therefore, that time has come to reinforce our efforts to seek a global political and legal solution to eliminate or at least decrease the danger represented by anti-personnel mines.

The irresponsible and indiscriminate deployment of anti-personnel mines can even have the negative effect of slowing down, let alone block the efforts of the international community to implement the mandate of peace-keeping missions, as we have seen it, for instance, in the UNOMIG mission.

With a limited capability of action, peace-keepers might easily find themselves in situations when even to preserve the achievements of previous peace efforts proves to be impossible, and the conflict might even be escalated.

We cannot fail to mention in this regard the responsibility of the parties involved in a conflict, especially in cases when anti-personnel mines are used as an offensive weapon.

It is not acceptable to my country that anti-personnel land-mines be used during the implementation of peacekeeping operations, when, instead of seeking peaceful solutions, the only aim of the belligerents is to provoke further hostilities.

But it is not only that. In times of post-conflict rehabilitation land mines can obstruct the delivery of relief supplies, the repatriation of the local population, etc. The rebuilding of the infrastructure or the implementation of economic recovery operations might also be delayed. Countries that have suffered through war must suffer further because of land mines, which continue to impede the process of national reconstruction.

We believe, therefore, that in order to expedite the mine clearance activity in the post-conflict era, much more attention should be paid to ways encouraging local involvement and management in mine clearance operations.

Though recognizing that it is the primary responsibility of the States directly affected to carry out the bulk of mine clearing activities, we are also convinced that the United Nations has its own special function in strengthening the international legal framework and in assisting Member States to implement their mine clearance programs.

As regards the legal aspects of the land-mine problem, Hungary welcomes the agreement reached in Geneva last May during the third phase of the Review Conference of the States Parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. It was certainly a promising step in the right direction.

It will further reinforce existing prohibitions and restrictions on the use and transfer of those categories and types of anti-personnel land mines which present the most danger to civilians.

However, in the view of my government the adoption of an international ban on anti-personnel mines would surely better serve the cause of relieving mankind of this weapon. In this context, a recent initiative presented by Dr. Klaus Kinkel Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany, seems to us to be of particular value.

The United Nations has also taken considerable efforts to reinforce the means at the disposal of the international community. The Departments of Humanitarian Affairs and the Department of Peace-Keeping Operations should be highlighted as focal points of this activity within the Secretariat.

The United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Clearance has also increased UN mine clearance capacity through coordination activities in the field and in the implementation of the mandate of certain peace-keeping operations.

At the same time, one cannot hide a certain degree of concern over the Fund's obviously insufficient financial resources. A solid, long-lasting solution should evidently be found to finance this most important activity.

Given the close interrelationship between peacekeeping operations and the issue of demining that I tried to outline earlier in my contribution, one such solution might be to integrate demining activities in the overall mandate of peacekeeping operations.

To conclude, Mr. President, I would like to congratulate you for the timely idea to discuss the issue on our agenda. I am convinced that discussions of this kind are of great importance both for the Council and for the member states in general.

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