We must eliminate landmines once and for all. We must ban their use. We must ban their production. We must destroy those that are stockpiled.  Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations Statement at the International Meeting on Mine Clearance Geneva, Switzerland — July 1995
	The leaders of nations and those involved in the political and economic sphere have heavy responsibilities in the production and use of certain types of weaponry which are particularly traumatic, and have harsh and indiscriminating effects on the civilian population, which far outlast the period of conflict. I would like once more to make a forceful appeal to discontinue once and for all the manufacture and utilization of weapons which are known as ‘anti-personnel mines’.  Pope John Paul II Statement to the Pax Christi Movement, Vatican — May 1995
	In Cambodia I saw firsthand the effects of land mine use. I did not see opposition armies diverted or land held by the particular army in situ. What I saw were young children on crutches or blind, and young mothers with no legs, stripped of their ability to raise children or find productive work. I saw from helicopters huge swathes of fertile land that would be left uncultivated for years to come because of the presence of mines. I saw the process of repatriating 300,000 refugees dramatically affected because many areas to which they wished to return were made into ‘no-go areas’ due to the presence of landmines.  Yasushi Akashi, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs April 1996
	The real cause of death and impairment of innocent civilians is the very existence of anti-personnel mines, sophisticated but awfully cheap, which look like candy boxes, are almost undetectable and last for a long period. Their production and sale must be stopped. Like other such weapons, they must be prohibited. For my part, I see little difference between those who use them and those who produce them.  Sadako Ogata, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Statement at the International Meeting on Mine Clearance Geneva, Switzerland — July 1995
	Anti-personnel landmines pose an enduring threat to post-war reconstruction around the world. These weapons continue to take thousands of innocent civilian lives every year, even in those countries where conflicts have ceased. The United States urges countries that manufacture anti-personnel mines to adopt export moratoria and encourages all countries to become parties to the international convention governing land mine use.  Warren Christopher, Secretary of State of the United States Hidden Killer, US Department of State, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs December 1994
	Over the past ten years ICRC medical staff have treated more than twenty-eight thousand mine victims and fitted some eighty thousand artificial limbs on those who have survived. They have too often held in their arms children... whose limbs and lives have been shattered by mines.  Cornelio Sommaruga, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Statement at the Review Conference to the States Parties to the 1980 Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Vienna, Austria September 1995
	Landmines are blind weapons that cannot distinguish between the footfall of a soldier and that of an old woman gathering firewood. They recognize no cease-fire and, long after the fighting has stopped, they can maim or kill the children and grandchildren of the soldiers who laid them.  Landmines: A Deadly Legacy, Human Rights Watch
	Anti-personnel landmines are killing the children whose lives we are helping to save. Anti-personnel landmines are dismembering the children we are helping to make whole. Anti-personnel landmines are traumatizing the children we are helping to return to normalcy amidst war and in its aftermath. Anti-personnel landmines are indiscriminate child-killers, child-cripplers.  Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) New York, USA — April 1996
	Mr. President, every 22 minutes another man, woman or child somewhere in the world will become the victim of a land mine. There will be 70 casualties today, 500 this week, more than 2,000 this month and over 26,000 this year. These victims, overwhelmingly civilian, will be casualties of a peace that these weapons do not recognize.  Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation New York Times — 28 March 1996

  Source: United Nations Mine Clearance and Policy Unit, Department of Humanitarian Affairs, September 1997.

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