ARCHBISHOP MARTIN: FULLY APPLY THE TREATY OF OTTAWA

VATICAN CITY, SEP 19, 2002 (VIS) - Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations Office and Specialized Institutions in Geneva, delivered a speech on September 17 during the Fourth Conference of the States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, taking place from September 16 to 20.

In his speech, the archbishop recalls the final objective of the Treaty of Ottawa: "To remove these inhumane weapons definitively from the lives of entire populations." He states that the progress made since then shows that "more than 20 million mines destroyed and a drastic reduction in the number of producers" even if "230 million mines still remain to be eliminated" and there have been "over 20,000 deaths."

The head of the delegation of the Holy See underlines that "any delay or weakening of enthusiasm" in fully implementing the Ottawa Convention will only cause more victims and in an "era of interdependence it is no longer tolerable to condemn, through inaction, entire populations to live in fear and precariousness."

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