The State Department web site below is a permanent electronic archive of information released prior to January 20, 2001.  Please see www.state.gov for material released since President George W. Bush took office on that date.  This site is not updated so external links may no longer function.  Contact us with any questions about finding information. NOTE: External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views contained therein.

U.S. Demining Initiative Fact Sheet released by the Bureau of Political Military Affairs, U.S. Department of State, November 13, 1997

The United States aims to greatly accelerate global humanitarian demining operations and assistance efforts to end the plague of landmines posing threats to civilians through a U.S.-led initiative to develop, marshal and commit the resources necessary to accomplish this goal in cooperation with other nations by the year 2010.

Situation

An estimated 100 million landmines in more than 64 countries cause about 26,000 casualties each year. The United States has committed more than $153 million in humanitarian demining programs since 1993 (leading the world in this respect) and will spend nearly $80 million in FY 1998. However, at present levels of international effort, it will take at least several decades to remove these non-self-destructing landmines from the mine-affected countries of the world, further hampering economic development and extending mine casualties long into the next century. To respond to this global humanitarian catastrophe, the United States is calling for and will lead a global campaign, the Demining 2010 Initiative, to eradicate all landmines which threaten civilian populations by the year 2010. This presidential initiative does not compete with but, rather, complements ongoing international efforts to assist landmine victims.

The objective is to accelerate global humanitarian demining efforts by roughly a factor of five -- to $1 billion a year -- the public and private resources devoted worldwide to identifying and clearing landmines posing threats to civilians by the year 2010. The Demining 2010 Initiative, through U.S. leadership, will seek to coordinate these efforts. This goal will be achieved by bringing together donors, demining experts, and assistance recipients to make tangible commitments to expand substantially operational demining and related programs of assistance, to agree on mechanisms to enhance the exchange of demining information and demining technology, and to optimize the use of worldwide demining resources to achieve our goal of eradicating landmines by the year 2010.

Approach

Special Representative: The Clinton Administration has asked Ambassador Karl F. Inderfurth to serve as the U.S. Special Representative of the President and the Secretary of State for Global Humanitarian Demining to lead the Demining 2010 Initiative. The Special Representative will bring together donors, demining organizations, representatives from mine-affected countries, governments, international organizations, non-governmental participants, and the private sector to expand substantially and make more effective the global humanitarian demining effort. The Special Representative will provide leadership and a locus of coordination for the global demining effort. He will not manage a global program -- responsibility for managing each demining program falls properly to those closest to the problem in each country.

Advisory Board: The Administration will appoint a panel of distinguished American leaders to provide policy advice and help garner national and international support, including financial support, for the initiative.

Consultations: The Special Representative will begin immediately to consult with other donor countries, mine-affected countries, international organizations, involved non-governmental organizations and the private sector to generate support for the Demining 2010 Initiative.

Washington Conference: The United States will host a Washington conference on the Demining 2010 Initiative to bring together donors, recipient nations, international demining organizations, and non-governmental organizations. At this meeting the participants will make firm commitments for additional demining support, develop mechanisms to better coordinate demining operations, and develop a global strategy to remove all landmines that pose threats to civilians by 2010. In addition, the conference will develop mechanisms to improve sharing and access to demining information and demining technology and R&D developments.

U.S. National Program: The United States will continue to expand and enhance the U.S. Humanitarian Demining Program. Current plans are to increase funding from the previously budgeted level of $68 million to $77 million in Fiscal Year 1998. The U.S. will seek to further expand its commitment in 1999 and beyond.

[end of document]

Back to the Arms Control and International Security/Political Military
Affairs Home Page.
Return to the DOSFAN Home Page. Return to the Secretary's Home Page.
This is an official U.S. Government source for information on the WWW. Inclusion of non-U.S. Government links does not imply endorsement of contents.