Mr Chairman, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen
We are here today to lay the foundation for a future world without landmines.
And so it is with considerable pleasure that, by signing the Ottawa landmines ban treaty, I associate my country today with the commitment of over 100 countries - more than half the community of nations - to ban anti-personnel landmines, remove them from our defence arsenals, and work towards their total elimination as a weapon of war and civilian terror.
In doing so, we must not lose sight of the need to do something concrete and compassionate about the millions of landmines which are already in the ground and which continue to claim innocent victims on a daily basis. This would be an admirable focus for the formidable energies and synergies between governments and civil society which the Ottawa Process and other international initiatives have generated.
And we must also not lose sight of our obligation to work cooperatively towards universal adherence to a truly global norm against the use, transfer, stockpiling and production of anti-personnel landmines.
I congratulate our excellent hosts, Canada, and in particular my good friend and colleague Lloyd Axworthy on moving us to this important milestone on our shared journey to rid the world of landmines. True to his word in October last year, he has worked with "missionary zeal" to bring us to this point.
Ladies and Gentlemen
The scourge of landmines - the senseless, random taking and blighting of innocent lives - is a peculiarly vicious, late twentieth century form of terror which all responsible peoples and governments must strive to end - everywhere and forever. The appalling dimensions of the humanitarian and economic crisis being faced by so many countries, including in Australia's region, require this.
Signing the Ottawa Treaty is the quickest, most absolute way for a government to commit itself to this objective, and it is right that Australia, with its strong humanitarian record, should take this high road to a global landmines ban. The Australian Government in April 1996 committed Australia to support a global ban on anti-personnel landmines and imposed an indefinite suspension on the operational use of these weapons by the Australian Defence Force, even though Australia - like the great majority of the other nations which will sign the Ottawa Treaty today and tomorrow - has had no association with the indiscriminate or irresponsible use of landmines.
Since that time, Australia has played a leading role in international efforts to find a comprehensive and lasting solution to the global landmines crisis. Hearteningly, the clear trend of history is on our side: the strengthening of the restrictions and prohibitions on landmines embodied in revised Protocol II to the Inhumane Weapons Convention (which Australia was among the first states to ratify), the growing list of national and regional measures outlawing the use of and trade in landmines, the enhanced international focus on de-mining and mine victim assistance programs, and now - a qualitative leap forward - the Ottawa total ban treaty with its 100-plus adherents.
The challenge now will be to turn the powerful international norm established by the Ottawa Treaty into a universal one. A significant number of countries - including key landmine user and producer states - are currently outside the Ottawa Treaty and are likely to remain so for at least the medium term: some of them hold very deep-seated security-related concerns about abandoning landmines as a defensive weapon.
But the momentum which has built up behind the landmines ban issue - and to which the Ottawa Process has made such an important contribution - must not be allowed to dissipate, with those countries still outside the tent.
We must not end up with a permanent partial solution to the global landmines crisis.
Countries remaining outside the Ottawa Treaty must be engaged on the landmines ban issue at every available turn, including - obviously, but not only - through campaigning in favour of broader adherence to the Treaty.
In addition, the Conference on Disarmament remains the world's primary global arms control negotiating forum. It should be tasked to contribute further - to international security and human security in this area. Most importantly - the key countries outside the Ottawa Treaty are members of the Conference on Disarmament. Australia is committed to redoubling its efforts in that forum so that negotiations on the landmines ban issue get under way in 1998. I urge you to support that effort.
Our goal will be, as it has been throughout, sound disarmament treaty-making and the establishment of an effective global norm with the potential for universal adherence.
The ongoing review process of Protocol II to the Inhumane Weapons Convention is another important forum where non-Ottawa Treaty states can be brought further along the road to a total ban, and I appeal to all countries here to accede to the Convention or, in the case of existing states parties, to ratify revised Protocol II so that it enters into force as soon as possible.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Since May 1996, Australia has pledged over $19 million for de-mining and victim rehabilitation programs in Cambodia, Laos, Angola, Mozambique and Afghanistan. This level of expenditure placed us at the leading edge of global efforts to rid the most heavily infested countries.
This commitment will continue. We have in place multi-year programs in Cambodia, Laos and Angola. Australian Army de-mining experts are currently working in Cambodia and Mozambique and the Australian Defence Force will continue providing specialist personnel to assist international humanitarian mine clearance efforts. Australian civil and defence scientists are cooperating with industry in the search for new technology which will speed up the current frustratingly slow rate at which mines can be removed from the ground.
Already a new Australian mine detector has been developed using breakthrough "multi-period sensing" technology - an electromagnetic pulse that can distinguish between minerals in the soil and metal objects. This greatly enhances the detection capacity for mines - including low-metal-content mines - in mineralised and saline soils. It has been deployed with great success in Cambodia and trialled in other areas. I commend this technology to the international community.
The Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation alone will spend $4 million over the next five years on further research into improved mine detection and neutralisation.
I would, finally, like to pay tribute to the United Nations Secretariat and Agencies with which Australia has cooperated closely in the area of de-mining and rehabilitation assistance, and which have performed the very necessary coordination function among different donor and recipient governments with great effectiveness.
Ladies and Gentlemen
This is a noble endeavour we are embarked upon. The Ottawa Treaty is a remarkable humanitarian response to one of the most compelling humanitarian issues of our time. Let us resolve to build on this treaty to achieve a truly global ban on the use, transfer, production and stockpiling of anti-personnel landmines.
We do this not only for ourselves but for future generations.