Ban Land Mines!
Plymouth's Peace Action Group has sent this letter (drafted by Mary Margaret Pruitt) to our senators, and we invite you to join us by sending it to your senators too, by email or hand written.
Senator Patty Murray
Senator Maria Cantwell
Copies to Representatives of 7th, 8th & 9th Districts
Dear Congresswomen:
Thank you for your commitments and achievements as you represent our state. We could easily fill a letter with gratitude for your leadership on justice issues important to us.
But this communication is to request that you advocate for the United States to sign on to the land Mine Ban Treaty.
President Clinton challenged the international community in 1994 to get rid of these anti-personnel, indiscriminately lethal and cruel weapons. They kill and cripple U.S. service men and women as well as civilians and fighters from other countries. They make fertile land useless and tragically invite children to be killed or maimed.
A Mine Ban Treaty entered into force in 1999 and has been ratified by 164 nations including ALL of our NATO allies but not by the United States. Our US military has not used anti-personnel mines in combat since 1991. Please join 21 Democratic and Republican Senators who wrote on June 22, 2021 urging that President Biden act to align our U.S. policy with our human rights goals and sign the Mine Ban Treaty.
What follows is the letter sent by the 21 Senators:
"Dear Mr. President, In 2014, President Obama announced a new policy prohibiting United States production and acquisition of anti-personnel landmines, as well as their use outside of a possible future conflict on the Korean Peninsula. That policy was the product of extensive consultation within the Inter-agency, including the Department of Defense, and with the Congress. It reflected a recognition that the U.S. military had not used anti-personnel mines in combat since 1991 during Operation Desert Storm. It was also a response to the fact that landmines, which are indiscriminate by design and in effect, pose grave dangers to civilians and U.S. troops. In addition, and in furtherance of President Clinton’s challenge to the international community at the United Nations in 1994 to rid the world of these weapons, President Obama set a U.S. goal of joining the Mine Ban Treaty, which entered into force in 1999 and has been ratified by 164 nations including all of our NATO allies. However, in January 2020, President Trump reversed the Obama policy. We are writing to urge you, as a first step, to reinstate the Obama policy, and by doing so reaffirm the United States as a leader in the global effort to reduce the carnage caused by anti-personnel mines. We further urge you to direct the Pentagon to expeditiously review its plans for the defense of the Republic of Korea and provide a classified report to you and the Congress describing the options for defending the Republic of Korea with alternatives to anti-personnel mines, and of finally putting the United States on a definitive path to accede to the treaty – an important U.S. foreign policy goal announced by President Clinton and reaffirmed by President Obama – by 2024. In addition to the more than two decades during which the Pentagon was directed to develop alternatives to anti-personnel landmines, this would provide three more years to finalize plans for such a transition. We urge you to put America on a path to make this longstanding goal a reality. If the United States takes these steps it will be welcomed around the world, it will enhance our credibility in seeking to stigmatize the use of anti-personnel mines, and it will put added pressure on other governments to renounce them. It is the right thing to do for our country, for the world, and for our men and women in uniform.
Sincerely,
PATRICK LEAHY United States Senator
JACK REED United States Senator
SUSAN M. COLLINS United States Senator RICHARD J. DURBIN United States Senator CHARLES E. SCHUMER United States Senator LISA MURKOWSKI United States Senator
MAZIE K. HIRONO United States Senator CHRISTOPHER A. COONS United States Senator JEANNE SHAHEEN United States Senator
CHRIS MURPHY United States Senator
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN United States Senator
Dear President Joseph Biden,
We urge you to sign the Mine Ban Treaty. President Clinton challenged the international community in 1994 to get rid of these anti-personnel, indiscriminately lethal and cruel weapons. They kill and cripple U.S. service men and women as well as civilians and fighters from other countries. They make fertile land useless and tragically invite children to be killed or maimed.
A Mine Ban Treaty entered into force in 1999 and has been ratified by 164 nations including ALL of our NATO allies but not by the United States. Our US military has not used anti-personnel mines in combat since 1991. Please join the 21 Democratic and Republican Senators who wrote on June 22, 2021 urging you to align our U.S. policy with our human rights goals and sign the Mine Ban Treaty.
I send this to you personally and in the name of our Peace Action Group (composed of 50 members and supporters) of Plymouth Church UCC, Seattle.
2021 Peace Day Theme: Recovering better for an equitable and sustainable world.
Each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on September 21. The UN General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire.
In 2021, as we heal from the COVID-19 pandemic, we are inspired to think creatively and collectively about how to help everyone recover better, how to build resilience, and how to transform our world into one that is more equal, more just, equitable, inclusive, sustainable, and healthier. The pandemic is known for hitting the underprivileged and marginalized groups the hardest. By April 2021, over 687 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered globally, but over 100 countries have not received a single dose. People caught in conflict are especially vulnerable in terms of lack of access to healthcare.
In line with the Secretary-General’s appeal for a global ceasefire last March, in February 2021 the Security Council unanimously passed a resolution calling for Member States to support a “sustained humanitarian pause” to local conflicts. The global ceasefire must continue to be honored, to ensure people caught in conflict have access to lifesaving vaccinations and treatments.
The pandemic has been accompanied by a surge in stigma, discrimination, and hatred, which only cost more lives instead of saving them: the virus attacks all without caring about where we are from or what we believe in. Confronting this common enemy of humankind, we must be reminded that we are not each other’s enemy. To be able to recover from the devastation of the pandemic, we must make peace with one another.
And we must make peace with nature. Despite the travel restrictions and economic shutdowns, climate change is not on pause. What we need is a green and sustainable global economy that produces jobs, reduces emissions, and builds resilience to climate impacts.
The 2021 theme for the International Day of Peace is “Recovering better for an equitable and sustainable world”. We invite you to join the efforts of the United Nations family as we focus on recovering better for a more equitable and peaceful world. Celebrate peace by standing up against acts of hate online and offline, and by spreading compassion, kindness, and hope in the face of the pandemic, and as we recover.
The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly. Two decades later, in 2001, the General Assembly unanimously voted to designate the Day as a period of non-violence and cease-fire.
Plymouth's Peace Action Group invites you to join in prayer with others around the world at noon on September 21 and to continue working for a sustainable and equitable world.