1.1                             A resolution
  1.2             urging that the United States government sign the 
  1.3             international convention to ban land mines.  
  1.4      
  1.5      WHEREAS, the terrible damage inflicted by land mines on the 
  1.6   world's children, farmers, and wood foragers is now well known; 
  1.7   and 
  1.8      WHEREAS, in December of 1997, delegates from 121 nations 
  1.9   gathered in Ottawa to sign the Convention on the Prohibition of 
  1.10  the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel 
  1.11  Mines and on their Destruction; and 
  1.12     WHEREAS, the refusal of the United States to sign the 
  1.13  convention will make it far more difficult to persuade other 
  1.14  nonsigning nations to change their positions; 
  1.15     WHEREAS, the United States government's insistence on 
  1.16  exceptions and delays in banning land mines merely increases the 
  1.17  danger, not only to civilians, but also to the soldiers whom the 
  1.18  government professes to be protecting; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  1.19     BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  1.20  that it urges the President and the Department of State to act 
  1.21  speedily to sign the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, 
  1.22  Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and 
  1.23  on their Destruction. 
  1.24     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  2.1   State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this 
  2.2   memorial and transmit them to the President and Vice-President 
  2.3   of the United States, the Secretary of State, the President and 
  2.4   the Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the 
  2.5   Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, the chair 
  2.6   of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, the chair of the 
  2.7   Senate Committee on Armed Services, the chair of the House 
  2.8   Committee on International Relations, the chair of the House 
  2.9   Committee on National Security, and Minnesota's Senators and 
  2.10  Representatives in Congress.