A/RES/51/149 Page 2 noting the recent report on the impact of armed conflict on children3 prepared by the expert of the Secretary-General, Deeply alarmed that the number of mines being laid each year, as well as the presence of a large number of mines and other unexploded devices as a result of armed conflicts, exponentially outweighs the number of such mines that can be cleared during that time, and thus convinced of the necessity and urgency of a significant increase in mine-clearance efforts by the international community, Noting the recent decisions taken at the Review Conference of the States Parties to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects,4 particularly with respect to Protocol II of the Convention and the inclusion in the Amended Protocol5 of a number of provisions of importance for mine-clearance operations, notably the requirement of detectability, Noting also the adoption at the Ottawa International Strategy Conference, "Towards a Global Ban on Anti-Personnel Mines", on 5 October 1996, of the Ottawa Declaration,6 whereby participants undertook a commitment towards the earliest possible conclusion of a legally binding international agreement to ban anti-personnel mines and which, among other things, recognizes that the international community must provide significantly greater resources to mine-awareness programmes, mine-clearance operations and victim assistance, and stressing the need to convince mine-affected States to halt new deployments of anti-personnel mines to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of mine-clearance operations, and noting the offer by the Government of Belgium to host a follow-up conference at Brussels in June 1997, Welcoming the offer by the Government of Japan to hold at Tokyo a conference on anti-personnel landmines in March 1997 with a view to reinforcing international support for the work of the United Nations in landmine clearance, development of new technology for landmine detection and removal and the rehabilitation of landmine victims, Emphasizing the importance of recording the location of mines, of retaining all such records and making them available to concerned parties upon cessation of hostilities, and welcoming the strengthening of the relevant provisions in international law, Recognizing the important role that the international community, particularly States involved in the deployment of mines, can play in assisting mine clearance in affected countries through the provision of necessary maps and information and appropriate technical and material assistance to remove or otherwise render ineffective existing minefields, mines and booby-traps, 3 A/51/306 and Add.1. 4 CCW/CONF.I/16 (Part I). 5 Ibid., annex B. 6 A/C.1/51/10, annex I. /...