A/RES/68/72 United Nations Distr.: General 16 December 2013 General Assembly Sixty-eighth session Agenda item 48 Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 11 December 2013 [on the report of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) (A/68/421)] 68/72. Assistance in mine action The General Assembly, Recalling its resolution 66/69 of 9 December 2011 and all its previous resolutions on assistance in mine clearance and on assistance in mine action, all adopted without a vote, Recalling also all relevant treaties and conventions processes, 1 and their review Noting with appreciation the extent to which the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action has been commemorated worldwide, Reaffirming its deep concern at the tremendous humanitarian and development problems caused by the presence of mines and explosive remnants of war, 2 which have serious and lasting social and economic consequences for the populations of countries affected by them, Bearing in mind the serious threat that mines and explosive remnants of war, including cluster munitions, pose to the safety, health and lives of local civilian populations, as well as of personnel participating in humanitarian, peacekeeping, rehabilitation and mine clearance programmes and operations, Deeply alarmed by the number of mines that continue to be laid each year as well as the presence of a decreasing but still very large number of, and area of square kilometres contaminated by, mines and explosive remnants of war as a result _______________ 1 These include the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, 1997; the Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby Traps and Other Devices, as amended in 1996 (Protocol II to the 1980 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); the Protocol on Explosive Remnants of War, 2003 (Protocol V to the 1980 Convention); the Convention on Cluster Munitions, 2008; the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, 1977 (Protocol I); and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006. 2 As defined by Protocol V to the 1980 Convention. 13-44377 *1344377* Please recycle

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