Mr. Speaker, the land mines treaty, opened for signature in Ottawa last December and quickly signed by more than 120 states, has now entered into legal force, the 40th ratification having occurred this month in record time.
It may be argued on doctrinal legal authority that the treaty because of the number of state adherents has now become part of the general principles of international law and binding as such even on non-adhering states.
Apart from this a challenge of Canadian diplomacy may be to persuade the holdout states to declare significant parts at least of the new treaty as fully binding upon them in the conduct of their foreign policy.