Legislation banning the international sale and use of landmines was hurriedly pushed through the House of Commons yesterday, as British MPs paid tribute to the work of Princess Diana in bringing the issue to worldwide attention.
However, despite assurances from the government, the Conservatives raised the question of whether the Landmines Bill fully implemented the terms of the Ottawa Convention banning the use and sale of landmines.
As MPs sat in the Commons on what was scheduled to be a non-sitting day, the Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, paid tribute to the "immense contribution" made by the princess to organisations that had campaigned for an international ban on the use of landmines. He said the best way parliament could record its appreciation of her work was to pass the Bill and "pave the way for a global ban on landmines."
The Second and Third Reading debates of the Bill were pushed through the Commons in less than five hours and will now pass to the House of Lords for debate.
Mr Cook told the Commons there were 60 million landmines deployed across the world in 70 countries and illustrating the devastating effect on ordinary people, he said five people would be killed or maimed by a landmine by the end of the 90-minute Second Reading debate.
During the debate, the shadow Foreign Secretary, Mr Michael Howard, challenged the wording of the Bill saying there was a "huge gap" between the provisions in the legislation and those in the Ottawa Convention.
Pointing out that Article One of the convention banned the use, development, production, stockpiling, acquisiton. . . transfer of anti-personnel mines and assisting anyone else to do so, Mr Howard said that under Clause Five of the Bill the government had legislated for British troops to "procure, transfer, modify, adapt or even prime landmines" provided they did not lay the mines themselves.
"They are given full licence by this legislation to breach the Ottawa Convention," he declared. This led to an angry exchange with Mr Cook. The Foreign Secretary insisted the clause did give "full effect" to the terms of the convention.
"It prohibits British servicemen or any other British citizen from using, developing, producing, possessing or exporting a landmine. It also prevents them from assisting, encouraging or inducing anybody else from doing those things.
"Nor is this a token offence. A conviction brings with it a liability to a prison sentence for up to 14 years."
Mr Cook denied the Bill offered a "loophole" that would allow British troops to take part in an operation to lay landmines and said the clause merely provided a "shield" against persecution of servicemen taking part in a NATO exercise in which US forces did deploy landmines.
The Conservatives agreed that passing the Bill was in some ways a worthier memorial to Princess Diana than some of the projects announced in recent months and they paid tribute to her "invaluable" role in promoting an international ban on landmines.
The Liberal Democrats also expressed reservations about clause five of the Bill but said it was "essential" for the legislation to have the support of the Commons. The Liberal Democrat MP, Mr Menzies Campbell, described landmines as the "scourge of innocent civilians" and praised Princess Diana's "humanity and even her style" in campaigning for the ban on landmines.
Opening the Third Reading debate, the Defence Secretary, Mr George Robertson, declared the problem of landmines was a global one and as such required a global effort to rid the world of them. "It's also a fitting tribute to the enduring memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, and the work that she did, more than so many others, to draw attention to the evil effect of APLs."