| U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines
Email Newsletter
May 2005
In this edition. . .
Funky Winkerbean Addresses the
Landmine Crisis in Afghanistan
Tom Batiuk's popular Funky Winkerbean made its
debut on the comics pages in 1972, and today appears in more than
400 newspapers worldwide. During the month of May, the Funky Winkerbean
comic strip focuses on a tormented U.S. soldier returning from combat
in Afghanistan. In an effort to get over his nightmares and sleeplessness,
he decides to get involved in the landmine issue. To see the comic
strip go to: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/funky.asp
New Invention Burns, Not Blasts, Landmines
10 May 2005
Reuters
By Peter Apps
PRETORIA, May 10 (Reuters) - Burning landmines
left over from conflicts could be quicker, easier and safer than
blowing them up, the developers of a new device said on Tuesday.
Landmines kill or maim some 75,000 people a year in former conflict
areas from Angola to Cambodia, with high costs limiting how many
can be cleared.
Retired British airline pilot Paul Richard demonstrated his "Mineburner"
system at a test range near the South African capital Pretoria.
He hopes to test it in the field within six weeks.
The device -- with a gas nozzle -- was placed first next to an antipersonnel
mine and then an antitank mine and ignited by radio control.
The gas flame burnt through the casing of the mines before consuming
the plastic explosive, eventually igniting the detonators and producing
small explosions.
"Mineburner definitely fills a niche in the humanitarian sector
where large antitank mines are planted on bridges, power lines,
in cities or villages where you can't use the normal technique of
just blowing them up," said Theo van Dyk, research officer
for South Africa's state-run CSIR Defencetek, which helped develop
the project.
Mineburner was also safer because it did not require the transport
of explosives, he said.
To see the full article go to: www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L10442056.htm
New Reference Tool Enables Public
Access to Landmine Impact Survey Database
“The Landmine Impact Survey is the only
national mine action database in the public domain. Our new LIS
Explorer makes it even easier and more efficient to access this
data for prioritization of mine action strategies.”
Bob Eaton, Executive Director, Survey Action Center, April 2005
The Survey Action Center (SAC) has created a Web-based
tool, the “LIS Explorer”(www.sac-na.org/lisexplorer/index.html)
which will enable the public to interactively filter and display
information directly from Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) databases.
Such access will improve donor and host nations’ abilities
to even more efficiently identify minefields that pose the greatest
threat to public health and economic growth. Funding for this project
has been provided by the U.S. Department of State.
Examples of questions the LIS Explorer can answer for you: How many
recent landmine victims in Yemen were girls between the ages of
4 and 14, were herding at the time of the incident, lost an appendage,
and never received any survivors’ assistance? Where are all
the suspected hazard areas in Bosnia-Herzegovina that report antipersonnel
mines that block access to drinking water within 500 meters of a
community center with a population greater than 1000 residents?
These and many other questions that are literally a matter of life
and death are now available to everyone via a few keystrokes on
the LIS Explorer.
Landmine Impact Surveys have been conducted in ten countries with
landmine and unexploded ordnance (UXO) contamination, to date. The
surveys are conducted at the community level to assess the number
of mine victims and socio-economic impact on the livelihood of residents
as a direct result of this contamination. Comprehensive data is
collected about such communities, their suspected hazard areas,
and their mine victims within the preceding two year period.
The Survey Action Center (SAC) is a non profit organization based
in Takoma Park, Maryland that conducts Landmine Impact Surveys in
mine affected countries. SAC is the executing arm of the Survey
Working Group (SWG), which sets the international standards for
the LIS. The SWG is composed of individuals, government donor agencies,
NGOs, and international organizations interested in the LIS. For
more information please visit the Survey Action Center website at
www.sac-na.org.
Goodwill Ambassador Jackie
Chan Calls for Ban on Landmines
22 April 2005
By Mark Thomas
UNICEF
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia
Hugely popular film star and UNICEF/UNAIDS Goodwill
Ambassador Jackie Chan wrapped up a three-day mission to Cambodia
on Friday by saying that officials of governments that use or produce
landmines “should be forced to see the reality of how landmines
hurt people and make them suffer, because this would surely make
them stop.”
The charismatic actor, who was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador on
his first mission to Cambodia in April 2004, was visibly moved on
Wednesday as he visited adults and children recovering from landmine
and unexploded ordnance (UXO) injuries at an emergency hospital
in the provincial capital of northwestern Battambang province.
During the 20-22 April mission, Chan also visited UNICEF-assisted
mine education projects and mine marking and removal projects along
the Cambodian-Thai border in Pailin, once a stronghold of the former
Khmer Rouge regime.
Although some 1.6 million landmines have been located and removed
since 1992, an estimated 4 to 6 million landmines are still buried
in Cambodian soil. Mine awareness and mine marking programmes supported
by UNICEF and numerous other organizations have led to a significant
reduction in the number of deaths and injuries in recent years,
but between 2000 and 2004 there were still 4,194 casualties from
mines and unexploded ordnance, with more than one-quarter of the
victims under the age of 18.
At a mission-ending press conference on Friday, Chan said he was
planning on producing a film in Cambodia that would be related to
landmines, and that he hoped that government leaders worldwide would
see the film and reconsider their stand on the use or production
of such weapons.
But Chan said that in order for a global ban on landmines to become
universal, “everybody will have to work together. Maybe my
film will help, but what we need is for 200 million people to get
out on the streets in cities around the world on one day to demand
their elimination.”
Accompanying Chan on his mission to Cambodia was Edwin Moses, the
Olympic gold medalist who amassed a record 122 consecutive victories
in the 400 meter hurdles from 1977-1987. Moses, the chairman of
the Laureus Sports for Good Foundation, a private foundation which
promotes the power of sport for positive social change, said he
was “shocked” by the heavy infestation of landmines
in Pailin and the fact that “a child who chased a soccer ball
kicked out of bounds might never return.”
Chan, who talked with several patients at the Battambang emergency
hospital, spoke of being “haunted” by landmines. “When
I was here last time [in 2004] and went back to Hong Kong, I just
couldn’t stop thinking about what landmines are doing to people
here. I told people - my friends - about it, but it was just not
enough. I knew I had to do more.”
Chan said that he and other celebrities have a duty to call attention
to problems such as landmines and to push for action on them.
“I am more committed now than ever,” said Chan. “We
have to do what we can to help wherever and whenever it is possible
for us to help.”
Veterans Return to Vietnam
on Aid Mission
April 30, 2005
DENIS D. GRAY; Associated Press Writer
HAI QUE, Vietnam
The returning Americans had fought and killed in the children's
country, their forces sowing the land with explosives that still
take lives. But now a thousand young Vietnamese faced the group
of U.S. veterans, smiled and chorused, "Thank you."
With little drums beating, flags waving and posters held aloft,
the children marched out of a school yard and through the rice fields,
the Americans walking with them, to spread awareness about a deadly
legacy of the Vietnam War - unexploded weaponry.
The "thank yous" were for the help given by some of the
10 U.S. veterans who had come back three decades after the conflict
to end the killing and crippling, and find their own personal peace
with a receding but still vivid past.
"I carry the war with me every day," said Christos Cotsakos,
wounded while fighting not far from this central Vietnam village
in some of the war's bloodiest battles. For the past 37 years, he's
had a now yellowing newspaper story tucked in his wallet which reports
the deaths of three close buddies in his squad.
To read the complete article, go to: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=717023
Adopt-A-Minefield’s
Farah Appeal
Adopt-A-Minefield has launched The Farah Appeal, a campaign to raise
mine action funds in honor of newly-named AAM Youth Ambassador Farah
Ahmedi. Farah, who lost her leg to a landmine ten years ago, recently
won ‘The Story of My Life’ competition, sponsored by
ABC’s Good Morning America and Simon & Schuster.
After winning the competition, Farah met with First Lady Laura Bush
at the White House on May 5th, to discuss her experiences as a landmine
survivor. At the White House, Farah was accompanied by AAM Board
Chair Ambassador Nancy Rubin and AAM Executive Director Nahela Hadi
as well as representatives from Simon and Shuster and “The
Story of My Life.”
Following Farah’s appearance on Good Morning America in late
April, where she learned that her autobiography was to be published,
she visited the UNA-USA New York office and met with the AAM staff
before beginning her busy book tour. She spoke with us about her
personal story, from stepping on a landmine at the age of seven
to the present excitement surrounding the contest she has just won.
Farah expressed a desire to use the opportunity she is now being
given to help rid the world of landmines. She will be speaking about
her experiences in several cities across America, and she will encourage
people to join AAM’s efforts. In honor of Farah’s new
role, Adopt-A-Minefield is launching a special appeal to raise funds
to clear a minefield in Afghanistan in her name.
Farah’s journey began in Afghanistan when she was seven years
old. She stepped on a landmine while walking to school, and the
local hospital could offer nothing in terms of aid. By the time
a humanitarian group transported her to Germany, her legs were beyond
repair: one was amputated below the knee, and the other remains
rigid to this day. After two years in Germany, Farah returned to
Afghanistan, where she found a changed nation. Her brothers fled
the country to escape conscription by the Taliban and were never
heard from again. A bomb landed on her family’s home, killing
her father and sisters. Without the protection of a male family
member, Farah and her sick mother escaped to Pakistan, where they
lived alternately in refugee camps and slave-like conditions for
four years. After gaining passage to America, Farah and her increasingly
ill mother met their volunteer “mentor” Alyce Litz,
who rallied her church and home community of Wheaton, Illinois.
She helped Farah and her mother make a home, and has been instrumental
in helping build a future for a remarkable young girl who is now
being recruited by universities such as Harvard and Yale.
In her role as AAM Youth Ambassador, Farah will act as a spokesperson
for That Landmine Thing—AAM’s and Landmine Survivors
Network (LSN)’s joint student fundraising campaign. A 17-year-old
high school student herself, Farah brings home to students living
in the United States the reality of landmines for youth around the
world. We are very excited that Farah has joined the team as our
Youth Ambassador and we’ll be sending you more info about
her in the autumn editions of the Deminer and the That Landmine
Thing 2005/2006 newsletter.
For more information on Farah’s autobiography, please visit
www.simonsays.com.
For more information on The Farah Appeal, go to: www.landmines.org
For more information about the US Campaign
to Ban Landmines or to donate on-line, please see our website at
www.banminesusa.org
U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines
c/o Friends Committee on National Legislation
245 2nd Street NE
Washington, DC 20002
phone: (202) 547-6000
fax: (202) 547-6019
Email: landmines@fcnl.org
If you would like to contribute to the US Campaign
to Ban Landmines go to: www.banminesusa.org/
and click on Donate. |
