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In the time you spend browsing through five web-sites, one person is unnecessarily killed or maimed by a landmine—that’s once every 22 minutes. These are mostly civilians, often children, who accidentally step on a landmine after a conflict has ended. From December 2-4, over 100 countries will gather in Ottawa, Canada to sign a treaty that will impose a total ban on landmines. A number of key countries will be absent from this historic signing. The Total Ban Banner in support of the treaty is placed to laud the commitment of those countries that are signing and to send a message to those countries that are not. At the end of this message there are suggestions about what you can do and links to important sites. | |
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Sometimes I dream that I have two legs again.
Hello!
I am Song Kosol.
I am a little girl from Cambodia and I am twelve years old.
Years ago, when I was very small, I went to play with my friends close to my house.
All of a sudden ‘BOOM’, cries, terror.
The whole of my right leg was blown off...Until two years ago, I walked on one leg with crutches.
One day a car visited my village and they told me they could give me an artificial leg.
They took me with many other amputees to a prosthetic center and there we received our new legs.
I feel more comfortable with my friend the crutch, so sometimes I leave my leg at home.
” This is not a rare testimony. Millions of active mines are scattered in some 70 countries and an equal number are stockpiled around the world waiting to be planted. Every month over 2,000 people are killed or maimed by mine explosions. Most of the casualties are civilians who are killed or injured after hostilities have ended. Buried landmines can remain active for over 50 years. Landmines do not recognize peace treaties or cease fires. Landmines do not discriminate. They do not distinguish between the footfall of a soldier and that of a woman or child gathering firewood. For every mine cleared, 20 are laid. In 1994, approximately 100,000 were removed, while an additional 2 million were planted. 
  Children, in particular, are most in danger from landmines. Their natural curiosity makes it likely they will pick up strange objects. They often cannot read the warning signs about mined fields. If a mine explodes near a child, it will cause greater damage than to an adult, who is larger and stronger. Children who are victims of mines are often from the poorest segment of society. Landmines are increasingly used as horrifying strategic weapons meant to destroy food sources, create refugee flows, or simply cause terror. Mozambique, one of the poorest nations in Africa, can not use whole swathes of arable farm land because of mines. In Cambodia, an estimated one out of every 235 people has lost at least one limb to an exploding mine. It can be stopped! The Ottawa treaty is a big step in the right direction. There are also things you can do:
Links and Resources United Nations Demining Database http://www.un.org/Depts/Landmine  International Campaign to Ban Landmines http://www.icbl.org Handicap International http://www.handicap-international.org/ Human Rights Watch Arms Project Report: Exposing the Source: U.S. Companies and the Production of Antipersonnel Mines http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/mines International Committee of the Red Cross http://www.icrc.org Landmine Survivors Network http://www.landminesurvivors.org Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation http://www.vvaf.org Text of Amended Protocol II of the United Nations Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons http://www.un.org/Depts/mine/UNDocs/protocol.htm Web page of the US Campaign to Ban Landmines Coordinated by the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation http://www.vvaf.org/campaign/index.shtml  The web banner campaign is organized by the UN Cyberschoolbus, a United Nations on-line education programme. |
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cyberschoolbus@un.org
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