Demining Demonstration

On Thursday, March 25 our group had the extraordinary opportunity had the opportunity to witness first had the terrifying work required to begin to rid a country of landmines. At a demining demonstration arranged by LSN, we observed the extreme risks that the deminers must take in their efforts to make Dong Hoi a safer place for its residents. At a time when the United States refuses to sign the Ottawa Treaty, the experience of watching a demining demonstration is a powerful reminder of the need to prevent the use of landmines. Mines that can take a short time to plant require years and years of many lives risked to remove.

I don't believe it is right that people in Vietnam should have to remove the landmines that were placed there by other countries. I understand that these people are employed to demine but I don't think it seems ethical.

When I talked to Jerry White last month he said, "I believe the responsibility for clean up lies with the governments who have made and used these weapons. The polluter pays, as we say. Just like we teach our kids to clean up after themselves.... militaries worldwide should clean up their lethal litter."

US Embassy representative

Traveling with LSN afforded us the opportunity to meet with scholars and experts like professor Truong Quong Hoc on daily basis. On Tuesday, March 23 LSN arranged for our group to meet over breakfast with representatives of the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi. These representatives emphasized to us that long after the war ended the landmines remained a threat to life and limb most often effecting innocent: small children playing, farmers in the field, and mothers performing daily chores.

At dinner, LSN arranged for our group to meet with a local journalist at the press club. He was open to our questions and emphasized that the work of LSN with survivors is critical to changing attitudes in a country where landmine survivors has traditionally been shunned by society.

At 11 PM we boarded the train from Hanoi for Dong Hoi.

Hanoi, Halong Bay

To me this photo captures a piece of the beauty of Vietnam.

Monday morning at a breakfast briefing with Professor Truong Quong Hoc from Vietnam National University we prepared for a day of touring the Temple of Literature and the History Museum. The more we learned of Vietnam’s ancient and rich history, the more we realized how significant and horrific the impact of landmines has been on this beautiful country.

These children that we passed on our way to the Temple of Literature are typical of the beauty and grace of this country which has some how managed to survive war and the ever present landmines. Unfortunately in a country filled with landmines children aren’t safe.

Injuring and killing children is one of the many problems with cluster munitions. According to Jerry White, “these are the bombs that explode and send out little round bombies or bomblets across a half mile radius. With a dud rate of 20% this military litter becomes like de facto landmines. Kids find them on the ground and think they are toys and pick them up and they explode. Many lose their eyes and hands, if not their lives.”

Welcome to Vietnam

I arrived in Hanoi on Sunday March 21, 2004 to participate in the Discover Vietnam trip with Landmine Survivors Network. On the streets of Hanoi the poverty is obvious. Hungry children sit on side walks asking for food. Even in this bustling city, people are living in one room shacks.

Living in America we often forget that the rest of the world doesn't live like us.

Our groups of twenty visitors from the United States, all passionate about the cause, met with LSN executive director Jerry White for a briefing. Jerry explained to us the basic statistics on landmines in Vietnam, the history of landmines in the country, and the toll they have taken.

My journey

In 2004 I had the opportunity to take a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia with Landmine Survivors Network. I wanted to visit the survivors so they would know that Americans and people in other parts of the world care about them and think about them. I also wanted to see for myself the damage and pain landmines have caused to innocent victims. When I learned about how LSN works with survivors I was really impressed. The organization helps people "move from being victims, to survivors, to fully participating citizens in their communities."

LSN’s network office in Vietnam works with survivors toward four goals. First, to bring survivors together with other survivors through visits and activities as a means of offering peer support. Second, to support survivors in the areas of healthcare, use of prostheses, rehabilitation, and economic training. Third, to assist survivors in exchange for community service provided by the survivor. Finally, to encourage participation of survivors in regional activities that promote pride and interaction.


These talented men are all landmine survivors. Today they are members of a band and members of society.

Telling their stories

"Landmines can't tell the difference between the sandal of a child or the footfall of a soldier. They are indiscriminate and inhumane weapons. Like poison gas, they are beyond the pale and should be delegated to the dustbin of history.

The Mine Ban Treaty, with 150 members, is the most comprehensive strategy to eliminate the scourge of landmines. It calls for a complete ban on the production, stockpile, export and use of anti-personnel mines. Since we negotiated the treaty ten years ago, we shut down the trade in landmines. More mines are coming out of the ground than going in the ground. Countries have destroyed more than 50 million mines from their stockpiles. Casualty rates have decreased from over 26,000 per year--a victim every 22 minutes--to fewer than 10,000 today."



In the last ten years, through hard work and dedication non profit organizations have made huge changes. This is a cause worth fighting for. This is a cause where our support, our voices, and our encouragement can make a difference. I can share with you the photos I have taken, what I have seen , and what I have learned about landmines. I feel it is important to speak for all of the people whose voices can't be heard. Thank you for listening!

Mines in Myanmar

In 2001, Myanmar's military placed landmines along their border with Thailand. In an attempt to "fence the country" the troops were ordered to put landmines inside the country and along the border it shares with Thailand. The eastern area of Myanmar has a very heavy concentration of land miles. In Myanmar, nine of the fourteen states are affected by landmines. The mine fields and heavily mine-affected areas are not properly marked. 

A landmine survivor in Myanmar suffers an average of 12 hours before receiving medical assistance. According to Handicap International, 77% of Myanmar landmine survivors go to hospitals in Thailand, while only 23% are hospitalized locally.  The health care system and the hospitals in Myanmar are known to be corrupt institutions. Landmine survivors from the army are supposed to receive medical treatment. However, war victims have had to bribe the hospital before being helped. 

Dr. Gino Strada

Dr. Gino Strada wrote the following in Green Parrots: 

"The countries, the names, the skin colors change, but the story of these wretched ones is tragically similar.  There is the one who is walking in the meadow, the one who is playing in the backyard or who is shepherding goats, the one who tills the ground or who gathers its fruits. Then the blast...Djamila felt a metallic click under her foot and had a fraction of a second to think before her left leg disintegrated...Many others like Esfandyar do not remember a thing.  A deafening noise and they are hurled on the ground....They wrapped Esfandyar in a big sheet, and they loaded him in the back of a farm truck. Esfandyar did not complain - the father told us - not of the pain, nor of the uneven roads. It was as if he were sleeping. And he was still in that drowsy state when he arrived at the emergency room of our hospital...He woke up different, Esfandyar, without an arm and a leg, and he will remain different, a young disabled person in a country so poor that it cannot afford to care for him."

In 1994 Dr. Strada founded Emergency, a non-profit organization that provides landmine victims with free medical assistance. Emergency helps civilian war victims, especially with landmine related injuries. Currently, Emergency is helping landmine victims in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Iraq, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Sri Lanka. 

 

Howard Zen

In A Power Governments Cannot Suppress, Howard Zen writes: 

"I can accept that there may be rare situations where a small act of force might be used to halt a genocidal situation - Darfur and Rwanda are examples. But war, defined as the massive and indiscriminate use of force cannot be accepted, once you understand its human consequences. 

Campaigns to rid the earth of landmines, napalm, white phosphorus, and depleted uranium, are important in themselves, as the reduction of symptoms is to anyone suffering from a deadly illness. But those campaigns must be accompanied by the understanding that the illness itself must be eliminated. 

Albert Einstein horrified by the first World War, said: 'War cannot be humanized. It can only be abolished.' "

Vietnam & Cambodia

During the 2004 LSN trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, each of the travelers had the opportunity to meet dozens of landmine survivors. What struck me about the survivors was their willingness to face life with hope and resilience despite their tragedies. While traveling, I learned that many survivors in this part of the world are shunned by their families and communities. Landmine survivors are faced with the challenge of proving that they can be productive members of society and overcoming the prejudices they face.

According to LSN’s website, “Over 80% of landmine victims are civilians, of which nearly one-third are women and children.” In Vietnam I met a woman who had lost her leg when she was a child. She picked up an unexploded mine while playing outdoors. Her family refused to provide her with the medical attention she needed. Her status in the family was reduced to that of a servant. With the help of a landmine survivor from LSN she has received emotional counseling for depression. She has acquired pigs to raise and sell. Today she has the confidence to be a respected member of society.

Awareness is the key to mobilizing support for landmine survivors. Today, up to 400,000 people worldwide are living with landmine-related injuries. This number continues to grow as 18,000 landmines harm or kill addition victims each year.

Anti-personnel Landmines

An anti-personnel landmine (APL) is defined as a device "designed to be exploded by the presence, proximity, or contact of a person... that will incapacitate, injure, or kill one of more persons" according to Article 2 of the Ottawa Treaty established to ban such mines.  In other words, an anti-personnel mine is specifically designed to injure as many human beings as possible, whereas an anti-tank mine is intended for use against vehicles.  The APL’s, which are smaller than anti-tank mines and are deployed in larger numbers per target area than anti-tank mines, are most often used along borders or to defend strategic positions. 

The threat posed by APL's is that the landmines can not be used to distinguish between civilian and military personnel, between adults and children, and remain active in wartime and peacetime. Mines Action Canada estimates that 80% of APL casualties are civilians.  In developing nations, APL’s threaten access to food and water, freedom of movement, and farming capacity. The costs of clearing mines and provide medical care to survivors is prohibitive. The 1997 Ottawa Convention calls for signators to clear all landmines in their lands within ten years.  The International Committee of the Red Cross and other ngo's support emergency aid, hospital care, and physical rehab programs in countries with landmines.  The costs to these nations of clearing mines and caring for the victims is vast.  A ban on the production and use of the mines, according to the American Chemical Society website, is critical to the solution of the APL problem.

Cluster Bombs

Cluster bombs or cluster munitions, according to Army Technology, are "bombs which release miniature bomblets or mines."  the purpose of these bombs, according to the website for the defence industries, is "to spread damager over a wide area."  According to Stop Cluster Munitions, "A cluster munition consists of a canister and several submunitions."  After being dropped or fired, the canister opens in mid-air over the target area and ejects its cargo of hundreds of submunitions over the target area. 

 

The dangers of cluster munitions are detailed on Stop Cluster Munitions website.  First, a large percentage of cluster bomb submunitions tends to survive unexploded, posing a threat to civilian populations and children in particular far beyond the target area, long after the military action. Second, a cluster bomb can affect an area as large as one square kilometer, and each submunition can project shrapnel over a radius of up to 50 meters, threatening the lives of victims far beyond the precise target area.  Today's military forces rely on cluster munitions to carry out war strategy, resulting in serious harm to civilians during military actions.

Our Country

What can we do 

to urge the administration to limit the use and production of landmines?

The Ottawa Treaty requires signators to destroy all stockpiled antipersonnel landmines within four years, to eliminate all antipersonnel landmines including buried mines within 10 years, and to report to the U.S. secretary general on their antipersonnel landmines and mines annually.  (Source: Arms Control Association) The International Campaign to Ban Landmines estimates that there are 170 antipersonnel landmines stockpiled worldwide.  (Arms Control Association) The Bush Administration announced on February 27, 2004, that the U.S. would not sign the treaty.  (Arms Control Association) The administration issued a fact sheet on the U.S. Landmine policies which states: "The terms of Ottawa and critical U.S. national interests were not reconciled, and so the U.S. did not and will not become party to Ottawa." (American)

In February 2007 a conference was held in Oslo on banning cluster bombs.  According to a representative of Human Rights Watch, "No conventional weapon poses greater danger to civilians today than cluster munitions."  These bombs can wreak havoc in an area as a great as one square kilometer and bombs that do not explode on impact may become landmines.  At least 75 countries have stockpiles of cluster bombs.  46 states have agreed to develop a treaty in 2008 prohibiting the use of cluster bombs. President George W. Bush is opposed to a ban on cluster bombs and his administration did not send a representative to the Oslo conference. (Embassy)

What can we do to urge the administration to limit landmine use and production? The Friends Committee on National Legislation observed on June 28, 2007: "The U.S. has fallen precipitously from its moral high ground on the landmines issues since the 1990s.  The FCNL website publishes legislation action alerts.  Visitors are urged to take action by contacting their senators to cosponsor the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act of 2007 and to contact the president to support the bill.  The legislation would ban the use of cluster munitions near civilian populated areas, and bans the use, sale or transfer of cluster munitions with a failure rate greater than 1%. Most recently, as of 01/23/08, the legislation known in the house as HR 1755 and in the senate as S.594 had drawn 24 cosponsors but continues to be opposed by the Pentagon. Write to your legislators in support of the bills,  raise awareness,  and hold an event to allow your community members to make their voices heard in Washington.

Visit The Friends Committee on National Legislation video and campaign info.

The Ottawa Treaty

Americans can serve a special role in preventing future landmine injuries. The Ottawa Treaty, which is also known as the Mine Ban Treaty, is recongnized by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines as “the international agreement that bans antipersonnel landmines." Sometimes referred to as the Ottawa Convention, its official title is: the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer or Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction.” The importance of the treaty is highlighted by ICBL: “The treaty is the most comprehensive international instrument for ridding the world of the scourge of antipersonnel mines. It deals with everything from mine use, production and trade, to victim assistance, mine clearance and stockpile destruction.”

The treaty has been signed by 152 countries. However, the United States has repeatedly refused to sign this treaty. The position of the United States, as a nation that emphasizes human rights and serves as a leader for democratic countries, carries great weight on the world’s stage. 

The signator countries are as follows:

1.  Afghanistan

2.            Albania

3.            Algeria

4.            Andorra

5.            Angola

6.            Antigua

7.            Argentina

8.            Australia

9.            Austria

10.            Bahamas

11.            Bangladesh

12.            Barbados

13.            Barbuda

14.            Belarus

15.            Belgium

16.            Belize

17.            Benin

18.            Bolivia

19.            Bosnia Herzegovina

20.            Botswana

21.            Brazil

22.            Brunei Darussalam

23.            Bulgaria

24.            Burkina Faso

25.            Burundi

26.            Cambodia

27.            Cameroon

28.            Canada

29.            Cape Verde

30.            Central African Republic

31.            Chad

32.            Chile

33.            Colombia

34.            Comoros

35.            Congo Brazzaville

36.            Cook Islands

37.            Costa Rica

38.            Côte d’Ivoire

39.            Croatia

40.            Cyprus

41.            Czech Republic

42.            Democratic Republic of the Congo

43.            Denmark

44.            Djibouti

45.            Dominica

46.            Dominican Republic

47.            Ecuador

48.            El Salvador

49.            Equatorial Guinea

50.            Eritrea

51.            Estonia*

52.            Ethiopia

53.            Fiji

54.            France

55.            Gabon

56.            Gambia

57.            Germany

58.            Ghana

59.            Greece

60.            Grenada

61.            Guatemala

62.            Guinea

63.            Guinea-Bissau

64.            Guyana

65.            Haiti

66.            Holy See

67.            Honduras

68.            Hungary

69.            Iceland

70.            Indonesia

71.            Ireland

72.            Italy

73.            Jamaica

74.            Japan

75.            Jordan

76.            Kenya

77.            Kiribati*

78.            Lesotho

79.            Liberia

80.            Liechtenstein

81.            Lithuania

82.            Luxembourg

83.            Macedonia*

84.            Madagascar

85.            Malawi

86.            Malaysia

87.            Maldives

88.            Mali

89.            Malta

90.            Marshall Islands

91.            Mauritania

92.            Mauritius

93.            Mexico

94.            Moldova Republic of

95.            Monaco

96.            Mozambique

97.            Namibia

98.            Nauru*

99.            Netherlands

100.            New Zealand

101.            Nicaragua

102.            Niger

103.            Nigeria*

104.            Niue

105.            Norway

106.            Panama

107.            Papua New Guinea

108.            Paraguay

109.            Peru

110.            Philippines

111.            Poland

112.            Portugal

113.            Qatar

114.            Romania

115.            Rwanda

116.            Saint Kitts & Nevis

117.            Saint Lucia

118.            St.Vincent & the Grenadines

119.            Samoa

120.            San Marino

121.            São Tomé e Principe

122.            Senegal

123.            Seychelles

124.            Sierra Leone

125.            Slovakia

126.            Slovenia

127.            Solomon Islands

128.            South Africa

129.            Spain

130.            Sudan

131.            Suriname

132.            Swaziland

133.            Sweden

134.            Switzerland

135.            Tajikistan*

136.            Tanzania United Republic of

137.            Thailand

138.            Timor Leste (East Timor)*

139.            Togo

140.            Trinidad & Tobago

141.            Tunisia

142.            Turkey*

143.            Turkmenistan

144.            Uganda

145.            Ukraine

146.            United Kingdom

147.            Uruguay

148.                 Vanuatu

149.                 Venezuela

150.                 Yemen

151.                 Zambia

152.                 Zimbabwe

 

The following countries haven’t signed:

1.      Armenia

2.      Azerbaijan

3.      Bahrain

4.      Bhutan

5.      China

6.      Cuba

7.      Egypt

8.      Finland

9.      Georgia

10.      India

11.      Iran

12.      Iraq

13.      Israel

14.      Kazakhstan

15.      North Korea

16.      South Korea

17.      Kuwait

18.      Kyrgyzstan

19.      Laos

20.      Latvia

21.      Lebanon

22.      Lybia

23.      Micronesia

24.      Mongolia

25.      Morocco

26.      Myanmar (Burma)

27.      Nepal

28.      Oman

29.      Pakistan

30.      Palau

31.      Russia

32.      Saudi Arabia

33.      Singapore

34.      Somalia

35.      Sri Lanka

36.      Syria

37.      Tonga

38.      Tuvalu

39.      United Arab Emirates

40.      United States of America

41.      Uzbekistan

42.      Vietnam

43.      Yugoslavia

 

 

Landmine Survivors Network

When I traveled to Vietnam and Cambodia with Landmine Survivors Network in 2004, 20 years had passed since LSN co-founder Jerry White’s landmine accident. In that time, Jerry as been named co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for his work with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

Jerry has a special attachment to Southeast Asia. While he was visiting Cambodia in 1995, he was inspired to found LSN by the words of a little girl. The way he tells the story an eight-year-old amputee hopped over to him, pointed to his prosthetic leg, and said, “You are one of us.” From that moment on Jerry was determined to help others who had been injured by landmines.

Today LSN focuses its efforts in seven countries: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Colombia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Jordan, Mozambique, and Vietnam. LSN helps  landmine survivors with a full array of services. These include: trauma recovery, emotional counseling, and human rights education.

Jerry White

When I heard Jerry White tell his story it changed how I saw the world. I realized that one individual has the power to make a difference in the lives of people in need from all over the world, from all different backgrounds. Jerry’s near-death experience and fight for recovery made him stronger and more compassionate than he had thought possible.

Jerry’s story began on April 12, 1984.  At that time he was a college student at Brown University spending a year abroad at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He and two friends, David and Fritz, were hiking in the Golan Heights near the Lebanese boarder. Suddenly Jerry realized that the earth around him had opened up - he had stepped on a landmine. He and his friends had inadvertently entered a marked minefield.

Jerry’s friends picked him up, all 195 pounds. He was bleeding heavily from his left leg while his lower right leg was visibly torn apart. They chose to walk in the direction of a kibbutz in the distance. The path was steep and rocky and his friends were aware that there might be another landmine along the way. After an exhausting trek past the security fence, David, a premed student, decided to stay with Jerry while Fritz decided to run for help. After an hour Fritz returned with an Israeli that he had flagged down on the road. David, Fritz, and the Israeli carried Jerry out of the minefield on a stretcher. They were careful to follow the path Fritz had taken just an hour before. 

The devotion and courage of Jerry’s friends on that fateful day would prove to be the first of many inspirational actions he was to witness over the course of his long recovery. This blog is dedicated to all of the individuals who have supported landmine survivors through their donations, legislative action, and publicity efforts.