“We were all excited to witness this long-awaited occasion, the day our government officially declared Rwanda a mine-free country.

The bombs which had littered our schools, markets, bridges, and coffee lands were terrifying and deadly reminders of the Tutsi genocide of 1994.  Once again, our children may walk to school without fear, our farmers may grow coffee without fear, and all may finally enjoy the peace, and peace of mind, that this news has brought us.

I would like to thank everyone at Survivor Corps for all they have done to assist victims of genocide and landmines.  Above all, congratulations to the people of Rwanda and our government for this wonderful accomplishment. We may now move on to focus on victim assistance, to heal those injured by the past.”

— Albert Nzamukwereka, Rwanda Country Coordinator, responding to the government’s declaration that Rwanda is finally mine-free.

December 02, 2009, 6:15pm   Comments

“As this map shows, there is still a long way to go before the world is free of anti-personnel landmines. The countries worst-affected are those which have experienced wars in the past 20 years. Some armed groups continue to use them.” - BBC News

December 01, 2009, 4:18pm  Comments

Rwanda now ranks among the few countries to become completely mine-free!  The announcement is to be made at the Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World in Colombia.

From BBC News:

Hundreds of people have been killed and horrifically injured by landmines in Rwanda.

Landmines were laid between 1990 and 1994 in Rwanda and over the past three years more than over 9,000 have been destroyed by Rwandan soldiers.

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December 01, 2009, 3:34pm   Comments

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines released their annual report yesterday, November 12.  The report, compiled by a worldwide network of researchers, tracks each country’s progress in eradicating landmine threat, and includes updated numbers such as annual casualties, landmines removed, and risk education recipients.

Overall, the results are encouraging. In the past decade, over 2.2 million anti-personnel mines, 250,000 anti-vehicle mines and 17 million other explosives left over from wars have been removed.  But there is still a long way to go, especially in aiding landmine survivors:

Despite this high level of overall funding, over the past decade victim assistance has made the least progress of all the major sectors of mine action, with funding and action falling far short of what was needed. Most efforts remained focused on medical care and physical rehabilitation, often only when supported by international organizations and funding, rather than on promoting economic self-reliance for survivors, their families, and communities.

Check out the full report here.  And learn how you can help landmine surivors by visiting the Survivor Corps website.

November 13, 2009, 3:59pm   Comments

NEW YORK - October 29 - The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund has agreed to support the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines over the next year as it works to bring the United States in line with the international treaties banning landmines and cluster munitions.

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November 02, 2009, 11:57am   Comments

Photo: Mary Wareham

(New York: 23 October 2009)- Governments that have still not joined the international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines should participate in a forthcoming global summit and join the agreement without delay, said the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) today at an event at the United Nations in New York.

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October 23, 2009, 12:14pm   Comments

Photo: Sok Savy, Radio Australia

A recent study by the Integrated Mine Action project shows an unsettling figure: up to 80 per cent of victims hurt in landmine accidents have attended risk education sessions. Of these victims, boys and young men were far more likely to tamper with ordnance and cause themselves needless harm. The message was clearly not getting through.

In an effort to reach this demographic, Cambodian authorities have tried a new approach: rap music. A pilot program features a contest of original compositions by young people that seeks to educate and provide an anthem for their cause.

Read more…

October 21, 2009, 12:15pm   Comments

“AMMAN (JT) - Despite recent progress, much work remains to be done to rid the Kingdom of landmines, HRH Prince Mired, chairman of the National Committee for De-mining and Rehabilitation (NCDR), said on Tuesday.”  Full story

October 21, 2009, 11:38am   Comments

I started working for LSN/LSI in 2000 and I am working as Outreach Coordinator covering Banja Luka region. To date I have participated to many conferences and I will mention some of them here: participation to the 7^th Ad Hoc Committee meeting on CRPD in New York in 2006; Intersessionals meeting and RTV training in Geneva in 2006; Regional Conference on CRPD in Belgrade in 2006; development of the National Disability Policy and Entity Disability Strategy in BiH where I coordinated one of the working groups; coordination of Art Colony “Balkana” and member of the Health Insurance Fund for monitoring existing situation of prosthetic devices.

As for my expectations from participating to Cartagena Summit, I am looking forward to see and learn about progresses countries have achieved in dealing with mine issues, what their plans are for time to come, work with my government to identify realistic objectives and support programmes for landmine survivors, lobby our government to provide more support to landmine survivors and of course to learn new advocacy skills.

It goes without saying that I am looking forward to see friends that I know and meet new ones in our organizations ;-)

October 09, 2009, 1:22pm   Comments