wfn.org | Latvian Lutheran church urges government to support land-mine ban

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

Chance to actively participate in solution to international problems

GENEVA/RIGA, Latvia, 30 July 1998 (lwi) - The synod of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Latvia (ELCL) has urged the Latvian government to join
in the Convention on the Prohibition, Use, Production, Transfer and
Stockpiling of Anti-personnel Land mines and on Their Destruction. "If our
state signs the treaty it will be among the 120 states wishing to
contribute toward a solution to these problems. If the Saeima ratifies the
convention, Latvia would be one of the 40 states the participation of which
is necessary for the convention to acquire international validity," says an
ELCL Synod statement published in the Latvian church newspaper Svetdienas
Rits.

In its appeal to the Government of the Republic of Latvia, the synod refers
to painful war experiences in its own history: "Many Latvian inhabitants
have had their own experiences of air-force bombing, unexploded shells and
grenades that have stayed in the ground since the Second World War and have
claimed so many victims."

Such a commitment, according to the ELCL Synod, would provide the Latvian
government with a chance to actively participate in a solution to
international problems.

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Lutheran World Information
Editorial Assistant: Janet Bond-Nash
E-mail: jbn@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/