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Note #7829 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Saving lives and limbs
03276
June 30, 2003

Saving lives and limbs

PDA and partners help clear land of 'anti-personnel' mines

by John Filiatreau

LOUISVILLE - In one sense, it's a numbers game, and the numbers can be
daunting.
	
It typically costs $1 to $5 to manufacture an "anti-personnel" land mine. On
average, it costs $1,000 to remove one safely from the ground.
	
About 100 million unexploded mines are deployed around the world, in about 90
different countries. 
	
A mine can remain functional and lethal for 20 years or more.
	
Every year, 15,000 to 20,000 civilians, 90 percent of them children, are
killed by mines.
	
In 2001, people were hurt or killed by land mines in 69 nations, only 23 of
which were at war at the time.
	
Worldwide, about a quarter-million people, most of them civilians and most of
them children, have lost one or both legs to land mines.
	
Fourteen nations still make mines, down from 55 six years ago. The biggest
producers are China, Russia and the United States. About 230 million mines
undeployed are in the military stockpiles of 94 countries.
	
About 34 million mines have been destroyed by 61 countries since the Ottawa
Mine Ban Treaty went into effect in 1997. About 145 countries have signed the
convention, but the United States is not among them.
	
The director of Cambodia's government mine-removal program estimated recently
that, if clearing efforts continue at the present rate, all "mines and
(other) unexploded ordnance can be cleared out of Cambodia in 200 to 300
years."
	
On the other hand, numbers don't tell the whole story.
	
"We in the mind-clearing community don't like to talk about numbers that
way," said Lisa Henry, head of emergencies for DanChurchAid, the Danish
international humanitarian organization that has mine-removal programs around
the world. "We like to talk about the how many people would have died if the
mines we've removed had remained in the ground. We like to talk about how
many people have been able to return to that land, to work their fields, to
go to school, to walk that path to carry water home. 
	
"We're trying to communicate that it's not futile, that our mine-removal
efforts have a direct impact on people's lives."
	
Henry was preaching to the choir when she stopped in Louisville on June 25
for a visit with Susan Ryan, coordinator of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
(PDA).
	
The disaster-response agency of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has contributed
$100,000 toward DanChurchAid's efforts in Albania, and smaller but still
substantial amounts for mine-clearing in Kosovo and parts of Sudan.
	
PDA and DanChurchAid are both members of Action by Churches Together (ACT), a
worldwide alliance of churches and their aid agencies that responds to
natural and man-made emergencies around the globe. 
	
"Presbyterian support has been intrinsic to what we've been able to do,"
Henry said.
	
Political efforts to limit the use of mines also make a difference.
	
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) said in its 2002 Landmine
Monitor Report that the Ottawa Treaty and the worldwide campaign against the
production and use of land mines have had an impact. 
	
"It is abundantly clear," ICBL said in its report, "that the Mine Ban Treaty
and the ban movement more generally are making tremendous strides in
eradicating anti-personnal landmines and saving lives and limbs in every
region of the world."
	
The treaty does not address the related problem of "cluster bombs," which on
impact disperse hundreds of smaller bombs - each still powerful enough to
kill or maim - over a large area. According to Henry, 10 to 20 percent of
such "bomblets" fail to explode, becoming in effect small land mines.
	
Henry said mine-removal is expensive because of training, equipment and
transportation costs, and the expense of keeping fully trained and equipped
medical teams on hand in case of accident.
	
Asked how Presbyterians can help, Henry said: "Write a letter to a Congress
person, saying that you support a U.S. ratification of the Ottawa Treaty;
join national and international campaigns against land mines; be active in
your local community."
	
Ryan suggested contributing to PDA's land mine removal fund: the account
number is 9-2000132. She said mine-clearing efforts "are also a good way for
churches to use their share of the Peacemaking Offering."
	
Henry said people who donate mission funds often like to see concrete results
- "They want their money to be used to dig a well, or build a church.  But
people cannot draw water from that well, or send their children to that
school, until the area has been cleared of mines."

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