| Mines Film Footage & Job Applicants Sought, Youth Summit, Amputee Walks Boston to Miami...
August 10, 2004
In this edition. . .
Call for Presidential Candidate Monitoring
Have you heard any speeches by any of the presidential
candidates? Planning on it? The US Campaign to Ban Landmines
(USCBL) would like to hear about any landmine, Mine Ban Treaty,
weapons policy, or general international treaty-related remarks
that any of the present candidates, their running mates, or their
wives have made. If you have heard any statements, please
send a brief description to the USCBL at landmines@fcnl.org
with "candidate statement" in the subject heading.
Also, if you have a personal or professional connection
to any of the candidates, we hope you will be in touch with us,
so that we can work with you to better reach the candidates with
a pro-Mine Ban Treaty message.
Seeking Candidates to Apply for Positions at International Campaign
to Ban Landmines
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL)
is a coalition of 1,400 organizations and thousands of people in
over 90 countries who work locally, nationally, regionally, and
internationally to ban antipersonnel landmines. The ICBL,
which was co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize together with
its former Coordinator Jody Williams, is currently seeking applicants
for the positions of Executive Director, Treaty Implementation Officer,
and Advocacy Officer. Applications will be accepted for Executive
Director until September 1, 2004, and for Treaty Implementation
Officer and Advocacy Officer until September 15, 2004. More
details on these three positions can be found at the
ICBL website.
Landmine Survivor Walks from Boston to Miami
After being fitted with a prosthesis below his
knee and rehabilitated at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Julio Montoya,
a landmine survivor from Peru, decided to walk from Boston to Miami
to publicize his message: “To people who think life is finished
after an accident, I want to show them that is not true." Montoya
was a soldier in the Peruvian army. While working on a road
construction project five years ago, a landmine exploded, and he
lost his right leg. Montoya left Boston and began his journey
on June 22, 2004. He has relied almost exclusively on the
goodwill of his supporters for food and housing. On August
10, 2004 Montoya plans to arrive in Washington DC where he hopes
to stop at the White House, City Hall, and the Peruvian Embassy.
To learn more about Montoya, follow his progress,
and donate food or shelter, go to his website: www.caminoalfuturo.org
(though his current location may not be quite up to date on the
site). Julio Montoya can be reached by email at monty32_2000@hotmail.com
or robinprakash@hotmail.com.
A picture from Montoya’s trans-America trek can be seen at
the
ICBL website.
Looking for 18-26 Year Olds to Participate in Landmines Youth
Symposium in Nairobi, Kenya
The US Campaign to Ban Landmines, Mines Action
Canada, the Youth Mine Action Ambassador Program, and the International
Campaign to Ban Landmines invite you to nominate yourself or other
young people to attend “In Our Lifetime: The 2004 International
Youth Symposium on Landmines” in Nairobi, Kenya. The symposium
will run from November 25 to December 3, 2004 and will include up
to 35 youth between the ages of 18 and 26. It is being held
as part of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty’s official Review Conference,
which will bring together campaigners and government officials from
around the world.
Nominated youth must submit an application form
by AUGUST 27, available at this link:
http://www.dangermines.ca/pdf/IYS_Application_form.doc
AND ALSO LET US KNOW THAT YOU ARE APPLYING by emailing landmines@fcnl.org
and putting “Nairobi youth summit application” in the
subject heading.
For more information on the International Youth
Symposium, please visit www.dangermines.ca
or contact Michael Warren, YMAAP International Program Officer,
at mwarren@dangermines.ca.
Call for Landmines Film Footage
Independent from her roles as Chair of the US
Campaign to Ban Landmines and Coordinator of the Landmine Monitor
(based at Human Rights Watch), Mary Wareham is producing a documentary
about landmines and the campaign. She is requesting film footage
of actual mine-laying, mine warfare training, and mine incidents
(ie: extraction of casualties from minefields, historical war footage,
etc). Contact mary@nspfilms.org
for details on how to submit footage. For more information about
the project, visit www.nspfilms.org.
New International Campaign to Ban Landmines Website
The ICBL has unveiled its new, user-friendly
website. Not only does this site make finding information easier,
new information about the landmine issue has been added in a section
titled “The Problem.” Other highlights of the site include
country-specific facts, news, action alerts, events, and extensive
details on the Mine Ban Treaty and its signatories. Check it out
at www.icbl.org
War Photographer and Landmine Survivor Documents
Cambodia Peace
July 22, 2004
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Tim Page immortalised some of the most potent
images of the Vietnam and Cambodian wars. The most celebrated photographer
to survive the conflict, he has inspired books, documentaries and
even a character in the classic film. Tim Page recently returned
to Cambodia but this time he is documenting a mission of peace,
a project to turn decommissioned weapons into art.
"I died in Vietnam, I was blown up by a landmine
in 1969 and lost 200cc of my brain and was paralysed," Tim
said. "You're reminded of your own fragility, you're reminded
of your own pains, your own traumas, that stuff which I think only
people who actually have been in war really understand, the insanity,
the madness."
Tim Page is the legendary photographer who rode
to war on his motorbike. A maverick, often on the front line,
his potent images of the Cambodian and Vietnam conflicts influenced
the course of history. Thirty-five years later, he is back in Cambodia
to record the aftermath of decades of fighting, and the disturbing
images of peace are almost as confronting as the horror of war...
For the full article, visit http://www.banminesusa.org/news/902_cambodia.htm
(c) 2004 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Disability Rights Monitor
The Center for International Rehabilitation will
release the next publication from the International Disability Rights
Monitor (IDRM): The Regional Report of the Americas. This is the
second publication and the first regional report of the International
Disability Rights Monitor project. The Regional Report of the Americas
contains reports from 24 countries and a regional report card summarizing
the degree to which basic protections for the rights of people with
disabilities are in place. The report will be released on August
24, 2004 at a press conference in New York City as part of the Ad
Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention
on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons
with Disabilities, an international treaty being developed by a
group of NGOs and government representatives.
To order your complimentary copy of the IDRM Regional
Report of the Americas: Email idrm@cirnetwork.org
or visit www.disability.ws.
Landmine Threat
Suspends Aid Operations in Angola
July 20, 2004
Xinhua
LUANDA, Angola-Landmines have forced two UN agencies
and three non-governmental groups to suspend the delivery of humanitarian
aid to some 60,000 people in Angola's central Bie province, according
to a report here on Tuesday.
The report of Luanda's Catholic Radio Ecclesia
said that the five organizations, including the World Food Program
and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), suspended their Bie
operations Friday last week due to the discovery of landmines on
roads linking the provincial capital, Cuito, to the towns of Andulo
and Cunhinga. The aid organizations said they would resume operations
in Bie as soon as mine clearance teams secured those roads. Emerging
from a 27-year civil war, landmine-strewn roads and fields still
pose serious threats to Angolans, with many killed and lamed.
(c) Copyright 2004 Xinhua News Agency
For more information about the US
Campaign to Ban Landmines or to donate on-line, please see our website
at www.banminesusa.org
U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines
Care of Physicians for Human Rights
100 Boylston Street, Suite 702
Boston, MA 02116
USA
phone: 1+ 617-695-0041
fax: 1+ 617-695-0307
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