Service Program Cleans Minefields
In the time it takes you to read today’s newspaper, someone will step on a land mine. The majority of victims are not soldiers but civilians living in areas supposedly at peace now. Many victims lose limbs. Some die.
Eliminating land mines doesn’t have to take place one limb, one life at a time.
A program called Adopt-a-Minefield has emerged to coordinate and pay for the removal of the estimated 60 million mines that disrupt daily life in 70 countries.
Adopt-a-Minefield incorporates the philosophy of the Adopt-a-Highway and Sister City programs. Communities a world away touch one another, learn about one another and, thus, increase the peace.
Folks in Santa Cruz, Calif., for example, have adopted a minefield in Bosnia. Contributors in New Canaan, Conn., will pay for the cleanup of a minefield in Cambodia. Money from Atlanta and Boulder, Colo., will rid parts of Mozambique of mines.
Now Spokane is invited to join the undertaking. The local chapter of the United Nations Association hopes to raise $20,000 to $30,000 but can succeed only with widespread community support. The localchapter won’t commit to a particular minefield until it is sure grass-roots backing exists.
The association is a nonpartisan foreign-policy organization dedicated to a strong United Nations with U.S. participation. The Spokane chapter (for information, call 535-3295) has 132 members and meets regularly to learn about world issues. This will be its largest outreach effort.
Besides causing agony and fear, uncleared minefields also are a development issue. Long after wars have cooled, mines inhibit farming, grazing and road building. They force abandonment of rail and water lines. They keep refugees from returning home.
If Spokane adopts a minefield, the United Nations will oversee its rehabilitation, hiring people to do the work.
A land mine costing as little as $3 to manufacture can cost as much $1,000 to locate and remove.
Often, the work is not high-tech. In Mozambique, for example, mine removers inch through fields, meticulously searching the dirt with metal probes. Sometimes, explosive-sniffing dogs help.
The Pentagon is funding research into radar, X-ray and other types of mine sensors. President Clinton has ordered such research to be accelerated in order to remove the threat of mines to civilians by 2010.
The U.S. government recently announced its intention to adopt eight minefields for cleanup - a welcome move. U.S. reliance on land mines along the border between North and South Korea has prevented us from signing the international mine man treaty. However, Clinton has directed the Pentagon to develop alternatives for Korea that would allow the United States to join the mine ban within a decade.
The mine treaty’s wellspring was grass-roots citizen action. Working outside conventional diplomatic channels, small groups forged a partnership to raise public awareness. They were rewarded with the Nobel Prize and the signatures of more than 130 nations.
Nobel Prize winner Jody Williams of the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines supports Adopt-a-Minefield. She calls it an unparalleled opportunity for everyone to make a difference by individually contributing to the removal of land mines worldwide.
To appreciate this undertaking, one need only look into the eyes of maimed Afghan and Croatian children.