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In partnership with the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC), Soroptimist International (SI) is supporting a four-year
project to provide prostheses for landmine victims.
The aims
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to restore human dignity to the victims of landmines
- to help them become mobile again and reintegrate them into society
- to enable children to return to school and play once more like all the other children the world over
- to allow women to again lead a viable family life
- to help them become mobile again and reintegrate them into society
Final Outcome
This project has been the most successful project ever launched by SI. The initial target was US$500,000. By the end of March 2003, more than US$1.2 million had been donated by our members.
Members visited the ICRC Headquarters in Geneva in December 1999 and March 2003, a visit was organised as well to the orthopaedic centres in Tbilisi and Gagra, Georgia, in June 2002. During these visits, the participants were informed about the landmine problem, the orthopaedic activities and the needs of the victims. Contact was made with several victims in Georgia, and participants saw several mine fields on the way to Gagra. The cost of care to each landmine victim varies from country to country. In 2000, in Afrghanistan the average cost per patient was US$300.00, US$1,500.00 in Angola and US$883.00 in Georgia.
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Conclusion:
By giving amputees a chance to be fitted with prostheses, we offer them a better future and an opportunity to participate in the economic and social life of their families and communities.
It is necessary to teach the world about this human madness and the importance of peace.
Isn't seeing the smile return to a child's face our true reward?
Helene van Themsche
SI Liaison, International Project
How ?
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by supplying artificial limbs
- by promoting in a variety of ways the victims, recovery both physical and psychological
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in Afghanistan
- in Angola
- in Georgia
- in Angola
Anti-personnel landmines are a terrible weapon indiscriminately killing and wounding civilians mainly women and children. The end of the twentieth century is marked by this tragedy and the effects of these mines will be felt for many decades to come.
The statistics
The figures are mind-boggling:
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millions of mines buried in the ground of 70 countries in the Middle East,
Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America.
- every twenty minutes a victim falls somewhere in the world, and half of them die on the spot. 800 people are killed every month, and 1200 mutilated.
- as much as a quarter of the wounded who are treated by the ICRC owe their wounds to a landmine.
- the ICRC has produced more than 100,000 artificial limbs since 1979 and set up 19 orthopaedic centres in eight countries, but all this is unfortunately not enough - indeed far from it.
- every twenty minutes a victim falls somewhere in the world, and half of them die on the spot. 800 people are killed every month, and 1200 mutilated.
The victims
Already the poor in poor countries, the victims of anti-personnel mines can seldom afford the luxury of a leg, an arm or even a crude hook to replace their hand. The average price of an artificial limb is $125. Most of those mutilated by mines earn no more than $ 10 per month. So often there's nothing left for them but to beg. They become pariahs hobbling around the streets, or legless cripples placed on pavement corners.
The principal landmine victims are women and children. It's terrible for the women, but an even worse shame on humanity when it involves children just starting out in life. What's more, children grow, and an artificial limb is very expensive for a mutilated child, as it has to be changed every six months (compared to every three or five years for an adult).
Advocacy
Soroptimist International advocates immediate and concerted action by governments, non-governmental and voluntary organisations, United Nations agencies and other appropriate services, to work in partnership, to alleviate the plight of all civilians, affected by landmines.
On I March 1999, the Ottawa Treaty banning the development, use, production, stockpiling and transfer of APMs entered into force. This marked the fastest entry into force of a multilateral arms-related treaty. As at I June 1999, 133 states had signed the treaty and 82 had ratified it. Yet much work remains before the Ottawa Treaty becomes a truly universal instrument or before the threat of these weapons is completely eliminated.
Soroptimist International fully supports the Ottawa Treaty providing for the destruction and prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of Anti-personnel Landmines. Soroptimist International recognises that these landmines are widely distributed in many countries, are extremely hard to detect and cause death and infirmity to men, women and children, both during armed conflict and for many years afterwards. They affect all aspects of life, including security, health and development and impoverish communities by denying access to land and by destroying the environment, thus preventing social and economic recovery.
Soroptimist International urges all governments to:
- ratify and implement the Ottawa Treaty and the United Nations Inhumane Weapons Convention
- support and contribute to the International Fund, administered by the United Nations, which promotes and finances awareness, clearance and eradication programmes, world-wide
- include, in the process of signing peace accords/agreements, the commitment to the eradication of all deployed landmines and destruction of stockpiles
- provide long term support to affected countries in their landmine removal efforts
- urge discussion and monitoring of the landmine issue at the annual UN Conference on Disarmament
- provide education and disseminate information to civilians,especially children, about the dangers of landmines
- develop comprehensive systems to promote the physical and psychological recovery, and social reintegration of victims
Want to read more on the subject ? You can find some interesting articles
at http://www.goldenwestregion.org/landminesreport
