Working for a landmine-free world

(Vatican Radio) On World Refugee Day this year, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines called on states to eliminate the harrowing risks that refugees and asylum seekers face from landmines and other unexploded devices.
Despite a 1997 treaty to ban the use of landmines, these indiscriminate weapons, continue to injure and kill civilians every day in countries around the world. Over 150 states have signed and ratified the treaty which prohibits the use, production, stockpiling and trade in anti-personnel mines.
Yet an estimated 100 million of the deadly devices still lie in fields and along roads in former conflict zones, killing and maiming over 500 victims each week, earning them the nickname ‘weapons of mass destruction in slow motion.’

Jerry White lost his lower left leg – and almost his life – in a landmine explosion, but went on to co-found a survivors’ network and then take a leadership role in the international campaign to ban landmines, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997. Today he serves with the US State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations. Just recently Jerry was in Rome and spoke to Philippa Hitchen about his work, his faith and his own dramatic experience…..


Listen::


"I was an Irish Catholic boy in the United States.....I studied Judaic studies.....and I went walking in the Holy Land...in Egypt and the Sinai, enjoying the Bible landscapes and suddenly...Boom! I step on a landmine and it blows off my lower right leg......I had never thought about landmines or knew they were a problem in the Middle East....


I met another survivor, Ken Rutherford, he'd lost both legs to a landmine in Somalia...he said landmines have killed more people than nuclear, biological and chemical weapons combined so...we started to network with other amputees all around the world from Cambodia to Columbia, Afghanistan to Angola.....


The U.S.. although it hasn't signed (the treaty) is the world's leading de-mining supporter....about 120 million dollars each year is spent towards these programmes...but up until now, because of issues related to the Korean peninsula and other security concerns, the US has not felt ready (to sign)..Under this administration...there's been an instruction to review the landmine policy...it would make me proud as a survivor...to see this make progress..


When Princess Diana got involved....the cameras of the world focused attention on her and where she went....those iconic photos of her walking along the mine fields and holding survivors and children....Diana was an authentic champion for the cause....she put a human face on it and almost singlehandedly translated it from a security issue to a humanitarian one...."