*EPF311 04/12/00
Text: State Official Outlines U.S. Humanitarian Demining Efforts
(Patierno urges joining Adopt-A-Minefield program) (1460)

U.S. financial and physical assistance for humanitarian demining programs in countries throughout the world helps remove landmines that each year "kill or maim more than 25,000 people, mostly innocent civilians -- many of them women and children," the State Department's director of humanitarian demining programs told a suburban Washington audience April 2.

Speaking at the Unitarian Church in Bethesda, Maryland, Donald F. "Pat" Patierno said the U.S. budget for this fiscal year includes approximately $100 million for humanitarian demining, supporting programs in approximately 35 countries. He explained the many facets of U.S. aid, including helping the mine-affected countries set up mine action centers and mine awareness programs to teach people about the dangers and help them develop their own demining capabilities.

Patierno directs the Office of Humanitarian Demining Programs in the State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs.

Following is the text of Patierno's remarks, as prepared for delivery:

(begin text)

Donald F. "Pat" Patierno, Director, Office of Humanitarian Demining Programs
Bureau of Political-Military Affairs
U.S. Department of State
Remarks at the Unitarian Church, Bethesda, Maryland
April 2, 2000

We often hear people complain about the lack of
"bi-partisanship" in Congress, or allege that the American
taxpayers' dollars are spent on useless projects.

Well, today I would like to talk to you about a program that
not only has strong Congressional support from both parties,
but also is an effective use of the taxpayers' money. I am
speaking about the U.S. Humanitarian Demining Program. The
irony is that the American public is by and large neither
aware of the program nor of the role it is playing in
reducing the toll of human suffering around the world.

Today, there are between 60 and 70 million landmines buried
in the soil of more than 60 countries in Africa, the Middle
East, South East Asia, South America, and Latin America. The
International Committee of the Red Cross estimates that each
year these landmines kill or maim more than 25,000 people,
mostly innocent civilians and many of them women and
children.

Since 1993, the United States has been providing
ever-increasing amounts of financial assistance to countries
with landmine problems. The U.S. budget for this fiscal year
is approximately $100 million, supporting programs in
approximately 35 countries.

How Does the Program Work?

Generally, a mine-affected country requests assistance
through the U.S embassy. If the U.S. embassy endorses the
request, it is forwarded to my office here at the State
Department.

Representatives from various Executive Branch agencies known
as the Interagency Working Group on Humanitarian Demining
then meet to decide if a team of policy and technical
experts should be sent to the country. If the Working Group
decides to send a team, it will visit the country to assess
the nature of the mine problem, the capacity, and the
willingness of the requesting nation to manage a demining
program and the degree and manner of U.S. assistance, if
any.

Our principal goal is to remove the threat landmines pose to
civilians. However, removing landmines has other significant
benefits. It helps restores vital land to productive use,
assists the reconstruction of bridges and roads, and fosters
economic and social stability. The preferred means to
achieve these objectives is to help the mine- affected
country establish its own sustainable demining capability.

A typical U.S. program involves helping to set up a mine
action center to coordinate all demining activities,
establishing a mine awareness program to teach people about
the danger of mines and how to report their locations to
authorities, and conducting a demining training program so
that the host-nation's people will have the technical know-
how to clear the mines themselves safely and efficiently.

U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) teach mine awareness
programs and train the host-nation's nationals to clear the
landmines. The Department of Defense also provides a
limited amount of the initial demining equipment. For a
variety of reasons, it sometimes happens that U.S. Special
Operations Forces are unable to go into certain countries,
such as Afghanistan. In such situations, U.S. assistance is
provided by a commercial firm which performs the same
"training and equip" functions provided by the U.S. SOF.

Once the training phase is complete, the Department of
State's Office of Humanitarian Demining Programs provides
additional funding to support the program, usually with
equipment and service contracts, until it reaches the
sustainability phase. Other Department of State
organizations involved in humanitarian demining include the
U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) and the
Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM).

USAID, through the Senator (Patrick) Leahy War Victims Fund, provides
comprehensive medical support to landmine victims and their
families. PRM helps the resettlement of refugees and
internally displaced persons forced to leave their homes
because of the presence of landmines.

Periodically, we evaluate a program's progress. Once a
program is self-sustaining, as the programs in Namibia and
Rwanda are, we pass off our active role to the host nation,
although some funding at a low level may continue.

I should also mention that not all our humanitarian demining
programs are bilateral. For example, whenever the political
situation prevents the establishment of a bilateral program
such as in Afghanistan, we contribute to demining programs
administered by the United Nations, non-governmental
organizations, or international organizations.

Now that I have given you an overview of the entire U.S.
Humanitarian Demining Program, let me focus on an initiative
that allows groups such as yours to help. The initiative is
the UN Association of the USA's Adopt-A-Minefield Campaign
for which the State Department has provided significant
financial support. The Adopt-A-Minefield Campaign engages
individuals, community groups, and businesses in the UN's
effort to remove landmines around the world.

The Campaign helps save lives by raising funds to clear
minefields and by raising awareness about the landmine
crisis. It seeks sponsors to adopt minefields identified by
the UN as being in urgent need of clearance. The cost of
clearing these areas ranges from thousands to millions of
dollars depending on the size and complexity of the demining
task. Sponsors may adopt entire minefields or contribute
smaller amounts which are pooled with other contributions.

Every dollar donated to the Adopt-A-Minefield Campaign is
forwarded to the UN which coordinates the demining
operations.

The international landmine community has endorsed the
Campaign. It is regarded as a model of the public private
partnerships envisioned by President Clinton when he
launched the U.S. Demining 2010 Initiative. This Initiative
seeks to eliminate the threat of landmines to civilians
around the world by 2010.

Those of you who have been paying close attention - and I
know you all have - will recall that I said at the beginning
that our Program is a success. Let me focus on the successes
of the Adopt-A-Minefield Campaign which the US Government
supports financially.

As of March 17 this year, the Campaign has adopted 46
minefields in five of the most heavily mine-affected nations
in the world: Afghanistan, Cambodia, Bosnia, Croatia, and
Mozambique. The total cost for these adoptions is almost
$1.5 million.

In Afghanistan, the Campaign is clearing 6 minefields in
both urban and residential areas as well as clearing roads
and restoring agricultural lands to productive use.

The Campaign has adopted the sixteen most dangerous
minefields in Cambodia as identified by the UN. All these
minefields are located in the center of villages making a
normal way of life impossible for their inhabitants.

The clearing of the eight minefields in Bosnia will enable a
primary school to re-open, electric power to flow once
again, and agricultural land yield life-giving crops once
more.

The Campaign has adopted seven minefields in Croatia and once
they are cleared refugees will be able to return to their
homes, to worship in their churches, to drink potable water,
and to plant seeds whose fruit will produce good wine.

Finally, clearing of the nine minefields in Mozambique which
the Campaign has adopted will restore agricultural land to
productive use and provide access to potable water.

The Campaign hopes to be able to expand its program by one
country each year for the foreseeable future. Candidates for
expansion this year include Chad, Jordan, Laos, Sri Lanka,
and Yemen. Overall, the Adopt-A- Landmine Campaign is
helping people in the most heavily mine-affected nations in
the world to once more walk the earth in safety.

As you leave here today, I hope I have been able to convince
you that we are engaged in truly worthwhile endeavors, and I
am proud to be partnered with Adopt-A-Minefield and a part
of this demining story.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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