Department of State Washington File: Fact Sheet: Public-Private Partnerships for Mine Action

*EPF315 12/12/2001
Fact Sheet: Public-Private Partnerships for Mine Action
(Private groups help U.S. protect civilians from landmines) (2880)

The following fact sheet entitled Synopsis of Public-Private Partnerships for Mine Action was issued by the State Department's Office of Mine Action Initiatives and Partnerships on December 11.

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FACT SHEET
Bureau of Political-Military Affairs
Office of Mine Action Initiatives and Partnerships
Washington, DC, December 11, 2001

Synopsis of Public-Private Partnerships for Mine Action

Landmines affect approximately one third of the world's nations. To reinforce official U.S. Government efforts to make the world mine-safe from these "hidden killers," the Office of Mine Action Initiatives and Partnerships (MAIP) within the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs is working with non-governmental organizations, civic associations, philanthropic foundations, educational institutions, and private corporations to protect innocent civilians from the threat of landmines.

The following organizations are working in partnership with the U.S. Government to enable citizens of mine-affected nations "to walk the earth in safety."

-- The United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) and its Adopt-A-Minefield program have raised more than $2.9 million, including contributions from the U.S. Department of State's Office of Humanitarian Demining Programs, since March 1999 to clear minefields in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Croatia, and Mozambique. To learn more about Adopt-A-Minefield and how you can personally contribute to mine action, go to www.landmines.org, email [email protected], telephone (212) 907-1300, or fax (212) 682-9185.

-- Warner Bros. has committed the use of its "Looney Tunes" characters to produce animated public service announcements for broadcast around the world to teach mine awareness and acceptance of landmine survivors to children in mine- affected countries. A pilot project aimed at Cambodian audiences is currently in development. This is the first time that Warner Bros. has generously volunteered its Looney Tunes characters in a humanitarian cause since World War II. To learn more about this project, telephone Jean MacCurdy at (818) 954-4090, fax (818) 954-5507, or email [email protected]. General information about Warner Bros. Looney Tunes family may also be found at http://looneytunes.warnerbros.com/web/home.jsp.

-- DC Comics has produced regionally-oriented mine awareness Superman/Wonder Woman comic books in local languages for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Central America, and Kosovo and stands ready to contribute its expertise in popular communications to new mine awareness campaigns as well as other humanitarian endeavors. To learn more, telephone MAIP at (202) 647-0562, send a fax to (202) 647-2465, or email [email protected].

-- The Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) is conducting landmine surveys in a dozen countries through its Mine Action Program (MAP), funded in part by the U.S. Department of State's Office of Humanitarian Demining Programs. Surveys have been completed in Yemen, Kosovo, Chad, Thailand, and Mozambique. New landmine surveys and landmine impact assessments are now being conducted by the VVAF MAP in Vietnam and Nicaragua. VVAF also assists mine accident survivors in Central America, Southeast Asia, and Africa and is working with renowned U.S. and Canadian singer/songwriters to increase mine awareness in North America and to raise additional funds for mine action. To discover more, click on www.vvaf.org, telephone (202) 483- 9222, or fax (202) 483-9312.

-- The United Nations Foundation (UNF), created in 1998 to implement Ted Turner's $1 billion gift in support of UN causes, is working with the UN and the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation to carry out "Level One Impact" surveys of minefields, and matching funds raised by the UNA-USA's Adopt-A-Minefield program. To obtain regular updates and background information on the global landmine crisis as well as other global concerns, visit "UN Wire," the UNF's free, daily online news service, at www.unfoundation.org.

-- James Madison University's Mine Action Information Center (MAIC) in Harrisonburg, Virginia serves as an information "switchboard" directing and coordinating the collection, analysis, processing, and dissemination of landmine information. Among its many mine action responsibilities, the MAIC offers its interns to help staff specific mine- related projects in foreign countries. It also produces the respected "The Journal of Mine Action," available at no cost in hard copy or online at www.hdic.jmu.edu. To learn more, email [email protected], telephone (540) 568-2718, or fax (540) 568-8176.

-- The Landmine Survivors Network (LSN) is assisting some of the world's 300,000 landmine accident survivors with peer counseling, prosthetics and vocational training. LSN, founded by American landmine survivors, aims to not only help civilian landmine victims, but to prevent new ones from joining their ranks. To learn more, visit www.landminesurvivors.org, email [email protected], telephone (202) 464-0007, or fax (202) 464-0011.

-- The Humpty Dumpty Institute (HDI) is establishing new public-private partnerships to pursue practical solutions to longstanding global problems. Generating awareness in the private sector about the world's landmine crisis is among the Institute's top priorities. In 1998, HDI took prominent Americans on a fact-finding tour of African mine-affected countries, generating partnerships and initiatives in mine action that continue to the present. A similar fact-finding tour of mine-affected countries in the Middle East is being planned. HDI also raised over $125,000 in support of the Marshall Legacy Institute's demining dog program, resulting in the deployment of valuable mine detection dogs to Lebanon. To learn more, email [email protected], telephone (212) 944-7111, or fax (212) 398-0304.

-- Roots of Peace, through its association with California vintners, apparel manufacturers, high-tech firms, and the U.S. Department of State's Office of Mine Action Initiatives and Partnerships and Office of Humanitarian Demining Programs, is raising funds for mine action and public awareness of the global landmine problem. Roots of Peace has adopted a minefield in Croatia, equipped humanitarian deminers in Croatia with durable cold-weather outerwear, and conducted publicity campaigns in Washington, D.C. and the San Francisco Bay Area during the winter of 2000/2001 using backlit transit shelter ads to educate residents in those cities about the landmine crisis and raise funds for humanitarian demining in the Balkans. Roots of Peace was the official designated charity of the Spring 2001 "Anniversary of Paris Tasting," a major event hosted by the California wine industry, raising more public awareness and funding for humanitarian demining as a result. To help plant more seeds of peace, email [email protected], telephone (415) 455-8884, fax (415) 258-9300, or visit www.rootsofpeace.org.

-- The Marshall Legacy Institute manages the K-9 Demining Corps Campaign, a nationwide effort to purchase, train and deploy mine-detecting dogs around the world for humanitarian demining purposes. In cooperation with the Humpty Dumpty Institute and the U.S. Department of State's Office of Humanitarian Demining Programs, it sent highly-trained mine detection dogs to Lebanon in the winter of 2000/2001 to speed the pace at which the Lebanese can safely and effectively demine their country. To discover more, visit www.marshall-legacy.org, telephone (703) 836- 4747, or fax (703) 836-4677.

-- The Center for Teaching International Relations (CTIR) at the University of Denver in Colorado has developed a U.S. standards-based curriculum to make young people aware of the global landmine problem and increase their understanding of geography and international issues. Available to teachers at no cost, these curriculum modules -- recently revised -- are designed for upper elementary, middle and high school students. To learn more, telephone Dr. Mark Montgomery, Ph.D., Director of CTIR at (303) 871- 3106, fax (303) 871-2456, email [email protected] or visit http://www.du.edu/ctir/.

-- Landmine Studies is a new program headed by Dr. Ken Rutherford, a landmine survivor and co-founder of the Landmine Survivors Network, within the Department of Political Science at Southwest Missouri State University (SMSU) in Springfield, Missouri. Launched in 2000, Landmine Studies provides comprehensive hands-on, practical, and academic training for students interested in mine action and policy. SMSU students involved in Landmine Studies work extensively on the landmine issue to generate public awareness and to encourage involvement among their peers. Some students intern with mine action organizations and arrange for guest speakers to address landmine matters on campus. Landmine Studies has also developed a productive working relationship between its students and the U.S. Army's Humanitarian Demining Training Center at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. To learn more, visit http://www.smsu.edu/polsci/landmines/, email [email protected], telephone (417) 836-6428, or fax (417) 836-6655.

-- The HALO Trust, an American and British "not for profit" charity based in Scotland, specializes in the removal of landmines and unexploded ordnance from post-conflict zones. Since it began humanitarian demining in Afghanistan in 1988, it has destroyed 670,000 explosive items. HALO is currently conducting humanitarian demining in Afghanistan, Abkhazia (Georgia), Angola, Cambodia, Eritrea, Kosovo, Nagorno-Karabakh and Somaliland. HALO has also conducted surveys and limited clearance in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Chechnya (now suspended), Ethiopia, Laos, Sudan and Vietnam. Its operations have already saved lives and enabled other agencies to safely render aid. To learn more, contact Mr. Paul Heslop, Vice President, at (212) 581-0099 or via cell at (917) 498-2242; fax (212) 581-2030; email [email protected] or visit www.halousa.org.

-- The National Committee on American Foreign Policy and Huntington Associates are playing a lead role in educating civic leaders and the general public - in the U.S. and abroad - about landmines, a major source of today's humanitarian problem, and the progress that is being made in clearing them. Their policy paper, "Landmines and U.S. Leadership: A View from the field," is being widely circulated among policy makers on four continents. They have recently launched a comprehensive, global CD-ROM, "Landmines: Clearing the Way." The CD-ROM is an interactive, engaging, educational tool which is credible because it is based on extensive field research in which those affected by mines speak for themselves. To learn more, email [email protected] or [email protected] or see http://www.ncafp.org .

-- Clear Path International, based in Bainbridge Island, Washington, is a professional, non-profit organization specializing in removing life-threatening landmines and unexploded ordnance that inhibit safety, cultivation, and economic growth, and in helping young accident survivors in war-torn communities throughout Southeast Asia. With its technical partner, UXB International of Ashburn, Virginia, Clear Path International is conducting a major project to clear unexploded ordnance near the former Dong Ha combat base in Vietnam. It is the largest effort of its kind by an American organization in Vietnam since the end of the conflict in 1975. Clear Path International also sponsors programs throughout Vietnam's Quang Tri Province that provide emergency medical care, hospitalization, surgery, scholarships, and therapy for children injured by explosions. Clear Path International hopes to begin a similar effort in Cambodia. To learn more or lend a helping hand, call (206) 780-5694, email [email protected], or visit www.clearpathinternational.org.

-- Operation LMS -- Land Mine Survivors -- is a partnership of the Rotary Club of Chicago, Rotary District 6450, and the Center for International Rehabilitation, dedicated to improving the quality of care and life for mine victims in developing nations. To learn more, telephone (312) 372-3900.

-- Save the Children knows that children in mine-affected countries are particularly vulnerable to injury or death from landmines given their natural curiosity and spirit of adventure. Save the Children is incorporating mine awareness, mine education, and mine clearance in a number of war-affected countries where it provides relief and assistance to children and their families. To learn more, telephone (202) 293-4170, fax (202) 293-4167, or visit www.savethechildren.org/landmines.

-- The Center for International Rehabilitation, with support from the U.S. Department of Education's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation, is designing low cost artificial limbs and education programs for healthcare workers in mine-affected countries. Through its Physicians Against Land Mines (PALM) program, CIR promotes mine awareness and attention to the needs of mine survivors in low-income countries. For more information, email [email protected], telephone (312) 926-0030, fax (312) 926-7662, or visit www.cirnetwork.org.

-- The Massachusetts-based Polus Center for Social and Economic Development is a non-profit human service organization that has been serving people with disabilities since 1979, both within and outside of the United States. The Polus Center is working in Nicaragua to coordinate efforts to address the long-term needs of the disabled, particularly those who have lost limbs due to acts of war and landmines. Walking Unidos, the Prosthetic Outreach clinic in Leon, Nicaragua, is the centerpiece of the Polus Center's collaboration with the Nicaraguan public and private sector. To learn more, email [email protected], or telephone (508) 752-3271.

-- Grapes for Humanity, a non-governmental organization based in Toronto, Canada, raises funds and awareness to address humanitarian problems, including war victims and landmine survivors, particularly those who are children. Grapes for Humanity is currently raising funds for the Walking Unidos prosthetics outreach program in Choluteca, Honduras, the Kien Khleang National Rehabilitation Center in Cambodia, and the Preah Viehear Income Generation Project in Cambodia. To learn more, visit www.grapesforhumanity.com, email [email protected], telephone (416) 922-2237, or fax (416) 925-5676.

-- Global Care Unlimited is a non-profit charity formed by the humanitarian impulses of a group of students at Tenafly Middle School in Tenafly, New Jersey. Their goals: to heighten public awareness about the global landmine threat, raise funds to clear a minefield near the Ale Husidic School in Tenafly's sister village of Podzvizd in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and encourage other schools in the U.S. to become involved in mine action. To learn more, email [email protected], or telephone (201) 362-9935.

-- PeaceTrees Vietnam, the 19th international PeaceTrees program of the Earthstewards Network, was founded in 1995 as a grassroots effort to bring healing, peace and reconciliation to the people of Quang Tri Province, one of the most war-torn provinces of Vietnam. PeaceTrees Vietnam's vision of "working alongside the Vietnamese people to reverse the legacy of war" includes: sponsorship of clearing landmines and unexploded ordnance; promoting landmine awareness and accident prevention programs for children through the Danaan Parry Landmine Education Center; engaging in citizen diplomacy/tree-planting programs for environmental restoration and friendship building for American and international volunteers; offering victim assistance in the form of emergency medical treatment, long-term medical or health care, nutritional support, household economic support, and scholarships to landmine survivors and their families; and sponsoring economic and social development, community restoration and relocation projects through the PeaceTrees Friendship Village. To learn more, telephone (206) 842-7986, fax (206) 842-8918, or visit www.peacetreesvietnam.org.

-- The Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia offers the Ph.D. and Master of Science degrees in Conflict Analysis and Resolution. Major research interests include the analysis of deep-rooted conflicts and their resolution; the exploration of conditions attracting parties to negotiate; and the role of third parties in dispute resolution. ICAR recognizes that the infestation of landmines in many countries creates obstacles to the restoration of amity and peace. To learn more about ICAR, telephone (703) 993-1300, fax (703) 993-1302, email [email protected], or visit www.gmu.edu/departments/ICAR.

-- The Wheelchair Foundation is a non-profit organization leading an international effort to deliver a wheelchair to everyone in the world who needs one. Established in 2000 with a grant from the Kenneth E. Behring Foundation, The Wheelchair Foundation believes that mobility is the most basic human right. Accordingly, over the next five years the Foundation aims to distribute 1 million wheelchairs to people who cannot afford one, including victims of landmines (one of the leading causes of disabilities). To learn more about The Wheelchair Foundation, telephone (925) 736-1571 (if in the U.S. call toll free at 1-(877)-378- 3839, fax (925) 736-1571, email [email protected], or visit www.wheelchairfoundation.org.

-- The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in conjunction with the U.S. Government's USAID Leahy War Victims Fund, and the Governments of Canada and Mexico has launched the Tripartite Initiative to Support Landmine Survivors in Central America. This Initiative is assessing the magnitude of landmine related injuries and rehabilitation services in El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua and developing and strengthening appropriate training and rehabilitation programs. To learn more about PAHO's Tripartite Initiative, contact:
Dr. Armando J. Vasquez at [email protected] ; Maria Teresa Gago at [email protected], telephone (202) 974-3288; Dr. William Boyce at [email protected]; telephone (Canada) 613 533-498.

-- Since 1991, the Organization of American States (OAS), a regional political forum for dialogue and cooperative action in the Americas, has pursued the goal of a mine-safe hemisphere through its Comprehensive Action against Antipersonnel Mines (AICMA) program. The AICMA program coordinates international financial and technical assistance to mine-affected OAS member states in the fields of humanitarian demining, mine awareness and preventive education, victim assistance, stockpile destruction and advocacy for the Ottawa Convention. Currently, AICMA supports national mine action programs in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru. For additional information, visit www.upd.oas.org, email [email protected], telephone (202) 458-3962, or fax (202) 458-3545.

"The engagement of private citizens, civic groups, corporations, foundations, educational institutions and other organizations in partnership with the U.S. Government has been one of the most exciting recent developments in mine action." U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell July 2001

For more information about public-private private partnerships to support humanitarian demining, contact:

Jim Lawrence, Director, Office of Mine Action Initiatives and Partnerships. U.S. Department of State, PM/MAIP - Suite 1826, Washington, D.C. 20520. U.S.A. Telephone: (202) 647-0623. Fax: (202) 647-2465. Email: [email protected].

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

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