Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 481 - 510 of 584

Full-Text Articles in Emergency and Disaster Management

Azerbaijan, Country Profile Feb 2000

Azerbaijan, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Azerbaijan declared independence from Russia in 1918, but was incorporated in the Soviet Union in 1920. It again declared independence in August 1991, following the collapse of the USSR. The conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region is still unresolved after 10 years and Baku has yet to settle disputes with its neighbors over oil rights in the Caspian Sea. During 1988-1994, Karabakh Armenians declared independence and seized almost 20 percent of the country's territory, creating an estimated 750,000 Azerbaijani refugees. As a result of the war, western Azerbaijan is plagued with land mines. Both sides have generally …


Belarus, Country Profile Feb 2000

Belarus, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Gomel, Minsk, the capital, and the most heavily mined area, Vitebsk. Many of the officials in Belarus are trying to educate the people and show them the proper way to handle a mine if encountered and more importantly, what not to do. Two non-governmental organizations, the Belarus Support Center for Associations and Foundations (SCAF), and the Belarus Campaign to Ban Land mines (BCBL), are working with the Belarussian government to help promote safety and build solid support centers for the victims of land mines. SCAF, established in 1996, strives to develop the culture and society of Belarus by supporting other …


Georgia, Country Profile Feb 2000

Georgia, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Following the April 9, 1991, independence from the former Soviet Union, Georgia was beset by ethnic and civil strife. The continuing argument over the political status of Abkhazia resulted in war. In September 1993, Georgian forces withdrew from the Abkhazia region. Although Georgia stabilized, South Ossetia and Abkhazia remain elusive. The conflict in South Ossetia has been dormant since spring 1994, but sporadic violence continues between Abkhaz forces and Georgian partisans in western Georgia. Of their estimated population of 5,000,000, Georgia still has about 250,000 internally displaced people as a result of these conflicts. After adopting a new constitution in …


Moldova, Country Profile Feb 2000

Moldova, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Moldova is split into two main regions, Bessarabia and Transnistria. Bessarabia is in the eastern part of historic Moldova and is mostly Romanian while Transnistria is the land on the eastern bank of the Nistru River and is mostly Slavic (Ukrainians and Russians). After the Russo-Turkish War in 1806-12, Bessarabia ceded to Russia. Finally on Aug. 27, 1991, Moldova declared its independence from the USSR and was recognized by the United States in December of that same year as they opened an embassy in its capital in 1992. A new constitution was adopted on July 28, 1994, which forever replaced …


Ukraine, Country Profile Feb 2000

Ukraine, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Ukraine has been struggling for its independence from several countries that have tried to consume it and minimize its boundaries. The Bolshevik Revolution prompted the Russian Ukrainians to establish a new republic in 1917 while the Austrian Ukraine waited until a year later to establish their connection with the Russian Ukraine. Ukraine was excluded from much of the decision making during the closing of World War I and Poland was given the land they wished for, Galicia, in 1919. This single act sparked war once again. The war continued as the country itself was thrown into internal turmoil and change …


The Journal Of Mine Action Issue 4.1 (2000), Cisr Journal Feb 2000

The Journal Of Mine Action Issue 4.1 (2000), Cisr Journal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Landmines in Europe and the Caucasus


The U.S. Humanitarian Demining Program In The Balkans, Matt Murphy Feb 2000

The U.S. Humanitarian Demining Program In The Balkans, Matt Murphy

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

As a result of years of conflict in the Balkans, countless landmines have been laid in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo. Bosnia-Herzegovina's landmine problem is severe, with an estimated 750,000 landmines and an undetermined quantity of unexploded ordnance infesting some 186 square miles of land. These hidden killers have killed and maimed hundreds, vastly impeded the return of refugees to their homes, and hindered international efforts to help people in the region.


The Munitions Challenge In Albania, Steve Brown Feb 2000

The Munitions Challenge In Albania, Steve Brown

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Political controversy, economic chaos and increasing criminality have faced Albania since its democratic revolution in late 1990. Anti-government demonstrations erupted into violence, which took the form of attacks against state facilities including public offices, schools, factories and military depots. Of particular concern were the attacks against ammunition and weapons storage areas. Over 600,000 weapons and several thousand tons of ammunition and explosives were looted and some 16 ammunition storage areas, known as Hot Spots, were set ablaze resulting in massive unexploded ordnance contamination of the sites and surrounding areas.


Bosnia And Herzegovina, Country Profile Feb 2000

Bosnia And Herzegovina, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

After Marshal Tito's death in 1980 and the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) divided into five different countries: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) and the Republic of Macedonia. After having declared its independence from SFRY in March 1992, BiH fought in a war that lasted over three-and-a-half years. This war destroyed families, communities and infrastructure and left the country littered with landmines and unexploded ordnance. After the Dayton agreement was signed on Dec. 14, 1995, the war officially ended and the country was …


Quality Assurance: Evaluation And Certification Of Humanitarian Demining Detection Equipment, Vjera Krstelj, Josip Stepanic Jr., Irena Leljak Feb 2000

Quality Assurance: Evaluation And Certification Of Humanitarian Demining Detection Equipment, Vjera Krstelj, Josip Stepanic Jr., Irena Leljak

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

An extensive number of humanitarian demining detection equipment (HDDE) in the development phase requires a well-established set of testing facilities. A combination of enthusiastic and scientific testing exists throughout the majority of these facilities. During the last several years, the process of humanitarian demining (HD) in Croatia has begun under the intense effort of the Croatian Mine Action Center and other institutions. The success in starting and performing the clearance of various mine-affected regions was a combination of mechanical demining and a systematic approach. Mechanical demining has given good results on the agricultural terrain and in the fields of homogeneous …


Kosovo, Country Profile Feb 2000

Kosovo, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Serbia and Montenegro are the only two remaining Yugoslavian republics. The federation began to dissolve in June 1991, when Croatia and Slovenia declared independence. The Republic of Serbia has two autonomous provinces, Kosovo and Vojvodina, which are administratively a part of Serbia. Most of the population in Kosovo is Albanian.


Road Trip With A Minecat, Stephanie Schlosser Feb 2000

Road Trip With A Minecat, Stephanie Schlosser

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

In The Journal of Mine Action 3.2, we spotlighted the Compact 230-Minecat, a multi-role platform suitable for both military and humanitarian applications whose primary role is to be a mine-clearance vehicle. Since that article in the summer of 1999, the Minecat has had a proper education, going through a series of tests in various landscapes and in front of rough judges. Landmine clearing is serious business and before a new piece of equipment can be put on the world market, it has to prove itself in rigorous settings. After all, the real customers in the demining marker are those people …


The Legacy Of War In Chechnya, Kimberly P. Hill Feb 2000

The Legacy Of War In Chechnya, Kimberly P. Hill

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Hundreds of lives are destroyed daily; most of which are left unrecorded and unacknowledged. The struggles and suffering of a few bears witness to the atrocities of many forgotten casualties and even survivors of all ages. The epidemic of landmines continues to devour many lives in its path, bur it is the aid of others and the written words of some that convey the true horror of their reality.


The Actuator: Demining Innovations, Lee Felsenstein, Steven E. Saunders Feb 2000

The Actuator: Demining Innovations, Lee Felsenstein, Steven E. Saunders

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

This approach to humanitarian demining differs from generally accepted methodology. It has not yet been tried, and the purpose of this article is to ensure that the general concept is placed in the public domain, where it may be debated and modified without considerations of intellectual property. Interval Research Corporation, where this idea originated, is not in the business of mine clearance, or of manufacturing mine clearance systems, so the idea is being passed along to the community best capable of analyzing it.


The Ambitious Challenge Of Adopting A Mine Field, Larry Levine Feb 2000

The Ambitious Challenge Of Adopting A Mine Field, Larry Levine

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Dropci is a tiny, devastated, and currently empty community of family farmers in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, near the border with Croatia. Its people are still refugees from the war, as the land is strewn with landmines, booby traps and unexploded ordnance. Monterey County, Calif., is known as the "Salad Bowl of the World" for its agricultural abundance, the "Golfing Capital of the World," and the site of the spectacular Big Sur coastline. Dropci and Monterey County are worlds apart. What is the cord that binds these two communities? The Adopt-A-Minefield Campaign, a program coordinated by the United Nations Association …


Journal Of Mine Action, Issue 3.3 (1999), Cisr Journal Oct 1999

Journal Of Mine Action, Issue 3.3 (1999), Cisr Journal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Victim & Survivor Assistance | Notes from the Field | Organization Profiles


The Impact Of Landmines Yesterday And Today, A. G. Marangione Oct 1999

The Impact Of Landmines Yesterday And Today, A. G. Marangione

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

On April 20, 1945, at about 5 a.m., still dark, I and two of my companions from Troop A 16th Cavalry, were on a reconnaissance patrol on the outskirts of Dusseldorf, Germany. I was in the passenger seat of a jeep. I had a driver and one man in the rear manning a .30-caliber machine gun. His name was Clarence Brown, but because he was a huge fellow we affectionately called him "Bear." We had been together since our Cavalry-Squadron was formed in 1942 in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. On April 20 we were part of a very proud and successful …


Vietnam Veterans Of America Foundation, Cisr Journal Oct 1999

Vietnam Veterans Of America Foundation, Cisr Journal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

"Most international humanitarian aid organizations pride themselves on remaining above the fray; non-partisan, objective and silent on issues affecting the people for whom they provide vital assistance. We don't," said Bobby Muller, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF).


A Promise To Our Children, Charles E. Maccormack Oct 1999

A Promise To Our Children, Charles E. Maccormack

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

On May 22, 1999, President Clinton announced a decision on anti-personnel landmines that commits the United States to sign the Ottawa Treaty by the year 2006. With this initiative, Clinton cleared the way for the United States to join the more than 120 nations that already have signed the treaty, which is an international agreement that bans the stockpiling, use, and import and export of anti-personnel landmines. This is welcome news for the children, families and communities whose daily lives are affected by the scourge of landmines.


Patrick J. Leahy War Victims Fund, Cisr Journal Oct 1999

Patrick J. Leahy War Victims Fund, Cisr Journal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

In 1989, Sen. Patrick Leahy started a fund to get medical aid to victims of landmines. There are an estimated 100 million unexploded land mines in over 60 countries, where they kill or maim an estimated 26,000 people each year. Vast areas of countries like Cambodia, Bosnia and Angola have become death traps.


War Child, Cisr Journal Oct 1999

War Child, Cisr Journal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Heavily mined areas take the highest toll on the poor civilian populations that surround post-conflict areas.


Sustainability Of Prosthetic And Orthotic Programs, Mike Boddington Oct 1999

Sustainability Of Prosthetic And Orthotic Programs, Mike Boddington

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

This paper examines the overall incidence of disability, and specifically of motor-disability, in low-income countries of the world. It observes the attitude of society roward those suffering from disabilities, and argues that there is a need for long term support for services to the motor-disabled by the international community. In order ro generate this support, low-income countries must develop highly efficient services that minimize the call on international resources. Such services are likely to be outside government. They will be within private nonprofit organizations: ring fenced, transparent, and capable of regular audit.


Prosthetics Outreach Foundation, Cisr Journal Oct 1999

Prosthetics Outreach Foundation, Cisr Journal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Prosthetics Outreach Foundation (POF) is a non profit medical service organization that provides urgently needed high quality prostheses (artificial limbs) to amputees in developing countries and in the United States. Since 1988, the staff and volunteers have fitted over 10,000 children and adults with new prostheses, enabling each amputee to walk again with dignity. POF helps communities to meet the needs of their own amputees by establishing clinics to create and fit artificial limbs and workshops to manufacture prosthetic components with local materials.


Landmine Survivors Network, Cisr Journal Oct 1999

Landmine Survivors Network, Cisr Journal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Landmine Survivors Network (LSN) works to help mine victims and their families recover through an integrated program of peer counseling, sports, and social and economic re-integration into their communities. In countries in the developing world where landmines are prevalent, survivors lose more than a leg or arm; they often lose their place as a valued and respected member of their society. LSN works with survivors and their families to support their efforts to retake their place and become productive members of their communities. for example, landmine survivors play a crucial role in landmine education, particularly for children within communities at …


Gathering In Geneva, Dennis Barlow Oct 1999

Gathering In Geneva, Dennis Barlow

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

From September 15- 17, 1999, victim assistance experts met in Geneva to provide input to the Standing Committee of Experts on Victim Assistance (VA), Socioeconomic Reintegration and Mine Awareness; one of several committees called into being as a result of meetings in Maputo dealing with mine action aspects of the Ottawa Treaty. T he foll owing observations are made in the context of that meeting, which was hosted by the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining.


Icbl Working Group On Victim Assistance, Jerry White Oct 1999

Icbl Working Group On Victim Assistance, Jerry White

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Landmine Survivors Network (LSN) currently chairs the ICBL Working Group on Victim Assistance. It is in this capacity, working together with over 20 humanitarian and development non-governmental organizations (NGOs), my ICBL colleagues and I welcome this opportunity to discuss Article 6 which covers States Parties responsibility to provide "care and rehabilitation, and social and economic reintegration of mine victims."


International Committee Of The Red Cross, Cisr Journal Oct 1999

International Committee Of The Red Cross, Cisr Journal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an impartial, neutral and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of war and internal violence and to provide them with assistance. It directs and coordinates the international relief activities in situations of conflict. It also endeavors to prevent suffering by promoting and strengthening humanitarian law and universal humanitarian principles. Established in 1863 on the principles of Henry Dunant and the meeting of the Geneva Conventions, the ICRC has also originated the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and plays a significant …


Save The Children, Cisr Journal Oct 1999

Save The Children, Cisr Journal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Save the Children's unique self-help approach to relief, recovery, and ongoing development has nurtured the seeds of hope for millions of people. Save the Children of the United States is a nonprofit, nonpolitical, nonsectarian organization working in more than 35 nations around the globe. More than 60 years of experience working hand-in-hand, shoulder-to-shoulder with families and communities at home and abroad has taught us that poverty need not be a life sentence.


Unicef, Cisr Journal Oct 1999

Unicef, Cisr Journal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Founded in 1946, UNICEF advocates and works for the protection of children's rights, to help the young meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. The UNICEF Executive Board reaffirmed this mandate in January 1996, when it adopted a statement on the mission of UNICEF saying that UNICEF "is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children's rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behavior towards children."


Handicap International, Sylvie Brigot Oct 1999

Handicap International, Sylvie Brigot

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

No abstract provided.