Peace and Conflict Studies Commons^™

Blast Testing Of Visors Used For Humanitarian Demining, Charlene Fawcett

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

This article discusses experimental results from blast testing of Security Devices Ltd. polycarbonate visors used by humanitarian deminers. Visors used in the blast testing fell into one of three categories: new visors, manually scratched visors, and scratched and heat-gun-repaired visors. Results show that the visors in all three categories failed to meet the draft international standard for blast testing relevant at the time, that further research is required to establish pressure profiles for the standard charge size being tested, and that the proposed heat- treatment method does appear to degrade the blast resistance of the visor used in the test.

Change Is The Only Constant, Zlatko Gegic

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Because of the nature of mine-action organizations and programs, they are often placed in post-conflict areas where humanitarian work faces several obstacles. It is important to consider possible setbacks before embarking on demining in a post-conflict country.

A Broader Canvas: Jordan’S Erw Training Course, Mohammad Briekat, Olaf Juergensen

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Jordan is embracing the role of international humanitarian ambassador, particularly in the field of mine action. Jordan’s National Committee for Demining and Rehabilitation has hosted several events for mine-affected countries and has recently completed its first explosive-remnants-of-war training course.The Kingdom of Jordan has a long record of participating in international humanitarian crisis-prevention and peacekeeping efforts. On a per-capita basis, Jordan is one of the largest contributors to U.N. peacekeeping missions—with an emphasis on providing field hospitals and support for mine action. Jordan regularly dispatches relief supplies and heavy equipment when natural disasters strike around the world.

The Halo Trust, Cisr Journal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The HALO Trust has actively been working to reduce existing landmines across the globe. Guy Willoughby, the founder of HALO, has focused on creating fast responses to landmine problems. With help from increased donations, HALO will be able to make more countries mine-impact free within the coming years using a variety of techniques.

In Remembrance: Femisberto Novele, Cisr Journal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Femisberto Novele, a member of Mine Action Centre in Cyprus, was killed by an anti-tank explosion on 28 October 2009. Novele, 48, was working in Yeri, only 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) southeast of Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus. A native of Mozambique, Novele is the first death MACC has suffered during its five years of working on the island, although nine people, including civilians and deminers, were injured in 2008.

The Rapid Response To Operation Cast Lead, Elena Rice

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

When the United Nations Mine Action Service was asked to assess the need for a mine-action presence in the Gaza Strip following Operation Cast Lead, a 23-day conflict involving the Israeli Defence Forces and Palestinian militias in 2008, it was thrust into one of the world’s most complicated humanitarian operating environments. This article provides a background for the mine-action program in Gaza, summarizing the key challenges and lessons learned during the first four months of operations in this complex environment.

Insight Into Gis Usage In Dangerous Area Survey, Penelope Caswell

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Western Sahara’s 16-year conflict with Morocco caused widespread contamination from landmines and other explosive remnants of war. Landmine Action is a U.K.-based nonprofit organization that has conducted survey, marking and clearance activities in Polisario-controlled areas of Western Sahara since 2006. Its main goals are to make these areas safer for the people of Western Sahara, to reduce risks and land denial caused by contamination, and to successfully carry out humanitarian demining.

Masg Update, Cisr Journal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The following article highlights the recent activities of the Mine Action Support Group, including updates on the United Nations Mine Action Service, the United Nations Development Programme and UNICEF. It is excerpted from the United Nations’ newsletter covering the period from March to May 2009.

Sri Lanka: Mine Action In A Deteriorating Environment, Chris Rush

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

A major mine-action program has been underway in Sri Lanka since 2002, when a cease-fire agreement between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was signed. However, after a seemingly inexorable escalation in violence between the LTTE and the government forces, open warfare resumed, and in May 2009, the government announced that it had achieved military victory over the LTTE. This article traces the various ways that the increase in conflict affected mine-action activities in Sri Lanka.

Ddasaccident596, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The clearance operation on mentioned task was started by [Demining group] DT-12 on 1st of November 09. On 10th of November 09 at 07:40, while the second break period started, the team leader of the team asked a deminer for his scraper and then walked down to a clearance lane without informing any other team members of his intention. On 07:42 Team leader initiated a POMZ mine causing him to receive the injuries that led to his death. He ignored his job description and the [Demining group] SOPs. He may have been thinking that this POMZ is of no danger, …

Ddasaccident620, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

On 5th Nov 2009 at 08:45 am deminer [Victim No.1] was working in his clearance lane: he was removing excavated soil from the target spot that suddenly his excavation tool touched a mine and caused it to go off. As a result of the accident, the deminer got severe injuries to his face, eyes and left hand (lost his one eye).

Community Based Divorce Education Programmes: Short-Term And Longer-Term Impacts, Sherrill Hayes, Lori Pelletier

Faculty Articles

Surveys of mandatory parent education in the USA (M J Geasler and K R Blaisure, ‘A review of divorce education programme materials’ (1998) 47 Family Relations 167–175; M J Geasler and K R Blaisure, ‘1998 Nationwide survey of court-connected divorce education programmes’ (1999) 37 Family and Conciliation Courts Review 36–63; S L Pollet and M Lombreglia, ‘A nationwide survey of mandatory parent education’ (2008) 46(2) Family Court Review 375–394) have demonstrated the positive impact of well-designed, evidence-based programmes on children and families. Divorce education programmes for parents are now required in many jurisdictions in 46 states in the USA (Pollet …

A Guide To The International Mine Action Standards 2010, Gichd

Global CWD Repository

IMAS are standards issued by the United Nations to guide the planning, implementation and management of mine action programmes. They are a framework for the development of national mine action standards. This handbook contains all IMAS in brief, explains the purpose of the IMAS and the requirements of the different standards in a clear way, serving as a quick reference for mine action practitioners to understand core IMAS issues.

November Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

Healing the Past, Protecting the Future. By Alejandro Toledo. Americas Quarterly. July 13, 2009.

The Hidden Costs Of Terror, Cath Collins

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In this month’s featured article, former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006) gives a thoughtful and insightful account of how post-atrocity accounting and reconstruction feels ‘from the top’. What can an incoming head of state possibly do or say that will redress and repair the social and human costs of decades of violence? What about the centuries of injustice and inequality that fueled the flames? In fact Toledo did perhaps as much as he could, and more than many thought he would be able to, in recognising and beginning to address the ethnic, class, and institutional faultlines that tore Peru apart …

Coalition For Prisoners' Rights Newsletter, Vol 34-A, No. 11, Coalition For Prisoners' Rights

Coalition for Prisoners' Rights Newsletters

On The Cheap: How to Measure Success

Crime of the Month

Concierto en Cuba

Voices From Inside

Linking Mine Action And Development | States Affected By Mines/Erw, Gichd

Global CWD Repository

Mine action programmes often are not linked early and strongly enough with key development actors. Despite the availability of extensive research documenting the need for greater coordination between mine action and development organisations, concrete guidance for practitioners and policy-makers on how to link mine action with development has been lacking. In response, the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Development has published guidelines on how to ensure mine action promotes development in mine-affected countries. More specifically, the guidelines seek to:

• Increase awareness that landmines and other remnants of conflict block development in many affected countries

• Strengthen coordination between mine action and …

Ddasaccident601, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

On 1st Nov 2009, at 02:45 pm during the rest time, [the Victim] a deminer of mentioned team found an unknown item and tried to touch it. According to the investigation report, the item was a rifle Grenade of 40mm which was exploded as a result of irresponsible action of the victim deminer. As it was the break time of the team and the deminer was without visor and PPE, therefore, he lost his right hand, left eye and sustained jaw and leg fracture.

The Peruvian Precedent, Katherine Hite

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In the early days of September 2009, former Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) president Salomón Lerner received a series of sick anonymous messages: “We will do to you what we did to your dogs.” Lerner’s two pet dogs had been fatally poisoned. The poisoning and the death threats against Lerner joined other vicious retaliations, including continuous attacks on another powerful human rights symbol, Lika Mutal’s “The Eye that Cries,” a sculpture in Lima that mourns the tens of thousands of Peruvian victims of internal armed conflict. In a twisted way, the poisoning, death threats, and attacks show that Peruvian …

From Atrocities To Security: A Parable From Peru, Stephen James

Human Rights & Human Welfare

I have no expertise on the domestic politics of Peru, but I know that its often violent past shares much with its Latin American neighbours. Though not a practice confined to this region, I also know that events in the region have made notorious the chilling euphemism “disappearances.”

The Limits Of Executive Action For Human Rights, Henry Krisch

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Between 2001 and 2006 Alejandro Toledo served as President of Peru. He entered office committed to, in his words, “restoring the democratic institutions that had suffered from a steady deterioration during the previous decade,” (that is, during the rule of former President Alberto Fujimori). Moreover, he took up the task of providing Peruvian society with “a full accounting of the atrocities that had occurred in previous decades.” This personal commitment to re-establishing a functioning democracy based on the rule of law, a commitment based in part on his participation in the anti-Fujimori demonstrations, lead him to seek an honest accounting …

Ddasaccident708, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The 39-year-old [the Victim], a MACC member from Mozambique, died after an anti-tank mine exploded at approximately 8am yesterday in a minefield near Yeri, some 10 kilometres south-east of Nicosia.

Ddasaccident646, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

On 11 Oct 2009 at 12:15 am while [the Victim] deminer was excavating a detected signal in his clearance lane, his bayonet hit top of an anti-personnel mine and caused it to go off. According to the investigation report, it seems that the deminer started the excavation drill directly from the centre of the detected signal by his bayonet and caused the mine to be exploded. The deminer had the PPE and visor but as the visor was not properly used so he got some superficial injuries on his face, eyes.

Ddasaccident641, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

On 10 Oct 2009 at 11:20 hrs when [the Victim] deminer was working in his clearance lane with a pickaxe that suddenly an explosion happened. As per investigation report the deminer was using pickaxe instead of bayonet because the ground surface was hard. He started to prepare a trench by pickaxe from second reading marker for further investigation of the signal, but there was a stone in close vicinity of pinpointed spot and the deminer wanted to remove it, so his pickaxe might touched the PMN mine or the stone put extra pressure on the mine and the explosion happened. …

A Human Rights-Oriented Approach To Military Operations, Federico Sperotto

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Counterinsurgency is the dominant aspect of US operations in Afghanistan, and since ISAF—the NATO-led security and assistance force—has assumed growing security responsibility throughout the country, it is also a mission for the Europeans.1 The frame in which military operations are conducted is irregular warfare, a form of conflict which differs from conventional operations in two main aspects. First, it is warfare among and within the people. Second, it is warfare in which insurgents avoid a direct military confrontation, using instead unconventional methods and terrorist tactics.

© Federico Sperotto. All rights reserved.

This paper may be freely circulated in electronic or …

Ddasaccident613, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

On 04 Oct 2009 at 08:35 hrs when [the Victim] deminer was working on a signal in his clearance lane using a pickaxe, he hit the mine on its top and caused it to go off. According to the investigation report the ground surface was hard and the deminer was using the pick without informing his section leader with a wrong procedure for excavation of the detected signal, and caused the mine to be exploded. As a result of the accident, the involve deminer got superficial injures on his face and body.

“We Didn’T Choose To Live In A Transition Society:” The Youth Of Milošević’S Serbia Ten Years Later, Jessica Tsunami Acosta

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The 1990’s were an extremely dark time in modern Serbian history, mired by wars, sanctions, dictatorship, and struggle. Those who came of age in that time find their entire lives to be defined by their country’s transition process. Because of this experience, these individuals are in a unique position to make connections between past conflicts and present challenges in Serbia. In particular, through understanding their narratives of this recent past and their perceptions of Serbia’s current progress in its transition phase, one can glean a better picture of this generation and what it holds for Serbia’s future. In allowing these …

Vietnamese Resistence Mentality, Michael Williams

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

By the time tanks of the North Vietnamese Army crashed through the gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon to reunify the country in 1975, the United States had spent almost two hundred billion dollars and lost over 58,000 soldiers in Vietnam. From the late 1940’s until the fall of Saigon, the United States had been fervently trying to prevent a communist takeover in Vietnam, spending billions to help France retain her Indochinese colonies, and subsequently billions in aid to the successive governments of the southern Republic of Vietnam. Yet despite the massive spending and military superiority, the United States, …

Moving On From The War: The Factors That Influence Contemporary Perceptions Of Former Enemies, Erin Martin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Over 30 years have passed since the end of the Vietnam War, yet the memory still lingers for some. Mention of the war in correlation to contemporary politics today in the United States seems to demonstrate that Americans have not effectively put the past behind them. Similarly, the prevalence of Vietnam War-related media, such as films, music, and literature, implies that the war is still remembered strongly in American society. Why, then, do the Vietnamese appear to have put the war behind them? Most Vietnamese seem to avoid discussing the war or its consequences, and appear to revel in these …

Playing Past The Troubles: Theatrical Expression In A Post-Conflict Society, Jayce Hafner

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This report is the result of a month-long study on theatrical expression in Northern Irish Communities. Data was obtained by way of qualitative methods using semi-informal interviews, observation, participant observation, and academic research. It is concluded that theatrical expression can contribute to building peace in Northern Ireland. Recommendations for potential future studies include comedic performance in a post-conflict society, and social development and the Belfast Community Circus.