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Coalition For Prisoners' Rights Newsletter, Vol 34-A, No. 10, Coalition For Prisoners' Rights

Coalition for Prisoners' Rights Newsletters

Blocking Horrific Conditions

Short Takes

Milles de Braceros Llegaron para Sostener La Economia de Los EE.UU. Durante 22 Años

Crime of the Month

Voices From Inside

Knowledge, Attitudes And Practices For Risk Education: How To Implement Kap Surveys, Hi

Global CWD Repository

The KAP is a representative survey conducted on a particular population to identify the knowledge (K), attitudes (A) and practices (P) of a population on a specific topic – landmines and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) in our case. In the majority of KAP studies, data are gathered orally by an interviewer who uses a structured, standardised questionnaire. These data can then be quantitatively or qualitatively analysed according to the objectives and the ins and outs of the survey. A KAP survey can be specially designed to collect information on the issue of, but it is also possible to include …

Know Your Enemy: Tibetan Perceptions Of And Approaches To Chinese Studies In Exile, Katherine Mechling

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Achieving peaceful dialogue between Chinese and Tibetans is the crux of the Tibetan community in exile’s strategy to regain its homeland. Yet despite the recognized importance of cross-cultural communication the Tibetans, ideologically unwilling to separate “China the Oppressor” from “China the Neighbor” or even, potentially, “China the Co-Collaborator,” have largely avoided studying their adversary. Although increased literacy in Chinese language, knowledge of Chinese history and understanding of Chinese culture would enable the Tibetans to engage with China more effectively and productively, few initiatives exist in exile that facilitate the spread of such information. Receiving only a basic overview of Chinese …

Marriage In Conflict: Formerly Abducted Women’S Struggles With Marriage Upon Return, Julie Bailey

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

With the end of the twenty-year war in Northern Uganda, the area has begun the long process of rehabilitating, rebuilding, and reintegrating. For women who have now returned from abduction and forced marriage, reintegration has proven difficult, specifically in regards to these women’s desires to marry upon return. The experiences of these formerly abducted women in the bush as well as the conflict-induced changes to traditional marriage often limits their ability to remarry and thus prevents them from fully regaining their place in Acholi society. Ultimately, this study sought to examine these difficulties by looking at the societal norms for …

Dwog Paco: Tackling The Challenges Of Reintegrating Ex-Lra In Kitgum District, Takako Mino

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Broad intentions

The people of northern Uganda face the complex challenge of reintegrating former members of the LRA rebel group back into their communities. One month of field research in Kitgum district was carried out to study the reintegration process of LRA returnees and the roles of various stakeholders such as government, NGOs, traditional leaders, community members, and the returnees themselves in facilitating the process. This paper also analyzes the impact of the Government of Uganda’s Amnesty Act on the return of formerly abducted people.

Methodology

The research entailed the collection of both quantitative and qualitative information from various stakeholders …

Ddasaccident701, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

While the deminer was working in recovering one of the SMLs in Al Akaider 2 laid with 15 AP mines (M14) and after recovering 9 mines from the same SML and locating a signal in the predicted site for the 10th mine, the signal was strong and continuous which confused the deminer and there is no way to pin point an M14 mine at that area, the deminer start excavating the area from a depth for 40 cm using the heavy RAKE , the soil at that area hard that the deminer was using the RAKE in a hacking motion …

Ddasaccident670, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

While the deminer was working in his lane by the end of the working day, he tried to move one AP (M35) mine partially covered in the ground against of the TL instructions using the light RAKE, the mine initiated 1.8 m away from the deminer and caused the wounds and the mentioned injures to the deminer that he wasn’t wearing the visor in the proper way

Ddasaccident657, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

On 14 September 2009, a deminer of CBDT-06 was busy in his clearance lane, he detected an unknown device and informed his respective section leader who had 18 year demining experience to check it. The section leader took the device with his left hand from the clearance lane, he started to remove the soil from it, but in this time it was exploded and caused injuries to his left hand fingers. Unprofessional dealing with unknown device caused this accident.

Ddasaccident628, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

Deminer was clearing the first 60 cm of one cluster heading toward the centre mine after he cleared the 1st 60 cm by one 1m width with no signals he moved his base stick a head to clear the next 60 cm, then he stepped on the area which considered to be cleared by the same deminer, accidently his foot went down due to the soil collapse under his foot (loose soil), the mine was in a depth of about 30 cm that when the deminer foot dived in the loosen soil he applied a pressure on the mine which …

Ddasaccident624, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The primary cause of this accident is listed as a Field Control inadequacy because the investigators found that there was poor supervision at the time of the accident. The secondary cause is listed as Other because there is not enough detail in the summary to determine what the deminer was doing, and what tool he was using.

From Armchair Reading To Action: Acknowledging Our Role In The Horror Of The Democratic Republic Of The Congo - And Doing Something About It., Shareen Hertel

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Reading Adam Hochschild's extraordinary account of ordinary people caught up in the horrific ravages of a civil war raging in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), I was struck by how incongruous my own encounter with this suffering is. I read his article over lunch, safe in the comfort of my own home. As a woman, I live largely without fear of the kind of brutal sexual violence that Hochschild opens his article with, as he related the story of a Congolese NGO worker who is herself a victim of multiple rapes.

If They Just Weren't So Rich!, Anja Mihr

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The deadliest war on earth-as it is called-in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will only end when the country's richness fades or is kept under surveillance. Human rights and peace might have a chance if Congo's lucrative diamond, gold or coltan mines were under shared control by non-profit agencies or international organizations with the intention to spread the mines' benefits and wealth among the Congolese people. Wishful thinking? Most likely it is, but what other alternative is there? The country's extraordinary wealth in natural resources is the main reason for the immense corruption, the extermination of entire villages, the …

Coalition For Prisoners' Rights Newsletter, Vol 34-A, No. 9, Coalition For Prisoners' Rights

Coalition for Prisoners' Rights Newsletters

The Normalization of Forever Time

Voices From Inside

Short Takes

National Mine Action Strategy Of The Republic Of Croatia, Gichd

Global CWD Repository

In the course of mine action in the Republic of Croatia so far, the most important and most represented activity has been conducting humanitarian demining operations. Since the very beginning of systematic pursuit of demining problem area, the basic issue has always been the question of defining suspected hazardous area. True development of demining capacities starts with the establishment of the Croatian Mine Action Centre and amendments to the Law on Demining by which the market model was introduced.

September Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

The Rape of the Congo. By Adam Hochschild. The New York Review of Books. August 13, 2009.

Natural Resources And Wealth Of The Democratic Republic Of Congo (Drc): Of Benefit To Whom?, Nicola Colbran

Human Rights & Human Welfare

When asked to discuss the humanitarian tragedy in the DRC, the question really is where to start? The article by Adam Hochschild discusses some of the most horrific events and experiences imaginable: widespread killings of unarmed civilians, rape, torture and looting, the recruitment of child soldiers, and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. The immediate human response is who is to blame, how did it happen and how can the world apparently do nothing?

Human Rights Law On Trial In The Drc, William Paul Simmons

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The ongoing tragedy in Eastern Congo contains so many tragic lessons that it should shake to their very foundations all comfortable ideologies about human rights and politics. The atrocities in the DRC should implicate all but have so far resulted in almost limitless impunity. Here, I briefly put human rights law on trial for its role in perpetuating this tragedy.

Ddasaccident702, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

On 28 July 2009 at 08:10 hrs when Ahmed de-miner was working on a signal in his clearance lane by using a pickaxe instead of bayonet, he hit the mine on its top and caused it to go off. According to the investigation report the ground surface was uneven, hard and impossible to work in sitting position, so he has started to investigate the signal in standing position. This was the main reason of initiating mine and accident.

Ddasaccident669, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

Deminer Was Clearing the first 60 cm from the centre lane on a depth of 30 cm using the heavy RAKE after he done with the light rake , deminer hit the M14 mine on a depth of 35 cm by the heavy rake which initiate the mine. [The depth appears to be an error, and should perhaps be 15cm.]

Endnotes Issue 13.2, Cisr Journal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Endnotes Issue 13.2

Gender And Land Release: The Responsibility Of The Mine-Action Community, Marie Nilsson, Virginie Rozes, Juliane Garcia

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

In many countries, men are considered the sole landowners, leaving women with few property rights. Yet women are disproportionately affected when men are killed or injured by landmines, as they can be left with few resources after such tragedies.

Survey And Land Release: Lessons From Recent Country Experience, Charles Downs

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Suspected Hazardous Areas bring fear to local communities and hinder socioeconomic development, but in most cases the majority of the land contains no mines at all. Survey for land release may put an end to this fear, and it allows for an accelerated solution to the landmine problem.

The Journal Of Erw And Mine Action Issue 13.2 (2009), Cisr Journal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Annual Issue: Land Cancellation and Release

Reflections From The Field: Lao Pdr, Surveys And Land Release, Stephen Pritchard

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

With an example and a discussion of Norwegian People’s Aid’s work with UXO Lao in Lao PDR, the author explains how choosing the right tasks and performing the tasks correctly can allow land to be released safely and confidently.

Land Cancellation And Release, Parvis Mavlonkulov

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Initial surveying and resurveying of areas contaminated with mines are imperative processes in the Land Cancellation and Release process in Tajikistan, where estimates indicate thousands of acres of Suspected Hazardous Areas. It is necessary to re-survey contaminated areas to ensure accurate results. Even with limited funds, the Tajikistan Mine Action Centre has made great efforts to release the land and promote mine-risk education, victim assistance, and capacity building.

Clearing Areas Right; Clearing The Right Areas, Håvard Bach

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Although land release is a widely used term, its definition is not universally understood. There are various approaches to mine clearance with different survey steps taken before conditions of safe land release are met, and some techniques are more efficient than others. This article examines ways of improving land-release methodology to more effectively define and ultimately resolve the landmine problem.

Is It Time For New Terminology In Land Release And Technical Survey?, Robert Keeley

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Overlapping terminology has contributed to confusion in the demining process and stunted the development of Technical Survey as a potentially effective concept. This article points out places where ambiguity exists and suggests ways that the terminology can be clarified.

A Conversation About Land Cancellation And Release With H. Murphey “Murf” Mccloy, John Stevens

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Land Cancellation and Release in mine action is looked at by many experts as the next logical step to the safe and time-effective return of mined areas. This interview examines the benefits of the land-release method and addresses its criticisms.

Land-Release Policies And Human-Security Complexities, Kjell Bjork

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

This article reviews the need for transparency and community participation in the land-release process. Participation is a fundamental part of post-war reconstruction, and the author argues that combining reconstruction with transparent participation will contribute to the quality, accountability and national ownership of the land-release process.

Could Local Agricultural Machines Make A Country ‘Impact Free’ By 2010?, Emanuela Cepolina, Matteo Zoppi

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Many countries affected by landmines are also facing food crises, underscoring the necessity of cost-effective mine removal. Converting agricultural machines already available in many mine-affected countries for use on mine-action projects saves not only time but also money by speeding up the removal process and turning the land back into an agricultural resource.