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Mine Action Support Group 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 January to April 2008

Burma (Myanmar), Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Burma gained its independence from British colonial rule in 1948. Shortly afterward, the country plunged into civil war among various political groups while also facing an insurgency in the state of Karen. Over 50 years later, a military junta now controls the government and an insurgency remains in Karen. This near-constant state of conflict has resulted in the widespread use of landmines in both developed and underdeveloped parts of the country. The instability of the government and insecurity in many rural areas have made survivor assistance difficult and inconsistent

Cambodia, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Plagued by nearly three decades of war, Cambodia remains one of the countries most afflicted by landmines and explosive remnants of war despite its recent decline in mine/ERW victims. There are nearly 14 million people living in Cambodia, and it is estimated that there are 43,316 survivors of landmines/unexploded ordnance who require assistance.

Vietnam, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Vietnam, a country of more than 85 million people, has one of the world’s highest rates of disabled citizens—greater than 6 percent of the entire population. That figure is partially attributable to contamination by landmines and unexploded ordnance, which encroaches on more than 60,000 square kilometers (23,166 square miles) and up to one-fifth of the country’s land surface. As a result, the Landmine Monitor Report has estimated that there are currently some 66,380 survivors of mines and explosive remnants of war in Vietnam—4,000 of whom received survivor services in 2006.

The Halo Trust And Hstamids, Chris Boshoff, Roger Cresci

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

A technology that employs multiple mine-detection techniques could improve demining around the world. Six months of using this product on-site have shown exciting results. Benefits of using this demining tool include increased effectiveness, speed and safety. This device was initially manufactured and used for military purposes only. The process of making it available to non-military organizations was difficult but successful.

Victim Assistance: Still Seeking The Way, Suzanne Fiederlein

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

This article looks at the progress made in the area of victim assistance since 2002 with special attention paid to data collection, funding and program coordination.

Endnotes Issue 12.1, Cisr Journal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Endnotes Issue 12.1

In Remembrance: Silvija Bogdany, Cisr Journal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Silvija Bogdany, Operations Manager for RONCO Consulting Corporation in Northern Sudan, died 30 April 2008, from injuries resulting from a vehicle accident outside the town of El Obeid, Sudan. Her coworker, Jan Bosman, United Nations Mine Action Office Regional Coordinator for Northern Sudan, was also killed in the accident.

Developing Medical Capacity In Lao Pdr, Barbara Lewis, Sarah Bruinooge

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Prior to 1996, Laotian victims of unexploded ordnance were left with few options for medical treatment. Since that time, however, the inadequacy of the healthcare system to handle such situations has been addressed and improvements made possible through the efforts of the World Victims Assistance Program. Though UXO accidents will continue to occur in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic well into the future, the impact of programs implemented by World Education and numerous other nongovernmental organizations and government entities has contributed to a significant increase in the number of survivors who have received effective treatment.

Occupied Palestinian Territories, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

A half-century of conflict has contributed to the current unstable situation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, split between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the Fatah-controlled West Bank. Both explosive ordnance and unexploded ordnance remain from the civil struggle between Hamas and Fatah political factions, as well as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Earlier this year, Israeli forces imposed dominion over the Gaza Strip, plunging the region into a humanitarian crisis. On 23 January 2008, a series of Hamas-detonated landmine explosions along the border wall in Rafah, Gaza Strip, opened passage for tens of thousands of Palestinians to escape into Egypt. No signs …

Empowering Iraqis: Rehabilitation Training In Bosnia, Nikola Prvulov, Julie Miller

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

This article discusses the role that aid workers from Bosnia have had in training Iraqi medical personnel to treat war injuries. It stresses the role that nongovernmental organizations and intergovernmental organizations have had in supporting these efforts and how countries affected by unexploded ordnance and landmines have tried to share their experience with other countries in need of training and assistance.

Improved Landmine Discrimination With An Off-The-Shelf Metal Detector, Marc Freese, Edwardo Fukushima, Shigeo Hirose

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

While a lot of improvement has been achieved with metal detectors in detection depth and ground rejection, little effort has been directed toward better discrimination capabilities; high false-positive rates not only increase clearance time, they tend to lower deminer vigilance, causing accidents. The authors have modeled a statically operating, off-the-shelf metal detector by generating volumetric sensitivity profiles. They present in-laboratory measurements and results of experiments on a test demining site in Cambodia. This article aims at giving deminers a more informed view of metallic targets, allowing them to take differentiated actions during target identification and removal.

Mine Detonation Trailers: Stresses Induced By Wheels Below The Surface Of A Soil Road, Peter Renwick

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

This article examines the use of wheels to detonate mines buried in soil roads. Realistic pressure patterns and loading of the footprints of two types of detonation wheel were established. Solid modeling created typical tire footprints above a medium representing soil. Finite element analysis investigated stress patterns in the soil for two types of wheel at loads of both 1,800 and 5,000 kgf.

Ddasaccident639, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The primary cause of this accident is listed as a Field Control Inadequacy because the Victim was working with his visor raised and using a pick and his error was not corrected. The secondary cause is listed as a Management Control Inadequacy because the demining group’s management is responsible for ensuring that field supervisors prevent deminers from breaching approved SOPs.

Ddasaccident630, 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 inadequate field supervision at the time of the accident. The secondary case is listed as a Management Control Inadequacy because it is the senior management’s responsibility to ensure that there is adequate field supervision on site at all times.

Ddasaccident631, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

On 1st July 2009 MU-16 of [Demining group] started clearance operation on mentioned task, On 08 July 2009 at 0919hrs while [the Victim] was investigating a signal in his clearance lane, he found two bullets. He re-checked the spot and found the same signal, this process repeated for three times. Finally he found a root stump in the excavation trench with a thickness of around 2.5 cm and started to remove it, because it was blocking further excavation there. However the deminer had proper tool in his toolkit to cut such obstacles, but he tried to out it with his …

Ddasaccident626, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The source of detonation was 23mm ammunition packed in a water thermos. The main cause of the accident appears to be poor packing of ammunition and the likelihood that some of the rounds transported had exposed retaining balls.

Ddasaccident588, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

[The Victim] was carrying out an unauthorised experiment with UXO near the [Demining group] Central Demolition Site at Loa, South Sudan. Contrary to SOPs he was attempting to burn out some High Explosive filling which was remaining in an item of UXO using propellant from a 23mm cartridge case. He was using matches directly onto the propellant to initiate the burn. Although the explosive filling was in an “open” casing of the UXO, it burned to detonation which fragmented the casing and resulted in a piece of metal going into the right leg, calf muscle area of [the Victim].

Ddasaccident603, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The primary cause of this accident is listed as a Field Control Inadequacy because the Victim was working with his visor raised (or not worn) and using a pick to investigate a metal-detector reading incautiously. The secondary cause is listed as Inadequate equipment because no alternative to a pick for starting a safe excavation in hard ground was made available.

Evaluation Of Ec-Funded Mine Action In South East Europe | 2002-2007, Gichd

Global CWD Repository

The EC Anti-Personnel Landmine Regulation of 2001 mandated evaluation of EC Mine Action strategy every three years. The first report was a Global Evaluation published in 2005, this report forms one part of the 2008 evaluation by regions and covers South East Europe, 2002-2007.

The approach used for the evaluation was desk research visits to two mine-affected countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia) and further contact with EC Delegations by phone and internet. Face-to-face discussions with RELEX and EuropeAid staff in Brussels were only possible after the country visits.

A Guide To Road Clearance, Gichd

Global CWD Repository

Clearing roads prior to the deployment of peacekeeping units, or in support of humanitarian, reconstruction or development work, is a prerequisite to a safe and successful operation. However, road clearance is expensive and time-consuming. Equipment costs are high, especially in remote areas such as in Afghanistan, Angola and Sudan, where many roads remain contaminated by mines.

Confronted by these challenges, mine action operators are working to develop safer, more efficient and cost-effective road clearance systems. This Guide contributes to that process by providing recent examples, data and methodologies from the field. Methodologies and approaches used as examples in this guide …

Global And Functional Strategic Issues, Antulio J. Echevarria Ii

Articles & Editorials

No abstract provided.

Don’T Call Me “Hawaiian-At-Heart”: Self-Determination And Identity Theft, Kelly Rae Kraemer

Peace Studies Faculty Publications

This paper presents a major lesson I learned from my research on the roles of non-natives in the Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) sovereignty movement, one that should prove instructive for activists in other movements: when the federal and state governments, immigrants and settlers, and the Kānaka Maoli people compete to define Hawaiian identity and control access to Hawaiian people, land, and culture, who counts as “Native Hawaiian” matters. Yet, with so much at stake, even when common sense tells nonnatives we know what “native” means and it is not us, many forces collude to encourage nonnative appropriation of Hawaiian identity—identity …

Reconstructing Sovereignty: From Control To Responsibility, Eric K. Leonard

Human Rights & Human Welfare

As I stood with a standing-room only crowd last fall at a United Nations University of New York (UNU-ONY) event entitled, "Prevention of Mass Atrocities: From Mandate to Realization," I began to wonder how far the responsibility to protect (R2P) could be stretched. As defined by the UNU-ONY organizers, the purpose of the event was " to explore the work of mass atrocity prevention across the UN system, with a focus on the role of the new Office of the Special Representative for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities (SRPGMA)." As I currently look at the international community's response …

July Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

"Armed and Humanitarian" by Bruce Falconer. Mother Jones. May 19, 2008.

Coalition For Prisoners' Rights Newsletter, Vol. 33, No. 7, Coalition For Prisoners' Rights

Coalition for Prisoners' Rights Newsletters

Crime of the Month: Breadwinners Forced to Plea Guilty

Stopmax Conferences --- Resources and Results

Will the U.S. Obey World Court

From the Preamble of Universal Declaration of Human Rights/Desde Preámbulo de Declaracion Universal de Derechos Humanos

Voices From Inside

Fan Reminder and Clarification

CR10

Visiting Requirements Changes

Crime of the Month

Mine Action With A Human Face: A Human Security Doctrine For Mine Action, Matthew Bolton

Global CWD Repository

Mine action needs to rediscover its ‘human face',1 to remember, as UNMAS has said, that “It is not so much about mines as it is about people….”2 Empirical research in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Sudan show that mine action is in danger of becoming distracted by commercial and strategic priorities. This is especially true since the advent of the ‘War on Terror' and the continuing trend of consolidating the commercial mine action sector into the private security sector. Ten years ago a group of NGOs critical of the donor and commercial interests tried to develop a framework to guide mine action. …

Mission Creep: De-Militarizing Humanitarian Protection, Sonia Cardenas

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Over a decade ago, the U.S. military was warning liberal internationalists about the dangers of "mission creep." Today it is doing the opposite, incorporating relief and development work into its operations. In the devastating aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in Burma , the U.S. military's newfound mission may seem compelling. Unfortunately, expanding the military's role into humanitarian work reflects a flawed logic that should be resisted. There are more promising ways to protect victims of humanitarian disaster.

When Steel And Guns Meets Bread And Butter, Daniel J. Graeber

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Speaking before the 191-member United Nations in 2005, then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that "For the first time . we are agreed that states do not have the right to do what they will within their own borders but that we in the name of humanity have a common duty to protect people where their own governments will not." This notion, that of responsible sovereignty , says that nation states forfeit the right to uninterrupted internal freedoms when they no longer uphold the responsibilities associated with sovereignty.

Ddasaccident648, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

A detonator blast caused the accident. The deminer has detected an active detonator in his clearance lane and has pressed it by his left hand fingers which subsequently the detonator exploded and the deminer fingers were seriously injured.