Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 29. maj 2007 / Time Line May 29, 2007
Version 3.005/29/2007
International dag for FNs fredsbevarende personel
05/29/2007
New Grants to Deal With Explosives Remnants of War and Landmines
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
The United States has launched another effort to strengthen peace and
post-conflict recovery. The Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the
U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs has awarded a
total of more than $2.2 million to twenty-three non-governmental organizations
to clean up former battle areas – most of which are littered by landmines and
explosive remnants of war left by other countries – teach mine risk education,
assist mine survivors, and conduct related research. The U.S. is the global
leader in efforts to save lives by confronting the dangers posed by persistent
landmines and all explosive remnants of war, including unexploded cluster
munitions.
These grants, described below, augment the Department's projected FY 2007
budget of over $65.3 million for humanitarian mine action and small arms/light
weapons abatement.
- - $199,914 to Norwegian Peoples Aid (www.npaid.org/www/English/World/
Land_mines/) to develop the South Sudan Demining Commission's capacity to
survey landmine and explosive remnants of war infestation there; and to improve
the Cambodian Mine Action and Victims Assistance Authority's national capacity
by developing the collection, management and dissemination of information on
mine action in that country.
- - $199,897 to the Demining Agency for Afghanistan (www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/pix/
b/22066.htm ) to provide vocational training to 120 former humanitarian
deminers in Afghanistan.
- - $187,084 to the International Eurasia Press Fund to support the Tartar
Azerbaijan Mine Victims Association and establish regional branches in
Azerbaijan's Aghstafa and Fizuly regions.
- - $136,245 to MAG America (www.magamerica.org) to destroy a hazardous
stockpile of unexploded ordnance (UXO) at a metal recycling facility in Laos,
and educate Lao scrap metal dealers about UXO hazards; and to conduct an
assessment mission in Senegal building on existing data about the explosive
hazards and small arms/light weapons problems there, determine the type of
intervention required, and establish the feasibility of implementing related
abatement projects.
- - $128,075 to Afghanistan Technical Consultants (www.mineaction.org/org.asp?o
=84) to provide low-cost community-based landmine clearance in Afghanistan,
thereby assisting the livelihood of poor villagers and increasing their food
security.
- - $115,203 to the The Humpty Dumpty Institute (www.thehdi.org) to expand a
landmine survivors assistance mushroom growing project in Quang Tri province,
Vietnam; and to increase its own capacity to initiate new proposals linking
U.S. food aid, mine action, and subsequent agricultural and economic
development.
- - $109,907 to The Marshall Legacy Institute (www.marshall-legacy.org) to
support a series of fund-raising athletic runs by Slovenia's Ambassador to the
United States to benefit the International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine
Victims Assistance; to support the Children Against Mines Program (CHAMPS)
efforts to rehabilitate three young Bosnian landmine survivors; and to provide
six mine detecting dogs to a country that receives assistance from the U.S.
Humanitarian Mine Action Program.
- - $100,000 to the Mine Clearance Planning Agency (www.mineaction.org/org.asp?
o=63) to continue the clearance of landmines and explosive remnants of war in
Afghanistan.
- - $100,000 to Shamshad TV (www.shamshadtv.com/) to create and broadcast mine
risk education public service messages and dramas in Pashto and Dari to alert
the populations of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran about the dangers of
landmines and explosive remnants of war.
- - $100,000 to the Centro Integral de Rehabilitaticion de Colombia (
www.cirec.org) to assist survivors of landmines and explosive devices in the
department of Santander, Colombia.
- - $100,000 to Viet-Nam Assistance for the Handicapped (http://vnah-hev.org/
index.php) to create a pilot program to teach mine risk education in Nghe An
province, Vietnam.
- - $99,652 to DanChurchAid (www.dca.dk) to foster public support in Burundi
for community disarmament of small arms/light weapons via the national Council
of Churches of Burundi, and to produce publicity in support of the Government
of Burundi's disarmament program.
- - $99,500 to Cleared Ground Demining (www.clearedground.org/) to provide a
roving Explosive Ordnance Disposal capability to reduce the impact of explosive
remnants of war in Guinea-Bissau, to be supported by matching funds from other
donors.
- - $99,250 to the Iraq Health and Social Care Organization to develop the
capacity of the Iraqi government and local non-governmental organizations to
conduct mine risk education there. ("Mine risk education" includes teaching
about the dangers of unexploded ordnance, including any unexploded cluster
munitions, and abandoned ordnance as well as the risks of entering mined areas
or tampering with landmines.)
- - $95,250 to the Survey Action Center (www.sac-na.org) to develop and
validate a predictive tool for identifying communities and suspected hazard
areas in Afghanistan that have the highest probability of creating new victims,
thereby contributing to the efficient distribution of scarce mine action
resources in order to reduce the threats to those communities and lowering
victim levels.
- - $85,638 to Cranfield University (www.cranfield.ac.uk) to develop quality
and performance management guidelines for mine action in Afghanistan and Laos.
- - $75,000 to the Polus Center for Social & Economic Development (
www.poluscenter.org) for a matching grant to support the CoffeeLands Landmine
Survivors Trust Awareness project to promote coffee companies' investing in
landmine survivors assistance; and a related mine survivors assistance project.
- - $61,722 to Catholic University to further the development of an autonomous
landmine detection system based on a hovercraft platform.
- - $55,000 to Freedom Fields USA (www.freedomfieldsusa.org) for landmine
clearance in Battambang province, Cambodia, to be matched by private funds.
- - $50,000 to the The HALO Trust (www.halotrust.org) to clear landmines in the
K5 mine belt in Northwest Cambodia, to be matched by private funds.
- - $30,000 to Counterpart International (www.counterpart.org ) for its "Safe
Farms, Safe Schools" project to reduce explosive remnants of war contamination
in Quang Binh province, Vietnam, build 10 safe playgrounds in impacted areas,
and teach mine risk education.
- - $20,000 to Clear Path International (www.cpi.org) to support the
"AbilityTrek" bicycle tour across the United States by amputee endurance cycler
Dan Sheret (www.abilitytrek.org) to raise at least $60,000 in new funds for war
victims in Cambodia and Iraq.
- - $11,657 to the Mine Action Information Center (http://maic.jmu.edu) at
James Madison University to create a catalog of global training and education
opportunities for organizations that deal with small arms/light weapons,
landmine, and explosive remnants of war reduction.
Visit www.state.gov/t/pm/wra to learn more about the Office of Weapons Removal
and Abatement's humanitarian mine action and small arms/light weapons abatement
programs.
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