CHURCH WORLD SERVICE: EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROGRAM
REVISED LANDMINES APPEAL: EMERGENCY ACCOUNT (#6310)
For $150,000
February 22, 2001


SITUATION: Despite greater public awareness in recent years, landmines
continue to threaten large segments of the world’s population.

As the Landmine Survivors Network notes, the statistics are staggering:
Roughly every 22 minutes someone is killed or maimed by a landmine. That
amounts to more than 20,000 men, women and children each year injured
through no fault of their own.

Even with current progress, it is still estimated that it will take more
than 100 years to eliminate landmines from Cambodia alone. In Cambodia,
one in 236 persons is an amputee injured by landmines; in Angola - one in
470 persons. Many of the victims are children.

In all, there are more than 100 million landmines in more than 60
countries, and nearly a third of those are in Africa. Besides Angola, the
most severely affected countries include Mozambique and Eritrea.

These indiscriminate weapons - which do not know the difference between a
soldier, a cow, a woman, or a child -- prevent farmers from returning to
till their fields when wars are over, damage the environment, stop
refugees from returning home, and impede relief and development efforts.


RESPONSE: Church World Service has a long history of involvement in the
cause of landmine eradication. CWS works with partner agencies in a number
of countries where landmines take their daily toll, including Angola,
Bosnia, Cambodia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Iraq, Laos, Mozambique, Rwanda,
Somalia, and Sudan. In Cambodia, CWS-Cambodia is involved in an
inter-church effort to train local people in mine clearance and mapping.
In addition, Church World Service has long been an advocate of a global
ban on landmines and is a member of the International Campaign to Ban
Landmines.

As part of that campaign, CWS will participate in a March 5-11 event in
Washington, D.C., where landmine-ban advocates from nearly 50 states and
nearly 100 countries will meet. The week’s events will include the
International Campaign to Ban Landmines’ 2001 General Meeting; the U.S.
Campaign to Ban Landmines’ Legislative Action Conference and more than 300
meetings with members of Congress; a press conference and giant shoe pile
at the Capitol; a reception at the Organization of American States with
Keynote Speaker Her Majesty, Queen Noor of Jordan; an interfaith prayer
service in honor of landmine victims and survivors; a demonstration and
handover of roughly half a million petition signatures across the street
from the White House.

The March conference is the first highly organized effort to urge the Bush
administration and the new Congress to ratify the Mine Ban Treaty.

With this appeal, CWS is seeking $150,000 in denominational support for
programs in three countries affected by landmines: Mozambique, Eritrea and
Cambodia ($50,000 in each country.) In Mozambique and Eritrea CWS is
supporting efforts of the Landmine Survivors Network; in Cambodia, the
efforts of CWS-Cambodia.



DETAILS:

Cambodia, one of the least developed countries in the world, continues to
experience the effects of three decades of war. One of the most affected
regions is Kompong Thom province, where more than 300 people have died or
been injured as the result of landmines or unexploded ordnance since 1997.

Mozambique has endured 25 years of war, leaving more than 300,000
landmines in the ground and injuring at least 10,000 people. For nearly a
decade, Mozambique has surveyed for the location of landmines and has
initiated intensive mine clearance work; in 1995, there were 55 mine
accidents a month; in 1999, that number had been reduced to 60 a year.

A war of independence and an ongoing border conflict between Eritrea and
Ethiopia lasted for some 30 years; a cease-fire agreement was signed in
July 2000. However, the conflict resulted in the laying of anywhere from
200,000 to more than 1 million landmines. At least five percent of Eritrea
is mined; more than 500 people were reported victims of landmines between
1994-99.



CWS SUPPORT AND ACTION:

In Cambodia, CWS Cambodia will continue its mine clearance and awareness
project work in Cambodia's Kompong Thom Province. Through the CWS Mine
Clearance Project in Cambodia, CWS has supported efforts of the Mines
Advisory Group (MAG) in clearing minefields and building awareness among
Cambodian children and farmers about the dangers of mines and unexploded
ordnance.

Between 1998-2000, MAG cleared more than 69,000 square meters of land in
three different mine fields. In addition, more than 1,166 pieces of
unexploded weapons have been removed from random locations and safely
destroyed. In addition, between 20,000 and 30,000 villagers and children
have received mines awareness training sessions since 1997.

For the coming year, Landmine Survivors Network is seeking support for
programs in Mozambique and Eritrea that will include making 300 home and
hospital visits in each country for landmine survivors and those with limb
loss; provide educational materials for survivors; promote the
reintegration of landmine survivors through referral, links with service
providers and direct assistance; and continue development of peer support
networks for persons with limb loss.

To support Church World Service Response landmine campaign efforts, please
send support to Account # 6310 Landmines. To support this effort please
direct assistance to:


CHURCH WORLD SERVICE, Attn. Landmine, #6310, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN
46515.  Phone pledges or credit card donations: 1-800-297-1516.  On-line
contributions to: 

Call the CWS HOTLINE for updates: (800) 297-1516.  For further information
about disasters to which Church World Service is responding, contact CWS
Emergency Response.

Telephone: (212) 870-3151
E-mail: cherlinger@ncccusa.org
After-hours emergency pager: (800) 780-0853
Web site: www.cwserp.org


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