Clear Path Launches Large-Scale Ramp Project in Afghanistan

When more than 800,000 Afghans are severely disabled, it's easy to see why there's a drastic need for schools, hospitals, government buildings and places of worship to be made accessible to them.

But people with disabilities in Afghanistan have suffered from a nearly universal lack of access to these and other important buildings and facilities. The Afghanistan Central Office of Statistics has estimated that 98 percent of all buildings cannot be entered by wheelchair.

This past year, Clear Path International launched a pilot project to alter this situation by constructing high-quality ramps at key locations throughout the country applying best practices established in the industry. Clear Path is a nonprofit organization that assists victims of landmines and other explosives, and others disabled or displaced by armed conflict in Southeast Asia and Afghanistan.

Not only are the projects performing a critical service for this vulnerable segment of Afghanistan's population, they also are helping to establish good will between the United States and Afghan leaders at a time when that relationship has been severely stressed. CPI programs in Afghanistan are funded by the U.S. Department of State Weapons Removal and Abatement (WRA).

"We've had two different reports that the Ulema (Council of Mullahs and Imams in Afghanistan) has specifically mentioned the work of CPI at the Eid Gah Mosque, as well as commented positively in general on the role of Americans bringing accessibility changes at this very high-profile religious site," said CPI Program Manager Matthew Rodieck. "One of the leaders of the Ulema, a double-amputee martyr and former Mujahedin commander, was especially complimentary."

Eid Gah Mosque in Kabul (shown here) is one of the highest profile mosques in Afghanistan and is where VIPs regularly worship and hold funeral prayers of martyrs. CPI through its Afghan partner organization, Accessibility Organization for Afghan Disabled (AOAD), built three ramps complete with handrails. In Kabul, CPI and AOAD also constructed three ramps at the Antoni Infectious Disease Hospital, an important referral site for tertiary care and the only facility of its kind in the country.

In Kapisa Province, north of Kabul, Afghan Amputee Bicyclists for Rehabilitation and Recreation (AABRAR) developed and implemented access ramps at several diverse sites. These included the main mosque of the capital city, which became the only physically accessible mosque in the entire province, the Ministry of Information and Culture, and the Ministry of Education. Several public schools throughout the rural community were also ramp sites in the AABRAR project, each selected based on feedback from local authorities about their priorities.

In Balkh Province, in the north of Afghanistan, Afghan Landmine Survivor Organization (ALSO) constructed access ramps at several educational settings across Mazar-i Sharif, the main city of Balkh. The sites selected included co-educational elementary schools, boys' high schools, girls' high schools, and the Balkh University making it one of the few institutions of higher learning in the entire country with accessible buildings.

Going forward, CPI hopes to build nearly 600 ramps at 350 sites throughout Afghanistan. The $660,000 project funded by WRA will involve the same three partner organizations. A key component of the ramp project is to raise awareness of the rights of people with disabilities, said Rodieck. "Awareness is quite low; there's not much sensitivity."

That awareness campaign also will make its way into the classroom at Kabul Technical University's Engineering School where CPI hopes it will result in some practical solutions. "We want to engage the entire faculty on physical accessibility design," Rodieck said. "We want to advocate on a more institutional level that the curriculum become more realistic."

CPI Afghan Program Featured in Journal of ERW & Mine Action

Mosques, Schools, Hospitals Made Accessible to Disabled Afghans

CPI has been at the forefront of developing practical guidelines for the construction of physical accessibility ramps in Afghanistan.

With special funding from the Weapons Removal and Abatement section of the U.S. Department of State's Political Military Affairs Department, CPI has developed pilot projects in conjunction with three of its implementing partners. Each partner undertook physical accessibility project sites at key public buildings in different provinces where unmet needs were prioritized and where security conditions permitted the projects to be undertaken.

In Kabul, Accessibility Organization for Afghan Disabled (AOAD) developed and implemented access ramps at four locations, including three mosques: a neighborhood mosque that functioned as a polling station in last year's parliamentary election; a larger community mosque with a rare co-educational madrassa; and one of the highest profile mosques in all of Afghanistan, the Eid Gah Mosque, where several VIPs regularly worship and where important funeral prayers of martyrs are held. For its fourth accessibility project, AOAD selected the Antoni Infectious Disease Hospital, an important referral site for tertiary care and the only such facility in the country.

In Kapisa Province, north of Kabul, Afghan Amputee Bicyclists for Rehabilitation and Recreation (AABRAR) developed and implemented access ramps at several diverse sites. These included the main mosque of the capital city, which became the only physically accessible mosque in the entire province, the Ministry of Information and Culture, and the Ministry of Education. Several public schools throughout the rural community were also ramp sites in the AABRAR project, each selected based on feedback from local authorities about their priorities.

In Balkh Province, in the north of Afghanistan, Afghan Landmine Survivor Organization (ALSO) constructed access ramps at several educational settings across Mazar-i Sharif, the main city of Balkh. The sites selected included co-educational elementary schools, boys' high schools, girls' high schools, and the Balkh University making it one of the few institutions of higher learning in the entire country with accessible buildings.

The photos linked to this posting are from field mission inspection visits conducted in December, January, and February by Matthew Rodieck (CPI-AFG Program Manager) and Zabiullah Azimi (CPI-AFG Program Coordinator).

Afghan Cricket Team Wins Despite Disabilities

There are times when the term "disabled" simply doesn't apply. That's definitely true for the cricket team sponsored by Clear Path International in Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province. Although team members all possess some type of physical disability, their winning record against completely able-bodied opponents calls into question whether labeling them as the disabled cricket team is indeed appropriate.

The team was created by CPI's partner, Afghan Disabled Vulnerable Society (ADVS), to provide sports activities for youth with physical challenges, and to change public perceptions about the role of disabled persons in the community. Most of the players live in Jalalabad City, the bustling epicenter of the province near the Pakistan border. They are landmine survivors, young men who have contracted polio, or who've suffered in other ways from violence or disease related to war and the lack of medical care.

And yet they excel at competitive cricket. These men have played together for more than two years, having won several matches against teams without a single disabled player. Recently, they won the overall trophy in a five-team tournament in Jalalabad. Over three days, they defeated each of the opposing teams, none of which had disabled members.

Through its expert coaches, ADVS trains young men for physically challenging sports, teaches them cooperative and team-focused skills and shores up their self-esteem.


ADVS is one of several Afghan organizations that partner with Clear Path to assist persons with disabilities, including survivors of landmine and cluster munition accidents.

CPI's Afghan program, funded by the Department of State's Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, has already helped more than 16,000 people with disabilities in the war-torn nation. CPI also assists victims of war in Vietnam, Cambodia, along the Thai-Burma border and in Lao PDR.

By CPI Afghan Program Manager Matthew Rodieck

Seattle Man to Run 300K for Landmine Victims

A Seattle physical therapist will compete in one of the toughest footraces on the planet while raising funds to help landmine accident survivors.

Wolfgang Brolley, who also is a chocolatier, business owner and circus arts practitioner, will participate in the eight-day, multinational GORE-TEX Transalpine-Run in which 250 teams of two people each cover 300 kilometers, gain 60,000 feet of elevation and pass through three countries (Germany, Austria and Italy) all on mountain trails through the Alps. This hard-running challenge begins Sept. 4 and will be completed in seven stages and one mountain sprint.

Brolley's cause, Running Cuz They Can't!, asks sponsors to donate money to non-profit organizations that assist landmine and bomb victims. One of the organizations that sponsors may choose to support is Clear Path International, based on Bainbridge Island. Brolley has volunteered his services on numerous occasions to CPI, which has programs in Afghanistan, Vietnam, Cambodia and along the Thai-Burma border.

"All the donations I gather will be going to landmine relief and assistance," Brolley said. "People can make a flat donation, or sponsor by mile/kilometer/feet of elevation covered - they just need to know this is a LONG race and those numbers will be big!"

Brolley, who has practiced for 20 years treating sports, spine and over-use injuries, has a bachelors degree from Stanford University in Asian Studies and a physical therapy degree from the University of Washington School of Medicine.

To donate, contact Wolf at stretchpt@live.com. For more information about the Transalpine Run, go to www.transalpine-run.com. Visit www.cpi.org to learn about Clear Path International.

In Afghanistan, Goats Provide Livelihood for Landmine Survivors and More

JALALABAD, Afghanistan - What they say about sheep in New Zealand may not quite be true for goats in Afghanistan. They don't outnumber people here.
But the importance of the animal to individual families' survival in this arid mountainous country can not be underestimated and the gift of a goat can provide for many in a village.

In Clear Path's first survivor assistance project outside Kabul, 18 beneficiaries in the eastern city of Jalalabad received goats and animal husbandry training from CPI's local Afghan partner, Afghan Disabled & Vulnerable Society (ADVS).
Thirteen of the recipients were landmine accident survivors, two were female heads of disadvantaged households and three were Afghans with other disabilities. The $6,000 project was funded by the U.S. State Department's Office of Weapons Removal & Abatement through a contract with DynCorp to whom Clear Path was a subcontractor until early August. Now, CPI receives direct funding from State for its work in Afghanistan.

The beneficiaries, which included the head of ADVS, Said Husin Sadaqat, himself disabled, all reside in villages of the Qarghaye District, Laghman Province. ADVS employed a local veterinarian to provide technical support to the group in the form of milk production methods. Every six months, a female kid will be received from the existing owners and given to new beneficiaries.
More than 60 families (at least 125 people) will benefit from access to tea, yoghurt and cheese from the animals' milk. The beneficiaries will be able to sell these products in their local markets, strengthening their income from a meaningful economic pursuit.

ADVS was established in 1994 to assist Afghans in need. The director, bound to a wheelchair, has provided vocational skills training and income-generating projects for more than a decade.

Clear Path International now Independent, Expanding in Afghanistan

Waiting in a corridor between consultations, a young land mine victim looks at a new prosthetic leg propped up on a bench. Photo by Alixandra Fazzina

KABUL, Afghanistan - After two years as a subcontractor here, Clear Path International is now a full-fledged independent grant recipient of the U.S. Department of State with a growing vision for aid to landmine accident survivors and people with disabilities in Afghanistan.

Its newly independent status means Clear Path is also ready to begin accepting private-sector grants and contributions for its work in one of the world's most mine-contaminated countries. The program, which has already assisted more than 9,000 Afghans with disabilities, is now CPI's largest victim assistance effort, followed by Vietnam, Cambodia and the Thai-Burma border.

Clear Path's work in Afghanistan, which ranges from providing the traditional prosthetics, physical therapy and income-generating support services, is on the cutting edge of socio-economic support of landmine accident survivors.

A good example of its innovative approach is the creation of the Afghan Mine Action Technology Center, which employs disabled deminers and landmine accident survivors to fabricate tools and equipment for sale to demining professionals with revenues from the center going into medical and social services for survivors. The center was the brainchild of Elegant Design & Solutions (EDaS), a former CPI contractor.

Since it started in Afghanistan in 2007, CPI has been a subcontractor of DynCorp International., which holds a prime contract with the State Department's Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement for a range of humanitarian mine action services.

Under its subcontract with DynCorp, CPI received nearly $3 million dollars to provide assistance to landmine accident survivors. Now the door is open for CPI to receive millions more to provide victim assistance services in Kabul, Jalalabad, Mazar-E-Sharif and parts of eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan.

As part of its new status, CPI set up its own office in Kabul and registered as a non-governmental organization with the government of Afghanistan. The program is managed jointly by CPI Finance Manager Peter Albertsson and CPI Co-founder Kristen Leadem. The Kabul office has a staff of three Afghan nationals and agreements with half a dozen Afghan implementing partners.

Clear Path International Releases Annual Report

In a one-year period, Clear Path International assisted more than 9,400 landmine accident survivors, persons with disabilities and members of their families in five countries, as you can read in our 2007 � 2008 annual report.

The number of 2007 � 2008 beneficiaries is more than CPI served in its entire history since 2000. It stems largely from our new Afghanistan operation and from a record number of bomb survivors assisted in Vietnam during the period. CPI�s other program activities are in Cambodia, Thailand and just inside Burma.

In the period covered by the report, we have assisted 6,325 beneficiaries in Afghanistan, 1,679 in Vietnam, 929 in Cambodia and 538 on both sides of the Thai-Burma border.

The report covers the breadth of services CPI offers, ranging from prosthetic care and physical therapy to vocational skills training and support for sports activities. We've raised nearly $1.3 million in 2007 � 2008 and spent $878,950, or 87.2 percent, of its operating expenses on program services.
Download a copy of Clear Path International's 2007 � 2008 Annual Report here.

Afghanistan: Better Access to Schools for Disabled Girls and Boys

KABUL, Afghanistan � It�s one thing to be disabled and face the kind of discrimination typical for anyone with a disability here. It�s another to be disabled girl and go to school in one of the most conservative Islamic countries in the world.

The last thing you need is to face physical barriers as well, particularly in a wheelchair.

That�s one of the reason Clear Path works closely with the Accessibility Organization for Afghan Disabled, a domestic charity that builds wheelchair ramps and provides other advocacy services for persons with disabilities in Afghanistan.

Since CPI began as a subcontractor of the U.S. State Department�s Office of Weapons Removal & Abatement through a prime contract with DynCorp International, it has funded the construction of 25 wheelchair ramps at 13 schools around Kabul, including several schools for girls.

It has also paid for the training of 40 teachers and principals in the rights of persons with disabilities and the creation of fully accessible computer train g room for the disabled.

The School Accessibility Initiative was conducted in accordance with The Government of Afghanistan�s Victim Assistance Plan of Action, known as the Kabul Report, to render at least ten percent of existing schools per year physically accessible to children with disabilities.

More than 640,000 Afghan are considered severely disabled with wheelchairs as the only means of physical mobility. To have any chance at securing meaningful employment in Afghanistan, children using wheelchairs need access to an education and means they need to be able to get into the building and the restrooms.

At Ariana, a Kabul high school for girls where CPI funded one of its first ramps for WRA, more than 80 girls with disabilities use wheelchairs and now have barrier-free access to the buildings thanks to the AOAD project.

Clear Path International's Afghanistan Partner Reaches Out And Speaks Up For Survivors

KABUL, Afghanistan � We were in the armored car again driving through the city through a never-ending maze of checkpoints and concrete barriers. But I noticed the scene began to change gradually. I saw more Afghans on the sidewalk, fewer road blocks, fewer police and a market where residents were milling around. Children were playing in the streets.

We had reached one of Kabul�s many neighborhoods. Kristen, Peter and Zabi had taken me here to see another one of Clear Path�s implementing partners in Afghanistan, the Afghan Landmine Survivors Organization. Life seemed more normal here than in the fortified and rarified sections of the downtown area with its foreign embassies, company headquarters and NGO offices.

A good sign, I thought, for an organization that works with landmine accident survivors after they recover from their medical treatment and regain physical mobility. ALSO struck me as a real grassroots organization, founded by Afghans for Afghans. Its social workers, many of them male and female survivors themselves, work directly with the survivor families where they live. They fight for the survivors� full inclusion and participation in Afghan society, which tends to discriminate against persons with disabilities, particularly women.

A recent survey shows that 2.7 percent of Afghanistan�s population is disabled. In round numbers that�s about 800,000. Of these persons with disabilities, 59 percent were men and 41 percent women. It includes a large percentage of landmine accident survivors. Many struggle with psychological challenges, low self-esteem and limited access to services.

ALSO�s social workers take inventory of the individual survivors� needs and tries to connect them to services many don�t even know exist. They organize peer-support activities such as sports through which the survivors can get to know each and rebuild their self-confidence. In addition, the group tries to create vocational skills training and employment opportunities and educates others in Afghanistan about the rights of persons with disabilities.
For example, ALSO has published a series of 10 illustrated booklets for adults and children in primary and secondary school. The books have some writing in Dari and Pashto but largely rely on cartoons to get their point across to literate and illiterate residents alike.

CPI�s support of ALSO, which comes from the U.S. State Department�s Office of Weapons Removal & Abatement through a prime contract with DynCorp International, has resulted in outreach and services to several hundred landmine accident survivors in Kabul. CPI and ALSO are now exploring the possibility of expanding the program to other large communities in Afghanistan such as Jalalabad.
We met one survivor who is employed by ALSO as a security guard. Mohammad Nassim Ismail Mohammadi was 8 years old when he lost his leg due to a landmine explosion in 1994. An above-the-knee amputee, he now lives in Kabul�s Char Qalae Wazir Abad District 10.

�After the accident I was traumatized, didn�t know what to do, and remained hidden at home,� said Mohammed. �I have been through pain, suffering and exclusion. I face all sorts of barriers, material and immaterial, that prevent my full participation in community life.�

But his sense of isolation began to change after he was visited by a social worker from ALSO and learned of educational and other opportunities. Then, the group hired him to keep the compound secure.

�I feel better about myself and my situation,� he said.

Afghanistan: Better Tools, Better Lives

KABUL, Afghanistan � A steel landmine probe. A deminer�s trowel. A flail hammer. Mine field marking tape. Newly polished safety visors. These tools may not sound familiar to you, but mine clearance professionals use them every day.

And these days, deminers in Afghanistan don�t have to look any further than the catalog of the Afghan Mine Action Technology Center to buy these tools locally thanks to Clear Path�s partner Elegant Design And Solution.

The center, which is located at the Kabul Orthopedics Organization on the grounds of Afghanistan�s main military hospital, was created to capture a portion of the market for demining equipment and make money to support survivors of landmine accidents.

AMATC employs three Afghan landmine accident survivors and produces a dozen different mine clearance tools and prostheses. It�s the brainchild of Ed Pennington-Ridge, a British inventor.

The cutting-edge program matching the needs of the demining industry (a big one in Afghanistan after three decades of war) and the survivors of landmine accidents is funded by the U.S. State Department�s Office of Weapons Removal & Abatement through a prime contract with DynCorp International. It is one of several programs Clear Path manages in Afghanistan as a subcontractor of DynCorp.

The center started almost two years ago by offering to re-polish the safety visors deminers wear to protect their faces in case of a blast. Constant use tends to scratch the visors� polycarbonate surface. Instead of buying a pricy brand-new replacement visor, demining operators could simply get a $30 makeover with extra blast protection.

The AMATC catalog has grown quickly since then. It offers hammers secured to the end of chain-link flails used on armored demining vehicles as a way to safely set off landmines. Its steel trowels and probes replace hand tools that get mangled in a blast. The red skull-and-bones marking tape warns of landmines in Dari.

At the moment, Ed and his partner Tanya Shaffenrath, are hard at work to complete the design for a large sifter that mounts to a dozer and separates ordnance from the dirt in which it�s buried.

In the area of prosthetics, AMATC offers polypropylene limbs, knee joints for above-the-knee prostheses and the cosmetic covers for hand prostheses that look real enough to belong in Madame Tussauds.

Ed is a long-time contributor to innovations in humanitarian mine action. From his base in Wales, he has worked on projects for the United Nations Association USA�s Adopt-A-Minefield and now for CPI.

�This is the most innovative project in mine action today,� says Peter Albertsson, CPI finance manager and co-program manager for Afghanistan. �Disabled survivors are making safer demining tools and the profits are used to care for other survivors.�

The proceeds from Ed�s sales to the demining sector will reach at least $50,000 this year and will end up funding survivor assistance services at the Kabul Orthopedics Organization.

The Eyes of Zab Mohammed: Fear & Hope On My First Trip to Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan � I can�t explain it. I�ve met hundreds of landmine and bomb accident survivors in the past nine years. I�ve visited them at home after years of painful recovery. I�ve seen them shortly after their accident their families in tears. I�ve seen the faces of boys scarred by shrapnel and girls who couldn�t walk because of burn injuries. I�ve seen survivors who could no longer see or touch because they lost their sight and their hands.

It moves me every single time but I usually remain composed.

That wasn�t the case with Zab Mohammed whom I met in the civilian post-op ward at the military hospital in Kabul. My encounter with the 18-year-old simply pulled out the rug.

Maybe it was the ghost I saw in his eyes, the ghost of the accident that happened just 25 days ago when a landmine in his hometown in Nangaher Porvince snuffed out his leg above the knee and took away a portion of his hand.

Maybe the statistics finally sunk in. Survivors like Zab come into hospitals around Afghanistan at the rate of hundreds per month and that their numbers won�t go down any time soon because of the renewed fighting with the Taleban.

Maybe it was his youth and the realization that he was just three years younger than my oldest son, that he could have passed for a senior at our local high school or the son of a neighbor.

Maybe it was just at that moment that Clear Path�s newest program became immediate and personal. It was, after all, my first time in Afghanistan. The program started two years ago.

My three-day visit was intense. Winter is harsh in Kabul. The city was raw from a recent bomb attack on the German embassy. Security seemed other-wordly. Downtown is a maze of road blocks, sand-bagged army posts and roads lined with huge concrete buffers. On the tour of our partners, I was given a flack jacket. Our two Nepalese guards packed pistols and machine guns. The car we drove was armored, including the tinted windows and back hatch. Getting things done here is challenging to say the least.

That gave me even more respect for what Kristen, Martha, Peter, Zabi, Arahim and Shalima have been able to accomplish.

The CPI survivor assistance program is part of a larger project funded by the U.S. State Department�s Office of Weapons Removal & Abatement through a subcontract with DynCorp Intl. Under its task order, Clear Path works with several Afghan partners to provide services to landmine accident survivors like Zab.

Once Zab�s amputation has healed and his residual limb is ready, he will be transferred to the Kabul Orthopedic Organization next door where the WRA program has funded prostheses, physical therapy and other recovery services to more than 6,000 landmine accident survivors and other Afghans with disabilities since it started in 2007.

KOO treats 500 civilian patients per month. Four out of every five are landmine accident survivors. Most of them make their way to Kabul from the provinces at great personal expense but the treatment is free and KOO hopes to bring its services closer to the survivors by setting up facilities in other parts of the country.

That would be a blessing to Fazal Mohammed. The 20-year-old was injured by a suicide bomb attack that set off a landmine while he was waiting with other young men for construction jobs in Jhore Province six months ago. His spine was fractured and he is no longer expected to walk. KOO gave him full-leg orthoses. When I met him and his brother there, he was relearning to stand using the parallel bars. It took the pair 36 hours to get from their adobe village to Kabul by car. They had to rent a special bus because Fazal had to lie flat during the trip. The cost exceeded $350, a fortune in Afghanistan. He�s going home with crutches, a wheelchair and a slew of physical therapy exercises. He hopes to become a shopkeeper at some point but it may be as a single man. His fianc�is not so sure about the wedding anymore. Yet in the midst of telling me his tragic story, he managed to grant me a smile. He hadn�t lost all hope.

In the coming days I hope to describe the work of Clear Path�s other partners.

Landmines and UXO kill and maim hundreds in Afghanistan in 2007

Landmines, unexploded ordnance (UXO) and abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO) killed 143 and wounded 438 people in different parts of Afghanistan in 2007, according to UN Mine Action Centre for Afghanistan (UNMACA) statistics.

Most victims are males aged 1-26, largely from the insurgency-affected southern provinces where the worsening security situation has hampered de-mining activities.

The number of people killed by landmines and other explosive remnants of war saw a 13.2 percent increase in 2007 over 2006 but the overall casualty rate (the combined number of dead and injured) dropped by over 29 percent, UNMACA's findings indicate.

Landmines, UXOs and AXOs killed 124 and wounded 697 Afghans in 2006.

Read the rest of this article here.

Young & Rubicam Creates Radio Spot to Support Landmine Victims: Tell us what you think!

All of us at Clear Path International are grateful to Young & Rubicam Malaysia (and Randy Lee!) for creating a 35 second radio spot for CPI.

Please listen to the spot below and let us know what you think in the comments section.

It is our hope to get this played on radio stations, so if you are in radio, or know of someone who is, please help us get this on the air! If you have ideas, please email us at info@cpi.org.

Listen to the ad here or right click on this link and save it to your computer!

Download the .Wav file (for radio) here.

Good News, Bad News For Mine Clearance In Countries Where Clear Path International Has Assistance Programs

The year 2006 held some good news and some bad news for the countries where Clear Path has assistance programs for landmine accident survivors, according to Landmine Monitor

Landmine clearance efforts in Cambodia and Afghanistan led the way in global mine removal, accounting for 55 percent of the world's total in 2006. But the use of anti-personnel devices and casualties increased sharply in Myanmar (Burma) during the year.

The below is a release from the International Campaign to Ban Landmines:

TOO MANY STATES NOT ON COURSE TO MEET MINE CLEARANCE DEADLINES

GENEVA, Switzerland � 12 November 2007 � Many states are not on course to meet their Mine Ban Treaty mine clearance obligations, according to Landmine Monitor Report 2007: Toward a Mine-Free World. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) releases the 1,124-page report at the United Nations today.

Landmine Monitor reports on the global landmine situation and scrutinizes the implementation of and compliance with the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. Landmine Monitor Report 2007 is the ninth annual edition of the report.

Time is running short for 29 countries with treaty-mandated clearance deadlines in 2009 or 2010. Despite a treaty provision allowing 10 years to complete mine clearance, 14 states are almost certain not meet their 2009 deadlines: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Chad, Croatia, Mozambique, Niger, Peru, Senegal, Tajikistan, Thailand, the United Kingdom (for clearance of the Falkland Islands/Malvinas), Venezuela, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.

Even more seriously, despite having almost eight years to initiate clearance, France, Niger, the United Kingdom and Venezuela have failed to even begin clearance operations.

�Some countries that should have met their clearance deadlines will probably not be able to do so,� said Mr. Stuart Casey-Maslen of Norwegian People�s Aid, Landmine Monitor�s Mine Action Editor. �Both donors and mine-affected countries must work harder to ensure that countries live up to their obligations under international law.�

Demining programs in 2006 cleared 140 km2 of mined areas and 310 km2 of battle areas. A significant increase in battle area clearance was recorded over 2005, primarily in Iraq. Afghanistan and Cambodia alone accounted for over 55% of all mined area clearance in 2006. Operations resulted in the destruction of 217,000 antipersonnel mines, 18,000 antivehicle mines and 2.15 million explosive remnants of war (ERW).

Government use of antipersonnel mines declined further, with only Myanmar/Burma and Russia continuing to lay new mines. Non-state armed groups in at least eight countries used antipersonnel mines or improvised explosive devices, which is also a decrease.

A total of 5,751 mine and ERW casualties were reported in 2006, a decrease of 16% from 2005, although Pakistan, Myanmar/Burma, and Somalia recorded increased casualty rates due to conflict. Lebanon noted an approximately tenfold casualty increase. Three-quarters of recorded casualties were civilians, and 34% of civilian casualties were children. Worldwide, 473,000 survivors were identified as of August 2007.

Only 11 of 24 states with significant numbers of survivors have made substantial progress towards their 2005-2009 objectives for improving the provision of assistance and ensuring survivors� rights. Funding for survivor assistance comprises only 1% of total mine action funding. Progress toward meeting the needs and rights of survivors should be regarded as insufficient.


�Mine-affected countries and international donors must give greater priority to the physical and economic rehabilitation of survivors, as their needs are not being adequately addressed,� said Katleen Maes of Handicap International, Landmine Monitor�s Victim Assistance Editor. �These people must not be forgotten.�


Mine risk education reached approximately 7.3 million people in 63 countries in 2006-2007. Although this is an increase from 2005-2006, 13 countries urgently need to improve their mine risk education efforts. No mine risk education was recorded in 36 countries and one area affected by mines or ERW.

Of the 20 largest mine action donors, 15 provided more funding in 2006 than 2005. Funding for mine action was US$475 million in 2006, an increase of some $100 million from 2005, and the highest level ever recorded by Landmine Monitor. Much of the increase was due to emergency funding for the clearance of explosive remnants of war in South Lebanon.

�While donor states responded quickly to ERW contamination in Lebanon, what is needed is multi-year funding by national and international donors,� said Mr. Anthony Forrest of Mines Action Canada, Landmine Monitor�s Mine Action Funding Editor. �Funding levels in 2006 have set a new standard for the global commitment to mine action, against which future funding levels will be judged."

Antipersonnel mines face increased international rejection, as four more countries joined the treaty (Indonesia, Iraq, Kuwait and Montenegro), bringing the total to 155. �Ten years after the negotiation and signing of the Mine Ban Treaty, the stigmatization of antipersonnel mines continues to spread. Even those who have not yet joined the treaty are largely abiding by its core obligations,� said Steve Goose of Human Rights Watch, Landmine Monitor�s Ban Policy Editor. Seven more countries completed destruction of their stockpiles of antipersonnel mines; in total, 81 States Parties have destroyed nearly 42 million stockpiled mines.

�While overall compliance with the treaty has been impressive, there have been some disconcerting developments,� said Goose. These include a UN monitoring group reporting shipments of antipersonnel mines to Somali factions by two States Parties (Eritrea and Ethiopia, which strongly deny the accusations), two states missing their stockpile destruction deadlines (Afghanistan and Cape Verde, both of which have now completed the task), and Venezuela indicating that it continues to derive military benefit from mines laid around military bases�a potential treaty violation of the prohibition on use.

The treaty prohibits the use, production, and trade of antipersonnel landmines. It requires clearance of mined areas within 10 years and the destruction of stockpiled antipersonnel mines within four years. Landmine Monitor Report 2007 reports on landmine use, production, trade, stockpiling, demining, casualties, survivor assistance and mine action funding in 118 countries and areas.

Landmine Monitor is coordinated by an Editorial Board drawn from four organizations: Mines Action Canada, Handicap International, Human Rights Watch and Norwegian People�s Aid. It constitutes a sustainable and systematic way for NGOs to monitor and report on the implementation of a disarmament treaty.

Landmine Monitor Report 2007 and related documents are available at 08:00 GMT at www.icbl.org/lm/2007on 12 November.

For more information or to schedule an interview contact:

Ms. Jackie Hansen, Landmine Monitor Project Manager, Geneva (GMT+1), Mobile +41-76-222-6968 or +1-613-851-5436, email lm@icbl.org
Ms. Simona Beltrami, ICBL Advocacy Director, Geneva (GMT+1), Mobile +39-33-3714-2251, email simona@icbl.org

YouTube: Thank you, Martha!

This video was shown on the 10th anniversary Celebration of Martha Hathaway's work with landmine and bomb survivors in Vietnam, Cambodia, Afghanistan and the Thai-Burma border.

The music is Natalie Merchant's "Kind & Generous" off of her CD OPHELIA and is used with permission.

It was shown (as a surprise to her) at on October 13th after a letter from the US Dept of State was read and before a speech by Senator Patrick Leahy and a performance by Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion.

Senator Leahy Honors Clear Path | Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion Perform to a Sold Out Crowd

Great news from the Vermont Office of Clear Path International! Our event with Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion was a huge success bringing in around $10,000.00 in donations and ticket sales! We sold out of over 200 tickets and it was standng room only... and those standing didn't seem to mind as Sarah Lee and Johnny put on a stellar performance.

Before the show, CPI honored one of its own... it was CPI executive Director Martha Hathaway's 10th year in mine action. In honor of this occasion, Senator Patrick Leahy spoke before Sarah Lee and Johnny took the stage and spoke to the need for a ban on landmines and praised the work of Clear Path International. He then presented Martha and me with a framed copy of comments he made about Clear Path that are now in the Congressional Record.

This was a great honor for Martha, Clear Path and me. Please see photos below and more pictures from the event can be found at this link.

Thank you Sarah Lee, Johnny and Senator and Mrs. Leahy!! I also especiallly want to thank John Goodrow from Leahy's office... he is truly an unsung hero... he fields so many calls for the Senator's attention and has done so much for so many. Thank you, John, for your good work for us and for many, many other causes. The photo below, with the Senator, was taken by John.






A special thank you to our sponsors for the event:

A Safe Place Self-Storage, Alchemy Promotional Products, Bickford Real Estate, Chandler 4 Corners, Dorset Union Store, Engel, Powell & Spivey, P.C., Express Copy Inc., Finn & Stone, Inc., Bob Gasperetti Furniture Maker, Gunterman Tennis Schools, H.N. Williams Store, The Inn at Manchester.Inn At West View Farm, Lisa Laberge Interiors, Long Ago & Far Away,Main Street Realty McWayne Jewelers, The Mountain Goat, New Morning Natural Foods, Northshire Bookstore, The Orvis Company,Perfect Wife Restaurant, Simple Coffee, Susan Sargent Designs, The Kitchen Store At J.K. Adams

10th Anniversary of Public-Private Partnerships at US Dept of State's Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement

Ten years ago an initiative was begun at the US Department of State that would energize the mine action community in a creative and exciting way. In October of 1997 the State Department initiated the Humanitarian Mine Action Public-Priivate Partnership Program. Clear Path has benefitted greatly from the program as have 56 other NGOs.

Thank you to the great people at the WRA office who have helped CPI immeasurably... we could not do the work we do without their support...

Congratulations folks!!

The below is a press release from their office:

10th Anniversary of Public-Private Partnerships to Reinforce Humanitarian Mine Action

The U.S. Department of State is pleased to mark the tenth anniversary of its Humanitarian Mine Action Public-Private Partnership Program, which enlists civil society support for clearing persistent landmines and explosive remnants of war, teaching mine risk education, and rendering assistance to survivors of landmine accidents around the world. Since its founding in October 1997, this Public-Private Partnership Program has grown to include 57 non-governmental organizations, civic associations, educational groups, and corporations. Working with the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs' Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, these partners have contributed resources that reinforce U.S. Government efforts to combat the global landmine problem. Recognizing that donor governments alone cannot solve the problem soon enough - even with the United States Government's more than $1.1 billion in mine action assistance since 1993 - these groups are speeding the pace at which affected countries can be freed from the humanitarian impact of landmines and other explosive hazards.

The U.S. Department of State thanks the following Public-Private Partners for their valuable contributions to humanitarian mine action:

Adopt-A-Minefield | Association of Volunteers in International Service | Center for International Rehabilitation | Center for Teaching International Relations | Children of Armenia Fund | Colombian Center for Integrated Rehabilitation | Clear Path International | C King Associates | Cranfield University | DanChurchAid | Danish Demining Group | DC Comics | Demining Agency for Afghanistan | Freedom Fields USA | Global Care Unlimited | Golden West Humanitarian Foundation | Grapes for Humanity | The HALO Trust | Handicap International France | Help Handicapped International | Health Volunteers Overseas | Humpty Dumpty Institute | International Eurasia Press Fund | Iraq Mine and Unexploded Ordnance Clearance Organization | Julia Burke Foundation | Kids First Vietnam | Landmines Blow! | Landmine Survivors Network | Lipscomb University | MAG | Marshall Legacy Institute | Medical Care Development International | Messiah College | Mine Action Information Center | Mine Clearance Planning Agency | Newsweek Education Program | One Sri Lanka Foundation | PeaceTrees Vietnam | People to People International | Polus Center | Prestige Health Care Technologies | Prosthetics Outreach Foundation | Roots of Peace | Rose Charities | Dr. Ken Rutherford/Missouri State University | Save the Children | Schonstedt Instrument Company | South Florida Landmine Action Group | Spirit of Soccer | Students Partnership Worldwide | Survey Action Center | United Nations Foundation | Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation | Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | Warner Bros. | World Education | World Rehabilitation Fund

To learn more, visit the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement website at www.state.gov/t/pm/wra, click on "Public-Private Partnerships," and also see the Safe Passage newsletters at www.state.gov/t/pm/wra/partners/c14838.htm.

Esquire: The Devil in the Dirt

Source: http://www.esquire.com/the-side/blog/landmines-092107

There are so many landmines in Afghanistan, the country is literally about to blow. But removing these mines is no easy task. An exclusive report from Kabul.

By Jeffrey Stern



A member of the United Nations mine-removal team in Afghanistan delicately holds the fuse from a soon-to-be detonated ERW.



KABUL, Afghanistan -- There is a landmine museum in Kabul. It�s a single poorly lit room with portraits on the wall of kids suddenly made asymmetrical by munitions left behind. Armies withdraw, but they don�t pick up after themselves.

Here, on display, are all the devilish devices men have dreamt up to disassemble one another. Claymores, rocket propelled grenades, rounds the size of your forearm. The cases are open, so you can reach in and pick the things up.

They have mines from America, China, Italy, Pakistan, Russia, Egypt; everyone seems to have buried relics somewhere in Afghanistan. The tags on the unearthed weapons are simple: �Russia; trip wire; operational pressure 250kgs; 1000 pieces chopped steel rod.� �Pakistan; claymore; electrical initiation; 600 6-millimeter steel ball bearings.� They�re less �improvised� than buried propane tanks wrapped in nails on roadsides, but the idea is the same.

And just like IED�s, they�re assigned sterile-sounding acronyms. The agencies deal in ERW�s and UXO�s -- Explosive Remnants of War and Unexploded Ordinance, respectively -- so they might talk courteously about these things that keep refugees from repatriating, rob families of their breadwinner, and don�t know an advancing soldier from a child fetching water, so that the kid giving you the thumbs-up when your armored SUV rumbles by will one day take a wrong step and be ripped apart by a six hundred steel ball bearings. Something like that happens twice a day in Afghanistan.

Read the rest of this article here.

Rutland Herald: CPI continuing to grow its reputation as a force for humanitarian relief

Dorset organization raises land mine awareness

September 11, 2007
By PATRICK McARDLE Herald Staff

DORSET - Clear Path International is continuing to grow its reputation as a force for humanitarian relief with new developments this year in Afghanistan and Slovenia.

For the first time, Clear Path is operating a program in Afghanistan in partnership with an American company and the Department of State.

Clear Path, which has offices in Dorset and Seattle, has also received a promise of almost a quarter million dollars from a nonprofit organization in Slovenia which will allow it to continue and expand their work in Vietnam.

Martha Hathaway, the executive director of Clear Path, said it was important for the organization to get the kind of wider recognition that leads to expansions like the one it has recently undertaken.

But Hathaway is much more interested in talking about the work Clear Path is doing and the need in the countries it operates than in congratulating Clear Path on its efforts.

In Afghanistan, Clear Path will be creating victims' assistance programs which has been part of its mission for some time.

Hathaway founded Clear Path in 2001 with her husband, James, Kristen Leadem of Dorset, and Imbert Matthee of Washington, as a land mine removal organization. Now, the group works primarily in assisting victims and raising awareness.


Kristen Leadem (left) and Martha Hathaway of Clear Path International in the Vermont office.

In Afghanistan, Clear Path will be working as a subcontractor to DynCorp International which has a contract with the Department of State's Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement. Hathaway said the Clear Path office in Kabul, which has been operating since April, is staffed partially by Americans, working to engage Afghanis in the process.

"The State Department is worried about projects that are not self-sustaining," Hathaway said.

Hathaway said because the government of Afghanistan already had a national strategy for helping victims of land mines, who not only have to deal with their injury but access issues and loss of income, Clear Path would look for ways the State Department can assist the local agencies. That is likely to include things like organizing a national workshop on victims' assistance or creating a system for building ramps and making schools accessible.

While Clear Path has already had some success with similar programs in Cambodia and along the Thailand-Burma border, Hathaway said that didn't necessarily make things easier when they expanded into a country like Afghanistan that has suffered greatly from the use of land mines.

"Every country impacted by land mines is different but we can take the bits and pieces of institutional knowledge we've gained over the years and apply it where it makes sense," she said.

According to Clear Path, an average of 90 people are injured by land mines or explosive remnants in Afghanistan every month and about half die before they can be treated.

The grant from the Slovenia-based International Trust for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance also presents new opportunities for Clear Path.

Under the agreement, the trust will raise $230,000 from among its 27 government and private-sector donors to match what Clear Path raises from the United States government and donors.

Hathaway said this is the first time Clear Path has received funds from the trust and marks the trust's first efforts in Southeast Asia.

The trust was founded about 10 years ago to assist people in the Balkans but Hathaway said as land mines became less of a threat in Europe, charitable organizations there have begun to look at ways they can help victims in other places.

According to Hathaway, Clear Path will use the money to assist ongoing efforts in Vietnam through capital purchases and the hiring of new staff rather than to create new programs.

Despite Clear Path's successes, which have led to more contracts and funding, the need is still great and money remains an issue.

The problem of land mines, especially those which remain after a war is over and injure civilians, gained international attention more than 10 years ago through the support of several well-known figures, primarily England's Princess Diana.

Land mine removal is expensive, however, and organizations like Clear Path, which assist with rehabilitation and the development of resources so victims can earn their own living, are in it for the long-term.

"Donor fatigue is a real problem," Hathaway said.

While Clear Path is raising more money than it has in the past, it comes from fewer donors, primarily the large donations like the ones from the trust, rather than the numerous pledges of $50 or $100 they received in the past.

Clear Path also has the disadvantage of being based in Seattle and out-of-the-mainstream Dorset, far from the significant donors based in New York City or Washington, D.C.

Clear Path has raised money through benefit concerts and a music CD. Its next concert will be on Oct. 13 at the Long Trail School in Dorset with performers Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion, introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

For more information on Clear Path on the Internet, visit its Web site at www.cpi.org.

Contact Patrick McArdle at Patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com.