The U.S. State Department has announced it will match up to $60,000 in contributions made by any grassroots and private-sector donors to Clear Path International�s landmine accident survivor assistance work in central Vietnam.
The matching period will last at least through the rest of 2006. This means contributions sent by mail or on the organization�s website will be eligible for the match from the State Department.
The dollar-for-dollar matching challenge was one of two grants for Clear path International announced by the State Department�s Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement. The government agency said it would also contribute $75,000 towards Clear Path�s initiative to construct a rice production facility in Cambodia where hundreds of landmine victims will learn farm-based skills in the coming years.
�This is very exciting news for us,� said Martha Hathaway, Clear Path�s executive director. �It�s the first time we have received assistance for our humanitarian work from the government.�
Since it was founded in 2000, Clear Path International has assisted more than 3,000 landmine accident survivors in Vietnam, Cambodia and along the Thai-Burma border, and it has sent 60 containers of medical equipment and supplies to hospitals in 22 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
All that work during the past six years was funded by individual grassroots donors, charitable foundations, churches, businesses and service clubs, Hathaway said.
�The State Department�s announcement of the matching challenge recognizes the strength of our grassroots and foundation support,� she said. �Now, private-sector donors know their contributions will have an even greater impact because of the government match.�
The $75,000 grant for the Cambodia rice mill project does not require a match from private-sector contributors. The rice mill has already received major private-sector funding from the McKnight Foundation in Minneapolis and the United Nations Association USA�s Adopt-A-Minefield program. Clear Path has now raised $280,000 of the $325,000 needed for the mills completion.
To make a contribution to Clear Path International, please visit www.cpi.org.
Monday, August 7, 2006
Tuesday, August 1, 2006
Senators Seek to Block First U.S. Landmine Production in 9 Years
(Washington, DC, August 1, 2006) The U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines, a coalition of 500 U.S.- based religious, community, and human rights organizations, today welcomed the introduction of the Victim-activated Landmine Abolition Act of 2006. This important legislation, introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy (VT), Arlen Specter (PA), and others, would block Pentagon efforts to develop and produce the first new U.S. victim-activated antipersonnel landmines in nearly a decade.
"We fear that the U.S. restarting production of victim-activated weapons may provide an excuse for other nations that continue to use indiscriminate landmines," said Joe Volk, Executive Secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quakers). "If the most advanced military in the world continues to claim that it needs these weapons, why shouldn't everyone else?" Volk continued.
Instead of joining the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty banning use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of antipersonnel mines, President Clinton initiated a research and development program within the Pentagon to identify possible alternatives to antipersonnel landmines in order to "end reliance on [antipersonnel mines] as soon as possible."
The goal of the research and development program was to find a discriminate alternative to the antipersonnel mines. After ten years of research, the alternative weapons will soon be ready for full production. Unfortunately, current plans for the weapons look a lot like the conventional landmines.
"Congress should ensure that at a minimum the Pentagon is not spending hundreds of millions of dollars on new weapons that are unable to distinguish between the boot of a solider and the foot of a child," said Scott Stedjan, Coordinator of the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines.
The "Victim-activated Landmine Abolition Act of 2006" would prohibit the procurement of landmines or other weapons that are designed to be victim-activated in any circumstance. It would ensure that all new U.S. munitions can only be detonated in response to an intentional act by a person.
"Senators Leahy and Specter must be commended for this important piece of legislation. More than 150 nations, including the U.S.'s closest allies, have banned antipersonnel mines forever. The U.S. should not be getting back into the business of producing and using these indiscriminate weapons," said Jody Williams, co-laureate of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
While the United States has yet to sign the 1997 Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty, it has abided by many of the treaty's provisions. The U.S. has not used victim-activated antipersonnel landmines since the first Gulf War in 1991, has not exported mines since 1992, and has not produced mines since 1997. The production of new victim-activated mines would be a dramatic step away from previous U.S. practice and the Ottawa Treaty.
***
The U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines (USCBL) is a coalition of approximately 500 U.S.-based human rights, humanitarian, faith-based, peace, veterans', medical, development, academic, and environmental organizations dedicated to a total ban on antipersonnel landmines. It is one of 90 country campaigns that form the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), winner of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. The USCBL is coordinated by the Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quakers), a Quaker peace lobby based in Washington, DC. For more information, go to www.fcnl.org or www.banminesusa.org.
"We fear that the U.S. restarting production of victim-activated weapons may provide an excuse for other nations that continue to use indiscriminate landmines," said Joe Volk, Executive Secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quakers). "If the most advanced military in the world continues to claim that it needs these weapons, why shouldn't everyone else?" Volk continued.
Instead of joining the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty banning use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of antipersonnel mines, President Clinton initiated a research and development program within the Pentagon to identify possible alternatives to antipersonnel landmines in order to "end reliance on [antipersonnel mines] as soon as possible."
The goal of the research and development program was to find a discriminate alternative to the antipersonnel mines. After ten years of research, the alternative weapons will soon be ready for full production. Unfortunately, current plans for the weapons look a lot like the conventional landmines.
"Congress should ensure that at a minimum the Pentagon is not spending hundreds of millions of dollars on new weapons that are unable to distinguish between the boot of a solider and the foot of a child," said Scott Stedjan, Coordinator of the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines.
The "Victim-activated Landmine Abolition Act of 2006" would prohibit the procurement of landmines or other weapons that are designed to be victim-activated in any circumstance. It would ensure that all new U.S. munitions can only be detonated in response to an intentional act by a person.
"Senators Leahy and Specter must be commended for this important piece of legislation. More than 150 nations, including the U.S.'s closest allies, have banned antipersonnel mines forever. The U.S. should not be getting back into the business of producing and using these indiscriminate weapons," said Jody Williams, co-laureate of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
While the United States has yet to sign the 1997 Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty, it has abided by many of the treaty's provisions. The U.S. has not used victim-activated antipersonnel landmines since the first Gulf War in 1991, has not exported mines since 1992, and has not produced mines since 1997. The production of new victim-activated mines would be a dramatic step away from previous U.S. practice and the Ottawa Treaty.
***
The U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines (USCBL) is a coalition of approximately 500 U.S.-based human rights, humanitarian, faith-based, peace, veterans', medical, development, academic, and environmental organizations dedicated to a total ban on antipersonnel landmines. It is one of 90 country campaigns that form the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), winner of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. The USCBL is coordinated by the Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quakers), a Quaker peace lobby based in Washington, DC. For more information, go to www.fcnl.org or www.banminesusa.org.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Martha, Executive Director of CPI on Vermont Public Radio
Vermont Public Radio interviewed our executive Director, Martha Hathaway, on her upcoming trip to Afghanistan and the work of Clear Path International in Asia.
You can hear the interview here.
The text of the article is below (source VERMONT PUBLIC RADIO)
You can hear the interview here.
The text of the article is below (source VERMONT PUBLIC RADIO)
Two Vermont women headed to Kabul for State Department
by Susan Keese
(Host) Two Bennington County women are heading to Kabul this week as consultants for the U.S. State Department.
The government has hired them to assess the needs of civilians maimed by land mines and unexploded bombs.
According to one of the women, these life-shattering accidents happen in Afghanistan and elsewhere every day.
VPR's Susan Keese has more.
(Keese) In a breezy retrofitted garage next to her house in Dorset Martha Hathaway manages an international aid group.
Hathaway is a co-founder of Clear Path International. This is the group's East Coast Headquarters. The small nonprofit has another office in Bainbridge Island Washington and staff and partner agencies in several Asian countries.
Its mission is to improve the lives of victims, families and communities affected by accidents with landmines and unexploded bombs.
Hathaway says many of the injured are already poor.
(Hathaway) "People that are already living a marginal lifestyle in terms of economics - when somebody is injured or killed their whole life is turned upside down, they really go into an emotional and financial tail spin. And we feel our job is try and stop that downward spiral before they lose everything."
(Keese) Hathaway describes a woman named Ha from Vietnam. She was a teenager, out in the fields where her mother was working, when she found a white phosphorous bomb.
Hathaway says White phosphorous is often put in mortars.
(Hathaway) "When it explodes the chemical will burn and continue to burn until the source of oxygen is cut off. So it's a hideous, hideous thing and incredibly painful for survivors and was quite commonly used during the Vietnam conflict. So we have a fairly large number of people we deal with who have white phosphorous burns."
(Keese) Ha was so badly burned, and so poorly treated that her calves and thighs were fused together by the heat. Then her parents died and she was left to care for her younger siblings, hobbling on her knees.
Hathaway says Clear Path arranged for multiple operations for Ha. After years of physical therapy she's now able to walk, and earn a living.
(Hathaway) "And we have hundreds of stories like that."
(Keese) Hathaway got involved with Landmine issues in college in the early nineties. She went to Vietnam and saw first-hand the havoc left behind explosives wreak on people who weren't even born when the war was going on.
She and some co-workers, including her husband James, formed Clear Path six years ago. Through grants, donations and events the group raises about a million dollars annually to support its work.
Another co-founder is Kristen Leadem, who grew up in Manchester.
Leadem works in Nepal now. But she'll be going to Afganistan with Hathaway, to assess how to help land mine accident victims in an ongoing war.
Hathaway says decades of fighting have left Afghanistan full of unexploded bombs. Not all are from Russia and the U.S.
(Hathaway) "Landmines, specifically are extremely cheap to produce. They're very easy to come by. And then you have the small light arms/light weapons trade, which is a real significant issue globally. They're easy to transport, easy to hide. So they're becoming a significant threat globally because it's fairly easy for a group to arm themselves."
(Keese) Hathaway says the project in Afghanistan is something new for the state department. She says the U.S. has invested heavily in land mine removal.
(Hathaway) "But the reality is it's going to be many many years before the risk is reduced by removal to subsequently reduce the accidents that are happening. So until that day, state department realizes that there's a moral obligation to help people that continue to be injured."
(Keese) Hathway doesn't know exactly what she'll find in Afghanistan. But she knows that wars are never really over for the people living on the land where they've taken place.
For Vermont Public Radio, I'm Susan Keese.
� Copyright 2006, VPR
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Looking for Land Mines Photo Gallery
The link below leads to photo gallery highlighting different landmine (land mine) detection methods.
http://news.com.com/2300-11395_3-6092294-1.html?tag=ne.gall.pg
http://news.com.com/2300-11395_3-6092294-1.html?tag=ne.gall.pg
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Kevin Sites reports from Cambodia's S-21 Prison
The last time I posted about Kevin Sites he was on the Thai-Myanmar border at the Mae Sot clinic. True to form, he has turned in another powerful piece on the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh Cambodia. The prison (a former school) was used by the Khmer Rouge to torture those they felt were enemies of the KR's twisted agenda.
From Kevin's Article:
"Visitors walking through the hallways of this former high school turned prison must confront the pain, uncertainty and fear of thousands of victims looking back at them from the black and white photographs taken by prison guards.It was a methodical process. The victims were positioned in a specially constructed chair with a boom arm that steadied their heads before the photograph was taken.
Detailed histories were written for each prisoner, covering their lives from childhood up until their arrest. They were stripped of all their possessions and clothes, leaving them with only their underwear.
Some were chained to the floor in tiny individual cells, forced to defecate in ammunition cans. Others were held in groups in open classrooms with one or both legs shackled to larger iron bars on the floor, similar to the method used to immobilize captives on slave ships sailing to the Americas from Africa."
Read the rest here: http://hotzone.yahoo.com/b/hotzone/blogs7459
Sunday, July 9, 2006
Invasion, genocide � and now the tourist hordes
Cambodia is one of my favorite countries (so are you Vietnam!)... the people are beautiful and kind... their music art and dance are breathtaking.... I love it there.
As Cambodia recovers from the madness of the Khmer Rouge and a legacy of atrocity that rattles the mind and sickens the heart, her troubles now come in the form of the very thing that could save her...tourists. The article below articulates my concerns about this "oasis" being swallowed up....
Please save Cambodia! But where to start??
Invasion, genocide � and now the tourist hordes
From the Sunday Herald of Scotland
by Nick Meo in Angkor Wat
THE enigmatic carved faces that have stared out from the temples of Angkor Wat for the past 1000 years have seen much: the rise and fall of Cambodia�s god-kings, invasions by armies from Vietnam and Thailand, and vandalism by Khmer Rouge guerrillas who used the faces for target practice .
Now these images of old rulers gaze out at a new destructive threat: hordes of invading tourists. More than one million people visited the temple complex at Angkor Wat last year, turning neighbouring Siem Reap from a sleepy provincial backwater into a boomtown bursting with hotel construction sites, trendy restaurants, art galleries and travel agencies.
Luxury spas and resorts are sprouting up all over the country and eco-tourism is taking off in a wilderness in which exotic hill tribes haven�t seen a foreigner since the French colonialists departed. The millions of dollars the visitors spend are badly needed in one of Asia�s poorest nations, now relatively safe for tourists but still scarred by years of war and the communist reign of terror in which a third of the population were killed.
The new invaders may be well-heeled and are usually well-intentioned, but with their arrival come problems. Their presence puts more pressure on ancient sites and creates a market for looted antiquities. Some tourists are themselves a menace, out to exploit one of Asia�s nastiest under-age sex scenes.
Read the rest here.
As Cambodia recovers from the madness of the Khmer Rouge and a legacy of atrocity that rattles the mind and sickens the heart, her troubles now come in the form of the very thing that could save her...tourists. The article below articulates my concerns about this "oasis" being swallowed up....
Please save Cambodia! But where to start??
Invasion, genocide � and now the tourist hordes
From the Sunday Herald of Scotland
by Nick Meo in Angkor Wat
THE enigmatic carved faces that have stared out from the temples of Angkor Wat for the past 1000 years have seen much: the rise and fall of Cambodia�s god-kings, invasions by armies from Vietnam and Thailand, and vandalism by Khmer Rouge guerrillas who used the faces for target practice .
Now these images of old rulers gaze out at a new destructive threat: hordes of invading tourists. More than one million people visited the temple complex at Angkor Wat last year, turning neighbouring Siem Reap from a sleepy provincial backwater into a boomtown bursting with hotel construction sites, trendy restaurants, art galleries and travel agencies.
Luxury spas and resorts are sprouting up all over the country and eco-tourism is taking off in a wilderness in which exotic hill tribes haven�t seen a foreigner since the French colonialists departed. The millions of dollars the visitors spend are badly needed in one of Asia�s poorest nations, now relatively safe for tourists but still scarred by years of war and the communist reign of terror in which a third of the population were killed.
The new invaders may be well-heeled and are usually well-intentioned, but with their arrival come problems. Their presence puts more pressure on ancient sites and creates a market for looted antiquities. Some tourists are themselves a menace, out to exploit one of Asia�s nastiest under-age sex scenes.
Read the rest here.
Saturday, July 8, 2006
Love Story of a Blind Couple_The Last Chapters
HOW DID WE KNOW ABOUT THEM
Things started back in April 2006, when we deployed one of the first procedures of a project circle: Home assessments. These, generally speaking, are visits to each and every Landmine/UXO affected households to obtain information about the accidents, assess their current living conditions and so on, and if the family's circumstance met our criteria, an appropriate assistance would be negotiated.
In an earlier meeting with our local partner, the Cam Lo Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (SoLISA) we agreed that for 2006�s implementation, we would shoot for the first 4 out of a total 9 communes in the district. These are all heavily impacted communes for their geographic locations. If Quang Tri province was known as the fiercest battle field in Vietnam then Cam Lo was just the hottest place: Charlie 3, Leather neck square, Camp Carol, Mai Loc� The communes we started for 2006 implementation have all those names.
Clear Path's Executive Director, Martha Hathaway Granted the assistance
It was four of us splitted into three teams; each team has a local commune official as a guide. The mean of transportation were motor bikes (the only thing that could get us through narrow village paths and save us a lot of time from walking). Each team was assigned a list of more than one hundred names; meaning that each team had to visit more than 100 homes and brought back sufficient information about those families�
Anyway, it was an extremely hot day and I carried a commune official on the back of my dirt bike. We were both so tired and thus, very few words were exchanged between us as we were riding. He just spoke to my ear "left" or "right" whenever we came to a cross road and I just follow those direction guidance to get us to a potential beneficiary's home.
I didn�t meet Huyen at her parents�. It was Huyen�s father who slowly told me the happenings of the accident. At first I took it for granted that Huyen was somewhere around the house, may be didn�t want to speak to stranger. Thus, I asked the father whether I could take a photo of the survivor. Then it was revealed that Huyen was living at the district�s association. The commune guide then joined our conversation: �What is the plan for her wedding?� He turned to me explaining that the girl was going to marry a blind man who is also a UXO accident survivor... We ended up spending more time than usual at this house.
A week after the home assessments were accomplished, we drove up to the Cam Lo Blind Association for a surprise visit. There were 14 members at the association and half of them became blind because of UXO related accidents. This information was provided by Mr. Thuoc, the association�s president. We had a chance to talk to them all, included the couple: Huyen and Thien.
THE COUPLE�S FUTURE PLANS:
* Live together with Thien�s parents: share the tiny living space with the parents and two younger brothers.
* Continue making brooms, and incense sticks for a living: the job is seasonal, thus, provide unstable income.
CLEAR PATH�S ASSISTANCE:
A grant of VND 10,000,000 (approx. $ 620.00) for the construction of a compassion home: First half of the amount was directly granted to the couple on their wedding day to initiate the work. The family�s contribution is the land and other costs. This is the most appropriate assistance among many other needs for the couple that CPI can provide. A follow up assistance that we would love to do is a cow for the couple to raise to help generate and stabilize their incomes.
Clear Path Staff Attended the Wedding Party
Things started back in April 2006, when we deployed one of the first procedures of a project circle: Home assessments. These, generally speaking, are visits to each and every Landmine/UXO affected households to obtain information about the accidents, assess their current living conditions and so on, and if the family's circumstance met our criteria, an appropriate assistance would be negotiated.
In an earlier meeting with our local partner, the Cam Lo Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (SoLISA) we agreed that for 2006�s implementation, we would shoot for the first 4 out of a total 9 communes in the district. These are all heavily impacted communes for their geographic locations. If Quang Tri province was known as the fiercest battle field in Vietnam then Cam Lo was just the hottest place: Charlie 3, Leather neck square, Camp Carol, Mai Loc� The communes we started for 2006 implementation have all those names.
Clear Path's Executive Director, Martha Hathaway Granted the assistance
It was four of us splitted into three teams; each team has a local commune official as a guide. The mean of transportation were motor bikes (the only thing that could get us through narrow village paths and save us a lot of time from walking). Each team was assigned a list of more than one hundred names; meaning that each team had to visit more than 100 homes and brought back sufficient information about those families�
Anyway, it was an extremely hot day and I carried a commune official on the back of my dirt bike. We were both so tired and thus, very few words were exchanged between us as we were riding. He just spoke to my ear "left" or "right" whenever we came to a cross road and I just follow those direction guidance to get us to a potential beneficiary's home.
I didn�t meet Huyen at her parents�. It was Huyen�s father who slowly told me the happenings of the accident. At first I took it for granted that Huyen was somewhere around the house, may be didn�t want to speak to stranger. Thus, I asked the father whether I could take a photo of the survivor. Then it was revealed that Huyen was living at the district�s association. The commune guide then joined our conversation: �What is the plan for her wedding?� He turned to me explaining that the girl was going to marry a blind man who is also a UXO accident survivor... We ended up spending more time than usual at this house.
A week after the home assessments were accomplished, we drove up to the Cam Lo Blind Association for a surprise visit. There were 14 members at the association and half of them became blind because of UXO related accidents. This information was provided by Mr. Thuoc, the association�s president. We had a chance to talk to them all, included the couple: Huyen and Thien.
THE COUPLE�S FUTURE PLANS:
* Live together with Thien�s parents: share the tiny living space with the parents and two younger brothers.
* Continue making brooms, and incense sticks for a living: the job is seasonal, thus, provide unstable income.
CLEAR PATH�S ASSISTANCE:
A grant of VND 10,000,000 (approx. $ 620.00) for the construction of a compassion home: First half of the amount was directly granted to the couple on their wedding day to initiate the work. The family�s contribution is the land and other costs. This is the most appropriate assistance among many other needs for the couple that CPI can provide. A follow up assistance that we would love to do is a cow for the couple to raise to help generate and stabilize their incomes.
Clear Path Staff Attended the Wedding Party
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