Sudan is one of the ten most landmine-affected countries in the world. A truce in the long-running civil conflict (which is separate from and far predates the crisis in Darfur) has now allowed the United Nations to begin work in southern Sudan, to clear landmines and unexploded ordnance.
Nobody knows precisely how many mines there are in the country, but Sudan’s 21-year civil war has resulted in a tremendously widespread problem with mines and unexploded ordnance. Many towns in southern Sudan suffer from the after-effects of major battles and aerial bombardments. Untold numbers of live bombs, grenades, and shells lie below the surface of fields near homes, putting children and their families at risk for dismemberment or death.
Nobody knows precisely how many mines there are in the country, but Sudan’s 21-year civil war has resulted in a tremendously widespread problem with mines and unexploded ordnance. Many towns in southern Sudan suffer from the after-effects of major battles and aerial bombardments. Untold numbers of live bombs, grenades, and shells lie below the surface of fields near homes, putting children and their families at risk for dismemberment or death.
An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people are killed or maimed by landmines every year, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Thousands of these victims are children. Landmines and unexploded ordnance violate a great many of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, including those that establish a child’s rights to life, to a safe environment in which to play, to health, clean water, sanitary conditions and to an adequate education.
What do you think of all this and what do you think should be done about it? Do you think that what is being done is enough?
*Heather McPherson
3 comments:
I think this situation is awful. The country and the government are not doing anything about the landmines since they are letting them stay in the ground and risking the lives of millions of children. What they should be doing is blocking of area by area and removing any left over landmines. And keep doing it until there are none left and the country is safe.
-Brittney Costa
I think that these landmines are horrible. With all the problems they are having, the landmines are all they need. I think that they should take them out but they should be moving them faster then they are due to all the injuries.
*Heather McPherson
The UN assessment team recommended that, “until there is peace and stability, large scale mine clearance should not be undertaken.” I think although many organizations such as the Red Cross and UNICEF are helping spread mine awareness, safety training, and rehabilitation of the medical system in Sudan, more needs to be done to remove the mines all together. Today only a small fraction of Sudan has been cleared and they are unable to keep up with the rate of injuries. Very few landmine victims survive to make it to hospital because travel in the area is difficult and usually the nearest hospital is a hundred miles. Its terrible to hear that millions of children and their families are dying because of this.
.MaryBeth Payne
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