Menstuff® has compiled the following information on Mind
Fields.
What Is Adopt-A-Minefield®?
Why Is It Necessary to Have a Campaign to Clear
Minefields?
How Does Adopt-A-Minefield®
Work?
What Is Unique about
Adopt-A-Minefield®?
Who Coordinates the Adopt-A-Minefield®
Campaign?
What Organizations Does
Adopt-A-Minefield® Work With?
Does Adopt-A-Minefield® Have An
International Network of Campaigns?
How Does Adopt a Minefield® Help Land
mine survivors?
Mine Field History
Land Mine Facts
Land Mines and
Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Resources
Related issue: History
Cleaning up mine fields is an arduous , sometimes deadly, and always costly endeavor. The Adopt-A-Mind-Field® organization, a unique program of the United Nations Association of the USA, has received over $1,000,000 in pledges for land mine clearance and land-mine education in countries throughout the world. Donations from as little as $10 to as much as $49,500 have been collected from individuals, community groups, and the US Department of State, which has pledged a total of $231,200 to clear eight minefields. Over $550,000 has already been collected and turned over to the U.N. The Better World Fund, UNA-USA's financial partner in this campaign, has provided UNA-USA with administrative funding, ensuring that every dollar raised is forwarded to the U.N. to support its global mine clearance efforts. There is a formal agreement between UNA-USA and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in which UNDP identifies minefields to be cleared and UNA identifies sponsors to "adopt" them. To date, 33 minefields have been adopted for clearance in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Croatia and Mozambique. UNA members and nonmembers alike are mobilizing to confront the land mine crisis, demonstrating what UNA-USA has long known - that Americans are eager for ways to play a positive role in international issues while the government sits by ignoring the situation.
The impact of land mines on war torn societies is devastating. Broadly speaking, they impede the ability of mine-affected communities to fully recover from conflicts after the cessation of hostilities. Beyond the immediate dangers to life and limb, land mines impose a heavy economic burden on these communities. It costs between $300 and $l,000 to remove each mine and $100 to $3,000 to provide an artificial limb to survivors of mine accidents. An adult must replace their prosthesis once every three to five years, and a child must obtain a new prosthesis every six months. The UN Association of the US is the nation's largest grassroots foreign policy organization and the leading center of policy research on the UN and global issues. You may want to join this effort to clear a path to a safer world. Nine members of the Colorado Adopt-A-Mine Initiative traveled to Mozambique, where their funds will demine five acres of farm land. See more at www.landmines.org
The Campaign seeks national and international sponsors to adopt minefields that the United Nations has identified as being in urgent need of clearance. Sponsors raise funds in their communities to clear their adopted minefields and return land to productive use. Every dollar raised for Adopt-A-Minefield® is earmarked for mine clearance projects.
Why Is It Necessary to Have a Campaign to Clear Minefields?
The global land mine crisis is one of the most pervasive problems facing the world today. It is estimated that there are between 60 and 70 million land mines in the ground in at least 70 countries. Land mines maim or kill approximately 26,000 civilians every year, including 8,000 to 10,000 children. Those who survive endure a lifetime of physical, psychological, and economic hardship.
Tragically, local communities in mine-affected countries often do not have the resources to clear their own land and to provide adequate care for their land mine survivors. They depend primarily upon financial assistance from governments and international and non governmental organizations. Adopt-A-Minefield® is a grassroots effort to provide this aid.
How Does Adopt-A-Minefield® Work?
The Campaign seeks national and international sponsors to adopt minefields that the United Nations has identified as being in urgent need of clearance. The cost of clearing selected minefields ranges from thousands to millions of dollars, depending on the size and type of minefield and the complexity of the demining task. Sponsors may adopt entire minefields or contribute smaller amounts, which are pooled with other contributions. Sponsors raise funds in their communities to clear their adopted minefields and return land to productive use. Every dollar raised is forwarded to the United Nations for mine clearance.
What Is Unique about Adopt-A-Minefield®?
Adopt-A-Minefield® is designed to move beyond the political and policy debates typically associated with banning the use of land mines. It is a grassroots effort to provide aid to mine-affected countries that do not have the resources to clear their own land and care for their land mine survivors. The Campaign enables people at a local level to make a difference internationally and to establish long-lasting bonds with the mine-affected communities that will benefit directly from their efforts.
The Adopt-A-Minefield® Campaign's website, www.landmines.org, reaches millions of potential sponsors in their homes, businesses, schools, and other venues. The website provides comprehensive information on the global land mine crisis, as well as detailed information for individuals and groups interested in initiating local campaigns. The website also provides a forum for sponsors to interact with one another, learn about each other's activities, share lessons learned, and ask questions of land mine experts. Additionally, sponsors can adopt minefields and make contributions online.
Who Coordinates the Adopt-A-Minefield® Campaign?
Adopt-A-Minefield® is formalized by an exclusive agreement between the United Nations Association of the USA, the Better World Fund, and the United Nations Development Programme(UNDP). UNDP has overall management responsibilities for the Adopt-A-Minefield® program within the United Nations system and works closely with the United Nations Office for Project Services, to whom it has subcontracted the coordination of all Adopt-A-Minefield® demining activities.
What Organizations Does Adopt-A-Minefield® Work With?
Adopt-A-Minefield® is a program of the United Nations Association of the USA and the Better World Fund, in partnership with the following organizations:
Does Adopt-A-Minefield® Have An International Network of Campaigns?
Adopt-A-Minefield® has established two new partner campaigns - Adopt-A-Minefield (Canada)™ and Adopt-A-Minefield (UK)™ - to bring the land mine message to communities outside the United States and to raise funds for mine clearance and victim assistance projects on a more global scale. The Adopt-A-Minefield (Canada)™ Campaign is a partnership between UNA-USA, BWF, and the Canadian Land mine Foundation. The Adopt-A-Minefield (UK)™ Campaign is a partnership between UNA-USA, BWF, the Heather Mills Health Trust, and the United Nations Association of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
How Does Adopt a Minefield® Help Land mine survivors?
Adopt-A-Minefield® has entered into a unique partnership with the Heather Mills Health Trust, a charitable grant-making trust based in the United Kingdom, to address the plight of land mine survivors. The Trust's founder, Heather Mills, has a long-standing record of working with refugees in the former Yugoslavia and her personal experience as an amputee have made her a passionate advocate for land mine victims worldwide. The Adopt-A-Minefield® Campaign has, together with the Heather Mills Health Trust, established Adopt-A-Minefield (UK)™, a campaign partner of Adopt-A-Minefield® whose objective is to support both mine clearance operations and survivor assistance projects. Seventy-five percent of all funds raised through Adopt-A-Minefield (UK)™ is earmarked for mine clearance operations and twenty-five percent of all funds raised is earmarked for survivor assistance projects.
Source: www.landmines.org/campaign/index-cam.asp
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