'Mass destruction in slow motion'

'Mass destruction in slow motion'

By Bill Mason

BRISBANE — "When the war ends and the guns are silent, the mines remain", Overseas Service Bureau state representative Jenny Davidson told a public meeting here on May 19. Dr John Ward, NSW coordinator, Medical Association for the Prevention of War, presented a slide show on land mines and their tragic impact of society.

The meeting, entitled, "Land mines: A weapon of mass destruction in slow motion", heard a graphic account of the social and human devastation caused by land mines in Cambodia and other Third World countries.

Davidson, who spent several years in Cambodia, explained that "anti-personnel mines are not particularly aimed to kill, but rather to main, disable and to cost the enemy".

Land mines affect civilians even more than military personnel, because civilians have less mine-awareness and back-up available.

In Cambodia, "mine clearance is a precondition for a resumption of normal life", Davidson said. "There can be no development, social reconstruction or restoration of confidence among ordinary people without addressing the mine question."

The estimated 100 million mines currently laid in the Third World would take centuries to remove at present rates of clearance.

International pressure is now mounting for a review of the 1981 UN Convention on "inhumane weapons" to totally ban the manufacture and use of land mines.

For further information on the Australian campaign against land mines, contact Joan Shears on (07) 371 3640.

From GLW issue 146