May 2013
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India's 3,000 child soldiers: →
“It has been reported that children of different age groups are trained and assigned different roles. The new entrants, aged from six to 12, are initially used as spies and couriers. They are also trained in basic drills and armed with .303 rifles. Children above 12 are used as fighters. They are trained to make and plant landmines and bombs, gather intelligence and for sentry duty. Young...
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The Humpty Dumpty Institute Trains Iraqi... →
The Humpty Dumpty Institute in partnership with the Iraqi Independent Film Centre (IIFC) conducted a workshop for 13 young Iraqi filmmakers in Baghdad from May 1-10. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad funded the workshop with additional support coming from Iraq Al-Rafdin and Human Film UK/NL. The training was part of the International Film Exchange, a program of the Humpty Dumpty Institute that trains...
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Snake arms and crystal legs: Artificial limbs push... →
Mainstreaming disability with artistic artificial limbs
London (CNN) — With her flaming red hair, Marilyn Monroe figure, and lurid green snake casually coiled around the arm, Jo-Jo Cranfield looks like a real-life muse emerging from a Salvador Dali painting.
It’s impossible not to stare at the neon python on her left wrist. But take a closer look and you’ll discover that...
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Sandia Offers Non-explosive Fertilizer Formula →
A Sandia engineer who trained U.S. soldiers to avoid improvised explosive devices (IEDs) has developed a fertilizer that helps plants grow but can’t detonate a bomb. It’s an alternative to ammonium nitrate, an agricultural staple that is also the raw ingredient in most of the IEDs in Afghanistan.
Sandia has decided not to patent or license the formula, but to make it freely available in hopes of...
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South Africa company unveils new mine-protected... →
South Africa’s globally respected specialist mine protection and demining company, Denel Mechem, made two major announcements last month. The first was of the company’s development of a new-generation version of the renowned Casspir mine-protected vehicle, the Casspir NG 2000. The second was of the develop- ment of a new multipurpose truck fitted with a new mine-protected cab. The Casspir first...
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Senegal: MFDC gunmen abduct 12 mining-clearance... →
Twelve mine-clearing experts, including three women, have been abducted in Casamance, Southern Senegal, by members of the Movement of the Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC), reliable sources told PANA here Monday.
Demba Keita, an official of a nongovernmental organization (NGO), said they noted Friday the disappearance of the 12-member team from the village of Kailou near the border with...
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The Limits of Detection →
In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, dogs seemed to pop up everywhere. Not just any canines, of course: highly trained detection dogs, at the side of police officers or federal agents. While it’s too early to say exactly what kind of permanent changes we might see as a result of the bombing, one good bet is that the presence of these kinds of dogs at almost any event at which a large...
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Egypt orders new mine-clearance equipment →
The Egyptian Army will receive a second Armtrac 400 mine-clearance vehicle from the United Kingdom as it continues to clear up the millions of landmines left over from the Second World War. The contract was signed during a ceremony on Wednesday and is worth $1.2 million, according to Egyptian news publication Ahram Online. Armtrac will also train four Egyptian military personnel to use the...
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Rapid Assessments of the Needs of War Victims with... →
According to a United Nations spokesman, “Every hour people are being killed, or being maimed and becoming permanently disabled in Syria.” So many horrors are occurring that it is impossible to provide an exact number.
When we asked the Medical Health Commissions for the Syrian Revolution and the field hospitals medical teams about the estimated number of either temporary or...
April 2013
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U.N., OAS to help clear Colombia's minefields →
It’s an uphill task and absence of peace with armed rebels means more mines may be laid in Colombia’s vulnerable regions as international aid tries to demine areas affected by decades of conflict.
BOGOTA, April 25 (UPI) — It’s an uphill task and absence of peace with armed rebels means more mines may be laid in Colombia’s vulnerable regions as international aid...
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'Bomb Bees' can sniff out landmines 5 kilometres... →
Bees have a sense of smell that rivals any dog, making them perfect for landmine detecting
Saturday, April 27, 2013, 8:26 AM - We’ve heard of bomb sniffing dogs and more recently mine-finding dolphins, but now scientists in Croatia have bred a specific colony of bees that can sniff out buried landmines.
The new breed of bee can sniff out landmines buried in the ground up to FIVE...
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Mine clearance in South Sudan – in pictures →
Decades of conflict in South Sudan have left behind a landscape littered with mines and other unexploded devices, making it dangerous for local people to live in certain areas. However, a collaborative effort by the Mines Advisory Group and the UK’s Department for International Development to clear explosives means local people are beginning to move across their land more freely.
A mine...
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Jody Williams Nobel Prize winner →
Jody Williams won the Peace Prize in 1997 for her work to ban landmines. Matthew Bannister finds out about her life, how she became such a successful campaigner and what she is working on now. Listen to her Outlook interview on the BBC World Service.
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The Humpty Dumpty Institute Launches the... →
The Humpty Dumpty Institute today announced the launch of the International Film Exchange (IFE) which trains filmmakers with special promise from developing countries and helps them use the power of film and television to highlight important social issues. In addition, the IFE raises awareness in the U.S. film industry about the struggles of promising filmmakers abroad when attempting to document...
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Mali rebels used Libyan weapons - report →
Rebel fighters in Mali made extensive use of weapons originally from Libyan arsenals during 2012/13, a joint investigation by The Small Arms Survey and Conflict Armament Research has found. In a new report, they note the rebellion in particularly the northern areas of Mali differed in scale and intensity to previous Tuareg rebellions in the same region. “This,” the report notes, “has been...
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Global Campaign to Ban Killer Robots Models... →
When international human rights groups launch a global campaign next week to ban “fully autonomous weapons”, they will follow in the footsteps of the highly-successful 1990s collective worldwide effort to ban anti-personnel landmines and blinding lasers.
The new campaign, to be launched in London, will be aimed primarily at the United States: the only country with a formal policy on fully...
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Syria Faces New Claim on Chemical Arms →
Britain and France have written separately to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations that there is credible information suggesting Syria’s government has used chemical weapons in the civil war on multiple occasions since last December, diplomats said Thursday.
The diplomats, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said there had been an exchange of letters with the secretary general...
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Large Improvements in Afghanistan Since 2001
Only two years after the Taliban was overthrown in 2001, 7,000 public schools enrolled roughly 3.9 million children, 25 percent of which were females. There are now 12,000 public schools that enroll roughly 9 million children, 40 percent of which are females. With the increase in adult learning centers, more and more adults are learning how to read and write. Since 2001, the private-business...
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Zimbabwe has '5,500 landmines per kilometre' →
Speakmore Mandere (right) killed in Zengeza blast (left) earlier this year
ZIMBABWE has 5,500 unexploded landmines per kilometre, a UK-based organisation dedicated to removing the debris of war has claimed.
Despite clearance conducted by the military demining squadron following the 1970s liberation war, Zimbabwe still has more than 200 square kilometres of ground assessed to be impacted by...
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Amputee Coalition Responds to Boston Marathon... →
Coalition Reaches Out to Amputee Support Group to Help Get Limb Loss Materials to Boston Hospitals
Manassas, VA, April 15, 2013 – In the wake of the explosions at the Boston Marathon, the Amputee Coalition reached out to the leaders of the New England Amputee Association to help quickly get limb loss materials to the Boston hospitals that are treating the injured. The New England Amputee...
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Landmines still extensively used in Karen State →
These four villagers, including 18-year-old Saw H—-, shown here on September 24th 2007, all lost the lower sections of one leg in separate incidents when, upon stepping on landmines, the lower part of the limb was blown off. The Myanmar-manufactured M-14 landmine, which the Myanmar Army regularly deploys in civilian areas in Karen State is often not fatal to adults but severely mutilates...
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Landmines still blight Southeast Asia →
Hundreds of people across Southeast Asia – often children or impoverished villagers looking for scrap metal –continue to be maimed or killed every year by land mines and unexploded bombs, despite a concerted effort by governments to rid the region of the scourge.
It’s a point not lost on the Vietnamese, who are pushing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to take the lead on this...
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Unexploded Devices Leave Hazard for Gaza Children →
Gaza’s children are most likely to come into contact with unexploded ordnances left by Israeli and Palestinian forces, Mohammed Suliman writes.
A member of Hamas security forces looks at the remains of spent ammunition and unexploded bombs, fired by Israeli warplanes during Israel’s 22-day offensive, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip Jan. 26, 2009. (photo by REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu...
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Unexploded Cluster Bomblets Repurposed As DIY... →
Here we can clearly see that PTAB 2.5m cluster bomblets have been modified with new fuzes and new tail fins. This is the only example I’ve come across of this type of DIY mortar bomb, so it’s unclear if this is just an experiment. It is of course extremely dangerous to handle unexploded cluster bomblets, and it seems these opposition members have managed to find a very risky source...
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Afghan de-mining threatened by int’l pullout →
Since Haji Abdul Samad lost his leg in a minefield more than 20 years ago, he has unearthed at least 1,000 explosives and become one of Afghanistan’s most experienced de-miners.
“After my accident, I told myself that I had to do work to save lives. I had to clean the rivers, hills, villages,” Samad, who was fighting against the Soviets when he stepped on a mine in 1989,...
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Global Support Towards a Mine-Free World →
In the modern world today, a morally outlawed and victim activated weapon, (because no one controls the detonations), the antipersonnel landmine (AP mines) is still being used by a few selective governments and non-state armed groups. Due to indiscriminate use in the past (and present day) of landmines, thousands of people are killed or maimed. The victims include, children, civilians, aid...
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Humpty Dumpty Institute Reaches Milestones for... →
New York – The Humpty Dumpty Institute (HDI) is pleased to announce that the “Mushrooms with a Mission” program has recently reached several major milestones including record sales of mushrooms, a doubling in the number of participating farming families, and a tenfold increase in the program’s capacity to cultivate mushrooms. “Mushrooms with a Mission” is a joint program of HDI and...
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Issue 17.1 is now online! →
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One Million Children in Iraq Impacted by Landmines... →
Nearly one million Iraqi children are affected by the presence of landmines with hundreds having been maimed or killed by exploded cluster bomblets since 1991, a UN statement acknowledged.
A statement issued by the United Nations mission to Iraq on the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action calls for more progress to eliminate the threat of landmines to the...
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Vietnam suggests ASEAN set up UXO expert group →
As an initiative to resolve the serious consequences and threats of unexploded bombs, mines and explosives leftover from wars, Vietnam has proposed that ASEAN set up a group of experts in charge of the field.
Unexploded bombs found in Khe Sanh Town in Quang Tri Province in northern Vietnam on March 22, 2013
The initiative was proposed by Deputy Defence Minister, Senior Lieut. Gen Nguyen Chi...
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Berlin Unexploded Bomb Shines Light on Buried... →
An unexploded World War II bomb discovered this week is the tip of the iceberg.
Russian soldiers flying a flag made from table cloths over the ruins of the Reichstag in Berlin after storming the city. Unexploded bombs from sieges like this one still litter the German landscape. Photograph by Yevgeny Khaldei, Getty Images.
Berlin traffic ground to a halt on Wednesday after a bomb was...
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40 Years After Secret U.S. War in Laos Ended,... →
Yesterday, Democracy Now! had a great interview with the Legacies of War “Voices from Laos” speakers! On April 25, CISR will sponsor this speaker’s tour. Join us to hear it from 7-8:30 p.m. at JMU’s HHS 1302. It’s free and open to the public.
FYI, since 1993 the U.S. has invested $62,061,333 in conventional weapons destruction (CWD) programs in Laos for clearance and safe disposal of mines and...
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United Nations Approves Arms Trade Treaty →
The United Nations General Assembly voted on Tuesday morning to approve the final text of the world’s first treaty regulating the trade of arms between countries, despite pressure from the National Rifle Association to have the United States kill the measure.
In passing the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) — with a vote of 154 in favor to 3 with 23 abstentions — the General Assembly has finally...
