For 12 years the West Virginia Campaign to Ban Landmines and PSALM: Proud Students Against Landmines and Cluster Munitions have been committed to educating the public about the devastation caused by landmines and cluster munitions through donations of their time, talent and energy.PSALM/WVCBL is “PUSHING FOR PROGRESS” on the Mine Ban Treaty! Awareness events included a balloon launch with messages of hope that a “MINE FREE WORLD” is possible and that is time for the United States to “get on board” and ban landmines and cluster bombs. PSALM/WVCBL  attended the Eleventh Meeting of the States Parties to the Anti-personnel Mine Ban Convention (11MSP) which took place in Phnom Penh, Cambodia the first week of December 2011. Our connection to Cambodia is a very real one. The first international campaigners to encourage and educate us about these issues were from the Cambodian Campaign to Ban Landmines, the co-recipients to the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.        The Mine Ban Treaty has successfully stigmatized and created an international norm against the weapon. Today, 158 nations are signatories. Casualty rates are a fraction of what they were 20 years ago. Eighty-six parties to the treaty have eradicated their stockpiles, collectively destroying more than 45 million antipersonnel mines. The treaty emerged from the human tragedy caused by mines in Cambodia as well as in so many other locations around the world. Unlike other disarmament treaties, born in Washington or Moscow, or Geneva or New York, this Convention emerged from the reality faced by people in Cambodia, in Mozambique, in Nicaragua, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Afghanistan, and in countless other mine infested towns, villages, farms, communities and countries around the world. Up until the mid 1990s, the anti-personnel mine was used seemingly without question as to its consequences. Thanks to the international movement that grew out of such places as Cambodia, the world became well aware that there are indeed tragic consequences. MORE than anything, the experience of countries like Cambodia and the tireless efforts of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines put a human face on this issue.

PSALM  students displayed large banners with hand drawn figures of themselves working for a “LANDMINE/CLUSTER BOMB FREE WORLD”. Students launched 50 red, blue and white balloons, the colors of the Cambodian and USA flags. The colors are symbolic of our hope that the United States and countries everywhere will ban the use of land mines and cluster munitions. Each balloon carried a message of hope for children around the world to be able to “walk without  fear” and for the U.S. to not “walk away”…ban landmines and cluster bombs NOW!  The students attached pictures of 5 year old cluster bomb victim, Ahmad Mokaled to each balloon. Ahmad has become a symbol for our students of the indiscriminate nature of these weapons and the devastation theycause.

With the 11MSP, the Convention is returned to a place where it all started two decades ago, Cambodia, a country that remains one of the most mine affected countries in the world. It was also the chance to show the world that this is an issue that countless victims live with today. It was an opportunity to remember that the Convention has a human face. It is the face of a sister, brother, mother, father or child who has lost a loved one as a result of a landmine.

An important aspect of our mission of educating others is to document the issue in affected areas. This allows us to share with others the effects of landmines and cluster munitions on innocent civilians, days, months and years after conflicts are over. Last year, I had the opportunity to take photographs Xieng Khouang province in Laos. These photos show the devastation caused by these indiscriminate weapons. Schools and school children in mined areas, farmers working in fields marked with the all too familiar “danger mines” symbols and sadly, the victims/survivors who had only been out looking for food, water or firewood. The United States has not used antipersonnel mines since the 1991 Gulf War — 20 years ago. It banned export of the weapons in 1992, and ceased production in 1997. Despite the obvious moral and humanitarian reasons for joining this treaty, the United States has yet to do so. U.S. compliance would eliminate the excuse used by other key powers, including Russia, China, Vietnam, Pakistan and India, for not joining the treaty. We join with 16 Nobel Peace Prize laureates and 68 U.S. Senators, more than the two-thirds majority needed for Senate ratification of the treaty) who have urged President Obama to join the 158 other countries, including all of our NATO allies, that have signed the treaty.

WVCBL/PSALM say “JOIN THE TEAM” AND “PUSH FOR PROGRESS”! The time is NOW for action! EVERY child should be able to walk without fear!

PSALM teams up with Landmines Blow! for this project. Landmines Blow! is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness of the global landmine crisis. Benefits of Gaining Access to Clean Water…

* Women and children do not need to travel through areas littered with landmines to collect water.

* The time saved in carrying water means that women have more time for being involved in productive activities (such as agriculture, tending animals or income generating activities such as spinning cotton for sale at markets).

* Women are able to send their children (especially female children) to school as a result of not needing children to help with water collection.

* Both health and hygiene improves across the community.  Our wells provide families with on-going access to clean water which can be used for drinking, cooking, bathing, washing clothes, and feeding animals and chickens.

* The wastewater from the wells is used for home gardening. Food grown can support a family with extra being sold at the market.

* Common water related diseases are less likely to occur, these diseases especially deadly to children.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HOW TO GET INVOLVED:

www.icbl.org, www.stopclustermunitions.org, www.uscbl.org, and www.landminesblow.org.

PSALM/WVCBL Celebrate the Mine Ban Treaty

On March 1st PSALM students released 50 balloons marking the anniversary of the Mine Ban Treaty Entry Into Force and their own founding. Each balloon will carried a message of hope that the United States and countries everywhere will “GET ON BOARD” and ban these indiscriminate weapons so that children the world over can “walk without fear” in a world free of landmines and cluster bombs. PSALM/WVCBL will hold awareness events throughout March and April.

Led by State Representative Barbara Fleischauer and escorted by local delegates to the WV House of Representatives PSALM students in their tie-dyed PSALM T-shirts heard the reading of House Resolution 30 honoring their work to ban landmines and cluster bombs.

PSALM students made presentations at the West Virginia State Legislature and were presented with a WV House of Representatives Resolution commending their efforts. Led by State Representative Barbara Fleischauer and escorted by local delegates to the front of the chamber, the students in their tie-dyed PSALM T-shirts heard the reading of House Resolution 30 honoring their work and received a copy of the resolution. The document notes that mines and cluster bombs continue to endanger civilians long after a conflict is finished. After the presentation, students talked about why they participate. “We do this because there are people out there dying and we want to save their lives,” said Melanie, 10. Logan, 11, described how some people must cross a mine field to get water. “There are people that are hurt.

They’re innocent people.” Lexi, 10, was carrying a prosthetic leg. She said some of those who lose legs to mines are too poor to afford a leg like that, and must be fitted with wooden legs. “It’s meaningful to us because we really want to ban these weapons that are harming children”.

WVCBL/PSALM say…The TIME IS NOW…“U.S. citizens and other campaigners from around the world have been calling on the U.S. to join the Mine Ban Treaty since the conventions opened for signature in 1997,” said Zach Hudson, USCBL Coordinator. “Since the policy review announcement this outcry has only intensified; the administration has received letters of support for the Mine Ban Treaty from 68 Senators, NGO leaders, key NATO allies, 15 Nobel Peace Prize laureates, victims of U.S. landmines, and countless concerned Americans. Enough is enough—it’s time to join.” The USCBL has noted that it would not be difficult for the U.S. to join the Mine Ban Treaty, as it is already in compliance with the majority of the convention’s provisions: the U.S. has not used antipersonnel landmines since 1991, has not exported any since 1992, and has not produced any since 1997. The U.S. is also the world’s largest individual donor to mine action programs. Part of the Mine Ban Treaty anniversary celebrations, ICBL campaigners will be meeting with U.S. government officials at U.S. embassies around the world to urge the U.S. to join the Mine Ban Treaty. The United States Campaign to Ban Landmine, currently coordinated by Handicap International, is a coalition of thousands of people and U.S. non-governmental organizations including PSALM/WVCBL working to: (1) ensure no U.S. use, production, or transfer of antipersonnel landmines and cluster munitions; (2) encourage the U.S. to join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty and the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions; and (3) secure high levels of U.S. government support for clearance and assistance programs for victims of landmines, cluster munitions and other explosive remnants of war. The USCBL is the U.S. affiliate of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL)—the co-laureate of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize—and  is a member of the Cluster Munition Coalition, an international coalition working to protect civilians from the effects of cluster munitions by promoting universal adherence to and full implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. JOIN US! www.uscbl.org.

The shoes were placed on tables with articles about the Mine Ban Treaty, the Convention on Cluster Munitions and materials collected from the CCM 1^st MSP and past MBT MSP meetings.

Students arranged presentations and hosted a reception in connection with the exhibit. The response was amazing! Reponses such as “I had no idea the impact was that serious” to “what can I do” allowed the students to educate the visitors about our work and what we hope to accomplish. PSALM students work countless hours to educate others about the devastation caused by landmines and cluster bombs to children around the world. Attending the 1^st MSP was a sobering experience that made me realize the importance of the work of PSALM students. We believe our mission is possible! Campaigners, including PSALM/WVCBL will continue to urge ALL countries to get on board the treaties to ban cluster bombs and landmines.

As coordinator, I recently returned from Laos where I represented our PSALM students and WVCBL at the 1st Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Vientiane, Lao PDR November 8th-12th, 2010. Lao PDR was a highly appropriate venue as it is the most heavily bombed country in the world. The scale of devastation caused by cluster bombs and landmines is immense and shocking.

While in Laos, the Cluster Munition Coalition arranged for delegates to visit to Xieng Khuang province. I cannot understate the impact of a field trip to Xieng Khouang province which is one of the most heavily bombed areas in the Lao PDR. While there we witnessed cluster munition clearance operations ongoing by UXO Lao and the destruction of cluster munitions. It was powerful and truly life changing to witness the extent of the contamination first hand.

As a teacher, what was particularly distressing was the close proximity of a school near this area. As I watched the children play, I could only wonder how often they came into contact with these remnants of war. I could easily imagine how the curiosity of a child would lead them to investigate these “bombies”. Many of the victims happen upon them while partaking of their daily activities. We were permitted to view the clearance team as they used metal detectors for surface clearance to detect weapons underground. When bombs are found, they were detonated either with a fuse or by an electrical charge. Seeing first-hand the painstaking work of deminers, looking at the pock-marked earth and feeling the shock of a blast even from a safe distance gave us a better sense of the reality of the cluster bomb problem that people face every day. While in Vientiane, we were reminded of the long-term devastation cluster munitions cause when, during the course of the meeting, a cluster submunition explosion in Lao PDR’s Bolikhamxay province killed a 10-year-old girl and injured her 15-year-old sister.

Throughout the week, meetings were held to clarify issues of victim assistance, clearance and risk education. COPE, the National Rehabilitation Center, hosted a wheelchair basketball game. It allowed us, as delegates, to view the centers’ facilities which are designed to work with the victims in their process of rehabilitation.

The Vientiane Action Plan, adopted at the end of the meeting, commits to “implement fully all of the obligations under the Convention”. In addition, it speeds up deadlines and sets budgets and targets to make it happen. At the closing ceremony of the Vientiane meeting, a delegation of survivors and a delegation of youth leaders from around the world each delivered strong declarations affirming their commitment to carry forward the campaign and hold governments to account.

An important aspect of our mission of educating others is to document the issue in affected areas. This allows PSALM students and WVCBL members to see the effects of landmines and cluster munitions on the people that have to deal with them day in and day out. It also shows PSALM students that they have a voice and their actions can have a positive impact on others… an invaluable lesson in hope and perseverance.

WVCBL: West Virginia Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Bombs/PSALM: Proud Students Against Landmines and Cluster Bombs joined campaigners around the world to “drum up” support through a range of actions aimed celebrating the
Cluster Bomb Ban Entry Into Force and raising awareness about the need to sign the treaty. Events in the City of Morgantown and the state of West Virginia during the month of August include awareness days, art installations, drumming circles and banners displayed throughout our city.

On August 3rd “Cluster Bomb/Landmine Awareness Week ” and the work of PSALM/WVCBL was recognized by City Council and presented with a City Proclamation by Morgantown Mayor, Bill Byrne. The proclamation encourages our national leaders to ban landmines and cluster munitions. On August 14th, PSALM/WVCBL joined campaigners around the globe and hosted drummers and musicians for a “Beat the Drum” event at the Monongalia Art Center to raise awareness about the Convention on Cluster Munitions and to celebrate the ENTRY INTO FORCE of the CCM as of August 1st.

A slide presentation about the need to ban cluster munitions, landmines and their victims was projected on the side of the Mon Art Center as part of a student art project to raise awareness. The slides included artworks by students in PSALM. The slideshow was shown at night in various locations in our community.

BAN CLUSTER BOMBS!

On April 23rd, 2010 PSALM began the 100 Day Countdown to the Cluster Munitions Treaty becoming binding, international law! This is truly a milestone in the history of diplomatic disarmament. We are excited to raise awareness, be a part of the process and essentially witness the “birth” of a new, international treaty.

On June 5th, WVCBL and Morgantown Drummers “BEAT THE DRUM” to Ban Cluster Bombs at the Monongalia Arts Center. PSALM/WVCBL wish to thank Tim Terman and drummers for their efforts to “drum” up support for the CMT!

On August 3rd, Morgantown City Council will make a Proclamation recognizing the Convention on Cluster Munitions and the work of PSALM students! We are asking drummers and musicians to join us the month of August to “Drum” up support for the banning of cluster munitions.

Support the CMT!

The year 2010 marks an amazing passage of time for PSALM/ WVCBL (Proud Students Against Landmines and Cluster Bombs and the West Virginia Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Bombs) commemorated the 11th Anniversary of the Mine Ban Treaty and the 30th Ratification of the Cluster Munitions Treaty. PSALM students released balloons to raise awareness about landmines and cluster munitions with messages that read, “A LANDMINE AND CLUSTER BOMB FREE WORLD IS POSSIBLE”. We also celebrated the eleventh year anniversary of our founding by an amazing group of art students who wondered, “How can we make a difference in the world today?” The quote by Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed, it is the only thing that ever has” really rings true of the many people in the world that work for peace and justice.

We want to thank ALL OF YOU, our mentors and role models in the efforts to ban landmines and cluster munitions. You have inspired our students to use their talent and energy to make the world safer for children everywhere! YOU make our mission POSSIBLE!