http://e-info.org.tw/node/57110
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2010/2010-07-01-02.html
摘譯自2010年7月1日ENS阿富汗，巴格蘭報導；洪美惠編譯；蔡麗伶審校
獲得2009年奧斯卡獎的戰爭驚悚片「危機倒數」(The Hurt Locker)，飾演拆除炸彈專家的男星傑瑞米雷納(Jeremy Renner)，日前在阿富汗，學習聯合國如何清除這國家極度危害環境的地雷。
雷納說，「我在這兒學習，「然後再去教導別人，一項議題是可以用妥善管理的基金來解決。」雷納跟著聯合國的清除地雷計畫，走過喀布爾(Kabul)、巴米揚(Bamyan)和貝格朗(Bagram)等地。和高中生一起參加地雷危害教育課程，跟爆炸的倖存者說說話，並到地雷區去。「我是個行動派，我喜歡在這兒聯合國所做的事，行動-除雷行動。」他說，「我們不僅僅是談論而已，我們要起而行並解決問題。」
雷納說，他看見聯合國這項行動的好處，尤其是農民現在正在之前的地雷區種植小麥、馬鈴薯和其他農作物。
從4月起，「阿富汗除雷計畫」(Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan)已經設立清除地雷基金，目標是2.42億美元。但至今，只有9400百萬美元確實到位，還短缺1.48億美元。如果計畫完成，157平方公里受污染土地將以安全的狀況還給社區。
直到6月22日，在阿富汗，根據聯合國資料，散佈在654平方公里的區域的2127個社區，還有將近6700個已知的地雷和其他爆裂物。
截至目前為止，聯合國除雷計畫已經清除63個地雷區和3個戰地。他們毀掉11000個傷人地雷(anti-personnel mines)），超過400個反坦克地雷(anti-tank mines)，以及將近400000個爆裂殘餘物。
世界上最久、最大的地雷行動計畫，位在在阿富汗。其傷亡人數從2005年每個月超過100位，因為大量除雷，光在2008年去除84000個地雷，到了2009年底，降至每個月低於60人，根據聯合國地雷行動服務組(United Nations Mine Action Service)說。
然而，每年還是繼續發生新的危害。
4月11日，在阿富汗南部坎達哈省(Kandahar)攻擊事件，有4位除雷成員被殺害，還有17人受傷。除雷小組是幫阿富汗除雷組織(Demining Agency for Afghanistan)工作，是位於坎達哈省的非政府組織。
「除雷行動是中立的人道行為，不應與國家軍事行為混為一談。」Haider Reza說，他是阿富汗除雷行動協調中心(Mine Action Coordination Centre of Afghanistan)執行長。這個組織由政府和聯合國支持，對所有除雷行動提供計畫、管理和品質保證。
《渥太華地雷禁止條約》(Mine Ban Treaty)禁止全部傷人地雷，並要求在2013年以前，清除阿富汗所有地雷。但是，到現在才達成39%。
'Hurt Locker' Star to Help Raise Funds for Demining Afghanistan
BAGRAM, Afghanistan, July 1, 2010 (ENS) - Actor Jeremy Renner, who played a bomb disposal expert in the Academy Award-winning 2009 war thriller "The Hurt Locker," was in Afghanistan this week to learn what the United Nations is doing to clear the country of landmines, the ultimate environmental hazard.
"I'm here to be educated," he said, "and then educate people about an issue that can be solved with the proper levels of funding."
Renner toured UN demining projects in Kabul, Bamyan and Bagram, took part in a mine risk education session with high school students, spoke with survivors of explosions and ventured onto a minefield.
Jeremy Renner on a minefield at Bagram, Afghanistan, June 30, 2010. (Photo courtesy UN)
"I'm a man of action and that's why I like what the United Nations is doing here, action - mine action," he said. "We are not just talking about it, but taking action to solve this problem."
Renner said he saw first-hand the benefits of the UN's activities, particularly in former minefields where farmers are now growing wheat, potatoes and other crops.
Demining success depends on the level of funding available for this dangerous, demanding work, and in mine-infested Afghanistan funds for this year amount to less than half of what is needed.
For the year starting in April, the Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan has set a funding target for mine clearance of US$242 million. To date, only $94 million has been secured against this target, leaving a shortfall of $148 million.
If the planned projects are completed, some 157 square kilometers of contaminated land could be returned to communities in a safe condition.
Despite the continuous efforts of the UN Mine Action Service and the Mine Action Coordination Centre of Afghanistan, the country is still riddled with mines, left from decades of conflict.
Last year in Afghanistan, 40 people were killed or injured by landmines or other explosive remnants of war. This casualty rate is the lowest in a decade says the UN Mine Action Service.
Throughout the country as of June 22, there were nearly 6,700 known landmines and other explosives in 2,127 communities spread across 654 square kilometers, according to UN figures.
Demining operation in Afghanistan's Samangan province, April 2009 (Photo by Jacob Simkin courtesy MACCA)
So far this year, UN deminers have cleared or canceled 63 minefields and three battle areas. They destroyed more than 11,000 anti-personnel mines, over 400 anti-tank mines and nearly 400,000 explosive remnants of war in the process.
In Afghanistan, site of the world's oldest and largest mine action program, the number of casualties dropped from more than 100 per month in 2005 to less than 60 per month at the end of 2009, due to the destruction of large numbers of landmines, including 84,000 mines in 2008 alone, according to the United Nations Mine Action Service.
Yet new hazards continue to be found each year.
And on April 11, four deminers were killed and 17 others injured in an attack in Kandahar in the southern part of the country. The demining team was working with the Demining Agency for Afghanistan, a nongovernmental organization based in Kandahar.
"Mine action is a neutral humanitarian activity, which should not be confused with military operations in the country," said Haider Reza, program director of the Mine Action Coordination Centre of Afghanistan, which is supported by the government and the UN and provides planning, management and quality assurance for all mine action activities throughout the country.
Reza said, "I call on all my fellow Afghans to support this important humanitarian work to protect Afghan men, women and children from the threat of landmines and other explosive remnants of war."
The Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty bans all anti-personnel landmines and requires total clearance of mines from Afghanistan by a target date of 2013, but at this stage only 39 percent of the hazards have been removed.
On December 3-4, 1997 the Convention Prohibiting the Use, Sale, Production, Transfer, and Stockpiling of Anti-personnel Landmines was opened for signature in Ottawa, Canada. The United States is among the 39 states that are not parties to the treaty.
According to the 2009 Landmine Monitor Report, parties have destroyed more than 44 million mines since the treaty entered into force in 1999.
沒有留言:
張貼留言