Life Onboard LAST UPDATE  August 6, 2006
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July 28, 2006 What We've Learned from a Century of Landmines – Toshihiro Shimizu
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Toshihiro Shimizu, director of JVC
Photo courtesy of Stacy Hughes
Toshihiro Shimizu, Director of Japan Volunteer Center - www.ngo-jvc.net/en/index.html (JVC), and 54th Voyage Director Daini Nakahara held a discussion to raise awareness about the harm that landmines are causing around the world, and the initiatives that Peace Boat and JVC have been involved with to help resolve the issue.

In 2005 there were 6521 victims of landmines in 60 countries. 898 of them were in Cambodia, making it the most devastated country followed by Afghanistan, and then Colombia. Landmines most often don’t kill but disable victims, having enormous impacts on local economies and morale long after a conflict. Of the victims, 80% are innocent civilians who return to their former villages and towns where active mines have been abandoned. Because it only takes 5kg to detonate most mines, many of these victims are children.

In order to remove the landmines, organizations like JVC survey the area to find out if there have been any recent injuries. They use metal detectors or dogs trained to sniff out the mines. Digging up the mines is a long and sensitive process of scraping the earth around the mine carefully. Unearthing a landmine requires approximately 100 times the cost of burying one.
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Daini Nakahara, 54th Voyage Director
Photo courtesy of Stacy Hughes
In 1997, 122 countries meeting in Ottawa, Canada signed the Mine Ban Treaty - www.icbl.org/treaty (officially called “the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer or Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction”). As of April 26th 2006, 154 countries have signed the Treaty. Half of the countries that have yet to sign are in Asia, where most of the landmines are a threat to humanity.

Working with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines - www.icbl.org (ICBL), JVC has worked to monitor the use, production, and stockpiling of landmines. It has also established fundraising campaigns to promote mine clearance and fundraising for victim assistance. Peace Boat’s project “Peace Boat Mine Abolishment Campaign” - www.peaceboat.org/english/prot/index.html (P-MAC) works to clear landmines in Cambodia and Viet Nam and builds schools in the cleared areas.