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SOUTH SUDAN / MINE AWARENESS DAY
STORY: SOUTH SUDAN / MINE AWARENESS DAY
TRT: 06:47
SOURCE: UNMISS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 04 APRIL 2023, JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN
1. Various shots, children singing “Landmines are bad, landmines can kill, landmines are dangerous….”
2. Various shots, art pieces hanging on walls
3. Various shots, students explaining various drawings, reiterating “Mine Action Cannot Wait”
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Khamisa Rizik, Peer educator and student:
“In case a football falls in a nearby field, which contains a UXO [unexploded ordnance] and if the children try to go and collect the ball, it may explode and injure or kill the children. For this reason, there should be a solution for the removal of UXOs and landmines. That is why mine action cannot wait.”
5. Various shots, art pieces
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jurkuch Barach Jurkuch, Chairperson, National Mine Action Authority (NMAA):
“When we were fighting in the bush, I saw vehicles that had been hit by landmines, people that had been hit by landmines, and it would affect [us]. We were even our own enemies. We could do something that would affect us afterwards. We could do something, and the next day realize that what we did the day before was dangerous to [ourselves].”
6. Med shot, NMAA Chairperson and engaging student
7. Med shot, drawings on wall
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Jurkuch Barach Jurkuch, Chairperson, National Mine Action Authority (NMAA):
“One time we were fighting in Magwi. That was in 1992, and one of our colleagues was just walking on the road and he was hit by a landmine. He was just still on his two legs, but just after a [short] while he was being carried. He became a limping person and survived with one leg. I have so many experiences with landmines. They are dangerous. Though we participated in planting them, we are now regretting why we did that.”
9. Wide shot, room with guests listening
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Fran O’Grady, Chief of the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS):
“The more we clear, often the more we find both landmines and other explosive mortars and shells and so on. So, I think we need to keep doing what we do but support it more. Demining needs funding, it is that simple. Ninety-five percent of the deminers out there, community liaison officers out there, are South Sudanese. We need to support the South Sudanese to clear their land. And when we look at international treaties, we should not be holding South Sudan, or any country for that matter, accountable for everything, unless there is a proper degree of support for them. This is a shared goal - South Sudan clearing its mines and explosive hazards doesn't just benefit South Sudan. It benefits the region. It benefits the continent. It benefits the world, and it sends an important signal.
11. Various shots, winners being announced and presented with prizes and trophies
12. Various shots, performance by local artist and students dancing along
At a youth-focused event that marked the International Mine Awareness Day in South Sudan’s capital Juba, Jurkuch Barach Jurkuch, Chairperson of South Sudan’s National Mine Action Authority (NMAA) expressed his regrets about the use of landmines in the country during decades of conflict.
Singing their hearts out, some 50 South Sudanese students from three primary schools in the capital Juba, list the dangers of landmines and unexploded ordnances. Their sing-along song also talks about the actions one needs to take if one comes across these dangerous items, which dot several key locations in their country.
Several decades of conflict have left South Sudan contaminated by explosive hazards. To rid the country of them, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) has been working in South Sudan since 2004. The work they and their partners do makes it possible for children to go to school, farmers to cultivate their crops, humanitarians and peacekeepers to reach the communities most in need of their assistance.
South Sudanese students are taking a firm and no-nonsense stand. They are raising their voices to help save other children and adults alike.
Marking this year’s Mine Awareness Day, a youth-focused event led by South Sudan’s National Mine Action Authority (NMAA), in partnership with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and its mine action component UNMAS, saw the children take the lead in expressing what they want done, while also highlighting how landmines have affected their communities.
Through song, dance, poetry and art, their messages around the global theme – Mine Action Cannot Wait - reverberated between the walls of the venue, where some of their thought-provoking pieces of were hanging on display.
Statistics indicate that it is children and youth who suffer the most from explosive hazards, as they tend to be the ones picking up shiny, sometimes toylike but fatal objects when they are out and about playing in the fields. Khamisa Rizik, a student and peer educator, explained what some of her fellow students had drawn and colored.
SOUNDBITE (English) Khamisa Rizik, Peer educator and student:
“In case a football falls in a nearby field, which contains a UXO [unexploded ordnance] and if the children try to go and collect the ball, it may explode and injure or kill the children. For this reason, there should be a solution for the removal of UXOs and landmines. That is why mine action cannot wait.”
She also explained what the winning piece of art depicted: a drawing of a family returning home after conflict, oblivious of unseen, explosive enemies lurking just beneath them. As peer educators, the students present at the event hope that their voices will make a difference. And they are being encouraged to do so.
SOUNDBITE (English) Jurkuch Barach Jurkuch, Chairperson, National Mine Action Authority (NMAA):
“When we were fighting in the bush, I saw vehicles that had been hit by landmines, people that had been hit by landmines, and it would affect [us]. We were even our own enemies. We could do something that would affect us afterwards. We could do something, and the next day realize that what we did the day before was dangerous to [ourselves].”
An engaging session between the national mine body (NMAA) official and the students saw the students answering the questions posed by the former about what had inspired their different drawings. Their responses were as astounding as their contributions to the competition.
Reiterating the theme of the day, Mine Action Cannot Wait, the NMAA Chairperson said that clearing landmines has proven to be a herculean task.
SOUNDBITE (English) Jurkuch Barach Jurkuch, Chairperson, National Mine Action Authority (NMAA):
“One time we were fighting in Magwi. That was in 1992, and one of our colleagues was just walking on the road and he was hit by a landmine. He was just still on his two legs, but just after a [short] while he was being carried. He became a limping person and survived with one leg. I have so many experiences with landmines. They are dangerous. Though we participated in planting them, we are now regretting why we did that.”
Every year UNMAS in South Sudan and around the world marks and celebrates Mine Awareness Day on 4 April, as a reminder that more still needs to be done to keep people in places contaminated by unexploded remnants of war safe, to enable them to move around freely and go about their daily lives as usual. The problem is that clearing land not only a time-consuming and dangerous activity, but also an expensive one.
SOUNDBITE (English) Fran O’Grady, Chief of the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS):
“The more we clear, often the more we find both landmines and other explosive mortars and shells and so on. So, I think we need to keep doing what we do but support it more. Demining needs funding, it is that simple. Ninety-five percent of the deminers out there, community liaison officers out there, are South Sudanese. We need to support the South Sudanese to clear their land. And when we look at international treaties, we should not be holding South Sudan, or any country for that matter, accountable for everything, unless there is a proper degree of support for them. This is a shared goal - South Sudan clearing its mines and explosive hazards doesn't just benefit South Sudan. It benefits the region. It benefits the continent. It benefits the world, and it sends an important signal.”
The National Mine Action Authority started has been clearing land mines in South Sudan since 1997, but the country is yet to be declared free of these silent killers.
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