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UN / MINE ACTION DAY
STORY: UN / MINE ACTION DAY
TRT: 2.08
SOURCE: UNTV / UNMAS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 4 APRIL 2012, NEW YORK
FILE - 2011, UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
4 APRIL 2012, NEW YORK
2. Wide shot, dais
3. Med shot, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English): Agnès Marcaillou, Director of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS):
“Mine action is also about the people, for people to regain their dignity, for reinserting themselves into society, and when I say dignity it goes with getting jobs and getting support from the communities and the Governments where they live.”
5. Med shot, journalists with rolled-up pant legs
6. SOUNDBITE (English): Paul Heslop, Chief of the Programme Planning and Management Section, UNMAS:
“What we need to do is keep the effort and keep the momentum, and in another five to ten years, we really will be standing up on the 4th of April and saying, we have a mine-free world. As long as we keep the effort, as long as we keep the commitment, and as long as we keep the funding for the next four or five years we are well on the way to achieving what we’re saying. If we don’t, it will all start to come apart and unfortunately we’ll be in a position where the last few mines will be cleared by people who stand on them, and that is not something that we need to be.”
7. Wide shot, press conference
FILE - UNMAS WESTERN SAHARA
8. Wide shot, boy walking across field with bushes and goats
9. Zoom in, partly buried landmine
FILE - UNKNOWN DATE AND LOCATION
10. Wide shot, woman carrying child walking past bombed out building
11. Various shots, mines and other unexploded ordnance in conflict areas
12. Pan down, Afghan man with prosthetic leg walking across room
13. Med shot, amputee walking down street with crutch
14. Wide shot, team of amputees playing soccer
FILE – UNMAS – 27 JUNE 2010, MINE FIELD, BAGRAM DISTRICT, AFGHANISTAN
15. Various shots, de-miner sweeping ground
FILE - UNKNOWN DATE AND LOCATION
16. Med shot, de-miner wiring up unexploded ordnance wired up for detonation
17. Tilt down, de-miner turning detonation box on
18. Wide shot, stockpile detonation
FILE – UNMAS
19. Excerpt from 2012 UNMAS PSA for International Mine Awareness Day
On this year’s International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action (4 April), UN officials said that a mine-free world can be achieved within five to ten years and urged people to join the “Lend Your Leg” campaign to support landmine victims.
At a press conference at UN headquarters in New York, UN Mine Action Service Director Agnès Marcaillou said that mine action went beyond simply clearing mines. It was also vital for people to regain their “dignity” by finding jobs and receiving support from their Governments and communities. She encouraged people to roll up their pant legs or sleeves as a symbolic gesture to stop landmines and show solidarity with landmine survivors as part of the “Lend Your Leg” campaign.
Paul Heslop, also of the UN Mine Action Service, said that mine action over the past twenty years was a success story and that a “mine-free world” was within grasp within “another five to ten years”. With the number of global fatalities falling, landmines were now a localized threat that was in danger of becoming forgotten. Without sustained commitment and funding, he warned, “the last few mines will be cleared by people who stand on them”.
In 2010, there were 4,200 victims of landmine’s devastating effects - 11 people a day. According to the United Nations Mine Action Service, about half of the causalities from mines and unexploded ordnance in 2009 were children.
As of September 2010, 66 states, as well as seven areas not internationally recognized, were confirmed or suspected to be mine-affected, according to the Campaign to Ban Landmines, which adds that there is no credible estimate of the total number of mines in the ground worldwide.
On 8 December 2005, the General Assembly declared that 4 April of each year shall be observed as the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.
The theme for this year’s Day asks people to “Lend your leg” in a show of support for landmine survivors. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has joined celebrities such as Colombian rock star Juanes in rolling up their own pant legs or sleeves. The Lend Your Leg website has counted more than three thousand other “lent legs” worldwide so far.
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