Landmine victims from around the globe protested the U.S. determination to provide landmines to Ukraine at a convention in Cambodia on Tuesday, the place Kyiv’s delegation was set to handle the difficulty.
More than 100 protesters lined the walkway taken by delegates to the convention venue in Siem Reap the place international locations are reviewing progress on the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty.
“Look what antipersonnel landmines will do to your people,” learn one placard held by two landmine victims.
Alex Munyambabazi, who misplaced a leg to a landmine in northern Uganda in 2005, stated he “condemned” the choice by the U.S. to provide antipersonnel mines to Kyiv because it battles Russian forces.
“We are tired. We don’t want to see any more victims like me, we don’t want to see any more suffering,” he informed Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“Every landmine planted is a child, a civilian, a woman, who is just waiting for their legs to be blown off, for his life to be taken.”
“I am here to say we don’t want any more victims. No excuses, no exceptions.”
Washington’s announcement final week that it might ship anti-personnel landmines to Kyiv was instantly criticized by human rights campaigners.
Ukraine is a signatory to the treaty. The United States and Russia usually are not.
Ukraine’s use of U.S. mines could be in “blatant disregard for their obligations under the mine ban treaty,” stated Tamar Gabelnick, director of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
“These weapons have no place in today’s warfare,” she informed AFP.
“(Ukraine’s) people have suffered long enough from the horrors of these weapons.”
A Ukrainian delegation was current on the convention on Tuesday, and it was anticipated to current its report on progress in clearing mines on its territory.
Source: www.dailysabah.com