landmines: no change there either
RAWA says this little guy lost his arms and legs thanks to landmines in Afganistan
Sure glad we have a president who’s a father of two young children himself, one who apparently believes in Quaker ideals enough to send his kids to a Quaker school, who aims to change all that.
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* Cif AmericaObama follows Bush on landmines
The US has announced that it won’t sign the global landmine ban treaty. So much for the Nobel peace laureate
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o Matthew Bolton
o guardian.co.uk, Thursday 26 November 2009 17.00 GMT
o Article historyIn two weeks’ time, Barack Obama will accept the Nobel peace prize in Oslo for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples” and his commitment to “disarmament and arms control negotiations”.
Yet on Tuesday, as Americans’ attentions were turning to the Thanksgiving holidays, a state department spokesman, Ian Kelly, quietly announced that the Obama administration would not sign the international antipersonnel landmine ban. He also said that the Bush-era landmine policy, a regression from Bill Clinton’s position, “remains in effect”.
“It is painful that President Obama has chosen to reject the mine ban treaty just weeks before he joins the ranks of Nobel peace laureates, including the International Campaign to Ban Landmines,” said Steve Goose, arms division director at Human Rights Watch, summing up the disappointment felt by many at Obama’s decision.
The announcement comes just days before more than 150 signatory countries of the mine ban treaty meet in Cartegena, Colombia to review progress toward eradicating the threat of landmines in the world’s current and former war zones.
The article states that last year, more than 5,000 people were killed and injured by landmines. Twenty-eight percent of those victims, 1,400 to be precise, were children.
Change?
