Children and Landmines

IS IT A TOY? NO!

The so called 'green parrots'

The children play, the children run, the children live. Not all. 
Some of them have not arms to play, some of them have not legs to run, some of them died.

This is the story of those children living in conflict contexts where some toys are weapons. They are called landmines, cluster munitions or unexploded ordnances but for a child they are only 'green parrots'. 

These devices are coloured, strange and children are curious. This is enough to explain how children are particularly vulnerable to these mines. 

Green parrots is also a book. A book telling this awful story.
Gino Strada, the founder of EMERGENCY, is the author. 

Do you want to know more? ABOUT EMERGENCY,  ABOUT THE BOOK 



How to explain landmines to child? The Emergency's attempt...











WHAT IS THE EXTENT?

A map of the world, a map of weapons, a map of deaths. The cartogram above shows you the data recorded by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which aims at bringing the use of landmines to the end. In 2010 a total of 4 191 casualties were recorded. 
The distribution of these deaths reaffirms the need of urgent action and of a revived global awareness for the long-term problems associated with these weapons. And what about your counsciousness?



CHILDREN'S VOICE: some witnesses coming from Bosnia and Herzegovina... 

In this abstract, you will meet young victims of landmines who had their lives changed forever by these indiscriminate weapons.

Spanish director Fernando Trueba shot this film for Handicap International in the village of Velika Kladusa in Bosnia and Herzegovina.





How much do you listen to them?




SURVIVORS, NOT JUST VICTIMS

The scale of the humanitarian crime against children who die as a result of landmine injuries must never be forgotten. However also those who do survive are not to be forgotten. Frequently, both the children who die and those who survive are classed together as landmine victims, making no distinction between the dead and the living.


Anita: a survivor in Mozambique


Anita, aged ten, and her sister Sandra, aged nine, climbed over a fence into a mined area and Sandra stepped on mine. A nun working nearby heard the blast and ran to their assistance. She drove them to the central hospital in Maputo. Anita had lost both legs and her injuries initially seemed more serious than Sandra's. However, Sandra died while waiting for a prothesis to be fitted, probably because she was younger and less strong. The CBS (community-based support) worker helped Anita to earn to walk with her prothesis, and the aim was for her to return to school.

(Save the Children)

Such a story is very common. Survivors frequently fell huge guilt and shame at having ignored warnings by their parents or knowingly gone into mined areas. 

Rehabilitaion is key. It is not just providing a prothesis and acute care, but also about longer-term training and support, and help with access to education.

YOU FORGOT YOUR SHOE

 Another film shot for Handicap  International  in 1997 that tells  the story  of a boy and his mother  that meet a man in a shoe shop.

The child would like to be a dancer but...




Can you dance?