Print
Email articleOther examples of LSN’s work in Africa also includes coordinating the largest gathering of landmine survivors ever at an international conference in Nairobi, Kenya in 2004 to heighten their visibility.. The survivors delivered personal testimonies to an audience of government and international persons about the negative effects of landmine use and called for greater victim assistance and rights. Also, in March 2008, LSN hosted a survivor advocacy and leadership training in Livingstone, Zambia on the eve of an All-Africa regional conference on cluster munitions.
Another challenge for LSN and local communities affected by landmines is to broaden out the definition of victim assistance. At the treaty’s signing in 1997, most donors, including governments and UN agencies, perceived victim assistance as simply medical care and possibly the provision of assistance devices. LSN recognized that mine victims include both individuals and groups who have suffered physical, emotional, and psychological injury, as well as economic loss or substantial impairment of their fundamental rights through acts or omissions to mine utilization.
To overcome this definitional obstacle that inaccurately reflects the needs of survivors and the communities in which they live, LSN provided programmatic guidelines to the international community and governments to address the care and rehabilitation of those victims who have suffered physical injury from landmines. The guidelines of care and assistance included the following:
• Emergency and Continuing Medical Care: Healthcare and community workers in mine-affected areas should be trained in emergency first aid to respond effectively to landmine and other traumatic injuries.
• Physical Rehabilitation, Prosthesis, and Assistive Devices: Donor funding and partner implementation for rehabilitative services should focus on producing devices that are safe, durable, and can be maintained and repaired locally.
• Psychological and Social Support: Community-base peer support groups offer cost-effective psychological, social and other health benefits, and a means to educate local populations about the needs of persons with disabilities and the resources available to help.
• Vocational Training and Economic Integration: Assistance programs must work to improve the economic status of the disabled population in mine-affected communities through education, economic development of community infrastructure, and creation of employment opportunities.
• Recreation/Fitness/Sports: Participation in recreational activities with their peers is an important step towards the social reintegration of landmine survivors.
• Peer Support and Health Education: Survivors who have progressed in their rehabilitation and reintegration into society are well suited to provide peer support.
• Disability Rights and Advocacy: National legislation should promote effective treatment, care and protection for all disabled citizens, including landmine survivors.
The overall purpose of these programs is to increase the quantity and improve the quality, appropriateness, and effectiveness of all programs that impact the victims of landmines around the world. It provides guidance to help diverse actors, including governments, NGOs, and local community leaders to develop and fund the most effective mine victim assistance programs. These programs aim to eliminate the threat of landmines and help landmine victims heal, recover, and resume their roles as productive and contributing members of their societies.
Conclusion: Opportunities and Challenges
Insofar as international NGOs and African local communities are concerned, landmine victim assistance clearly demonstrates the extent to which international politics can draw global attention to local issues. But it also suggests that one of the great political challenges facing the world today may be to find ways to effectively deliver on-the-ground programs and services while preserving the accountability of local organizations and the legitimacy of states.
In LSN’s experience, the most effective victim assistance programs are implemented on an on-going basis through the establishment of survivor-inclusive activities. Through these actions, landmine victims are empowered to articulate their needs and concerns through NGOs and the rest of the world. In turn, NGOs and the global community are better able to understand and respond to these needs by arranging for direct assistance and support to survivors and locally affected communities.
The substantive issues that define the capabilities and productivity of so many lives in Africa – including but certainly not limited to landmine victims – too often are lost in the sweeping discourse of macro-level policy. But overlooking options that have proven to be quite capable in helping many individuals, like NGOs' micro-level efforts, would be far worse than mere failure; such consequences are the stuff of life and death.
