International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action
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Alexandria—the Peace Studies Institute, in cooperation with the UN depository Library at the BA, organized a lecture entitled "the International Campaign Against Landmines" on Wednesday, 11 April 2007, by Ambassador Ali Maher, Director, Peace Studies Institute, on the occasion of the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action on 4 April 2007.
Ambassador Ali Maher started by stating the importance of reviving the International Day for Mine Awareness on both the International and regional levels. He added that land mines of past wars are still killing, hurting, deforming, causing tragedies, and threatening the lives of civilians, especially women and children even after the end of wars and resolving conflicts. He said that past wars and international disputes left behind a very critical humanitarian problem, which is land mines. Land mines are a human disaster causing ordeals besides economic, social, and health impacts.
He added that humanity can no longer accept the disrespect of laws and conventions and that public opinion is now calling for banning random killing, blind destruction, and excessive use of lethal weapons. He mentioned that experts state that 65-110 million land mines are still spread in 56 states all around the world.