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War On Land Mines

Barefoot and wearing blue jeans, the world's new Number One peacemaker, Jody Williams, greeted reporters at the end of a dirt road near Putney, Vermont. She had just received a remarkable birthday present. On October 10, one day after her 47th birthday, Williams won one of the world's top honors: the Nobel Peace Prize. She received the $1 million award for her efforts to rid the world of deadly land mines.

The prize is named after Alfred Nobel, a Swede who invented dynamite in the 1800s. Nobel did not want to be remembered only for creating something destructive. So he left his fortune to reward people who work for the "good of humanity" in the sciences, literature, economics and peace.

Williams shares this year's peace award with her organization, the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines. In just six years, Williams has helped persuade more than 100 countries to ban the deadly underground weapons, which explode when people step on them. Experts think that more than 100 million land mines lie buried in 60 countries. More than 26,000 people are killed or hurt by mines each year. Most victims are civilians, not soldiers.

About 85% of the world's land-mine accidents have occurred in Afghanistan, Angola and Cambodia. In Angola some 8,000 children have lost arms or legs because of mines.

Marianne Holtz of Boise, Idaho, is an American victim of a land mine. She stepped on a mine while working with refugees in the African country of Zaïre. Holtz lost her legs to the explosive. "As a weapon of war, the land mine is inexcusable," she says. "It kills women and children. It kills people long after any battle is over."

The U.S. Won't Sign The Treaty
Williams' campaign started when she was hired by the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation in 1991. The group wanted to help victims of land mines. "When we began," she said last week, "we were just three people sitting in a room." The group soon discovered that helping victims was not enough and decided they wanted to rid the world of weapons that have caused so much pain.

Thanks to hard work by Williams and thousands of others, that goal is getting closer. In December a treaty banning both the manufacture and use of land mines will be signed in Ottawa, Canada. More than 100 nations plan to sign it. But some big nations refuse to sign: China, Iran, Iraq, India, Pakistan--and the U.S.

Just hours after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded, Russia's President, Boris Yeltsin, announced that his country would sign the anti-mine treaty. Until then, Yeltsin had been against the treaty.

Williams was encouraged by the Russian's change of heart. But she was disappointed that President Bill Clinton did not even call to congratulate her. "I think it's tragic that President Clinton does not want to be on the side of humanity," she said.

The President says he cannot accept a complete ban on the weapons. Clinton wants the U.S. to continue using land mines along the uneasy border between North and South Korea, where 37,000 U.S. soldiers are stationed. He believes a ban would put those soldiers at risk.

Removing The Explosives
The Nobel Prize, said Williams, "will make all the people who have worked on the treaty work with renewed effort." A big part of that effort will be removal of the explosives. Mine removal is a dangerous and costly business. A mine costs as little as $3 to make but can cost up to $1,000 to remove. It may take an expert an entire day to clear an area half the size of a football field.

This summer several dozen men arrived in a small village in northern Cambodia. They were there to clear a heavily mined field--one square foot at a time. As he watched the men, villager Lou Doeum, 45, smiled. His right hand was blown off several years ago when he tried to pick up a mine. "It is good they come here to take away mines," he said. "Next we want them to clear a way to the water." He pointed to a nearby lake surrounded by a thick necklace of mines.

For villagers like Lou Doeum--and for folks in many other countries--ending the danger of land mines will be a slow process. Jody Williams has vowed to continue her fight.

Next: A Heart-to-heart Matchup