Jose Brinco, 32, Angola
Distinguished Press Members;
The story of Jose Brinco from Angola is the truth of landmine itself. Today thousand victims of landmine in Turkey share the same destiny with Brinco. Only between the period of 2002 and 2006, mostly civil 560 people as injuried in the events caused by landmine and free exploiters. In the same years, 227 people, most of them were children, lost their lives.
Mines; without consideration of if civil or armed, women or men, adult or children, create great danger for our lives, even though producers and users of mines claim the oppossite.
According to official numbers; in Turkey more than one million mines and free exploders that we will never know their numbers wait insidiously for its new victems in empty lands, bed of streams, sideways where children go school everyday, city dumps or in fields that farmers and shepards use.
Even though it has been four years since Turkey signed the Ottawa Convention in 2003, necessary steps has not been taken for signing and cleaning fields of mine. More importantly, “national action policy” that will plan and apply all activities related to mine and the center as a result of mine action code has not been established yet.
According to offical reports that UN Mine following Commitee, there are areas with mine known to be certain in Batman, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep, Hakkari, Ardahan, Kars, Siirt, Sirnak, Sanliurfa, Tunceli, Van, Mardin and in Hatay. Also in Bingol, Bitlis, Batman, Mardin, Tunceli, Sirnak ve Siirt, 746 different areas are suspected to be loaded with mine. Adding the risk created by free expolders to this picture, the true level of the problem becomes more visible.
As about 4000 villages, which have been evacuated during the armed conflict period, are in the provinces under the risk of mine; implementing returning to village programme-without scanning mine and executing necessary implementation-will probably cause new deahts.
In addition to these points; economical and social effects by landmine on local and national level form the other aspect of the problem. Landmines have negative influence on Education, Helath, Welfare, Agriculture, Transportation and Environment. Also migration potential from risk areas in mines to other areas widespreads negative influence on country level.
Human Rights Association (IHD) calls for the following institutions to do following actions before too late;
1-Turkish Great National Assembly;
a- To sign and clean fields with mine,
b- For those who are under risk, organization of education programmes for raising conciousness,
c- Providing economical and social adjusment for mine victims with health care,
d- Annihilate mine storage,
e- In order to avoid usage of mine, before it is late, making law regulations in Mine Action by the Government,
2-Government; to establish Mine Action Center and giving risk education to the public starting from children with involvement of NGOs immediatly
3- All sides in the 25 years clash period; to explain areas that they have put mines.
4- Start detecting mine and free exploders in evacuated villages immediately.
5-Providing free health care and compensation to those who are victems of mine explosions until today
6-Public opinion; to be sensitive about destructions mines caused and having necessary precautions and applying them
Do not forget…” These guns are not like any others. These are random guns. They do not consider a civil or soldier and harms civils severely.”
HUMAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION (IHD)