landmines

TAKE ACTION: Urge the White House to Ban Land Mines

December 3 is National Call-In Day. Pick up the phone and be heard!

Land mines are a human rights issue and also a humanitarian one. Each year, 26,000 people are killed by antipersonnel land mines. That translates into 66 people every day, most of them innocent men, women and children. Land mines don't just to kill, they maim and inflict terror. They are an inhumane weapon that - even when the war is over - continue to inflict horror on innocents for years to come. Land mines also have a paralyzing effect in poor communities in many places around the world. They cut off access to markets, schools, water and farmland. They not only terrorize, they impede development; they impede people's dreams of a better life.

CARE believes that the Clinton Administration and Congress need to act decisively and do what is right. It is time to join the nations of the world seeking a new standard of international decency - to end the scourge of land mines and to welcome a ban by the year 2000. There is no time to lose.

December 3 is the first anniversary of the day when more than 120 nations gathered in Ottawa to sign the treaty to ban land mines. The United States was not among those 120 nations. It is time our great nation joined those ranks.

In honor of this movement, we urge you on Thursday to call the White House at 202-456-1111. Leave a message urging the President to sign the Ottawa Treaty immediately.