MOFA inks pledge to endorse global efforts to ban landmines
ROC Central News Agency
2007-08-27 20:31:13
Taipei, Aug. 27 (CNA) Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Yang Tzu-pao and Tun Channareth, a "friendship ambassador" of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) , signed a pledge Monday to highlight Taiwan's resolve to remove its landmines in line with global efforts.
Speaking prior to the ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Yang said that the inking of the statement "helps underscore Taiwan's anti-war, peace-loving determination."
Through collective efforts on the Internet, humanitarian issues like this go far beyond political and economic boundaries, Yang said, hailing the non-governmental ICBL's long-term efforts in promoting the goal around the world.
Citing MOFA statistics, Yang said that as of July 2004, 152 countries had signed the statement.
After years of efforts, the Taipei-based Eden Social Welfare Foundation, which invited Channareth to visit Taiwan, eventually succeeded in pushing the Legislative Yuan to approve a law May 26 last year on controlling landmines. The law requires that all such devices across the country, mainly on the outlying island of Kinmen, must be removed within seven years.
Huang Chuo-sung, executive director of the Eden foundation, said the foundation, which acts as the ICBS's representative in Taiwan, has in recent years donated many wheelchairs and mine-sweeping vehicles to countries where there are large numbers of mines planted in their soil.
According to U.N. statistics, nearly 100 million armed mines are still scattered throughout some 70 countries and areas that pose great threat to people living there. The cost of an overall de-mining operation is estimated at US$33 billion and the operation would take some 1,100 years even if no new mines were laid.
(By Flor Wang)
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