women doing the work of removing 136,000 landmines

[ensho]

http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/11/2009113061357176721.html


Jordan's women in no man's land


Jordan has stood at the front-line of the Arab-Israeli conflict since 1948, and in the six decades since has been de-mining battlefields where opposing armies once roamed.

Many of the country's land mines date back to the 1948 partition of Palestine, the 1967 Six Day War, and hostilities with Syria in the 1970's.

A peace treaty with Israel in 1994 allowed Jordan to speed up its de-mining efforts; 73,000 Israeli mines have been removed from the Wadi Araba border area.

In 1999, Jordan ratified the Mine Ban Treaty, which prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines.

The task for the Jordanians now is to remove some 136,000 mines from a 104-km belt along the northern border with Syria by 2012, a measure stipulated by the treaty, and they have pioneered a new approach that challenges social norms.

In October 2008, a group of 10 women from the province of Mafraq, where mines pose the biggest threat to some half a million Jordanians, became the first all-female de-mining team in the Middle East.

-snip-

Trained by the Norwegian People's Aid (NPA), an NGO working as the contracted implementing partner for Jordan's Northern Border De-mining project, the women are fully qualified to detect, recover, diffuse and dispose of mines.

-snip-

The job is anything but easy, and the women have shown immense resilience. De-miner Haya al-Andali says the job tests her fitness limits and aptitude under extreme weather conditions, and even at times, her self-esteem, as she excels in a vocation previously dominated by men.

Technicians say military maps do not show the exact location of mines in Jordan, and erratic mine-laying patterns have also made the de-miners' mission more difficult.

According to NPA, de-mining statistics throughout the world have shown that while female de-miners may be slower than their male counterparts, their work is actually more thorough. Because they are naturally meticulous and cautious when it comes to safety measures, the women also suffer less accidents while on the dangerous job.

-snip-

Despite the progress made over the past decade, land mines are still present in 70 countries and kill around 6,000 people a year, according to global land mine reports.

But for Jordan, 2012 will mean a safer passage in Mafraq, improved social and economic development in the area, and no more amputations due to land mine injuries.
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well, we know that if you want a job done right . . . .

hope these women are paid very well - top drawer money.

NO to landmines.

[midnight]

1. When Princess Diana started this work, she brought attention to these horrible

devices. She was killed not to long after her stand to remove these horrible devices. At the time of Princess Diana's work, Wisconsin, was the no. one land mind maker.

[ensho]

3. didn't know that about Wisc. , thanks

perhaps we should protest at the company headquarters


they could build something that doesn't kill and maim

[niyad]

4. I always thought there was more to the story than paps and a drunk driver.

[niyad]

2. and the US is refusing to sign the landmines treaty--nice

[thereismore]

5. Mine fields create jobs you know. First you got to lay them, then clear them, plus mortuary jobs. n

[gratuitous]

6. Don't forget prosthetics

Lots of artificial legs, hands, feet and arms for folks who survive being blown apart by these little beauties.

[pipoman]

7. Only because of the Korean DMZ,

where nobody is at risk unless they are encroaching. The US policy is that they would sign if there was an exception for the DMZ.