 |
SEVEN MILLION PENNIES COLLECTED BY CHILDREN IN CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS ARE DONATED TO UN FOR MINE ACTION IN AFGHANISTAN (NEW YORK, 5 March, 2004) - Children from schools in California’s Marin County donated $70,000 to the United Nations Mine Action Service here today to pay for landmine clearance in Afghanistan. The money was raised through a penny drive, Pennies for Peace: Making Change Work, spearheaded by the non-profit Roots of Peace, a humanitarian organization dedicated to providing funds for eradicating landmines worldwide and rehabilitating mine-affected land to make it productive once more.
Mrs. Annan praised Pennies for Peace, saying: “Mine clearance is about restoring faith in the earth, allowing children to go back to school and farmers to till their soil.” The penny drive was launched last September 11 by ABC-TV news anchor Cheryl Jennings, Roots of Peace founder Heidi Kühn and her 16-year-old daughter Kyleigh Kühn, who later in the day spoke in the General Assembly Hall about the initiative to a group of students attending the annual conference organized by the United Nations International School. Landmines and unexploded ordnance (bombs, grenades and other devices that fail to explode on impact but remain volatile and dangerous on the ground) claim between 100 and 150 new victims each month in Afghanistan. The United Nations Mine Action Service leads the mine-action programme in Afghanistan, the most mine-affected country in the world. The UN Mine Action Service, located in the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, is responsible for the overall coordination of mine-action efforts carried out by 14 different UN agencies, funds and programmes. “Mine action” entails more than demining. It also covers assisting victims, teaching people how to avoid harm, helping countries destroy any stockpiles of mines and advocating for a world free from the threat of landmines. For additional information, contact
|
Nane Annan, wife of the UN Secretary-General, greeted the children on the grounds of the United Nations next to the Japanese Peace Bell because of its symbolic value: it had been cast from the metal of coins collected by children from more than 60 countries.