3/25/19 – Enjoy this Week’s Post as we continue to celebrate Women’s History Month: Jody Williams and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997. This is just amazing. She challenged the insane practice of planting landmines that had deprived so many of their lives and caused so much suffering.
Peace Activist and a Driving Force in the Campaign against Landmines
When Jody Williams was studying international politics in the 1980s, she became involved in aid work in war-torn El Salvador. Landmines were a constant threat to the civilian population, and she was given responsibility for providing artificial limbs for children who had lost arms and legs.
From 1991 on, Jody Williams was a driving force in the launching of an international campaign against landmines. By 1997, thanks to her strength and organizational talent, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) had 1,000 organizations from 60 countries on its list of members.
The Ottawa Convention, which was signed by 120 states and entered into force in 1999, will always be associated with the names of Jody Williams and the ICBL. It banned the use, production, sale and stock-piling of anti-personnel mines. In addition it contained provisions concerning mine clearance and the obligation to provide humanitarian assistance.
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