The material that follows has been provided by UNICEF

RECLAIMING LAND AND LIVES

Marvin, known as "Little Marvin" to his friends, leads the life of a typical eight year old in the small, rural town of Santa Clara, El Salvador. Like all the other children, he lives under constant threat from the nearby minefield. Report by Angela Wilcox, a freelance journalist based in El Salvador

The mines scattered all over El Salvador are still claiming victims today, two years after a peace accord brought the bloody civil war to an end.

UNICEF's mines awareness programme is trying to reach children like Marvin - full of curiosity, mischief and fun. During the talk given in his village by UNICEF educators as part of the programme, Marvin exclaimed that he would just run away from any strange object or simply "pull out the wires".

The educator gently explained that this wouldn't be enough. Marvin's smile turned to an expression of grave concern. "Then what do I do?" he asked - the question that UNICEF hopes every Salvadoran will ask.

Children are especially vulnerable to the war's leftovers. Rural children spend a lot of time away from the watchful eyes of their parents. No one is there to warn them about the hand grenades they pick up and play with. The danger isn't apparent until someone loses a leg, an eye - or their life. At least 300,000 youngsters under the age of 18 are disabled as a result of the conflict. Children have made up half of those killed or injured in explosives accidents.

In March 1993 the Government of El Salvador began the massive task of trying to demine its country with assistance from International Danger and Disaster Assistance (IDAS). IDAS has an emergency response team to dispose of explosives wherever and whenever they are discovered.

The Salvadoran Army and the Farabundo Marti Liberation Front (FMLN), former enemies, have joined forces for this life-saving work.

The demining teams consist of IDAS experts, FMLN guides, Army soldiers trained in explosives detection and UN observers. Metal detectors are used to scour every metre of the rugged terrain to uncover the deadly mines.

"Without the help of the FMLN and the Army to locate the mines, what we get done in a day could take us weeks," says Michel Jeanpierre, IDAS Director of Operations.

UNICEF runs the public awareness programme, known as PAM. Launched in early 1992, PAM had placed 10,000 warning signs around 192 mined areas by the middle of the year. But by 1993 a dire shortage of wood in this deforested country had resulted in people using the signs for firewood for cooking or as construction materials.

Being the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America, many farmers must work their land if they are to survive. So they simply moved the signs, cultivating land in and around the hazards.

So UNICEF created a mobile team of educators to travel the country. They trained teachers, community health workers and trusted local leaders to educate the people within their reach. By mid-1993, about 5000 people had been trained to alert others to prevent further accidents.

More recent mobile teams use visual aids such as flip charts and pamphlets to show pictures of the mines or explosives. All the materials include the 'phone number of the IDAS emergency response team and are deliberately simple and straightforward.

Only the identified minefields can be cleared for certain, and no one can find every single remaining landmine. So UNICEF's mines awareness programme will continue until Marvin and all the other Salvadoran children understand the dangers.

For further information see Landmines - a call to action and Landmines - a scourge on children

This article first appeared in Children First!, Winter 1994, Issue 27, published by the United Kingdom Committee for UNICEF.
ęCopyright UNICEF 1994

UNICEF