L'oeil de la Genève Internationale
March 2016

On the International Day of Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action on April 4, 2016, the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) is hosting a series of public events at the Maison de la Paix and Place des Nations to promote knowledge and engagement for mine action. In parallel, the GICHD has launched a worldwide awareness campaign under the hashtag #TogetherAgainstMines to bring together mine action organisations, human security actors, donor countries and individuals to show their support for a mine-free world.

According to the 2015 Landmine Monitor report, mines and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) caused 3'678 casualties worldwide in 2014, a 12% increase from 2013. Despite ongoing casualties and the significant increase compared to 2013, 2014 still had the second lowest annual total of casualties recorded since 1999.

Dos Sopheap lost her leg at the age of 6 when her mother took her to the military camp where her father was stationed. When the Khmer rouge attacked father and child fled and were both injured by a mine. In 2009 she received a prosthetic limb made in Norway. As of the end of 2013, the Cambodia Mine Victim Information System (CMVIS) had reported at least 64'314 victims in Cambodia since 1979.

The photojournalist Lynn Johnson has been documenting the global human condition for the past 35 years. Her peers have selected her as the winner of the 2013 National Geographic Photographer's Photographer award. World Press Photo, the Open Society Institute and the Robert F. Kennedy Centre for Justice and Human Rights have honoured her work. One of her latest stories entitled « Blast Force : The Invisible War on the Brain », published in National Geographic, documents US war veterans trauma and struggle to recovery.