ELCA Joins International Effort to Acknowledge Landmine Treaty

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- An international treaty to destroy land mines in stockpiles and dismantle mines already in the ground will officially take effect March 1. Churches from around the world, including the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will ring bells to celebrate the outlaw of land mines and to mourn the past, present and future victims of land mines.
More than 130 nations agreed to ban the manufacture, stockpiling and use of land mines in a pact known as the Ottawa Convention of December 1997. The treaty calls for governments to destroy all caches of stockpiled land mines within four years and to remove mines already in the ground within 10 years. The United States has not signed the treaty.
"Land mines kill and injure innocent people around the world every hour of every day," said assistant director of international affairs and human rights for the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA). "Millions of uncleared land mines lie dormant in the fields alongside the roads and footpaths of as many as 70 countries," he said.
LOGA is the federal public policy advocacy office of the ELCA. That office is coordinating "Ringing in the Land Mine Ban Treaty" for congregations of the ELCA.
Brown said some Lutherans are planning to participate in a demonstration March 1 in front of the White House. Demonstrators seek to call attention to the fact that the United States has not signed the treaty and needs to do so immediately.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html