Thank you,

Dep. Mayor Chow, Honourable Member of Parliament Russ Hiebert, friends and members of BC’s Afghan community, including my friend Dr. Karim Qayumi, who has been very kind to host us at this Center today, let me start by saying how great it is to be in beautiful Vancouver and in this dynamic province to observe the second UN Mine Awareness and Mine Action Day…

I am thrilled to hear that on this day, Wheelchair Foundation Canada, headed by its resourceful and dedicated Executive Director, Christiana Flessner, with generous sponsorships of a new shipment of wheelchairs by the Knights of Columbus, are reaching out across continents to give hope to hundreds more Afghans, who would otherwise live a destitute and ostracized life as disabled victims of mines and war. This new sponsorship of wheelchairs will go a long way to provide mobility, self-esteem, dignity and socio-economic empowerment not only to the disabled, but also to their families and communities.

I thank you on their behalf and on behalf of all Afghans. I also want to tell you that my family and I are so touched by this compassionate Canadian gesture, and impressed by this meaningful humanitarian programme that we have decided to support it as well. I urge others, especially Afghan-Canadians to contribute and for each family to sponsor a wheelchair for a victim in Afghanistan or anywhere else where the need exists. I believe the kind of unit currently envisaged for Afghanistan costs about CAN $110 and that amounts to less than 30 cents a day on a yearly basis.

There is a tragic yet symbiotic relationship between landmines and wheelchairs. Over the past 30 years, Afghanistan became one of the most mine contaminated countries in the world. People in 2500 communities in 32 out of 34 provinces continue to face the daily threat of landmines.

The results of mine-clearing operations since 1989 in Afghanistan are mixed. Statistics show that while we have cleared 60% of mined lands, more than 700million square meters of land still remain contaminated. While we see a 55% decline in average number of victims since 2001, latest figures show that at least two Afghans per day still become victims of this menace.

While we have collectively spent more than US$300 million since 1989 on de-mining activities there, we still need around $100 million each year for the next seven years if we are going to reach our goal of having a mine-free Afghanistan by 2013.

But this lingering problem is not just about money and victims. As a country on the rebound, landmines hamper every facet of our efforts to rebuild the economy, make the land productive once more, and resettle millions of refugees and displaced people. This problem puts undue pressure on urban and rural development efforts, water, sanitation and even pastures management for herds.

I want to be forthright and tell you about the growing popular perceptions that are felt nowadays amongst most Afghans. They think that some partnering organizations that are recipients of substantial funds are becoming lax in the way they manage their operations. This has prompted a call for establishing stricter monitoring and control mechanisms to improve the quality and quantity of de-mining work as well as in areas of rehabilitation, risk education and reintegration of victims.

As a signatory to the Ottawa Convention, the government of Afghanistan remains committed to its treaty obligations, even though security challenges have made it more difficult in some provinces to meet all the benchmarks in a timely fashion.

Despite the fact that we are still not in possession of military maps used during the Soviet occupation period to sow millions of landmines across Afghanistan, about 10,000 Afghan de-miners, some of the more seasoned and most courageous in the world, continue to clear their country of this scourge. Tragically, so far more than 80 de-miners have paid the ultimate price, and I take this occasion to pay tribute to their memory and work.

Let me say a few words about Canada’s role in regards to mine-clearance. This past January the government of Canada announced an additional CAN $8.8 million for de-mining activities in the South and across Afghanistan. Canada also helps us with education, stockpile destruction and a variety of victim assistance programmes.

We are grateful for this important item of aid and we urge Canada and other donors to sustain their levels of commitment to countries like Afghanistan so we could all strive to achieve more effective coordination and mobilization of resources to educate and build up capacities, and to put to use new technologies to eliminate all such devices, including cluster bombs, to make the world a safer place for all human beings.

Once again thank you for today’s pledge.