EDITORIAL
The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction, Vol. 17, Iss. 3 [2013], Art. 1
Landmine Injuries and Human Rights: The Terminology of Victims and Survivors “The words victim and survivor are not interchangeable. The word victim refers to someone who is the object of abuse and as such implies helplessness. It is correct to use victim when discussing someone who is injured by a landmine, but not someone who is in the process of recovering, since we do not consider that person to be helpless.” ~ Jerry White, co-founder of Landmine Survivors Network, November 20051 by Cameron Macauley [ CISR ]
Ken Rutherford (left) and Jerry White (right), co-founders of Landmine Survivors Network, helped guide Princess Diana on her final humanitarian trip to Bosnia to meet landmine survivors and their families, 9 August 1997. Photo courtesy of Landmine Survivors Network/Survivor Corps.
W
hen landmine survivors Ken Rutherford and
recognize the needs of the injured.2 The language used in the
Jerry White argued for the inclusion of a vic-
APMBC has become the foundation for the debate on victims
tim assistance clause in the Convention on the
and survivors of explosions caused by landmines, unexplod-
Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of
ed ordnance and cluster munitions. Unheard of 20 years ago,
Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destuction (Anti-personnel
victim assistance is now a field unto itself, and survivors from
Mine Ban Convention or APMBC), they took an unprecedent-
every conflict-affected nation have mobilized to campaign for
ed step forward by helping to create the first arms treaty to
the recognition of their rights.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cisr-journal/vol17/iss3/1 4 editorial | the journal of ERW and mine action | fall 2013 | 17.3
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