By Alexander Johnson
Landmines killed more than 1,600 people worldwide in 2022, and injured more than 3,000 others, according to a report by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL).
In one of many ongoing efforts to reduce the destruction caused by landmines globally, three Carnegie Mellon University students were selected by Mines Action Canada and CMU’s Sustainability Initiative to visit the United Nations and participate in the 21st Meeting of the States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction.
The students — Camden Johnson, Cameron Shapiro and Tatym Rasmussen — attended the conference in Geneva with ICBL, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning nongovernmental organization. They were among about 20 youth fellows from around the world between the ages of 20 and 30 selected to participate in the Mines Action Canada youth delegation.
Mines Action Canada is a prominent member of the ICBL, which led the establishment of the 1997 United Nations treaty to ban anti-personnel mines. Despite 164 countries joining the treaty since its presentation in Ottawa, landmines continue to be used in conflict zones and many remain undetonated to this day.
Johnson, a third-year chemistry major from the Mellon College of Science, is an intern for the university's Sustainability Initiative. He leads the organization's thematic programming and previously traveled to New York in September 2023 to attend the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Action Weekend.
View the complete article on the Carnegie Mellon University News website.