Nobel peace laureate Jody Williams – Denver-bound today on a speaking tour – is calling on President Obama to sign international treaties banning the use of landmines and cluster bombs.
The United States remains one of 39 nations, including China and Burma, that have not signed the decade-old Mine Ban Treaty. A Convention on Cluster Munitions, signed by 95 countries, also lacks U.S. support.
Land-mines and cluster bombs “are indiscriminate killers,” Williams said in an interview.
Signing these treaties ought to be “a no-brainer” for Obama, she said. His “words are terrific, and I think the world has a right to be enthusiastic that he’s been elected. But, she said, “words without action are irrelevant.”
White House officials declined to comment.
A 58-year-old activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, Williams is scheduled to speak tonight as part of the Denver-based global “Peacejam” campaign to mobilize teenagers (6:30 pm, 1660 Sherman St., 303-455-2099 or ).
Williams in 1992 launched the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. It grew to include 1,300 chapters in 95 countries.
Working with governments, the United Nations and International Committee of the Red Cross, campaigners in 1997 achieved their goal of establishing a treaty that a majority of nations could support.
Williams has continued her activism. She led a UN mission to Darfur in 2007, resisting a desire to stay home in Virginia playing ball with her white German Shepherd, she said.
“Obviously, the world is in a crisis position. The economic situation obviously. Conflict all over the world. The U.S. is still involved in Iraq and frighteningly, apparently, Mr. Obama wants to get more involved in Afghanistan. It’s scary to be a young person.”
She grew up in Vermont, a town of 1,200, and never left until she was 25, she said. Then after an exchange visit to Mexico, she learned about the effects of U.S.-supported actions in Central America – and began to challenge the government.
When it came to landmines, “a bunch of ordinary people changed the world,” she said. “The hardest thing is volunteering your first hour.”
(Bruce Finley: 303.954.1700 or bfinley@denverpost.com)
