Submitted by crinadmin on
Save the Children Sweden is launching two animation television spots on Mine Risk Awareness aimed for children. The two 40-second cartoon-spots will be broadcast approximately 100 times for at least four weeks beginning the 22nd of July 2007 on Spacetoon Kids TV and local TV channels. With the beginning of summer, many families return to their homes in the South for vacations in areas that were targeted during the war, these spots serve as an important reminder to children and parents of the remaining threat posed by explosive remnants of war (ERW), including cluster and other bombs. According to the National De-mining Office, six children have been killed and 68 injured in explosions of ERW following the July 2006 war; most of those killed or injured were children between the age of 13 and 18. To address this continuing threat to children’s lives, Save the Children, with funding from Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) through Save the Children Canada, has worked with the National De-mining Office, the Landmine Resource Center at Balamand University, and Spacetoon to produce two child-friendly ERW awareness cartoons to be shown on television. “Children are the most at risk of death or injury from unexploded cluster bombs, because they are more curious and less cautious than adults…that’s why it’s important for us to constantly remind children and their parents of this danger” said Mazen Haber who manages Save the Children Sweden's Early Recovery Programme. Lebanese officials have stated that Israel dropped over one million cluster and other bombs on Lebanon, which are often attractively shaped and brightly coloured-like toys. Mazen Haber stressed that parents play a key role in educating their children about the danger of cluster bombs, “many parents are not playing an active role in influencing their children’s safety behaviour and increasing their awareness of how dangerous these cluster bombs are…they can cost them their lives or paralyse them for life.” Haber explained that in the South many children collect cluster bombs and parents sometimes display unexploded ordnance in their homes. One hundred billboards on mine risk awareness will be exhibited around Lebanon at the same time that the TV Spots will be shown as part of ongoing efforts by Save the Children Sweden to increase awareness amongst children of the continuous threat of ERW. Save the Children-Sweden has ongoing mine risk awareness activities with local partners since last summer’s war. In addition, Save the Children Sweden has contributed to the Landmine Resource Center at Balamand University in releasing a special edition of their child-friendly Noor and Noura magazine, in English, French, and Arabic, on Mine Risk Education that will be distributed in summer camps and schools. The mine risk awareness spots can be found on Save the Children Sweden’s website http://www.scsmena.org. CD copies of the animation spots and copies of Noor and Noura are available from the Save the Children Sweden's Regional Office in Beirut.