Miss Landmine: Friend or Foe?

“These courageous women from Angola have survived and endured the scourge of landmines and moved on with their lives. They portray resilience, hope and naturally beauty. The road ahead appears long until all survivors are able to access their much needed services and sustain a decent livelihood.” Margaret Arach Orech, ICBL ambassador and landmine survivor from Uganda.

The initiative, created by Norwegian theatre director Morten Traavik, saw 18 Angolan women survivors compete for the title and a prosthetic limb, and raised more than one eyebrow, with some accusing it of being a “freak show” and “turning suffering into a commodity”. At the same time, thanks to its undoubted “shock value” it received worldwide media coverage, highlighting the daily struggle of landmine survivors.

So, what is this really about? In the words of 34-year-old Lucrecia João Tongo, representing KwanzaSulProvince “We are here to show that we are alive. We can do many things. Just because we are disabled, it does not mean that we cannot do anything”. As the Miss Landmine creator points out, the controversial pageant is “not an end in itself, but a means to create awareness”. The reality that lies behind the Miss Landmine stage curtain is that for survivors – whose global number was estimated by Landmine Monitor Report 2007 at 473,000, and counting – the physical and psychological trauma of the landmine accident is almost invariably followed by a life of discrimination, exclusion and poverty. Even states that have committed themselves to assist survivors under the Mine Ban Treaty are lagging behind in the provisions of the services needed for survivors to lead as full and normal a life as possible.

As something that draws attention to the plight of survivors and helps to remind governments of their responsibility, Miss Landmine is an additional ally in the multifaceted efforts to ensure that survivors finally have their needs met and rights respected.

- Simona Beltrami, ICBL Advocacy Director