Author(s):
Amy Dudley <amySPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERicbl.org> .
Monday 07 August 2006
Liz and Margaret together at an official ceremony to acknowledge the transfer of the ICBL archives to the National Archives of Canada
Within the landmine ban community, Elizabeth Bernstein and Margaret Arach Orech are familiar faces to say the least. As the former Coordinator for the ICBL since 1998, Liz, as she is fondly known, has been at the helm of the ICBL’s success over the past decade, while Margaret’s inspiring story and personal struggle as a Ugandan landmine survivor has impassioned her drive to serve as an advocate in the effort to rid the world of landmines as well as working to strengthen victim assistance programs. Boasting both courage and devotion for the work of the ICBL in their own right, Liz and Margaret are overwhelmingly deserving of the charge of the ICBL Ambassadorship and can only heighten their contributions to the ICBL in this greater capacity.
ICBL Ambassadors play a crucial role in the global effort to ban landmines, serving as campaign representatives at speaking events and other conferences worldwide. Currently, the three ICBL Ambassadors include Jody Williams, founding coordinator of the ICBL and 1997 Nobel Peace Prize co-Laureate, Tun Channareth, Cambodian landmine survivor and founder of the Cambodian Campaign to Ban Landmines, and fellow landmine victim, Song Kosal, the youth Ambassador for the ICBL
Liz addressing the 5MSP in 2003 at a campaigner preparation meeting.
Elizabeth Bernstein is currently the Director of the Nobel Women’s Initiative(NWI). She coordinated Make Poverty History Canada from June 2005 through January 2006. Liz served as Coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) from March 1998 through January 2005 and had been involved with the campaign since it began in the early 1990s. She lived in Thailand and Cambodia for 10 years (1986-1996), where she worked with local advocacy organizations on various peace, justice and policy issues. She co-founded the Coalition for Peace and Reconciliation, and helped found the Cambodia Campaign to Ban Landmines. She also lived in Mozambique for 3 years while serving the ICBL, before moving to WashingtonDC and later Ottawa, Canada, where she currently lives.
Margaret at the official handover ceremony of ICBL archives to the National Archives of Canada.
Margaret Arach Orech lost her right leg in a landmine blast in Northern Uganda in December 1998. After an intensive year of change and extensive rehabilitation, she became actively involved in the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Margaret has been involved in the ICBL campaigns since September 2000 at the international, regional and national level. In 2001, she participated and graduated from “Raising the Voices” a survivor advocacy training program initiated bythe ICBL Working Group on Victim Assistance (WGVA). After graduating from “Raising the Voices”, Margaret served as one of the co-chairs of the ICBL Working Group on Victim Assistance till December 2004. In Uganda, she is a member of the National Council for Disability (NCD). The NCD was established through an Act of Parliament and inaugurated in August 2004 to monitor and evaluate programs for persons with disabilities. The NCD also has an advisory role and reports to Parliament. She is also the Director of the Uganda Landmine Survivors Association (ULSA) established in 2005. ULSA is to work in collaboration with the newly established Kampala-based Mine Action Centre in Victim Assistance. Margaret was recently appointed a Commissioner with the Interfaith Action for Peace in Africa (IFAPA), inaugurated by President Kagame of Rwanda in Kigali on June 2006.