Landmine Monitor Report 2006 Cover Design Unveiled

The Landmine Monitor team is pleased to reveal the Landmine Monitor Report 2006 cover design. The cover photo challenge was announced in May, and the team received hundreds of powerful photographs from individuals and organizations throughout the world. After carefully considering each entry, the photograph of Phoas Yek was chosen to be featured on the cover of the eighth annual Landmine Monitor report.

Phoas is a sixteen year old student from Sung II village, Samlot district, Cambodia. Samlot district is an impoverished area of Cambodia and Phoas grew up in a poor farming family, the third of eight children. While playing in the forest near her home, Phoas stepped on a landmine and lost her right leg. The hard work of her parents enabled her to be transported to the Battambang physical rehabilitation center, where she received medical assistance. The center is supported by the ICRC and has provided Phoas with seven prosthetic legs. Like many young landmine survivors, Phoas grows quickly out of each prosthetic and frequently needs new replacements.

Through the support of Handicap International, Phoas has been able to pursue an education and she rides her bicycle to school each day. An avid reader, she spends her spare time re-reading her schoolbooks since other books are not available. Phoas hopes to graduate from school and own a fancy dress rental shop.

The Landmine Monitor Report 2006 cover photograph of Phoas Yek was taken by C. Rebotton/Handicap International in March 2006, and the cover was designed by Rafael Jimenez. The report will be available online on 13 September at 01:00 GMT and the global release event will be held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

Thank you to everyone who submitted photographs. Many of the photos will be featured in this year’s Landmine Monitor Executive Summary.