ICBL Youth Ambassador Song Kosal started the Youth Against War Treaty (YAW) in 1998, encouraging her peers to take action against mines by collecting petition signatures showing youth support for a mine-free world and by doing "one thing each day to make peace grow like a flower." The YAW signatures collected from March 2001 until the present time were to be handed over the the governments of India and Pakistan on 9 September during joint ceremonies held in the capital cities of both countries. The signatures are a strong message to the governments of both countries from the youth of the world, encouraging them to stop using mines and take steps towards joining the Mine Ban Treaty.
Unfortunately, due to circumstances out of our control, the 9 September signature handovers in India and Pakistan will not take place. We will meet with national campaigns, Song Kosal and others next month in Bangkok, Thailand during the 5MSP and ICBL General Meeting to discuss next steps. As soon as we have more information about when, where and how the signatures will be handed over we will post the details on this website.
Thanks so much to all of you who collected petition signatures for your absolutely amazing and inspiring work! The tens of thousands of collected signatures collected show the dedication and commitment of young people to creating a landmine-free world. Please know that your signatures will most certainly be used in the future, just not on 9 September.
If you have any questions please contact Jackie Hansen, ICBL at youth@icbl.org and she will do her best to answer them.
Many thanks and please keep up your amazing work!
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