8/14/2019 LOW Press Release-A Peaceful Legacy Campaign FINAL

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3233 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20007

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Channapha KhamvongsaTel: 703-868-0030

channapha@legaciesofwar.orgWebsite: http://act.legaciesofwar.org

A Peaceful Legacy CampaignGroup Launch Petition Drive Calling on U.S. Government to

Remove Bombs from Laos

San Francisco, April 10, 2009 - On Saturday April 11th, Laotian Americans wicelebrate the First International Lao New Year in San Francisco at the Civic CenteThe event comes more than 35 years after the end of a massive U.S. bombingcampaign in Laos that forced hundreds of thousands to flee their country, many owhom resettled in the United States (U.S.). As the Laotian Diaspora has cometogether to celebrate, they are also making their case before Congress to rectify thelingering legacies of war left by the U.S. during the Vietnam War-era. Press is invitedto visit the Legacies of War booth at the festival, on April 11 from 10am to 5pmwhere a traveling exhibition on the issue will be featured along with petitiocollection.

Laos has the tragic distinction of being the most heavily bombed country in theworld. From 1964 to 1973 the U.S. illegally dropped more than two million tons oordnance in 580,000 missions over the neutral country of Laos, a country the size o

Utah, in what became known as the Secret War. There was a bombing mission, oaverage, every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 9 years. U.S. bombs left close to 50percent of the country contaminated with vast quantities of unexploded ordnance(UXO), including 78 million unexploded cluster bomblets, millions of which still litteforests, rice fields, villages, school grounds, roads, and other populated areasAccidents involving UXO have caused more than 34,000 civilian casualties since theend of war, 40 percent of these resulted in death. Close to 60 percent of the victimare children. Every year for the last decade there have been at least 350 new UXOcasualties, primarily from unexploded cluster bomblets. Half of all cluster munitioncasualties worldwide have occurred in Laos.

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8/14/2019 LOW Press Release-A Peaceful Legacy Campaign FINAL

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PRESS RELEASE - Page 2

A Peaceful Legacy Campaign

Today, Legacies of War: History, Healing, Hope (Legacies) is launching APeaceful Legacy: A Campaign to Remove Bombs from Laos. This internationapetition drive calls on the U.S. Congress and the White House to increase funding toclear the continuing deadly legacy of that bombing. This increase would expedite UXO

removal on priority lands and provide education on unexploded ordnance and victimassistance programs that are currently severely underfunded. (To sign the petition, gto http://act.legaciesofwar.org).

Laotian Americans want to leave a legacy of peace. It is a moral imperative that theU.S. government take full responsibility for the bombings that left half of Laos litteredwith cluster bombs. The people of Laos have suffered enough abuse from coloniapowers, civil unrests and horrendous tragedies of the bombing, said ChannaphKhamvongsa, executive director of Legacies. She added, Its long overdue, but notoo late for us to end this terrible legacy and help to create a new legacy based onpeace and security. We can all help by signing the petition today.

Speaking in the Senate on February 11, 2000, Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermoncommented on, "the insidious.... cluster munitions that fail to explode as designedand remain as active duds, like landmines, until they are triggered by whoever comesinto contact with them ... in Laos people are still being killed and maimed by U.Scluster munitions left from the Vietnam War." He introduced the Cluster MunitionCivilian Protection Act of 2009 (S. 416), which would prohibit any further use by theU.S. military of cluster munitions that leave behind deadly minefields. Senator DianneFeinstein of California and 22 other Senators are already co-sponsors of S. 416.

The U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Bombs, which is comprised odozens of faith, human rights, and medical groups and thousands of individuals is

committed to ending any further U.S. use of cluster munitions and to clearing thosethat America dropped. The U.S. spent an average of $2 million a day for nine yearbombing Laos; it has contributed an average of$2.9 million a yearover the past 13years for the removal of UXO and victim assistance in Laos, said Lora Lumpecoordinator of the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Bombs. Withousubstantial increases in funding, the presence of UXO will remain a threat to thepeople of Laos for up to 100 years. This is simply unacceptable. Forty years of deatand injury to innocent civilians is 40 years too many!

For further information please contact: Channapha Khamvongsa, Legacies of WarExecutive Director, channapha@legaciesofwar.org, 703-868-0030 and viswww.legaciesofwar.org for more information.

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