A land mine does not discriminate against the target – it does damage to anything and everything surrounding it. Even after a war or conflict has ended, land mines can still be found and still do damage – to both the people and the countries where they are found. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), a non-governmental organization, is working to have these weapons removed in areas where they are still located. WFG associate Henry Ung agrees, and recently signed a petition in support of these efforts.
Currently living and working in the Seattle, Wash. area, Ung was born and raised for many years in a country that still struggles with live land mines – Cambodia – and has some personal history with these lethal weapons. In 1979, when Ung was just 15, he and his family had to flee from the Khmer Rouge, traveling over the Dangrek Mountains into Thailand., During this treacherous journey, they had to cross a mine field before reaching safety.
Recently, Ung and his wife and WFG business partner, Eliza, attended a dinner meeting with Tun Channareth. According to Ung, Channareth, who fought in Cambodia’s post-Khmer Rouge conflict, lost both legs in 1982 when a landmine exploded where he was fighting. After receiving vocational training in Thailand, Channarath returned to Cambodia in 1993 and became a wheelchair manufacturer to help other landmine survivors. Channareth then became active in the effort to ban landmines, helping launch the Cambodia Campaign to Ban Landmines, a member of the ICBL. In 1997, Channareth accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the ICBL.
Ung, a longtime WFG associate, was recently included in an article on the Voice of America website regarding his signature on the ICBL petition directed to U.S. President Barack Obama to have the United States join in the ban of land mines. Currently, 156 countries around the world ban them and 108 countries have signed a pact against cluster munitions. The United States and China are among the countries without a land mine ban. Below is a picture of Eliza, Tun and Henry.
To learn more about the ICBL, visit their website at www.icbl.org. And to learn more about World Financial Group, visit www.worldfinancialgroup.com.