Catholics demand ban on mines

LEF'r TO RIGHT: Denise Carter (CAFOD), Bp Thomas McMahon of Brentwood, Julian Filochowski(CAson), David Alton MP, and John Battle MP stand outside the Ministry of Defence on Monday after delivering a set of signatures demanding a ban on landmincs worldwide. Cardinal Basil Htune and Cherie Booth, Catholic wife of Labour Leader Tony
Blair, were among those urging the Government to support an international ban.
In the run-up to this week's United Nations conference on Inhumane Weapons, Cardinal Hume wrote a letter to the Foreign Secretary asking for a "complete ban on the production, stockpiling, export and use of all types of anti-personnel mines."
And last Sunday, Cherie Booth released 200 balloons each representing one million landmines at Westminster Piazza, as a sign of her support of the CAFODled campaign. The estimated 100 million landmines around the globe cause 26,000 deaths and mutilations every year. The vast majority of victims are civil
ians and a third are children.
CAFOD director Julian Filochowski, retired army general Sir Hugh Beach, Bishop Thomas McMahon of Brentwood, and Catholic MPs John Battle and David Alton presented the Ministry of Defence at Whitehall the collected signatures against landmines.