History
MAG was formed in 1989 in response to landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) left by the Soviet war in Afghanistan. The organisation initially served as an advisory group, publishing reports about the problems in Afghanistan and Cambodia based on their assessments between 1989 and 1991. Subsequent reports included Iraq, Somaliland and Angola. In 1992, MAG, along with other NGOs, formed the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL).
By 1992, MAG had raised sufficient funds to begin its first landmine clearance program in Iraq. Clearance programs extended to Cambodia the same year, followed by Lao PDR and Angola in 1994. MAG also introduced mine risk education (MRE) alongside their clearance programs to help minimise the risk to the local populations. MRE operations were extended to Rwanda and to refugee camps in Zaire and the former Zambia. In 1996, Lou McGrath became executive director and MAG established its international headquarters in Manchester, UK.
Read more about this topic: Mines Advisory Group
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of our era is the nauseating and repulsive history of the crucifixion of the procreative body for the glorification of the spirit.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“You that would judge me do not judge alone
This book or that, come to this hallowed place
Where my friends’ portraits hang and look thereon;
Ireland’s history in their lineaments trace;
Think where man’s glory most begins and ends
And say my glory was I had such friends.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“All history is a record of the power of minorities, and of minorities of one.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)