Rapid growth spurts mean that children may need two or three amputations after an injury and to be fitted with up to two prosthetics each year. In Afghanistan an estimated 30 percent of land mine victims are children, while in some parts of Angola that figure is as high as 50 percent. President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique also addressed the packed conference on the opening day, along with Jody Williams, Coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines, and Graca Machel. The Fourth International Conference on Land Mines brings together delegates from international humanitarian and human rights organizations around the world to press for a total ban on land mines. The international relief and development organization CARE was also represented at the conference.
CARE has demining programs in Angola and Cambodia.
By identifying, marking and removing land mines, CARE helps reduce the number of deaths and injuries from land mines in these countries.