Princess Astrid and Prince Leopold from Belgium visit the REI Foundation in Cartagena (photo, Jared Bloch)
Cartagena, Colombia (Geneva Lunch) - Princess Astrid of Belgium, a longtime advocate of mine survivors rights, has made a strong plea to other world leaders to fully support landmine survivors. Her appeal, in her role as head of the Belgian delegation, came at the Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World in Colombia, which has just ended.
The summit served as the second review of progress made by the Mine Ban Convention to ban the production, use and stockpiling of anti-personnel land mines. The Princess commended the efforts undertaken by the Colombian Government in support of the Summit, and also noted that “there still remains much to be done on behalf of survivors everywhere.”
The princess and her husband, Prince Leopold, joined other summit participants in visiting the Fundation REI, a Colombian rehabilitation centre that works closely with landmine survivors and others with disabilities.
The foundation provides several services: advocacy for the rights of the disabled, physical and psycho-social theraputic services, pre-vocational training and professional reintegration, and production of prosthetic devices for disabled individuals.
Several landmine survivors and patients at the clinic described for summit guests how Fundation REI has empowered them to recover their lives in the wake of their accidents.
