No to landmine beauty contest

It was a beauty pageant in which landmine victims will compete to win a prosthetic leg. --ST PHOTO: STEPHANIE YEOW

The Straits Times
http://www.straitstimes.com

PHNOM PENH - THE Cambodian government has urged the cancellation of a beauty pageant in which landmine victims will compete to win a prosthetic leg, organisers said on Sunday.

In the 'Miss Landmine Cambodia' contest, 20 competitors from around the country are due to appear in a photo exhibition opening on Friday in Phnom Penh, followed by an internet voting campaign to select the best candidate.

But in a letter to organisers, seen by AFP, the Ministry of Social Affairs has called on them to cancel the contest - although the Cambodian Mine Action Authority said in 2007 that they fully supported it.

'The ministry asks the people who organise this contest to stop this action... for protecting... the honor and dignity of people with disabilities,' the letter said in English.

But Norwegian pageant director Morten Traavik said the contest, which offers as the top prize a custom-made prosthetic leg, would increase awareness about the victims of landmines.

'I have asked to meet the Cambodian officials to clear up our misunderstanding, and I hope once they know about our project details, they will welcome this,' he said.

He explained that the pageant aimed 'to raise awareness of what landmines have done to the people", adding that it would be a 'big shame' if people could not see the exhibition.

The first 'Miss Landmine' contest was held in Angola last year, drawing protests from rights activists who viewed it as exploitative and racist.

Cambodia remains one of the world's most heavily mined countries, along with Afghanistan and Angola.

Hundreds of people are killed or maimed every year by the millions of landmines and other unexploded ordnance still littering the countryside after decades of conflict. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen cancelled a Miss Cambodia beauty pageant in 2006, saying he would not allow such a contest until poverty in Cambodia was reduced by more than half. -- AFP