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A technical field manager from the Mine Advisory Group explores a cluster bomb found in the town of Tibnin, southern Lebanon.
Credit: AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev
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The Music Beats Mines campaign is nearly over, and you may not have heard about it.
Fear not. For the past three months, the campaign has been raising money for the Mines Advisory Group, an international humanitarian organization, by holding concerts and other events around the world. The three months are due to end December 1. But the Mines Advisory Group, or MAG, has decided to auction off dozens of signed items gathered from music artists who support the cause.
Landmines can maim and kill long after wars end. All money raised through Music Beats Mines goes toward helping a conflict-affected community recover.
The online auction runs through Dec. 6. That's just enough time to pick up something else for the music lover on your holiday list, or maybe something for yourself. And, enough time to support efforts to clear explosives from land in communities around the world. MAG clears hazards, then returns land to communities, so people there can get on with their lives, instead of living in fear that their next step could be their last.
It's estimated that 15,000 to 20,000 people a year are killed or injured due to landmines and other dangerous weapons left behind by conflicts, according to MAG, a charity registered in the United Kingdom that also has an American counterpart.
Items up for auction include:
- Signed Stones, Roses and Radiohead pictures;
- Signed Elbow promo releases;
- a Simply Red triple platinum disc presentation set of the album 'A New Flame;'
- Signed T-shirts from The Specials, The Enemy, Dizzy Rascal, Calvin Harris, Pink and Bat for Lashes, and The Scrips;
- Signed books by David Byrne.
Don't be afraid to spend too much on these auction items, depending on how much you have to spend. MAG says an $18 donation enables teams to remove and destroy five weapons of war. More money can help purchase equipment for locating and destroying mines.
MAG was a co-laureate of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, awarded for its work with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
The group has operations in Angola, Burundi, Cambodia, Chad, Cyprus, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gaza, Iraq, Jordan, Lao P.D.R., Lebanon, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Vietnam.
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