March, 30 2022, 04:04pm EDT
Russia Uses Banned Antipersonnel Mines in Ukraine
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Munition Coalition (ICBL-CMC) Calls for International Condemnation and Immediate End to Use
WASHINGTON
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Munition Coalition (ICBL-CMC) strongly condemns the use of internationally banned antipersonnel landmines by Russian forces in the Ukraine conflict, as reported by member Human Rights Watch.
"Use of antipersonnel landmines by Russian armed forces in Ukraine and anywhere, is unacceptable. These indiscriminate weapons kill civilians and leave a terrible legacy of suffering for years to come. We call for an immediate halt to all use, and for the 164 members of the Mine Ban Treaty to speak up and condemn this action," said ICBL-CMC Director, Hector Guerra. Ukraine is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty while Russia remains outside of the treaty.
Use of banned antipersonnel mines follows the widespread use by Russia of cluster munitions since it invaded Ukraine in February, killing and injuring civilians.
Since 1999, Russian forces have used antipersonnel landmines in Chechnya, Dagestan, Tajikistan, and on the border with Georgia according to the Landmine Monitor. Mine use by a Russian government- linked military company operating in Libya was also reported following the 2020 conflict there. Russia has produced at least 10 types of antipersonnel landmines since 1992, including the rocket delivered mines identified in Ukraine - POM-3 or "Medalyon" antipersonnel mines.
ICBL-CMC urges Russia and all parties to guarantee protection of civilians, respect for international humanitarian law, and to adhere to the international norm banning use of antipersonnel landmines and cluster munitions.
"There is an urgent need for risk education in Ukrainian communities affected by mines, cluster munition remnants and other explosive remnants of war resulting from Russia's use of these banned weapons," said Guerra.
ICBL-CMC works for a world free of antipersonnel landmines, cluster munitions, and other explosive remnants of war, where all lives are protected: a world where contaminated land is cleared and returned to local populations for productive use and where the needs of affected communities and survivors are met and their human rights guaranteed.
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines is committed to an international ban on the use, production, stockpiling, and sale, transfer, or export of antipersonnel landmines.
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Calls Mount for US to Provide Free School Meals to All Children
"Hiving off a tiny part of the public school bundle and charging a means-tested fee for it is extremely stupid," argues Matt Bruenig.
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Minnesota last week became just the fourth U.S. state to guarantee universal free school meals, triggering a fresh wave of demands and arguments for a similar federal policy to feed kids.
"Universal school meals is now law in Minnesota!" Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, who represents the state, tweeted Monday. "Now, we need to pass our Universal School Meals Program Act to guarantee free school meals to every child across the country."
Omar's proposal, spearheaded in the upper chamber by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), "would permanently provide free breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack to all school children regardless of income, eliminate school meal debt, and strengthen local economies by incentivizing local food procurement," the lawmakers' offices explained in 2021.
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"The school bus service doesn't charge fares. Neither should the school lunch service."
Matt Bruenig, founder of the People's Policy Project, highlighted Monday that while children who attend public schools generally have not only free education but also free access to bathrooms, textbooks, computer equipment, playgrounds, gyms, and sports gear, "around the middle of each school day, the free schooling service is briefly suspended for lunch."
"How much each kid is charged is based on their family income except that, if a kid lives in a school or school district where 40% or more of the kids are eligible for free lunch, then they are also eligible for free lunch even if their family income would otherwise be too high," he detailed. "Before Covid, in 2019, 68.1% of the kids were charged $0, 5.8% were charged $0.40, and 26.1% were charged the full $4.33... The total cost of the 4.9 billion meals is around $21 billion per year. In 2019, user fees covered $5.6 billion of this cost."
Bruenig—whose own child has access to free school meals because of the community eligibility program—continued:
The approximately $5.6 billion of school lunch fees collected in 2019 were equal to 0.7% of the total cost of K-12 schooling. In order to collect these fees, each school district has to set up a school lunch payments system, often by contracting with third-party providers like Global Payments. They also have to set up a system for dealing with kids who are not enrolled in the free lunch program but who show up to school with no money in their school lunch account or in their pockets. In this scenario, schools will either have to make the kid go without lunch, give them a free lunch for the day (but not too many times), or give them a lunch while assigning their lunch account a debt.
Eligibility for the $0 and $0.40 lunches is based on income, but this does not mean that everyone with an eligible income successfully signs up for the program. As with all means-tested programs, the application of the means test not only excludes people with ineligible incomes, but also people with eligible incomes who fail to successfully navigate the red tape of the welfare bureaucracy.
The think tank leader tore into arguments against universal free meals for kids, declaring that "hiving off a tiny part of the public school bundle and charging a means-tested fee for it is extremely stupid."
Bruenig pointed out that socializing the cost of child benefits like school meals helps "equalize the conditions of similarly-situated families with different numbers of children" and "smooths incomes across the lifecycle by ensuring that, when people have kids, their household financial situation remains mostly the same."
"Indeed, this is actually the case for the welfare state as whole, not just child benefits," the expert emphasized, explaining that like older adults and those with disabilities, children cannot and should not work, which "makes it impossible to receive personal labor income, meaning that some other non-labor income system is required."
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As Nora De La Cour reported Sunday for Jacobin: "The fight for school meals traces its roots all the way back to maternalist Progressive Era efforts to shield children and workers from the ravages of unregulated capitalism. In her bookThe Labor of Lunch: Why We Need Real Food and Real Jobs in American Public Schools, Jennifer Gaddis describes how early school lunch crusaders envisioned meal programs that would be integral to schools' educational missions, immersing students in hands-on learning about nutrition, gardening, food preparation, and home economics. Staffed by duly compensated professionals, these programs would collectivize and elevate care work, making it possible for mothers of all economic classes to efficiently nourish their young."
Now, families who experienced the positive impact of the pandemic-era program want more from the federal government.
"When schools adopt universal meals through community eligibility or another program, we see improvements in students' academic performance, behavior, attendance, and psychosocial functioning," wrote De La Cour, whose reporting also includes parent and cafeteria worker perspectives. "Above all, the implementation of universal meals causes meal participation to shoot up, demonstrating that the need far exceeds the number of kids who are able to get certified."
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