SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS COMICS CAN EDUCATE EVEN AS THEY ENTERTAIN

11 June 1998

Press Release
SG/SM/6595

SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS COMICS CAN EDUCATE EVEN AS THEY ENTERTAIN

19980611 Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statement delivered today at the ceremony announcing the release of a mine-awareness comic book for the children of Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua:

We are here to celebrate the publication of a comic book. But our subject is no laughing matter.

Landmines are killers. A plague. And more than anyone else, children pay the price.

I shall never forget the terrible suffering that I have seen, first-hand, on all continents, caused by anti-personnel mines. And I am continually saddened to think of all that has been lost in the years in which we devoted some of our best minds and vast resources to the effort to create ever more ingenious and stealthy ways to kill.

That is why I was so gratified to attend the ceremony in Ottawa last December at which more than 100 governments pledged to refrain from any further production, sale or use of these weapons of death and destruction. The Landmine Convention was a signal achievement of disarmament, worthy of the Nobel Prize its proponents received.

All eyes are now on weapons of mass destruction. But we must continue to keep our gaze on landmines and all other small arms and light weapons, which have been the primary or sole tools of violence in almost every recent conflict dealt with by the United Nations. I would like to use this occasion to urge all Member States that have not yet done so to sign and ratify the Landmine Convention.

I would also like to express my appreciation to all who have made this comic book possible:

-- the United States Department of Defense;

-- DC Comics, the renowned home of some of the world's most popular super-heroes;

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-- the Organization of American States;

-- and the United Nations own United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

The first collaboration of this sort -- a mine-awareness comic book for the children of the former Yugoslavia -- was launched in 1996 by United States First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. It quickly proved its worth in lives saved. Comic books are that powerful. Politicians have long feared the barbs of editorial cartoonists. But children, as usual, are wiser than we give them credit for. They know that comics can educate even as they entertain; and that, however fantastic the stories and creatures, the feelings and fears are all too real.

Today we celebrate the release of a comic book that will save lives in Central America, and for that the international community is grateful. I am only sorry to say that we need more such initiatives. Let us hope that in the future, comics -- and the children who love them -- can leave the grisly subject of landmines behind. Thank you.

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