User:Legaciesofwar/Legacies of war

Legacies of War (Legacies) is a non-profit and nonpartisan organization which raises awareness about the history of the Vietnam War-era bombing in Laos and advocates for the clearance of unexploded bombs, provides space for healing the wounds of war, and creates greater hope for a future of peace. Executive Director Channapha Khamvongsa founded the organization in 2004 with other members of the Laotian-American community. Although Legacies is based in Washington, D.C., the organization works with locals partners in Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco and Minneapolis/St. Paul, among other major cities in the U.S and abroad.

Overview

The organization began with the rediscovery of illustrations and narratives from Laotian refugees of the secret war in Laos, waged by the United States during the Vietnam War-era. From 1964 to 1973, the U.S. dropped over 2 million tons of ordnance over Laos in 580,000 bombing missions, the equivalent of one planeload every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 9 years.

The organization uses art, culture, education, community organizing and dialogue to bring people together and create healing and transformation out of the wreckage of war.

The organization’s primary goals are to:

● Raise awareness in the U.S. and broader international community about Laos and the legacies of the Vietnam War-era bombing.

● Advocate for increased U.S. and international support for the clearance of unexploded ordnance in Laos and greater assistance to bombing survivors.

● Engage communities in the U.S. in discussions of peace and security issues by using the lessons learned from the war in Laos to stimulate dialogue.

● Strengthen the capacity of Laotian-Americans to advocate on issues of concern to their communities.

Funding

Legacies is a project of Public Interest Projects (PIP), a New York-based nonprofit organization. PIP brings together and strengthens the work of philanthropic institutions, non-profit groups and other public interest organizations sharing a vision of a society that ensures justice, dignity and opportunity for all people. Legacies receives funding from the generous contributions of individuals, foundations and corporate supporters. Legacies does not receive any government funding.

Notable Work

July 14, 2010: Legacies coordinated a letter from the past five U.S. ambassadors to Laos calling on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to “significantly increase funding for the removal of unexploded ordnance left behind in Laos during the Vietnam War.” The letter was signed by the following former ambassadors: Theresa A. Tull, Charles B. Salmon, Jr., Victor L. Tomseth, Wendy J. Chamberlin, and Douglas A. Hartwick. Collectively, they served in Laos from 1983 to 2004. They endorsed the Legacies’ recommendation that the U.S. make an annual commitment of $10 million over the next ten years for UXO removal in Laos.

April 22, 2010: Legacies testified at a House of Representatives hearing entitled “Legacies of War: Unexploded Ordnance in Laos” before the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment (Committee on Foreign Affairs), led by Representative Eni F.H. Faleomavaega (D-AS). The hearing, the first in the U.S. Congress related to UXO in Laos, was held exactly 39 years to the day after a Senate hearing, chaired by the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, helped to expose the U.S. secret bombing of Laos and shed light on the destruction and displacement of hundreds of thousands of Lao refugees. Khamvongsa delivered the statement for Legacies.

Fiscal year 2010: Legacies’ advocacy led to a doubling of U.S. funding for cluster bomb clearance in Laos from $2.7 million in 2009 to $5 million in 2010, the largest annual amount the U.S. has ever provided.

November 2009: Legacies helped convene a historic briefing on cluster bombs in Laos in Washington, D.C. – the first ever in the U.S. – with representatives from the Laotian and U.S. governments as well as the NGO sector.

Recent and Current Projects

Legacies has organized the National Traveling Exhibition of archival and current images, art and video, that tells the story of the horrors of the Vietnam-era bombing in Laos and resulting dangers of unexploded cluster bombs today. The Exhibition can be viewed on the Legacies web site as well as at various venues throughout the year, including Lao New Year events and community-building and education missions. The exhibit will be in the Twin Cities in Fall 2010. Legacies also formulates and sponsors a school curriculum about the war in Southeast Asia through history, writing and art lessons, which has been instituted in many schools in WA and MA.

Legacies organizes panel discussions and oral histories — bringing together bombing survivors, war veterans and peace activists from the Laotian-American and broader communities — and film screenings of award-winning films, such as Bombies, Bomb Harvest, The Betrayal: Nerakhoun. Refugee Nation features live performances of theatre, dance and poetry based on oral histories collected from Laotian community members. Other Legacies work includes research, briefing papers and study trips to Laos.

Future Projects

September 30 - October 26, 2010: Legacies will bring the National Traveling Exhibition to the Twin Cities of Minnesota for the first time. This exhibit aims to highlight the Lao community in Minnesota and build internal organizing and educational capacity, strengthening Legacies’ ability to effectively advocate for the Laotian community on key issues. The exhibit will feature written and oral presentations, historic drawings and theater performance of Refugee Nation.

November 9-12, 2010: Legacies will participate in the First Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, hosted by the Lao PDR in Vientiane. Signatory countries, currently at 108, (SOURCE) to the treaty to ban cluster bombs will decide on a plan of action to be used by all states to complete the legal obligations of the treaty, including support for clearance, stockpile destruction and victim assistance. The Convention on Cluster Munitions is the most significant disarmament and humanitarian treaty in more than a decade.

Leadership

Channapha Khamvongsa is executive director of Legacies of War. Prior to Legacies, she worked at the Ford Foundation. She was previously appointed to the Seattle Women’s Commission and served on the boards of the Refugee Women’s Alliance and Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership (CAPAL). She is currently Interim-Board Chair of the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) – USA. She was born in Vientiane and came to the U.S. at the age of seven. Khamvongsa has studied at George Mason University and Oxford University. She received her Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University.

Khamvongsa is joined by a Board of Directors based across the United States in New York City, Washington D.C. and the West Coast. Brett Dakin, a New York attorney, is the Chair of the Board of Directors. He is the author of Another Quiet American: Stories of Life in Laos (Asia Books). Brett received a J.D. degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 2003, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Human Rights Journal, and an undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from Princeton University in 1998.

Other Board members include Helly Lee (Washington D.C.), Cynthia Nguyen, MD (Palo Alto, CA), Titus Peachey (Akron, PA), Jack Rattanavong (Bethesda, MD), Elaine Russell (Sacramento, CA) and Santi Suthinithet (New York, NY).

Additionally, Legacies is assisted by an Honorary Committee and a broad international Advisory Committee including artists and writers, poet laureates, educators and non-profit experts.