Miss Landmine

Shock tactics and lateral thinking make the “Miss Landmine” contest, dismissed by some as a “freak show”, the most interesting way to make the world aware of landmines again, since the death of Diana. The contest, created by a Norwegian film director, Morten Traavik, was inspired by the plight of landmine victims in Angola.

There are more than 80,000 amputees in Angola and out of 1.4 million landmines planted in Cambodia, there are still 1 million that remain buried. Morten secured funding from the EU, Norway’s Arts Council and the Angolan Government’s de-mining commission and now there are plans to have a Miss Landmine in Cambodia next year. Many agencies who support victims of landmines or challenge awareness of the issue have failed to have a voice in the past ten years. This stunt has possibly put it back on the agenda.