Raphael F. J. McGrath (born 5 November 1947), usually known as Rae McGrath, lives in Carlisle, Cumbria and is a British campaigner and specialist in humanitarian response to conflict and natural disaster. He founded the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), and, as a leading member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), represented the organisation when it received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1997. [1]
McGrath was born in Liverpool and in 1963 moved with his family to Birkenhead. In 1968 he joined the British Army in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME), where he served for 18 years as a military engineer.
During the late 1980s he worked in Darfur and Afghanistan, managing non-governmental organisations and establishing landmine clearance operations.[ citation needed ] He founded the Mines Advisory Group in 1989, after seeing the impact of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) on civilians in Afghanistan, and became an internationally acknowledged expert on the impact of landmines and cluster munitions on relief and humanitarian efforts in the Middle East, Balkans, Africa and Asia. [2] In 1992, MAG established its headquarters in Cockermouth, Cumbria; McGrath's former wife Debbie and brother Lou joined the management team. [3] [4]
In 1992, he co-founded the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, an international coalition of organisations opposed to the deployment of landmines, and persuaded Princess Diana to give her active support to the campaign in 1997. [5] The organisation won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, and McGrath presented the acceptance speech on behalf of the ICBL in Oslo. [4] [6]
McGrath organised programmes responding to natural emergencies, such as the 2004 tsunami in Aceh as well as emergencies in Ethiopia and Somalia. He was Senior Programme Manager for emergency response with Save the Children UK from 2007 until 2012 and then joined the International NGO Mercy Corps in February 2013 as Country Director North Syria & Turkey and in 2016 the Senior Director Migration Response Mercy Corps based in Turkey, Greece and the Balkans. He lectures on conflict and humanitarian issues, and was a visiting lecturer at the Post War Reconstruction & Development Unit (PRDU) at the University of York from 1997 to 2015, he was also a PRDU Associate. [3] [4]
Since May 2017 he has worked as an independent writer and advisor on humanitarian and conflict response issues. He was previously the Mercy Corps' Senior Director Migration Response based in Turkey since February 2016, after nearly three years as Country Director for North Syria and Turkey, also for Mercy Corps.[ citation needed ] directing high volume cross-border food aid to besieged and displaced civilians throughout North Syria but primarily in Aleppo province. This was the largest humanitarian response during the period into opposition-controlled areas of Syria. The response is described in McGrath’s lecture ‘North Syria: Negotiating the Asymmetric Battlefield: The challenges of delivering essential humanitarian aid and support to non-combatants’ [7]
In 2014 McGrath was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of York [8] On 25 July 2017, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws by Leeds Beckett University. [9] His lectures and writing on humanitarian response to asymmetric warfare, based on his experiences in Syria, have challenged many established approaches in the sector. [10]
The Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF), established in 1980, now the Veterans for America (VFA), is a Washington, D.C.-based international humanitarian organization that addresses the consequences of war and conflict. The founder of VVAF is Bobby Muller, a former U.S. Marine lieutenant and Vietnam veteran.
Jody Williams is an American political activist known for her work in banning anti-personnel landmines, her defense of human rights, and her efforts to promote new understandings of security in today's world. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work toward the banning and clearing of anti-personnel mines.
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) is a coalition of non-governmental organizations whose stated objective is a world free of anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions, where mine and cluster munitions survivors see their rights respected and can lead fulfilling lives.
The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction of 1997, known informally as the Ottawa Treaty, the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, or often simply the Mine Ban Treaty, aims at eliminating anti-personnel landmines (APLs) around the world.
The Manitoba Campaign to Ban Landmines (MBCBL) was Canada's only provincial campaign to ban landmines. It was a registered non-profit organization in the province of Manitoba. The MBCBL was a member of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), Mines Action Canada, and the Cluster Munition Coalition.
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Survivor Corps, formerly known as the Landmine Survivors Network, was a global network of survivors helping survivors to recover from war, rebuild their communities, and break cycles of violence. The organization operated programs in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Burundi, Colombia, Croatia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Georgia, Jordan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Uganda, Rwanda, the United States and Vietnam.
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A mine clearance organization, or demining organization, is an organization involved in the removal of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) for military, humanitarian, or commercial reasons. Demining includes mine clearance, as well as surveying, mapping and marking of hazardous areas.
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The Mines Advisory Group (MAG) is a non-governmental organization that assists people affected by landmines, unexploded ordnance, and small arms and light weapons.
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The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) is a service located within the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations that specializes in coordinating and implementing activities to limit the threat posed by mines, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices.
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